I know there have been a number of weird headlines over the years, and this post may be heading to that list, but bear with me. I just got my HP Veer delivered from California in the US to Australia and instead of doing something normal with Twitter’s new Instagram-Snapchat-video mashup, called Vine, I unboxed the HP Veer. And let me just say this: I actually like Vine and the HP Veer.
Even though it’s a dying, if not dead, platform, webOS still shows innovation, and that innovation hasn’t died. It feels natively mobile, more than any other phone OS in my opinion. And the HP Veer is proof that, if they had had just a few more months with HP’s resources, that they could’ve perfected the platform and the hardware. It’s just wasted potential now.
I’m not saying that webOS was great. Hell, it was pretty poor in comparison with Android and iOS. But damn, it feels so right. And it’s so close. It isn’t like Windows Phone 7, because webOS actually feels like it could’ve made it, that it could’ve been that 3rd place mobile OS, if not second. And the way the screen just blends into the casing of this phone, the way the gesture-area becomes a part of the way you use it, and the keyboard that just grows on you, really does make it great.
To unbox it, I used Vine. And Vine uses HTML5 video, so it’s a little slow right now. If you’re having problems viewing the media below, and are running Firefox or Google Chrome, try right clicking and opening the video in a new tab. Otherwise, feast your eyes on the last unboxing of the HP Veer, right here on techgeek.com.au. Because if Intel has taught us anything, it’s Yolo.
#VEER2013 – the final unboxing #hp #palm #webos #hpveer vine.co/v/b5DDVprgQjw
— Chris Southcott (@cjschris) January 25, 2013
First impressions #VEER2013 #webos #hpveer #hp #palm vine.co/v/b5DFqTqnHuj
— Chris Southcott (@cjschris) January 25, 2013