I've just finished reading the Ars Technica review of the HP Veer, the fourth review I've read (along with the engadget.com, precentral.net, and thisismynext.com reviews).
Each reviewer, and countless commenters, keep claiming that the Veer is not a phone for a power user. I'd just like to get some opinions on what exactly a power user is, and why this perception exists. For the record, using my own definition, I consider myself a power user; more so than anyone else I personally know, and I use a Pixi Plus on Sprint as my main phone (pulled the wifi from a Verizon Pixi Plus and put it into a Sprint Pixi). Since the Pixi has an older, less capable version of webOS, the exact same screen size, and a nearly identical keyboard, I think it should be a pretty comparable (but not as good) experience to using the Veer.
So, here is my incredibly detailed usage pattern with my Pixi:
- morning routine: start up Agenda for my calendar, open up Tasks for my task list, open up doctor podder for podcasts, open up time tracker for keeping track of projects to charge to during my day of work, turn on bluetooth and sync with my blue ant
- drive in to work routine: drop the kids off at daycare (if only my phone could this for me! :) ), start a podcast up (I use my bluetooth headset for podcasts), call the wife on the way in (after the podcast is started, because it automatically pauses during the call and resumes after the call), walk in to work, start the timer on whatever project I start with, check my agenda for any meetings
- throughout the day: check engadget using the app, check facebook using the best facebook app across any smartphone OS (yes I've used them all), random surfing at other sites, save interesting or longer stuff to readitlater, keep notes using evernote, text, phone calls, emails, time tracker, etc.
- drive home: repeat of drive in, reverse order :)
- typical weekend use: Sprint Navigator, Google Maps (the Google Maps app is incredibly long in the tooth and slow to start up, but it does get the job done), along with the same usage from my weekdays
- travel use: Sprint Navigator, Google Maps, TripThat (TripIt client), tons of tethering with freetether homebrew app, and any combination of previously mentioned activities
- media and file usage: my Pixi has the Preware homebrew app installed and is running OpenSSH, so any time I need to get something off of it or put something on it, I just stick it on the touchstone charging dock, stroll into the office, wirelessly mount the Pixi (through sshfs in Ubuntu), and drag and drop pictures, movies, podcasts, etc. to or from the device), it is never physically plugged into my computer
All of the above activities are just ridiculously easy to do all at once with webOS. Switching between open applications is never more than a thumb swipe away. The OS never kills an open application for me because it felt like it (I got really frustrated with Android killing the browser over time, I had those tabs open for a reason dangit!).
I understand that some people are put off by the small screen size, that's perfectly legit. Some are put off by the magnetic headphone connector, perfectly valid point if you frequently use headphones. Some are disappointed by the camera performance, perfectly valid complaint. But, none of those are issues for me, and if my usage isn't power usage, what exactly is, and what am I missing?
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What is a 'smartphone power user'? (in response to the HP Veer reviews)
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keppy's pick
You make some excellent points. The idea of pigeonholing "power" and "normal" user needs seems very antiquated to me. I know not everyone feels this way, but as time goes on I feel like the idea that the people at the head of the adoption curve (i.e. "early adopters") should be willing to accept less than usable products is kind of insane; conversely, the idea that companies would be willing to market and sell incredibly rough products by claiming they're for the geek set smacks of a cop-out for making an inferior product.
I think the thing that shocks people about products like webOS and iOS is the realization that it's actually possible to build a platform that hits both edges of the adoption curve by being both powerful AND usable.
As all this relates to your question? Well, I think it can be a little too easy to generalize needs and usage, and the simplest possible vocabulary most publications can take is to talk about whether a phone is low, mid, or high-market. I think the question we need to start asking is: are these products actually any good?
I think the thing that shocks people about products like webOS and iOS is the realization that it's actually possible to build a platform that hits both edges of the adoption curve by being both powerful AND usable.
As all this relates to your question? Well, I think it can be a little too easy to generalize needs and usage, and the simplest possible vocabulary most publications can take is to talk about whether a phone is low, mid, or high-market. I think the question we need to start asking is: are these products actually any good?
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keppy's pick
You clearly use your phone a ton, and I would consider you a "power user". I'm not going to try and define that term, but I think there are certain things about the Veer that would turn away other "power users".
-I think connectivity is an issue, there is no USB port, no HDMI port, and no headphone jack. Sure you can use a dongle, but that's not ideal. The more amazing things our phones can do the more we want to plug them into something else to either share the experience, or enhance it by plugging it into a bigger screen, computer, or speakers/headphones.
- I think screen size is an issue, when you think of a "smart phone" you think of a phone that can do more than just make phone calls. Browsing a webpage on a 2.6 inch screen will not be as enjoyable experience as it is on a 4.3 inch screen. Same goes for watching movies, and playing games.
I don't really consider myself a "power user", I just really surf the web, and play games, but I know that for what I would want to do with a phone the Veer wouldn't be the right fit for me. I think you are lucky that you found a phone that fits your needs perfectly.
-I think connectivity is an issue, there is no USB port, no HDMI port, and no headphone jack. Sure you can use a dongle, but that's not ideal. The more amazing things our phones can do the more we want to plug them into something else to either share the experience, or enhance it by plugging it into a bigger screen, computer, or speakers/headphones.
- I think screen size is an issue, when you think of a "smart phone" you think of a phone that can do more than just make phone calls. Browsing a webpage on a 2.6 inch screen will not be as enjoyable experience as it is on a 4.3 inch screen. Same goes for watching movies, and playing games.
I don't really consider myself a "power user", I just really surf the web, and play games, but I know that for what I would want to do with a phone the Veer wouldn't be the right fit for me. I think you are lucky that you found a phone that fits your needs perfectly.
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keppy's pick
I agree completely. The Veer is getting a bad wrap due to its size. A better summary, "it's not a phone for media intensive users."
I too consider myself a "power user". I do many of the things you do on my Palm Pre. But I also on occasion have to do something on my home Ubuntu Server. In which case I open a terminal app on my Pre; SSH into my server; and run a few terminal commands on my server. All of which I'm sure I could do on the veer as well. (Assuming the smaller keyboard will fit my fat, nubby, fingers.)
I will be the first to admit, the Veer will not likely be my next phone. But that is not because I think it will have a problem with what I will want it to do. Rather it's my personal preference on screen size and keyboard size. I don't care that it doesn't have a USB port or headphone jack. I use WiFi for most all of my data connectivity. I use Bluetooth for all my audio connectivity.
Here's hoping my Pre will last until the Pre3 is available to me.
I too consider myself a "power user". I do many of the things you do on my Palm Pre. But I also on occasion have to do something on my home Ubuntu Server. In which case I open a terminal app on my Pre; SSH into my server; and run a few terminal commands on my server. All of which I'm sure I could do on the veer as well. (Assuming the smaller keyboard will fit my fat, nubby, fingers.)
I will be the first to admit, the Veer will not likely be my next phone. But that is not because I think it will have a problem with what I will want it to do. Rather it's my personal preference on screen size and keyboard size. I don't care that it doesn't have a USB port or headphone jack. I use WiFi for most all of my data connectivity. I use Bluetooth for all my audio connectivity.
Here's hoping my Pre will last until the Pre3 is available to me.
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community pick
a disturbing number of people think that Android is the only "power user" platform because you can change out the interfaces and automate stuff and other things. To me that isn't a "power user" thats just laziness. I mean sure I can tell my phone to start up when I hold my hand over it, but is it that hard to press the sleep/wake button? is it that hard to turn off the wifi when you are at work? I really don't think there is a such thing as a "power user" its just a delusion that people who use a certain platform put themselves into to make themselves feel more powerful. Android users are usually the people that trumpet specs over all else, they don't understand that something can be incredibly elegant and simple yet be immensely powerful. They believe that unless you have top of the line specs and you can see the boot sequence and dig into a file system, your platform of choice sucks and you are not a "power user". I know i'm hating on android users here not android itself. In my experience they are the worst at this. I think when people finally realize that hardware is only a means to an end and not the end itself, that software is the most important thing, that we will finally get over this whole "normal user" and "power user" thing and we will all just be users.
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I think the use of the terms 'power user' and 'normal user' for this discussion are disingenuous.
For the most part, these kinds of reviews and discussions are going to be made, and had, by geeks and early adopters. These kinds of people have very different requirements from other more.. average people. (I dont want to use the word 'normal' if i can help it).
For us, it's a question of "how many awesome cool geeky things might this device be able to do with the right software and enough fiddling? how many ports does it have? what are its specs?" - mostly questions that have nothing to do with daily use.
For the more average user, its a question of "how does this thing feel to use? can it make calls and update my facebook?" - everything about daily use.
For the most part, these kinds of reviews and discussions are going to be made, and had, by geeks and early adopters. These kinds of people have very different requirements from other more.. average people. (I dont want to use the word 'normal' if i can help it).
For us, it's a question of "how many awesome cool geeky things might this device be able to do with the right software and enough fiddling? how many ports does it have? what are its specs?" - mostly questions that have nothing to do with daily use.
For the more average user, its a question of "how does this thing feel to use? can it make calls and update my facebook?" - everything about daily use.
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A part of me is fully prepared to buy all 3 HP products next month. Work takes care of the AT&T sim, so a Veer would just cost me $350 at Amazon. I do like the idea of it being a tiny modem for the TouchPad, and the truth is it's rather rare for me to need a beefy device in my pocket. I'm not a power user in your sense, which seems to be how hard you push the phone. I do e-mail, SMS, and podcasts over bluetooth in the car. If I'm bored someplace, I'll throw in Twitter, Facebook, and Google Reader. I'm over Angry Birds and the dozens of PDK games I've bought.
I am a power user in terms of my knowledge/comfort level and everything WebOS Internals has unlocked; I just don't have much need for SSH and freetether these days nor the time to mess with a 2.0 doctor. I certainly do overclock, though, and I think that gets to a third kind of power user, in a literal sense.
I mentioned considering buying a Veer and a Pre3. One would theoretically be for some sort of edge case or emergency, but what is that realistically going to be? It's not like the differences in size and performance are so vast that I'd clearly leave the house with one rather than the other on a given day. Seems a bit silly to have both, then. So if I'm only buying one, I'm buying the more powerful one.
I can imagine a day where I regret not having more cpu/memory/storage. I can't imagine a day where I regret having too many centimeters on my phone. Ok, I can imagine being trapped under a collapsed building where the only way out involves squeezing my phone through the rubble, but I'll save that for my Gobots fanfic.
All of that's to say that I think the reviews are from people who eat/drink/sleep cutting edge tech. Why wouldn't you want the newest chip, the most cores, the most gee-bees, and the tiniest, mostest pixels you can have on Earth at this particular moment?* "Small" just isn't sexy in that context, and probably doesn't feel very newsworthy.
Actually, the thin Pixi was sexy compared to the small Veer, but that's another discussion.
* Not actually trying to mock or diminish any of the reviewers, just enjoying myself a bit.
I am a power user in terms of my knowledge/comfort level and everything WebOS Internals has unlocked; I just don't have much need for SSH and freetether these days nor the time to mess with a 2.0 doctor. I certainly do overclock, though, and I think that gets to a third kind of power user, in a literal sense.
I mentioned considering buying a Veer and a Pre3. One would theoretically be for some sort of edge case or emergency, but what is that realistically going to be? It's not like the differences in size and performance are so vast that I'd clearly leave the house with one rather than the other on a given day. Seems a bit silly to have both, then. So if I'm only buying one, I'm buying the more powerful one.
I can imagine a day where I regret not having more cpu/memory/storage. I can't imagine a day where I regret having too many centimeters on my phone. Ok, I can imagine being trapped under a collapsed building where the only way out involves squeezing my phone through the rubble, but I'll save that for my Gobots fanfic.
All of that's to say that I think the reviews are from people who eat/drink/sleep cutting edge tech. Why wouldn't you want the newest chip, the most cores, the most gee-bees, and the tiniest, mostest pixels you can have on Earth at this particular moment?* "Small" just isn't sexy in that context, and probably doesn't feel very newsworthy.
Actually, the thin Pixi was sexy compared to the small Veer, but that's another discussion.
* Not actually trying to mock or diminish any of the reviewers, just enjoying myself a bit.
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I'm own a Pixi and push it to the max. I love everything about the phone but the performance is super spotty which drives me nuts at times. I was willing to compromise though because of the form factor. For reading blogs you should use NewsRoom, it's worth the money.
Pretty sure I'm getting the Veer if Sprint doesn't announce it with the Pre3 which is doubtful.
Pretty sure I'm getting the Veer if Sprint doesn't announce it with the Pre3 which is doubtful.
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