Hasta La Gadget!

The 4G Veer will undoubtedly sell in the dozens. Photo Jon Snyder / Wired.com

HP’s webOS-based Veer 4G cellphone is coming to AT&T on May 15th. The tiny Palm phone — small enough to be hidden in your own palm — will be an AT&T exclusive. This seems to us to be better than the suicide-by-carrier that Palm committed by giving Sprint the exclusive deal on the original Palm.

The diminutive phones manages to pack in a pull out keyboard. A good thing, too, as trying to type on the tiny 2.6-inch screen would drive you crazy. Other specs include a 5MP camera, 8GB storage and an 800MHz Snapdragon processor. The whole package weighs in at 3.63 ounces.

Don’t let the “4G” part of the name get you too excited. First, it doesn’t support HSPA+, which is widely considered just 3.5G. Instead, it has HSDPA, or enhanced 3G. Calling this a 4G phone is a stretch.

Not that it really matters. Having a 4G phone today is like owning an 802.11n-compatible Wi-Fi device a few years back. It was nice to see on the spec sheet, but as most Wi-Fi networks were still 802.11g, you could never get the extra speed anyway.

The Veer “4G” will be out on May 15th, as I said, and cost $100.

Veer “4G” press release [AT&T via HP Palm blog]

See Also:

• Hands-On With HP's Tiny Veer Smartphone
• WebOS
• HP Launches WebOS-Powered Tablet, Phones
• Wired Explains: What U.S. Carriers Mean by '4G'
• Carriers Bet Big on 4G Phones Despite Network Immaturity

Pandora is letting its hair loose, expanding beyond the realm of music-based radio stations into the world of comedy. The streaming music service will offer more than 10,000 clips from over 700 comedians, and will be loaded and ready to go sometime today. If you’re already familiar with the service, this brand-new genre will work the same exact way as any other Pandora station: create new radio stations based on your favorite comedians and you can still give the thumb up or down for those tracks you feel strongly enough about. The press release is no laughing matter, but it’s available for your reading pleasure after the break.

Continue reading Pandora gets a case of the giggles, now offers comedy stations

Pandora gets a case of the giggles, now offers comedy stations originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already got some hands-on time with HP’s sleek webOS keyboard, and now it’s the FCC’s turn. The skinny peripheral — that’s Bluetooth Keyboard KT-1087 to you — popped up on the Federal Communications Commission’s site, stripped naked for the government filing enthusiasts of the world to collectively ogle. That hopefully means the rest of us will see the wireless add-on for sale in the near future, AA batteries not included — it would sure go nicely with that HP TouchPad you’ve been eyeing. Those who get a perverse thrill watching unreleased products sprawled out, alien autopsy-style are encouraged to check out the gallery below.

HP webOS keyboard passes FCC smell test, won’t zap you to death with radiation originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the past six months, Android’s appeal has grown while desire for iOS and Blackberry devices shrinks. Source: The Nielsen Company

What type of smartphone are you planning on purchasing next?

If you answered Android, you are now in the majority.

According to surveys conducted by Nielsen for January to March 2011, 31% of consumers plan to make their next smartphone purchase an Android handset. 30% said they’d be getting an iOS device. Those numbers are up for Android since July to September 2010, when only 26% were planning on an Android for their next purchase and 33% wanted an iPhone.

A number of solid Android handsets have been released so far this year, with attractive features like 4G connectivity, large 4-inch+ displays, and speedy processors. And with the addition of in-app billing and the Amazon App Store, Android’s historically underwhelming app ecosystem is looking more appealing for both app developers and their app purchasing audience. Sales for Android devices like the HTC Thunderbolt have reportedly been strong, often outpacing that of the iPhone 4.

But iOS wasn’t the only smartphone to decline in popularity. Research in Motion’s BlackBerry also felt the pinch, with consumer favor for the OS dropping from 13% in 2010 to 11% in the first quarter of 2011.

Smartphone market shares as of March 2011. Source: The Nielsen Company

Not surprisingly, the current shares in the smartphone market reflect that same relationship as these consumer-preference scores. Android handsets dominate with 37% of the market, iOS is currently the second most popular with 27%, and RIM is third with 22%.

But consumers are fickle. Will the release of the next iPhone flip those numbers in Apple’s favor, or will Android gain a large enough foothold that it will dominate for the foreseeable future?

We still don’t have a solid release date for HP’s tiny Veer — we’ve been told it’s “coming around the corner” and will be here “soon” — but if we were the guessing type, we’d say that the pint-sized webOS 2.2 smartphone will hit the market on or about the 2nd of May. That’s because a PreCentral reader stumbled across what looks like an official invitation to an “HP Veer Launch Party Event” in Los Angeles on that very date, and it’s typically fairly difficult to launch a handset without a handset to launch, if you know what we mean. Still, this looks like a business-to-business event, so we wouldn’t circle your calendar quite yet — but if you’ve already got that red marker out, you might want to put a X over May 12th instead. That’s the day that AT&T is hosting a webOS 3.0 developer webcast — which might be worth attending in and of itself — but is particularly noteworthy given that HP hasn’t announced carriers for the Veer or SIM-slot packing HP TouchPad just yet.

[Thanks, Brian L.]

HP planning Veer launch party for May 2nd, AT&T brings cake for webOS 3.0 devs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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