Powered by the second-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 800MHz processor, the Veer might seem dated compared with the dual-core smartphones we've seen this year. I was pleasantly surprised by the Veer's performance, however. It was only when I had an excessive number of apps open that the Veer started to slow down.

Call quality over AT&T's 3G network in San Francisco was pretty good. To test voice service on the Veer, I made a few calls standing on a busy street corner in the city. One colleague reported that I had "radio voice," meaning that my voice sounded a bit thin and distant, but he said he could hear me fine overall. Voices sounded good on my end, as well, and I experienced no dropped calls or static during my tests.

We didn't get a chance to perform formal battery testing, but the Veer held up during a full day of use. In my previous experience with WebOS devices, it was clear that the more apps you had open, the faster the battery would run out. WebOS's multitasking system makes it pretty easy to manage what you have open, but it's a good idea to keep an eye on things.

The tiny Veer packs in a solid 5-megapixel camera, but unfortunately it does not have a flash. Photos that I took indoors with good lighting looked quite nice, with sharp details and natural color. Photos taken outdoors on a bright, sunny day in San Francisco also seemed very good. But photos taken in a dark restaurant at nighttime appeared murky and blurry without the flash.