French-keyed Veer spied in Germany, AZERTY keyboard confounds the QWERTZ crowd 14

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 9:49 am EDT

AZERTY keyboard HP Veer

We joked that when HP said their mini-smartphone the Veer would be released like the Palm Pre 2, that that would mean SFR in France would be the only ones to get the phone for a long while. And while it’s looking like that blessedly won’t be the case this time around, don’t think for a second that Palm’s favorite French carrier is going to miss out on new webOS action.

Spotted at the re: publica XI conference for bloggers and social media types in Germany was the HP Veer, with a keyboard arranged in the wacky French AZERTY layout. Alongside this Veer destined to view streetside cafés, the Eiffel Tower, and baskets full of baguettes was its bigger brother, the HP Pre 3, which practically dwarfed the little phone. And no, we don’t know why HP brought an AZERTY phone to show off to the QWERTZ German crowd. They like tiny things too – they’re the country behind the Smart car and VW Beetle, after all.

Source: Engadget German; Thanks to Rot for the tip!

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14 Comments

Posted by protofa on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 9:52 am EDT

will the US get this phone? can hp confirm that at least?

Posted by fxspec06 on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:06 am EDT

I'm pretty sure the US is going to get this phone.

*facepalm*

Posted by tklr on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:12 am EDT

As @o2inside tweeted today, a qwertz-Veer will be available in Germany in june.

tweet: http://tklr.de/i2gCuz
specs-page: http://tklr.de/gmpfGn

Posted by FischOderAal on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:22 am EDT

Boooooooo... Last month they said May :(

Posted by FischOderAal on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:23 am EDT

It has a french keyboard but the OS is in German ("Just type" => "Einfach lostippen"). However, it seems to sport a french SIM as well, at least the phone is "roaming" (see the R in the top bar). Maybe a German working at SFR?!

But I'm sure we'll have QWERTZ by the time it will be available at O2 Germany. Too bad tklr just posted that they expect the Veer in June and not May like they stated last month :-(

Oh my... Reading the post at Engadget German reminds me why I always read the English version. It's godawful. Additionally to the spelling errors they say the Veer has a 1.2 GHz Dualcore Snapdragon *rolleyes*

Posted by jcmarcos on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 10:33 am EDT

"they’re the country behind the Smart car and VW Beetle, after all"

Although the smart is a wonderful very small car, the Beetle isn't, it's huge. It looks small by its design only.

Posted by rnatau on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 4:11 am EDT

And, actually, while the Smart is owned and produced by ze Germans, it is originally a Swiss design that was sold very shortly before becoming a major smash hit in Europe :-/
*nitpick*

Posted by janter on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:43 am EDT

Sac Re Bluea!

Posted by ToniCipriani on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:52 am EDT

I wonder with the event, the O2 tweet and this, points to a global launch for the Veer.

Posted by pongpeeplus on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 12:09 pm EDT

if teenagers/young ppl are the target customers of veer, HP/Palm might want to provide different color choices(not just the back cover, but the whole body?)

this might increase the chance to catch young ppl's eyes...

BTW, I hope HP could release Pre3 internationally, and with Chinese input keyboard support?!(both cht and chs)

Posted by ilovedessert on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 1:12 pm EDT

Hi all,
While I want a Pre 3 not a Veer, I am so glad to see things moving along....I also wanted to mention the following:

I saw from the last article about the veer that many of you are happy with the format....

I think we should be pleased that HP is willing to make smartphones in all formats!

Take care,

jay

Posted by neos200 on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 1:23 pm EDT

I've been there, too. The folks from HP told me they took all the devices they got in Europe to show them in Berlin.

That's the reason why there even was a french Pre 3.

Take a look at my hands on (it's written in German, but i hope Google Translate will do the job ;) ), there are some more shots an information.