Free Stuff! Verizon Service and Palm Pre Plus Giveaway

My Life List

Update: The Giveaway is closed, thank you all so much for reading and commenting. The winner announcement is over here.

Hello. Would you like a free Palm Pre Plus, and $300 worth of Verizon Wireless service? Yeah you would. Let’s discuss that further.

As you know, I’ve been partnering with Verizon this month to knock a few things off my Mighty List, and as part of the campaign, I’ve been using a Palm Pre Plus.

The idea was to see if the phone would be useful to me, and to find out whether Verizon would be better than my iPhone service provider. Of course, my iPhone service doesn’t work at my desk and garbles half my phone calls, so I’m a little angry about that. Angry in a “hurl my phone against the wall” kinda way. But I can be demanding when I’m paying through the nose for something that doesn’t work. We’ll discuss that more later.

For now, let’s talk about that giveaway. Verizon is offering a $600 Palm Pre Plus for free. It looks like this:

The winner will also get $300 of free service from Verizon, which looks like this:

Well, technically cellular service is invisible. It’s more something you sense in your soul when you don’t feel like hucking your phone out the window during a conference call. So in that way, Verizon is sort of like inner peace, but with less yoga involved.

I’m not required to review the Palm, and frankly I didn’t plan to, but a few of you said you were pondering new phone purchases and asked me what I thought. So here’s the stuff I liked:

Making calls. Primarily, I enjoy using my Palm as a telephone that will call people when I dial their numbers — people with whom I can have complete conversations until we mutually decide it is time to hang up. I carried both my iPhone and Palm with me while friends got used to my new number, and I can’t tell you how many times I called friends on the iPhone so they’d recognize my number, and then had to immediately call back on the Palm so they could hear what I was saying.

Dropping it in soup. So. Right after I activated my Palm, I kind of dropped it in soup. I was freaking out, thinking I’d have to admit I’m a terrible phone parent and ask for another phone. But then I just dried it off with my napkin and it kept on working. I did have to scrape some dried soup out of the charger port with a safety pin, but otherwise it didn’t even cough. Nice.

Taking photos. The phone takes killer photos, you guys. Here’s what a snapshot looks like straight out of the phone with no Photoshop intervention:

See what I mean? (Bryan took that, by the way. Thanks, B!)

Also, it has a flash! On the phone! Which means you can use it just like a regular point and shoot without having to lug around another gadget.

Making videos. You can record video on your phone. Do you hear me? We are living in the future, y’all:

Typing. I know not everyone agrees, but I like the tactile feedback of buttons when I’m typing. Some people find the buttons too small, but I didn’t have that problem. In fact, I actually used my phone to send email for the first time in my life because the email is so well integrated and it’s so easy to type.

Applying lipstick. Yeah. The phone has a compact on the back:


(Photo from the Palm Info Center, which has a detailed review if you’re looking for one.)

When I first saw it, I was irritated. Like, “Oh, I’m a girl! I want a girl phone that helps with my lipgloss.” Then I used that stupid mirror three times before I even activated the phone. My makeup has been flawless for the last month. Curse you, user testers and your uncanny insight into my demographically predictable needs!

Downsides? Because I use the camera and video constantly, I run the battery down pretty fast, which can be frustrating. So you might want some sort of battery backup if you’re not religious about charging your phone every night. Also, I tend to be an early adopter of mobile applications, and betas aren’t always available on the Palm. I realize that may not be a problem for… most of the world, but there it is.

All in all, this is a good phone on a great service. I actually think it’s a smart choice for bloggers because the camera and video are superior and it’s much easier to type, so you can do mobile updates easily.

The Giveaway

If you’d like a Palm Pre Plus for yourself, not to mention a lot of free service from Verizon Wireless, please leave a comment below promising that you will not use your new phone to text while driving, and that you will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt.

Now for the fine print: You must be 18 or over to enter and live in the U.S. Multiple entries will be disqualified. Comments will be open until Wednesday morning March 31, 2009 at 11 a.m. PST. I’ll choose winners randomly using Random.org, and will announce later that day. Good luck! My fingers are crossed for you.

Published

1,047 thoughts on “Free Stuff! Verizon Service and Palm Pre Plus Giveaway”

  1. Who wants to text while driving and have to correct the T9 automatic “spelling”? Oy. And I will put mine in a plastic bag outside the kitchen so it doesn’t even get near any soup. (also taking a tip from my MIL, who had hers in her pocket and it fell into the toilet as she was sitting on it. I won’t go near toilets with this thing, either.)

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  2. Woo hoo! Perhaps random.org will take pity on me and my Palm Treo 650, which I bought in 2004. People on the street point and laugh when I use it, I kid you not.

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  4. I NEVER text and drive. Terrible. Horrible. I drop my phone in bath tubs, getting out of the car, holding it, walking with it and even looking at it. I just looked at it and it fell on the ground. AWESOME.

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  5. May I check my lipstick while driving….? kidding~ I promise to never text while driving and to shake my finger at those who I see doing it every day in SF, yo.

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  7. No soup, no texting, just some soft night kisses for that handsome Pre if I win. That phone might just turn me into Brick Tamland. I love phone? I LOVE PHONE.

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  9. I won’t text while I drive! I don’t drive hardly anyway. And I love Gayle!

    Soup? Can’t waste soup by putting a phone in it.

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  10. I promise never to text while driving but I probably will bang my head on the steering wheel while I argue with my sister.

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  12. Oprah’s texting while driving specials have scarred me so badly that I don’t even pull my phone out of my purse while I’m in the car anymore, let alone text from it! I can’t make any promises about the soup though; I’m kind of a sloppy eater.

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  14. I totally don’t even drive, so I promise not to distract anyone else showing off my new shiny phone if I win!

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  15. OMG – how much would I love that phone? I’m pondering the iPhone, but adding the additional through the roof payment on top of my husband’s iPhone charge to our already high AT&T bill is stopping me. Also, typing on the iPhone does kinda suck. I was curious about the Palm Pre.

    Fingers crossed big time. 🙂

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  17. You didn’t say anything about using the compact to apply makeup while driving soooo….I’m in! No texting while driving, and no dropping in soup, because my husband would be mortified by me licking the phone if the soup was good.

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  18. This great! I promise…I’m there 665 people less i will have to scream at on the road….

    I understand I do biz development in the advertising world and time is money, 5 email accounts going to my phone and managing all my social media from it as well….but it is not worth having to live through the results of a accident.

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  19. I will NOT drop it in soup, ever, and I don’t even have a car, so no texting while driving. I also will love it, hug it, squeeze it and call it George. I love Palm, I already have Verizon, and I would love having this phone.

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  20. You should pick me, as I’m currently involved with the axis of evil (T-Mobile and Blackberry). My phone is charming and features the following talents: freezing up and requiring a total re-boot 74% of the time I dare to open an e-mail attachment, the ability to store one or two grainy photos, tops, and random signal loss.

    My favorite feature, however, has to be my phone’s random selection of calls it brings to my attention. Often times the phone doesn’t ring and it doesn’t show any missed calls, but when I grab it I have voice mail. This is super fun for me, as I am a Realtor and my income (not to mention my ability to not look like a total jack-ass) depend on my phone.

    I will not use it to text. I’m that friend who almost never responds to texts. I just call people back.

    Also, sometimes when I can’t get a hold of friends after a bad day it would be nice to know that I have the whole Verizon network behind me. (I’m not drinking alone, I’m with the Verizon network!) T-Mobile does not offer the same comfort.

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  24. I’m toying with the idea of finally getting a cell phone and finding out more about this texting thing all the kids are talking about. I promise not to text while driving, but the soup thing is too much to ask.

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  25. I will lock my phone in the trunk while driving and keep my soup in the front seat far from the phone.

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  26. Oh, please let it be me! I will not drop it in soup or text while driving. I WILL use that mirror!

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  27. I won’t text while I drive and since the weather is getting warmer I don’t anticipate having soup for quite some time. I think we’re good in both departments.

    Also? You have no idea how badly I need a new phone.

    samanthajocampen at gmail dot com

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  28. I promise not to text while driving and to go nowhere near soup. The bath on the other hand…

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  29. Texting while driving is bad. very bad. I won’t do it. And I like noodles in my soup, not palms. Plus I’ve been a verizon/singular customer for over 15 years, I’m LOYAL! Pick my name out of the hat..pretty please!

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  30. I PROMISE not to drop the phone in the soup or text while driving (I can barely talk on the phone while driving!) I would love to win one of these phones!

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  31. Texting while driving is illegal here in North Carolina, so let’s just agree that I’m too sweet and Southern to be a lawbreaker, shall we? Also, I’m not really a big fan of soup, so that phone would totally be in good hands with me.

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  32. I don’t text while I drive, and I LOVE Verizon.

    Plus, I don’t drop my phone in liquids. Just in sand 🙂

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  33. I solemnly swear not to text while driving or to drop it in soup — unlikely on it’s own as I can’t recall the last time I ate soup. Chili dogs don’t count, right?

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  34. I solemly promise not to text or call while driving…I would love this phone to try out all of those cool features!!

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  35. Well, dropping it in soup wouldn’t be an issue because I don’t eat soup. And no texting while driving because Oprah’s against it and I have to listen to Oprah, duh.

    Also, I’m not really okay with dying or being responsible for someone else’s death, so…

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  36. oh, oh, oh….. i promise, i promise, i promise i won’t text and drive (i KNOW i am not that coordinated) and i’m not a big fan of soup so that’s not a concern either!

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  37. I never talk or text while driving and even though this phone looks great, I will never ever do it. I will keep my phone in my pocket while preparing or eating soup.

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  39. I hereby promise I will nbot use my shiny new Palm to text (or apply lip gloss) while driving, or drop it is soup. Can I drop it in bittersweet chocolate ganache? OK, I won’t do that either.

    I am happy to hear about a phone other than a iphone from a blogger I trust. I don’t have a land line at home and AT&T service is just too janky to rely on as my primary phone. I have been holding out on a smart phone…

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  40. Oh Maggie, of course I promise to not text while driving, because that’s illegal and I only do illegal things when I ABSOLUTELY must (I would include an example, but I am far to smart to tell on myself… far too smart). Also, I promise to not drop the phone in soup because it’s summer where I live, so soup is simply ridiculous. I make no promises regarding tea and/or coffee, however.

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  41. Ooooh! Shiny new phone! Maybe it would actually drive me to use the “smart” applications on it!

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  42. I promise not to use my new phone to text while driving and I promise not to drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt. And I promise to follow directions (see above) and I promise to enjoy it!

    Thanks for the phone lottery! Fun!

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  44. I will not text while driving. I will not drop it in soup. I will even start wearing lipstick more often just to make good use of the compact!

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  46. Oprah would be so proud of you for carrying on the no-texting-while-driving torch! I promise to not text and drive OR drop it in soup. I cannot promise, however, that my 18 month old will not suck the brains out of the thing and ruin it like she did my last one.

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  48. This would take awesome baby pics in the delivery room….baby’s due 4/27! 🙂 So, I won’t text while driving, but may during my c-section.

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  49. I feel greedy commenting, as I have already won a contest from this wonderful blog, but I have been wanting one of these and am broke, per usual!

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