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. I’d try it out. I don’t know that you’ve convinced me to give up the wait for an iPhone to come to Verizon, but I’d try it. And I promise not to drive and text.

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  2. I promise not to text while driving. I also promise not to chew gum, text AND drive at the same time. And Wednesday is my birthday. This would be an awesome birthday gift.

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  5. Oh, Gadgets, how I love thee… No texting while driving, of course. And, no soup! The toilet at a dive bar is a different story ( not that there is any precedence for believing it would be…ahem).

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  8. Oooh, pick me, pick me! I promise not to text while driving. I make no such promises not to check my email while driving.

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  9. Working really hard to not text while driving so I’ll make that promise hear, even though I haven’t signed the Oprah contract yet. And soup, nah…no worries there, my phone never gets close to soup.

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  10. I promise not to drop it in soup (there’s a youtube video of one being dropped in beer so his boss would get him an Iphone “death of a pre”) or text while driving (I’m dying to give a ticket for that!)

    Anyway, a free phone and service is the only way you’ll get me on Verizon.

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  11. I will not text while driving
    I will not drop it in the soup
    I will not eat it with a scoop.
    Oh wait. Sorry. Got carried away…

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  13. In a past life, I dropped a phone in shrimp-peely water at the sink when I was making shrimp and grits. Phone survived and I learned my lesson.
    I’m worthy of the Palm Pre. Bring it on.

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  14. I promise to not text while driving! (I’m an insurance auto claims adjuster, I don’t text while driving anyway, though)

    The soup though.. no promises. I”m pretty clumsy. I will have a 24 hour soup embargo if I win the phone, though!

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  15. GAH!In the event I do not win this giveaway, this post about how awesome this phone is makes me want to switch to Verizon this summer when I change providers.

    And texting while driving,haha! I’m the kid who just got her permit. There might, however, be some texting whilst walking and chewing gum which…well let’s be honest would probably be a fairly dangerous endeavor.

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  17. I will never text & drive (probably never text. Period. :). BUT, I have no cell phone, and my students would be psyched to hear I’m moving into the 21st Century. (And as I’m old fashioned with this phone stuff, I won’t use it while eating meals with other people, at least (which is 99% of my meals), which means it will automatically avoid soup-hazards!).

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  18. This would actually be perfect for my husband. He can’t use an iPhone because his fingers won’t work on the keypad. And while I have the worst service in the nation (seriously, how is AT&T so bad in San Francisco), at least I can (sometimes) send email from my phone.

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  19. I would never intentionally text while driving and I don’t eat soup very often so I doubt I’d drop it in soup. I may, however, drop it in spaghetti.

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  22. i promise! i promise! also: the pictures it can take look fantastic, but i’m equally excited about the mirror on the back…. 😉

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  24. What an awesome giveaway! If I somehow manage to get chosed, you know what I would do with the phone? Take a ton of pictures until I replace my lost camera! That thing takes great pictures.

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  26. I will not drop it in soup (on day one).

    I will not text and drive (ever).

    I will not let the nephew use as a toy (much).

    I will not throw this at the boyfriend.

    JENA WANTS THE PALM PRE! Thanks a heap.

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  27. I’ll treasure it with all my heart, and keep it well away from treacherous soups and drinks.

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  28. So, yeah, totally bellying up to the bar of a potential freebie. I have bad circulation (hey sexy reach for the husband in the night and elicit screams of startled pain) so the iPhone doesn’t register my futile pawing at the non-buttons. Would lurve to win this.

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  29. i promise! my husband’s cell phone died and he refuses to buy a new one, so he’s switching between 4 old phones in our house until his contract is up and he can get a new one. please help us!

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  31. I promise not to text while driving – or apply lipstick while driving…and most definitely will not drop it in my soup – i could however really use this phone and $$$ right now – my new every 2 is up and we’re in the process of deciding if we should stay or go from vzw.
    Help me stay… {fingers crossed}

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  32. I promise no texting while driving, no soup while chatting, etc. etc. will be good to phone at all times because it looks pretty cool!

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  33. I promise not to text while driving. I do not promise not to lose it or damage it while traveling for work.

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  34. ohmygah my brain is exploding right now. you have NO IDEA how happy this giveaway makes me… i’m still old-schooling it (mostly) on my phone. i mean, i text. but no data, no apps, etc. i currently have verizon service (which i love… all of my ATT friends are jealous because their holes are like swiss cheese) and i’ve been seriously weighing whether or not to take the plunge and upgrade to the palm pre.

    i promise not to text while driving, drop it in my soup and i will even give the birds and the bees talk three months early.

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  35. I will not text while driving. I will not text while driving. I will not text while driving.

    On the soup–given my history with phones, that’s commitment I’m not quite ready to make.

    I have been drooling over the PalmPre since it came out. Fingers crossed!

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  36. Hot damn! I don’t usually get excited over phones, but, Maggie, you make it sound so loveable! Count me in.

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  42. I would LOVE this! I don’t text and drive, and unfortunately don’t eat soup often – so that dropping thing shouldn’t be a problem. Thanks!

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  43. i solemnly swear never to text and drive. and i will put forth my best effort to never drop the phone in soup or any other warm liquid.

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  44. I do solemnly swear not to Text and drive, now drop the Palm in my soup. I can’t guarantee it will never touch spilled Coffee, but I WILL love it and hug it and call it George!!

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  45. I absolutely promise that I will not text while driving, not only because it is incredibly stupid and dangerous, but also because it is against the law where I live. I also promise not to drop it in soup. But I can’t guarantee that my 2 year old won’t try to drop it in her chocolate milk…

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  46. promising not to text and drive and not to drop it in soup, although my 3 year old may very well do so. thanks so much for the giveaway!

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  50. I need a new phone so badly! I solemnly swear not to text while driving, and I dislike soup, so I should be okay there. Thanks for the chance!

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