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”

  3. We’ve been looking into phone upgrades (with a switch to Verizon, no less). Getting a free one would be awesome. And, I’m not much of a multi-tasker when it comes to phones and eating or driving.

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  4. I have always been very responsible with my phone. I never talk while driving and I always have it set to vibrate because I teach yoga. Go random winner generator!

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  5. I promise I will not drop it in soup, nor will I text and drive. As a fellow AT&T-er, I am curious as to whether Verizon is really as awesome as they say it is.

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  7. I do solemnly swear that I will not use my new phone to text while driving, and that I will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt.

    amen.

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  8. i will not send texts while driving, but i might drop my phone in some soup (hopefully not within the first 24 hours of getting it).

    p.s. i am working on my mighty list. it is a lot more difficult than i expected.

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  9. I promise not to text and drive, and not to eat soup. That’s the safer way, just avoid soup altogether. I also promise to only use the mirror on the back during dire makeup emergencies at work.

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  11. I really, really, really need this new phone. I have finally finished my servitude to tmobile and am looking for a new phone service. My sad little phone is a phone off ebay that makes me sound like a “monster” according to family members and it gives others a great excuse to hang up on me “I’m sorry I can’t hear you” click. I am terrible at texting so I won’t text while driving, walking or speaking!

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  12. Oh please let me win! I want to hurl my blackberry across the room and then take it to a field and hit it with a baseball bat Office Space style.
    I promise not to drop it in soup or any other liquid and no texting or even talking on the phone while driving (thanks to Oprah’s cell phone while driving kills show). Whew.

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  13. I PROMISE not to text and drive, and certainly not to drop it in soup. Stew perhaps, or orange juice. Not that that has ever happened. Certainly not.

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  14. After this winter, I’m so soup-ed out, I don’t plan on eating any probably until this cell phone contract would be done. LOL

    And, yes, no texting while driving. I don’t even talk on the phone while driving, not even with a headset. People can wait.

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  15. Ooo, I love that the phone is soup-resistant. My recent phone survived being submerged in a mop-bucket, so I need a hearty phone. And I will lay off the drive-texting, in general and PARTICULARLY if I win a fancy new Palm Pre.

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  16. I promise that I will never ever text and drive, and to keep my phone away from all liquid substances. Oh boy, I hope I win!

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  17. We love our Verizon service….but my phone could use a serious upgrade! And I promise to buy a protective case 🙂

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  21. I do solemnly swear to neither text while driving nor drop the phone in soup. I can’t make any promises about the toilet, though.

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  23. I promise, Maggie! I’m desperate for a new phone and was already considering a move to Verizon. To get such a smashing upgrade for free, would be a dream come true. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  28. i don’t even talk on the phone while driving, let alone txt! and i promise not to use it near liquids.

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  29. I don’t eat soup, so that’s not a problem. And I try to not even talk while I’m driving, so not texting isn’t a problem.

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  32. Oh golly, I need this! I would take such good care of it–never texting while driving and never soup dipping! I’ll make a special place in my life for that sweet phone!

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  34. I promise not to text while driving. I also promise to stop trying to text while walking because that’s also annoying, though less likely to cause death.

    I also have to say that though iPhones look really cool, I have steadfastly refused to give up my Verizon service just to get one. Verizon should therefore reward me with a pretty new phone.

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  36. I will absolutely not text while driving, and I promise promise PROMISE not to drop the phone in soup within 24hours of receiving it. (No such guarantees can be made about not dropping it in a cappuccino, however).
    thank you thank you!

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  38. I can barely drive or text so no worries about doing those things at the same time. Also soup? It’s spring time, the worst it’ll get dropped into is hummus or maybe a fruit cup, but I’ll keep it tied to a string around my neck so I won’t lose it. Yay, I could really use this phone.

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  39. As much as I love the iPhone, my biggest phone needs are being able to hear someone and have them hear me. Verizon rules at this. At least in my house.
    I hate texting. But loves soup. I will conform to all your phone wishes.

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  41. I will not use it in the car and I will do my best to not drop it in soup! Years ago I dropped my phone in STANDING BEER and … kaput. I like to think I learned a lesson.

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  42. I promise not to text and drive. The soup part I cannot promise, I have dropped several poor little phones into the toilet. I know, sorry, gross.

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  43. Oh my. I need a new phone and I have a long time to wait. This would be perfect! P.S I only text at lights!

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  45. I don’t have a car, so the no texting while driving is an easy promise. So far I have never dropped a phone in a food I am eating and I hope to continue that trend. I love my iPhone, so I’m not really sure why I going for this phone…I think it is the compact. I always get parsley stuck in between my teeth.

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  46. I promise to never ever text and drive, and I promise to use it for calls and not stirring soup. I also promise that I will take every opportunity to show my iPhone-hurling boyfriend how nice it is to actually finish a call with someone on purpose.

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  47. No texting while driving and I promise to abstain from soup for at least a week. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  49. I promise to take good care of it and use it to write a dissertation that will help high school kids have better experiences in math class.

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  50. I don’t even know how to text (well I know HOW, but it takes me forever to so don’t do it). I will do my best on the soup thing – that does sound like something I would do!

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