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”

  2. I don’t have a car, so I definitely won’t be texting while driving. As for soup, it is springtime now so soup is off the menu. I really hate cold soups.

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  5. I promise not to text while driving – I’m not that coordinated. And no soup for 24 hours – no problem. I would love to try that phone – I used to be a palm user, then treo. Got the iPhone, and well, same frustrations with service that you have.

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  6. I will not use my new phone to text while driving, and will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt. Beyond that I can’t make promises – I dropped my brand new iPhone in snow bank (I think, I still haven’t found it)… so I could really use a new phone!!

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  7. I promise not to text and drive. I would love to have that awesome phone.

    I also love your blog!

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  8. I’m terrified of texting while driving – I don’t understand how anyone is that coordinated.

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  9. I am not clever enough to come up with a creative way to say I will not text and drive nor will I drop the phone in soup. But, I am feeling lucky this morning. We’ll see what happens!

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  12. I live in Chicago and am car-less so I definitely won’t text while driving (although texting while on public transport is pretty much a must). Also, soup weather is on it’s way out so I can easily keep that promise as well!

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  13. Who doesn’t love the idea of free stuff!! And I’m a very loyal Verizon-ite already, so I’d love to get something for nothing from them.

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  15. I consider myself an iPhone fan, but am intrigued by your review. I wonder how much of the service issue is regional? I hope to find out!

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  16. I live in Boston, so I don’t drive! And I do my part by occasionally accusing my boyfriend of texting while driving, being sure to behave as if it were the worst offense he could commit against my person. Whether or not he actually committed the act is not important to the charade.

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  17. I’m intrigued by this, I got a Palm device back when it was just a good ol’ Palm Pilot and went through several models up to the Treo 650. I really miss the organizer functions, I’ve always thought it was superior… and I never text while driving, I’m too clumsy!

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  18. I would looovveee a new phone! And a new wireless carrier. My contract has been up for a while but I haven’t made the decision about switching or not. This would be perfect!

    And I promise not to text/talk while driving or drop it in soup or other liquids 🙂

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  19. I do not text and drive and I don’t phone and soup. Although I have dropped mine in the toilet so I promise not to do that too.

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  20. I’ve been going back & forth on a new phone for awhile – this is sooooo helpful! I pinky promise not to text & drive and certainly not to drop it n any soup. 🙂

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  21. I’ve been wanting an iPhone for years, but can’t work up the nerve to leave Verizon. Pick me!!

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  23. Verizon is the only provider that has enabled service in my officebuilding — my current phone/service are totally worthless during the weekdays. Help please!

    Should I be the lucky recipient of this excellent device profiled in your post, I would most certainly not text while driving, nor drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt.

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  24. No drive-texting or soup-dunking for me. So you’d think I’d have good cell karma, but I’ve been regretting my current phone almost since I got it.

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  26. First off- I visit your site every day! I am truly enjoying your Life List Quest. I have been a Verizon subscriber for years, and will never leave it! With this phone, I would revisit my project 365- do it completely mobile! that would be fun!

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  28. I don’t text while driving (or talk while soup-ing, for that matter).

    This would be great for me, seeing as I’ve yet to embrace the fact that you can get email/internet on your phone, much to my husband-to-be’s dismay. He’s dying for me to upgrade, and well, I’m too cheap for the time being (we have a wedding to pay for!).

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  32. So happy to hear you love the new palm. I have been looking into this model! Texting and/or talking on your phone while driving should be banned… just sayin’.

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  36. I will not use my new phone to text while driving…and I think I can safely promise not to drop it in soup, although I can’t give my word when it comes to coffee or cereal.

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  37. Yes! Ok!!! My son (15) or daughter (6) text for me as I drive! Isn’t predictive text great? Well, sometimes – other times, I send a message that looks like this “I hate this ducking weather!” (I live in MN) Not that the 15 year old should need preditive text….it’s handy for the 6-year old, I mean! Thanks!

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  40. I hereby promise not to use my new phone to text while driving and not to drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt. Pinky swear.

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  43. I swear I will not text while driving, drop it in soup, or, um, “lose it” when really it is in my purse for four days and I really need to clean my bag out so things like that stop happening.

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  45. I promise not to text when driving and will not drop it in soup! Verizon’s coverage really can’t be beat – we switched and haven’t looked back!

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  46. I do hereby promise to not text while driving (a promise I’ve been meaning to make to myself, so now is as good a time as any!) and I will try my darndest to not drop it in a bowl of soup within the first 24 hours – but I can’t guarantee anything about the 25th hour!

    Thanks for doing fun stuff on your website Maggie.
    (I know you’re secretly pulling for me because we have the same name!! Thanks for that – I appreciate it!)

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  47. I promise not to text while driving or drop my phone in soup. I cannot promise not to spill coffee on it. My superpower is coffee-spilling. But I will try, try, try to keep my new phone coffee-free! (And I’m encouraged that it survived a soup-dunking.)

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  48. I promise not to text while driving… I am just not coordinated enough. I have been wanting a new phone forever… still rocking some 5 year old Samsung.

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  49. I have never dropped a phone in the toilet or in soup and I don’t text while driving. I am also growing very wearing of my AT&T service!

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