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 promise not to text while driving. Also, the idea of being able to have a complete conversation – wherein you can hear each other and everything! – is, well, foreign and inappropriately exciting for this iPhone user.

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  3. I won’t text while driving and I’m not a big fan of soup, so I promise not to drop the phone in my spaghetti.

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  4. OMG I so need this phone. I hate my Blackberry. For serious. And I am already a loyal Verizon user…like, I worship the ground they walk around on. Never have calls dropped, ANYWHERE, and I travel to the remotest parts of the US regularly for my job. I swear I will not text while driving. Pinky swear.

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  8. Not only will I not text while I drive (it’s illegal here anyway)and be extra careful with it, but it would be going to a good home for someone whose phone is dying a slow and painful death.

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  10. Ok I can’t say that I’ve *never* texted while driving, but I promise I will never do it again. Scouts’ honor.

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  11. I probably won’t ever use this phone to text while driving, and DEFINITELY won’t drop it in soup. And, embarrassingly, I probably WILL use it to check my makeup.

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  12. even if i had a car to drive, i would never text whilst operating said vehicle. supporting evidence: i’ve never once text-/talked and biked. yikes!

    as for the soup…you totally have my promise, but it’s pretty much just like one of those chocolate easter bunnies: hollow.

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  15. My phone pales in comparison to the Pre. I promise:

    I will not text nor talk on the Pre while driving my vehicle, nor will I use the Pre for those or any other activities when in the midst of cooking/preparing my pot of soup. Besides, I wouldn’t want anyone that eats my soup to approach me and say: Pardon me, but there’s a Pre in my soup.

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  17. I would SO love this. Been thinking about Verizon for some time, since I live in a part of the country that AT&T is pretending doesn’t exist.

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  19. text and drive? i can barely hum and drive. and my phones get dropped into the toilet more often than soup, so that’s a pretty low risk too. so, pretty please, pick me.

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  20. I will not use my new phone to text while driving, and I will not drop it in soup within 24 hours of receipt

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  24. I would love to win this!! I would use it to update my website hourly and I would NEVER EVER text while driving or use it without my bluetooth!! I already have Verizon and I love them!!If I win I will post this on my website…got my fingers and toes crossed.

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  25. I never text while driving. How is that even possible? Also, given the current temperature here in Austin, there’s no soup in my near future. Just in case, though, I’ll avoid gazpacho!

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  27. By the power of all that is awesom, I promise not to talk or text on the pre while driving. I will also not drop it in any type of food, soup or liquid within 24 hours of receipt. In fact, I can say with great confidence, that even though it’s probably got a ton of features, a thermometer is probably not one of them.
    Thanks for the chance to win!

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  28. Hi, Maggie! It’s nice to read a review written by someone who also uses an iPhone. I promise, I would never drop my phone in my soup or text while driving.

    Thanks!

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  29. That this phone survived a drop into soup is what sells it to me. I solemnly swear not to text with it while I drive!

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  30. I don’t even understand HOW people text while driving. I can barely manage to change the radio channel.

    I will also promise to keep any and all phones away from soup.

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  32. I will not text and drive because I signed the Oprah pledge and as we all know, she knows all and will smite me if I disobey.

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  33. My current phone is EMBARRASSINGLY old and a new phone would be a welcome change. I promise to take real good care of it if I win! Thanks!

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  34. i promise 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.

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  35. Shut up! *shoving you* A compact mirror? Alright science, now we’re talkin here!
    I’m a mama of two and do solemnly swear that I will never text and drive!! I will also be a responsible compact mirror user which means never using it to check out what’s going on in the dressing room next door. No matter how tempting.

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  38. Oh in addition to needing a new phone & provider, I could get a lot of mileage out of promising not to text while driving (punny!). As far as that & the soup go, I promise.

    Thanks 🙂

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  39. Wahoooooo! I promise not to text while driving, and soup season’s over so we’re good there too.

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  40. Why on earth would you need a mirror?! You are always pure perfection.

    As I am a clumsy, thumbless goof, I can’t possibly text, driving or not. And I’ll just have to stay away from soup, public restrooms, and puddles….

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  42. If randomly selected as the lucky winner, I would (a) never ever text while driving, (b) never drop it in soup, either while cooking or eating it, and (c) be really really happy to get the free Verizon service, because I love them and I’ve been holding off on getting an iPhone until Verizon has one, and this would be the best of both worlds. So YAY!

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  44. I hereby solemnly swear that I will not text while driving. I will also not text while walking down the street. In the event that I win the $300+/- in service, I will stop what I’m doing (driving, walking, eating, running, etc.) before I text.

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  46. Who doesn’t need a phone with a handy lipstick mirror? I’ll promise not to drop it in the soup…

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  47. I would love to update my cell phone. I don’t drive and text – it is one of my biggest pet peeves! And I’m getting a little sick of soups…it’s now salad season. 🙂

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  48. I have been drooling over this phone but I promise I won’t drool ON it. Or drop it in soup. In fact, I will not even go NEAR soup for the first week. As for texting while driving? No way. Trying to set a good example for my 15 y/o who is getting ready to drive.

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  49. but, i LOVE soup. and then what if i love my phone and i want to share my love of soup with my beloved phone? what then? WHAT THEN?

    but i promise not to put the phone in the soup even though it’s breaking my heart.

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  50. I promise not to text while I drive (I almost never even TALK while I drive – and even then, I promise I’m a hands-free girl). And I almost never even EAT soup, so no problem there either. So I’m safe! I’m allowed to win this. 😉

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