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. This phone sounds awesome! And the $300 free service is certainly nothing to sneeze at either. Thanks for the chance to win it, Maggie and Verizon!

    Now on to the requirements: I promise I will not text and drive, and I will not drop the phone in my soup! I’ll add a little extra and promise to pay it forward and donate my current phone to a good cause if I win too!

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  2. i promise promise promise i won’t a) text while driving or b) drop it in soup. i don’t even really like soup. but i do like driving. with my phone turned off in the back seat. for reals.

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  3. I will not text and drive with this phone. I will not even talk and drive. And I will keep it far away from soup tureens, bowls, and mugs so have no fear about my dropping it in — simply won’t happen.

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  6. I was planning on getting a Droid once I get my “New Every Two” next month, but you may have convinced me to go for the Palm Pre Plus. Even if I don’t win this one.

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  7. I totes won’t text and drive! And I hate soup! I might drop it in chili, though, but not til it gets cold again.

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  9. A kickass camera in the phone is one of the reasons that I have resisted using an iPhone, I keep telling my friends that when the iPhone can compete with the Nokia N86 8MP or any number of high end Samsungs, then we can talk.

    The best camera one can have is the one on you at the time you want to take a photo. I am glad to hear that the Pre is taking nice photos, like the one of Cute Little Mister above.

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  10. I can guarantee I won’t text and drive since I don’t have a car. I promise I won’t talk on public transportation either.

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  11. I promise 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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  12. Ooooh! A phone that doesn’t hang up on important calls and cries “Call Failure”???? (Whatever the heck that means?!!??) I’m SOLD! Pick. ME!

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  13. I can barely text and walk so I definitely don’t text and drive and I won’t drop it in soup… though other liquids are fair game. Thanks for the great giveaway.

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  15. It’s strictly public transit for this Philadelphia chicky. Also, my soup consumption is down these days thanks to the brilliant spring weather around these parts #thankyoumothernature

    This phone haunts my dreams at night. I wants it!

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  16. I’ve been on my dad’s Sprint plan since I was 15 going on 16…and now I’m 27. I should probably get my own plan, or join my husband’s Verizon plan. And this would be the perfect way to do so!

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  17. i promise not to text while i drive, and i promise to, as delicately as possible, point out that i think you might maybe have the date wrong for the end of the contest. (pssst! 2010!)

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  20. I’d love a new phone especially since my old one can barely hold a charge these days. I hardly ever drive, so I text safely from the passenger seat.

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  21. I don’t have a car, so I won’t be texting while I drive. I do like soup, though, but I’ll promise not to talk on the phone while I eat.

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  22. I would love a new phone and eat my soup with my phone to the side of my bowl, not over. And, should I receive a phone call or text, I always lean back in my chair, away from my bowl of soup, before answering or typing.

    I have references if needed. 🙂

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  24. I will not text while driving. I will talk on the phone while cooking but my apron has a pocket for that.

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  27. Ohhhh pretty phone. The only thing my current phone does is flip open. Think it’s time for an upgrade! Promise not to text while driving or eating soup.

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  29. I promise to never text or call while driving (or soup-ing). I need a new phone so badly!

    Thanks!

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  30. I’m car-free, so I’ll never text while driving, pinky promise. And I don’t really like soup.

    Oh, please please please let the god of random.org pick me!

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  34. I will not text while driving, promise. Pick meeeeeeeee! Please…pretty please with a cherry on top…

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  36. Ooh! I love Verizon’s service and would be thrilled to continue using it with a grownup phone rather than the wimpy little Juke that I’m using now! Plus – I will not text and drive.

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  37. I can promise I’ll *try* not to drop it in soup, but knowing me, I can’t really go any further than that.

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  41. As my phone is becoming quite, ahem, archaic, I would love this sexy new phone.

    As a general rule, I never text while in motion. However, the other day while I was walking on campus, I did see someone with headphones texting while biking. Which means this guy was basically using his nose to navigate. Seriously.

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  42. Thanks for the review! I can upgrade next month and have been looking for a new phone. I promise not to text while driving or drop the phone in my soup!

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  43. I promise not to text while driving, and to refrain from dropping my phone into the soup, as tempting and delicious as it sounds!

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  44. I won’t even use it to TALK while driving, let alone text. And I won’t drop it in soup, though that will be harder, since I love soup. I WILL (WOULD?) (WILL!) use this phone to help manage my chaotic-but-fun life that includes (but is not limited to) being an amateur music director and staying in touch with friends and family in Europe. Thank you, Maggie!!!

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  46. I would love it so. I’m bringing my little boy to Disney for the first time, and think the video option would be FANTASTIC! And yes, I promise not to text while driving or drop it in soup.

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  47. i can promise not to text and drive and not to drop the phone in my soup but not dropping it in the toilet? that’s a horse of a different color – no promises there.

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  48. I will not text and drive…I might be a passenger and text, but no driving. Also,I will wait at least 25 hours before dropping a new phone in soup…26 if I’m feeling coordinated!

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  49. I bought my wife a palm pre when she was pregnant and we kept getting lost driving around looking for Baby’s R Us and Lullaby Lane. The phone envy I currently feel is more debilitating than texting-while-driving could ever be.

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  50. At the moment I carry around an ipod, a point and shoot camera and an ugly little pay-as-you-go phone. Palm Pre would be an excellent way to streamline this part of my life. 🙂

    Also, I never text. It steals my zen.

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