• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

"Missing Droid X Real-World Give-Away" Contest (1st Post:Updated)

We need to keep in mind that these phones didn't drop out of the sky like in the original Droid commercial. Verizon likely shipped a phone to a Verizon store nearby the location that the phone was to be placed and asked the manager to place it. I don't think the chief executives flew around on the corporate jet to position these, but I could be wrong.

The "big country" phone (#11) seems like it might be in Abilene, TX. Google says that is the nickname for the city. There happens to be a lone Verizon store in the area. Does anybody live near that location?
 
woop said:
Alright so I got asked if this thread can be stickied, and it seems reasonable. I'm actually secretly following Droidlanding on Twitter so I can have two Droid phones :)

But anyways, this will stay stuck until the contest is over, and then its I'll be unstickying it. Enjoy guys and good luck to everyone (that isn't in California :))
Click to expand...

gctrullinger said:
Thanks, woop. And that's completely alright because I won't be needing it. :cool:
Click to expand...

Just so you know, I've got dibs on anything east of the Caldecott Tunnel. I was one of the first people on this thread and one of the first twitter followers. You guys can't just pop in last minute when the gettins good!;)
 
Hoo-ah! Great to see Verizon supporting our soldiers.

So, my thoughts on this hunt are as follows:

In clues like these you either have to look deeply at every aspect of the clues, or take them simply at face value. If the poster of the clues is intelligent (highly intelligent) you need to look the exact posted time, proper and improper capitalization and grammer, the numbers of the phones, the amount of letters/words/sentences/etc........ every possible aspect. You have to analyze trends, see patterns, find any hidden meaning in the words and numbers that are posted. You guys have been doing a good job of seeing some trends in the clues such as the differences between the generic and specific clues.

The other possibility is that the poster of the clues isn't as skilled, as one of you mentioned probably an intern or somebody... so they can only be taken at face value. If it says the phone is in a city, it's in a city. Nothing more. I'm leaning toward this option but still exploring the deeper meanings of the clues posted.
 
potterdood said:
yeah SO...I went back and re read the post and I didn't pay attention earlier to it saying basic training. my mistake, :) yeah I went through basic training and no you couldn't have your cell or anything else like that. just a pen n paper haha. now I'm jealous that vzw didn't bring me a cell phone to call home when I was in, also I'm jealous they get to have camelbacks in bct! :) happy birthday america!
Click to expand...

9 years ago we still used pay phones and calling cards to call home. Not many people had cellphones and where I am from it was pointless to own a cell because the reception was still horrible. I have heard that in basic training you are allowed to have your cellphone during off times. Not sure how true that is other than hearing from buddies of buddies. I will have to ask the next time I actually see a brand new guy fresh out of basic. Either way wish I had that and I'm glad that Verizon had that going on for the soldiers.


zane! said:
Hoo-ah! Great to see Verizon supporting our soldiers.

So, my thoughts on this hunt are as follows:

In clues like these you either have to look deeply at every aspect of the clues, or take them simply at face value. If the poster of the clues is intelligent (highly intelligent) you need to look the exact posted time, proper and improper capitalization and grammer, the numbers of the phones, the amount of letters/words/sentences/etc........ every possible aspect. You have to analyze trends, see patterns, find any hidden meaning in the words and numbers that are posted. You guys have been doing a good job of seeing some trends in the clues such as the differences between the generic and specific clues.

The other possibility is that the poster of the clues isn't as skilled, as one of you mentioned probably an intern or somebody... so they can only be taken at face value. If it says the phone is in a city, it's in a city. Nothing more. I'm leaning toward this option but still exploring the deeper meanings of the clues posted.
Click to expand...

Something else I noticed is that the tweeter is using HootSuite. On HootSuite you can schedule postings. I think that all these are pre-planned and just being posted on a schedule. So the miss-cues you mention could actually be clues.
 
I've been specifically watching any clues that can apply to the west coast phones, but unfortunately any clues that point to my area are rather vague.

#7 is in the Pacific Northwest, but is said to be in a "warmer climate". I wouldn't call any of our major metro areas warmer since they are all near the west sides of the states but who knows.

In the Pacific Northwest clue they also stated "Northeasters, buy your plane tickets" which to me could point to an airport. There happens to be a Verizon Store near our airport and I stopped by and asked but they had no idea what I was talking about.

It was stated that the phones "aren't going anywhere" meaning they are in the same place as they started. The problem with this in my mind is that nobody would hide phones in public areas for some random person to find. Heck, if it was in Portland some bum would find it and hock it at a pawn shop. So they have to be somewhere secure, and probably are being held by somebody or a company.

There is another option... this could be a virtual scavenger hunt. Perhaps on Google maps? I could see google putting easter eggs in their maps at the locations that the clues point to. Who knows.
 
What if they have given you the coordinates all along? I know it may be a stretch. So Cleveland's Coordinates are 41, 81. So what happens if the amount of letters is the longitude and the time+date= latitude? Maybe the poster is Smarter than you give him/her credit for or, I am just losing my mind. :). worth a shot?
 
Helicrewchief said:
9 years ago we still used pay phones and calling cards to call home. Not many people had cellphones and where I am from it was pointless to own a cell because the reception was still horrible. I have heard that in basic training you are allowed to have your cellphone during off times. Not sure how true that is other than hearing from buddies of buddies. I will have to ask the next time I actually see a brand new guy fresh out of basic. Either way wish I had that and I'm glad that Verizon had that going on for the soldiers.




Something else I noticed is that the tweeter is using HootSuite. On HootSuite you can schedule postings. I think that all these are pre-planned and just being posted on a schedule. So the miss-cues you mention could actually be clues.
Click to expand...

I went through Army basic in 2003 and it was still calling cards and pay phones, if you didn't screw up and lose your weekly phone call privelages. I have some friends who have been through in the last year and it was still the same.

Good thing you noticed the Hootsuite, I knew it was a Twitter app but I was unaware of the scheduling feature it had. This means that the post times could very well have meanings to them.
 
dmobile5 said:
What if they have given you the coordinates all along? I know it may be a stretch. So Cleveland's Coordinates are 41, 81. So what happens if the amount of letters is the longitude and the time+date= latitude? Maybe the poster is Smarter than you give him/her credit for or, I am just losing my mind. :). worth a shot?
Click to expand...

Great idea! I'll have to take a look tomorrow at the values in each clue unless someone else wants to tackle this.

Something else that came to mind that I forgot in my other post, is that the clue capitalized "Northeasters". As mentioned before this could signify an area with string winds from the NE, or the NE area of a state/region...
 
well so far it may not be nothing but when u add Friday (5) + July (7) + 2nd (2) + 2010 (10 FOR SHORT) + 8:45:05=82 which is just a tad bit off of 81.
 
Ok Maybe I am exagerating this but while I was trying to peace together a formula, does possibly X refer to the roman numeral 10? so if u count all the words (comma, periods as well) and the numbers in the tweet so (designate number 12) you get- 41. so 82, 41 equals Huntington Reserve (HUNT) in Cleveland, Ohio. And it may refer to a Water Tower because it has such processing power to power out Water, it has no choice not to?
 
wow...if it's that complicated I'll just have to give up and buy the phone, because I'll never figure it out that way. ^_~
 
mahers said:
Just so you know, I've got dibs on anything east of the Caldecott Tunnel. I was one of the first people on this thread and one of the first twitter followers. You guys can't just pop in last minute when the gettins good!;)
Click to expand...
Oh yeah? How about I call everything east of the Golden Gate:p

BTW, I'm real close to where you are, so it looks like were gonna have to be frienemies now. I better not catch you scavenging around in the bushes looking for MY Droid X or else were gonna have some problems!:D
 
woop said:
Oh yeah? How about I call everything east of the Golden Gate:p

BTW, I'm real close to where you are, so it looks like were gonna have to be frienemies now. I better not catch you scavenging around in the bushes looking for MY Droid X or else were gonna have some problems!:D
Click to expand...

Haha, cute. While you two are making frenemies, I'll be finding my Droid Xs (notice the plurality).
 
gctrullinger said:
Haha, cute. While you two are making frenemies, I'll be finding my Droid Xs (notice the plurality).
Click to expand...
Lol, woohoo, another bay area person for me to have to beat out. Ironically, I'm in the middle of you (Berkeley) and that other poster from Concord.
 
This is the second large forums with people on the hunt. After reading a bit, I decided to register. And it seems I'm not the only Chicago hunter. I guess that means I'll have up my game in the case of one in this city.
 
dmobile5 said:
well so far it may not be nothing but when u add Friday (5) + July (7) + 2nd (2) + 2010 (10 FOR SHORT) + 8:45:05=82 which is just a tad bit off of 81.
Click to expand...

But what if @droidlanding got the fail whale a couple of times when trying to tweet? I wouldn't rule out number of characters, but I don't think we can count on the time of the tweet being a factor.
 
oh man I hope number 10 is in Arizona. that would be amazing!! only bad thing is that I an leaving for California for a week...poor timing FTW
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom