Palm Sighting: Castle 34
Tue, 02 Mar 2010 9:48 am EST 
Psst, Castle, it's upside down...
Clearly, people expect that the microphone for the Palm Pre would be on the slider. In fact, that's where we all thought it was for a while after it was unveiled. Why else would Rubinstein talk about how the curving shape helps it fit your face better? Regardless, that brings up another question: why do people - like Castle (Nathan Fillion) - think that they still have to hold the phone up to their mouths when using it on speakerphone? At least they've got a Touchstone back. And yes, I'm sure that's a Pre this time.
Have you spotted the Pre, Pixi, or other Palm device on your favorite show? Drop us a note at pretips@precentral.net with the show and a few relevant details like air date, time in the episode, and an online video link if you've got one!
Thanks to eryntzun, Praveen, Vance, and bjs188 for the tips!
34 Comments
How can you not look at him and think he's talkin to the guys in Firefly? Shiny!
great series (firefly) and movie(serenity)... would love to see a sequel! ;-)
A sequel or try the show again. Ive watched all episodes at least 20 times.
Maybe i've been under a rock, but i dunno this show... I DO know that the pre has been sighted on Heroes since season 4 :p
I hate how they use the Pre on Heroes though. Its obviouse they have no idea how the phone works. The way they slam the slider shut to end the phone calls, im sure they have some serious oreo going on.
There's a patch for that ;-)
@crawdaddct
haha... you do realize they are just acting right?? Are the lines of reality that blurred? Let me guess - you go to Star Trek conventions and tell the actors that they didn't move a knob on the anti-matter reactor correctly because the way they did it didn't make it believable (everyone knows anti-matter injector dials are reverse-threaded to avoid opening them accidentally). Ugh.
The lines of reality are always blurred. Im just saying if someone watches the show, sees the phone, and buys one. They may think its not working right. Plus it anoying when the screen lights up their face because they are not actualy making a call. Im waiting for the anti-matter reactor for the pre. Knobs are so old school. Plus maybe it will increase battery life.
that looks so stupid. I could see someone holding it up side down i guess to get a better or clearer mic feed. but having it upside down w/ the slider open... looks stupid.
Derek:
I don't think it's as much that he thinks he needs to hold it up to talk on it.
From a director's perspective, Castle needs to hold the phone up to make it clear to the audience that he's talking on a speakerphone, and not to Kate Beckett (standing next to him in the photo). Otherwise, he's talking into air. The camera needs to "see" the phone and still get a reasonably tight shot on them.
Also, they probably have the Touchstone back cover so as not to get a glare on the camera from the lights (the stock Sprint back cover is glossy. Of course this could have been a Verizon version, which comes stock with the Touchstone back cover, but I doubt it since these shows are generally taped weeks in advance.).
Same reason they use special eyeglasses (that have a non-reflective coating) in movies and TV.
If the clip is from the ep. I saw, its a Sprint Pre with telltale Orange button. The woman detective actually starts out with the phone. Then again, it's not called "Det. Beckett"
It was sprint Pre, had orange option button on the show. For those not familiar it is a pretty good show, and the Pre showed off its speakerphone nicely.
PS: Derek, thanks for the shoutout. My wife thought I was nuts when I got all excited that the pre was on the show.
My mother said she sees the Palm Pre and Pixi on Desperate Housewives all the time.
Those are commercials, they are not part of the show...
Of course technically every product placement in
any TV show is just a commercial. And every show is
just a vehicle to attract a particular demographic
to a particular set of products. In other words
broadcast TV is *all* just one big commercial. ;)
Anyone recall the VW Touareg spam in Rescue Me? They built
a whole backstory around one of the characters selling
Touaregs. It was disgusting and the looks on the actors' faces
while they said their product placement lines showed
they thought so too.
I wanna say Beckett was shown using the multitasking elsewhere in the episode.
ehhh maybe HE has 1.4 ...
Funny that the Pre was used on the 2010 premiere of 24 and again it wasn't used entirely accurate. (The 'slider' slide open and closed to answer and hang up.)
http://richc.myarchive.us/2010/01/the-2010-season-premiere-of-24-highlig...
Katee Sackoff's character is a techie - of course she patched it! :)
Hollywood should stop using the Pre, since it hard to distinguish. They should use the pixi, the pixi has a more unique design, and they should use one of the custom artists covers. If you never saw a pre before, you would not really notice it in the show, or just think it is an iphone 3g.
I'm pretty sure I saw Renee with a pixi on last night's "24"
not really. With the pre open, you have the telltale mirror on the back. (at least the sprint pre) hard to confuse that with an iphone. Besides, the pixi is lame. Why advertise for the retarded step sister in the family when you can show off the track star?
not really. With the pre open, you have the telltale mirror on the back. (at least the sprint pre) hard to confuse that with an iphone. Besides, the pixi is lame. Why advertise for the retarded step sister in the family when you can show off the track star?
The Castle episode (The Third Man) is available on SprintTV (for those of you who haven't patched the icon away).
Sprint has already shown it's version of the 'mommy phone' on Medium last year, and the woman was using it correctly.
http://www.precentral.net/palm-sightings-how-i-met-your-mother-eastwick-...
Last, but not least, I watched the episode on SprintTV. The scene is in Part 5, y'all. Castle (the author) is holding the phone like that because he took it from Kate (the detective) while she was talking to other officers at the station on speakerphone. She obviously knows how to use the phone, because she clicked off of the call, then closed the slider. And she appeared to press the screen as needed to switch to speaker.
Oh Wow! That means --- It's a Girl's Phone! LOL
Last time I checked, phones didn't have genders.
I think that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Verizon categorizing the Palm Pre as the "perfect phone for Mom" that's all. Not actually picking genders for it. We'll leave that to Verizon...heh heh
I just loved the palm in bourne identity that could scan fingerprints on the touchscreen. couldn't stop laughing. people really have no idea how things work.
Clarification that it's clearly a Sprint Pre:
Beckett is holding it strangely, but they are in a restaurant kitchen, so at least it makes sense that she's holding it close while on speaker.
I don't expect phones to act exactly as they do in real life, they often use fake software that performs as the plot demands, or incorrect sounds that they add in post so it comes in clearly. HRG's phone has shown it can do several things that it can't in reality; the Treo/Centro on Bones did plenty of things they can't actually do too.
I remember in the early days of cell phones on television that they all sounded alike. The dialing and end call sounds seemed to be from the same source. Also rings were very limited so I would often confuse the television for my own cell.
I do think that they should at least teach actors to stop sliding it open to answer and talk on it. Sliding it open to answer just looks silly. I had a Treo 300 so I know about looking silly on a PDA phone. =)
I also wish someone would at least tell them about the proximity sensor. If you're going to advertise the phone on your show, at least get the basic functions right.
Alas, it's unlikely that most of these phones are even live. Probably just rigged to seem like they are.
Actually...I have a patch on my Pre that allows me to slide it opebn to answer in speakerphone mode....and it also turns off when I slide it shut!
So for all you naysayers that harp on the actors in Heroes for sliding it shut when they're done...think again...and perhaps pay attention to what's going on here at PreCentral.net...
Heck...I barely come to this site and even I know about the patches that can tweak the phone into the most awesome device out there!
Well...I watch Castle. It's one of the only decent shows on t.v. these days. And I also watched that episode and when Castle brings it to his mouth like that, it was because he was angry and making a point...yeesh!
Also...have any of you actually used the speakerphone anywhere in public...meaning outside of your bedroom because that's the only place it sounds loud enough that you wouldn't have to bring it close to your face to hear what the heck anyone is saying. The speakerphone for the Pre (and really every phone I've owned) is not so great... The volume doesn't nearly go high enough...except in your bedroom which probably pretty quiet, huh? Lol...I'm totally kidding about the bedroom, folks! But you know what I'm saying, right?
How come the speakerphone never works so well in public as it does at home? Beats me!
I find it funny that Castle was actually the Palm Pre's internal code name during development.
they're all over the place om 24
On the March 21st episode of Castle I saw the HP Tablet display an incoming call that simultaneously appeared on the nearby Pre phone.