The $resource usage described still works in version 1.2.19, with no promise unwrapping options set. I could be wrong, but I think it is because the $resource returns a reference to an empty object that has values copied into it when the call completes. The actual promise is a property named $promise on the returned object.
"It is important to realize that invoking a $resource object method immediately returns an empty reference [...] Once the data is returned from the server the existing reference is populated with the actual data. This is a useful trick since usually the resource is assigned to a model which is then rendered by the view. [...] This means that in most cases one never has to write a callback function for the action methods."
The $resource usage described still works in version 1.2.19, with no promise unwrapping options set. I could be wrong, but I think it is because the $resource returns a reference to an empty object that has values copied into it when the call completes. The actual promise is a property named $promise on the returned object.
Example: http://jsfiddle.net/92zmG/7/