Which mid-range Phone?

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ShinyChrome

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#2262188 21-Jun-2019 19:47

zyo:

At OP's price range he'd have to look at grey import market to get value for money. Local retailer is easily 100+ more than imports for the same model (RedMi etc).

DickSmith does sell them for less than 700 but granted it'd still be a big strech with the budget.

To which I'd argue, is it value for money if you are essentially paying less to take on the liability of not having any sort of reliable warranty?

Back on topic, that Motorola One Vision looks interesting, any indication of price range @NikT? Seems to be a bastard child of a Samsung A50 really.

zyo

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Ultimate Geek

#2262189 21-Jun-2019 19:47

FDREF67397

WH Free shipping cost

zyo

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Ultimate Geek

#2262192 21-Jun-2019 19:51

To which I'd argue, is it value for money if you are essentially paying less to take on the liability of not having any sort of reliable warranty?

Back on topic, that Motorola One Vision looks interesting, any indication of price range @NikT? Seems to be a bastard child of a Samsung A50 really.

If my Nexus 5X is any indication it will fail (bootloop) exactly 1 week after warranty has expired.

Honestly other than that I have never had a phone fail on me. Plus most international sellers would at least provide RTB warranty.

NikT

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#2262821 23-Jun-2019 12:05

ShinyChrome:
zyo:

At OP's price range he'd have to look at grey import market to get value for money. Local retailer is easily 100+ more than imports for the same model (RedMi etc).

DickSmith does sell them for less than 700 but granted it'd still be a big strech with the budget.

To which I'd argue, is it value for money if you are essentially paying less to take on the liability of not having any sort of reliable warranty?

Back on topic, that Motorola One Vision looks interesting, any indication of price range @NikT? Seems to be a bastard child of a Samsung A50 really.

Moto One Vision's NZ RRP is $599. Moto are promising three years of updates which is a nice upfront commitment to have.

I wholeheartedly disagree that folks have to turn to grey market or imports to find good value in smartphones in NZ. I firmly believe in making good tech accessible, and price is pretty much the biggest accessibility factor. It is something I have personally and professionally fought for over the last five years. Smartphones are not a high margin business. To be fair, value is a nebulous thing and slightly different for everyone - one person values bleeding edge rapid updates, another values stability and warranty repair/support, another values being able to get 100 of them tomorrow. The value proposition is up to the individual and completely divorced from the actual cost of the product to manufacture.

NZ has a tremendously large range of devices available in-country at retail. Bigger range than Australia, because it's a similar setup to laptops - the overall volumes aren't large enough to achieve massive volume discounts on a handful of key models, making it possible to go broad instead of deep. By and large Kiwis still like to go hands-on with a big purchase like this before committing, online reviews and research can only go so far, and there is value in handling a demo unit. There are also many times each year where smartphones are sold below cost, cleared, massively subsidised interest free on a plan, or heavily supported by the brand to make a ridiculous stack of bundled value. It is at this point that professional traders do the rounds of the retailers and buy as many as they can to resell for profit. If NZ didn't have great value, this business model wouldn't exist.

If you're a particularly savvy shopper you can wait for the right time of year and get an open-box or ex-demo phone with full local warranty for far below the actual cost. To my mind if low upfront cost is the #1 priority it's much faster and easier to camp TradeMe and the like for a secondhand unit than to faff about importing - you're not getting any of the extra value that buying new would normally bring anyway. That and I am no fan of sketchy dropshipping businesses who dodge GST and ignore the CGA. It is all too easy to look at prices offshore and forget about GST, the cost of providing a real warranty, optimisations for NZ mobile networks, or the extensive safety certifications required to sell a device in NZ. Not to mention that the midrange products available in other markets are often different hardware without the same LTE band support. When you're buying a product at a lower price internationally, it's worth considering all these factors, because you're not buying quite the same thing.

Product Manager @ PB Tech

Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

zyo

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Ultimate Geek

#2262832 23-Jun-2019 12:35

NikT:

optimisations for NZ mobile networks, or the extensive safety certifications required to sell a device in NZ.

No disrespect but feel free to enlighten me on what specific optimization and safety certification Pbtech has conducted parallel importing a OnePlus 7 pro as an example.

I'm happy to pay for a little extra for peace of mind such as having a comprehensive warranty. Are you able to confirm Pbtech fully complies with consumer garantuee act outside its standard warranty policy with its parallel imported phones? (As per my experience all my phones usually fail just right outside warranty period)

NikT

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#2262840 23-Jun-2019 13:09

zyo:
NikT:

optimisations for NZ mobile networks, or the extensive safety certifications required to sell a device in NZ.

No disrespect but feel free to enlighten me on what specific optimization and safety certification Pbtech has conducted parallel importing a OnePlus 7 pro as an example.

I'm happy to pay for a little extra for peace of mind such as having a comprehensive warranty. Are you able to confirm Pbtech fully complies with consumer garantuee act outside its standard warranty policy with its parallel imported phones? (As per my experience all my phones usually fail just right outside warranty period)

I look forward to sharing this and a great deal more info on OnePlus in the very near future.

As for warranty, PB operates NZ's largest IT service centres and repairs distributed and parallel imported products in-house. Authorised service centre for Samsung, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Xiaomi, and more. Technicians regularly fly overseas for training and certification. CGA 100% applies to parallel imports when purchased from NZ retailers.

There is a whole construct that adds to the cost of a product vs. looking at international ("raw) trade market pricing. Currency conversion + warranty + NZ charger + rework + GST. I think it would actually be nice to have the option to buy products without those added-cost extras for folks who don't want it, but for CGA at least that's as easy as setting up a business and asking for a discount because you're a business customer.

Product Manager @ PB Tech

Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

zyo

513 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2262854 23-Jun-2019 13:21

NikT:

zyo:
NikT:

optimisations for NZ mobile networks, or the extensive safety certifications required to sell a device in NZ.

No disrespect but feel free to enlighten me on what specific optimization and safety certification Pbtech has conducted parallel importing a OnePlus 7 pro as an example.

I'm happy to pay for a little extra for peace of mind such as having a comprehensive warranty. Are you able to confirm Pbtech fully complies with consumer garantuee act outside its standard warranty policy with its parallel imported phones? (As per my experience all my phones usually fail just right outside warranty period)

I look forward to sharing this and a great deal more info on OnePlus in the very near future.

As for warranty, PB operates NZ's largest IT service centres and repairs distributed and parallel imported products in-house. Authorised service centre for Samsung, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Xiaomi, and more. Technicians regularly fly overseas for training and certification. CGA 100% applies to parallel imports when purchased from NZ retailers.

There is a whole construct that adds to the cost of a product vs. looking at international ("raw) trade market pricing. Currency conversion + warranty + NZ charger + rework + GST. I think it would actually be nice to have the option to buy products without those added-cost extras for folks who don't want it, but for CGA at least that's as easy as setting up a business and asking for a discount because you're a business customer.

Thanks for the reply. I'd be keen to hear what PBTech has done in collaboration with OnePlus with regards to localization of OnePlus 7 Pro.

Unfortunately, something tells me PBTech doesn't really have a lot of control at least when it comes to included OnePlus accessories as the additional included (electrically compliant 3rd party) charger does not support SuperCharger which is one of the major selling point.

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zyo

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Ultimate Geek

#2262859 23-Jun-2019 13:37

Regardless, I appreciate local retailers embracing the global market and importing electronics otherwise won't be readily available to New Zealanders.

farcus

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#2262866 23-Jun-2019 13:53

I'd go the Nokia 6.1+ or if band 28 isn't a must have then the Xiaomi Mi A2 or A2 lite
All android one phones so not tied to phone manufacturer updates and all excellent phones.
(Mi A3 and A3 lite are supposed to be released soon - not sure on specs (other than better processor) or whether supports band 28)

elbrownos

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#2271074 6-Jul-2019 14:39

NikT is PB Tech ever likely to have the Pocophone F1 back in stock?

NikT

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#2271075 6-Jul-2019 14:43

elbrownos:
NikT is PB Tech ever likely to have the Pocophone F1 back in stock?

Poco is end of life I'm afraid.

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Smartphones @ PB Tech | Headphones @ PB Tech

gcorgnet

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#2271097 6-Jul-2019 16:17

Thanks eveyone. Ended up with a Nokia 7.1 (slightly out of budget but nice phone) and wifey is happy as...

OldGeek

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#2271288 7-Jul-2019 12:12

farcus:

I'd go the Nokia 6.1+ or if band 28 isn't a must have then the Xiaomi Mi A2 or A2 lite
All android one phones so not tied to phone manufacturer updates and all excellent phones.
(Mi A3 and A3 lite are supposed to be released soon - not sure on specs (other than better processor) or whether supports band 28)

You are under a false impression in regards to Android 1 phone updates not tied to the manufacturer. In my experience with a Nokia 6.1, Android security and maintenance releases come from Nokia, not Google. See this thread:

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=97&topicid=251517

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OldGeek.

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