On Sun, 7 Oct 2012, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> wrote:
That's not a problem if you plan to re-flash the phone yourself.
I've been there, done that, right now I just want stock software from Samsung, no network branding, no other bloatware.
That's nice for you. Jason wants root access and therefore needs to flash it.
There are lots of variations, LTE radio is another variation.
The Galaxy S3 which is offered by Virgin mobile only supports 3G. The one Kogan sells supports Telstra NextG as well as 3G. Do you know how to get a Galaxy S3 in Australia with any LTE support?
The GSM and 3G frequencies are likely all the same in AU, no matter what provider. The 4G or LTE is currently, I believe, just an Optus variant to support their new use of the LTE frequency.
http://www.kogan.com/au/buy/samsung-galaxy-s3-16gb-red/ Kogan describes the S3 as being quad-band to support all Australian networks.
Can you suggest a good Australian supplier who has a price similar to the $499 for a Galaxy S3 from Kogan?
Perhaps try: http://www.thinkofus.com.au/Samsung-i9300-Galaxy-S-III-16GB-S3-p/7186.htm
That is AU stock with 24 month Samsung warranty, a little more than $499 but not that much more.
When $71 is defined as "a little" then that's the case.
Kogan has $499 with 12 month warranty, 3 years add $79 or 5 years add $109
So far in over 10 years of owning mobile phones and often having more than one phone for my personal use as well as being the main support person for all my close relatives I've only had one phone fail. That one phone is running CyanogenMod which combined with the unusual way I received it (Optus gave it to a client for free who then gave it to me) means that it's not even worth asking about warranty support. So out of 20+ phones only one had a problem, that's less than a 5% fault rate. Paying 14% extra to cover the 5% chance of failure is bad value even if you aren't going to do something to void the warranty. As a general rule self- insurance is always better value if you can afford the worst case scenario - avoiding morale jeopardy alone assures that. Also for the phone which failed, it was only 3G data that caused a problem. I now use it as a tiny Wifi tablet, so getting it replaced wouldn't recover the entire value of the phone as it's still providing some value in it's diminshed state.
Now, another complaint about Kogan is that you are buying from Kogan HK and therefore there is no tax invoice so you cannot claim GST on the purchase either!
Yes, you can get ~12% back if you are registered for GST. That would almost make the expensive local company you cited become competitive with Kogan for buyers who are registered for GST. I'm not registered for GST so this isn't a problem for me. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/