Was looking to buy a 950XL and came across this deal on Expansys. It seems the prices of this phone have come down a lot. It can be had a little cheaper on other stores but I dont really have much experience with them.
The Nexus 5X 32GB on the other hand is one of the best price I have seen from a credible seller.
So is the 950 a grey-import too?
From what I gathered, every phone from expansys is grey import. But they are better than all those dodgy sellers.
F grey-imports
Sorry but can someone briefly highlight to me what're some of the key difference between AU stock vs grey import?
the charging adapter
Also the tiny problem of it doesn't come with warranty under the ACL.
Also the tiny problem of it doesn't come with warranty under the ACL.
What utter rubbish, if the product is sold by an Australian retailer it's covered by the ACL. How the product was sourced by the retailer is irrelevant.
Can't get over all the people claiming to be experts since the ACL was launched despite having never read any part of it.
@Maverick-au: actually most of these retailers aren't Australian, and essentially you (the buyer of this phone) are the importer, not the retailer.
The charger adapter is original LG australian plug.
actually most of these retailers aren't Australian, and essentially you (the buyer of this phone) are the importer, not the retailer.
What part of "if the product is sold by an Australian retailer" wasn't clear?
@Maverick-au: Do you think Kogan is an Australian retailer? or rather, do you think Kogan "isn't" an Aussie retailer?
Do you think Kogan is an Australian retailer? or rather, do you think Kogan "isn't" an Aussie retailer?
You still didn't answer my question, what I said was VERY clear but you don't understand it.
As for your question it depends on if you purchase from Kogan Australia or Kogan Hong Kong. One is Australian and the other is foreign, not that hard to understand.
@Maverick-au: I just did. Kogan is an Aussie retailer selling most phones supplied by Kogan HK, even though you pay the money to Kogan AU, you are importing the phone from HK yourself. Same goes for ThinkOfUs, Aussie retailer with physical shop selling HK phones.
Making it clear for you to understand: Aussie shops can sell grey stock.
@clse945111: and if the aussie shop sells grey stock. youre covered under the ACL with the retailer
If you bought from Kogan HK then youre not covered
@furythree:
I think the best way to explain is, a phone is a grey import if it is directly imported by the buyer (no matter who sells it).
A phone is aus stock/covered by ACL when it is already imported by the retailer before you buying (paid GST when importing).
I think the best way to explain is, a phone is a grey import if it is directly imported by the buyer (no matter who sells it).
No that is not the best way to explain it.
A phone is aus stock/covered by ACL when it is already imported by the retailer before you buying (paid GST when importing).
Utter rubbish. If I buy a phone from an Australian retailer and they ship it to me from Hong Kong I am covered by the ACL no matter if GST has been paid or not. Yet another example of someone claiming to be an expert without any idea about the ACL.
I just did. Kogan is an Aussie retailer selling most phones supplied by Kogan HK, even though you pay the money to Kogan AU, you are importing the phone from HK yourself. Same goes for ThinkOfUs, Aussie retailer with physical shop selling HK phones.
Clearly this goes over your head. If you purchase from Kogan Australia you are covered by the ACL. If you purchase from Kogan Hong Kong you are not covered by the ACL.
Making it clear for you to understand: Aussie shops can sell grey stock.
Are you serious? How many times has this been discussed in previous posts! Sheesh. I'll say it again, if an Australian retailer sells grey imported hardware you are covered by the ACL.
Before you keep posting inaccurate information why don't you go and read and understand the ACL and related information.
Some imports don't use the bands that carriers here use. The expansys website shows you which bands the phone uses, you can check your carrier bands here
warranty is the big one.
sometimes grey imports also have different freq bands and wont work with all carriers in Aust.
Grey-Imports VS Aussie Stock
Grey-imports vs Aussie stock
-local stock sometimes double the cost
-Can buy a charger for $20 for local plug
-I have never needed warranty claim with over 10 phones over last 6 years.
-spend saved money on accessories or another entire phone.
-If you factory reset all the time, then maybe something is wrong? Pretty easy to change on boot anyway.
-do a tiny bit of research about what bands you need, then compare against model number and specs.
@frostman: right now the lumia is $1k from Microsoft. You obviously like to pay more to have everything served on a plater rather than going through few minor hassle, and I totally understand that. The only real advantage local stock has against grey is the extra warranty, but imo if I can save a whole lot on grey stock and it breaks down in a year time, I can use the money saved from the beginning and get a new toy
@frostman: Double is 50%, not even close to 70-90% off. No one ever claimed you could get that much off, and some older phone models have been imported at around that sort of discount. No one was talking about Apple products or newer models from any manufacturer.
Know what else is a hassle? Typing pointless, inaccurate comments.
@frostman: You seem to be deliberately misrepresenting what has been written. You were claiming grey imports are not 70 to 90% off in response to a comment about local stock sometimes being double the price. In context it is apparent that the response meant 50% off.
If a teacher asks you "young frostman, what is half of $1000" what would your answer be?
$500
$300-$100
Since you would choose point 2.) as you rightly did so, you're very poor at maths and you should really take up one of the Maths Udemy Courses offered here on OZB, try this (https://www.udemy.com/fundamentals-of-math/)
@frostman: Not only did you entirely misrepresent what I was saying, you didn't even insult me properly!
Considering I referred to it as 50% off, you could have at least given me the option of $250 to show why my wording was ambiguous.
Alternatively, you could have given the "real" half price of somewhere between $100 & $300.
@frostman: Love it how this guy says its a hassle to compare against model number and specs, then participates in useless arguments on the internet. WIN.
All your "arguments" are interesting, especially "hassle", "Don't speak about target personal requirements, my comments are broad". They were funny. I like "Please provide proof", I googled it: http://www.harveynorman.com.au/microsoft-lumia-950xl-smartph…
Phone listed at $1049 RRP which is what you would rather pay, or get a grey import at close to half $649. You would spend an extra $400 on buying this phone from an Australian retailer? Again my comments were broad like you said, not exactly specific to this phone, but this phone is a good example.
Now I know you want to create another dot point list pointing out how $649 isn't exactly half of $1049. But I don't care as you would be missing the point.
@AlexD: You're proving yourself to be a bigger idiot than I realised:
Considering I referred to it as 50% off, you could have at least given me the option of $250 to show why my wording was ambiguous.
I even went with your warped understanding of what double is, and used your 50% calculation:
IF X = 50%. what is $500 + X? ANSWER: $750
LOL, go back to school you drop-out
ONlinePED: The reason why this argument went on is because you and your 2 other school-dropout minions, decided to take your "double" word for what means to be 50% (OR HALF in REAL MATHS)
They proceeded to try and convince me that this is what it means until one of your minions blatatnly admitted:
Considering I referred to it as 50% off,
School-dropouts,
as Mr.T would say: Go back to school you fool
@frostman: LOL. The reason why this argument went on, is because you started it. You know you could have researched grey market phones and saved yourself lots of money by now?
BTW, if you used your school education, perhaps you would have read what I actually wrote "-local stock sometimes double the cost". At no point did I say it WAS double. I said it's SOMETIMES double the cost. Anyway stop insulting people on the web when you can't defend yourself.
OnlinePed: Can I please remind you that starting a response with "LOL" does not automatically grant your responses any superiority or weight against my arguments? It's a very lame, and childish way to assume literal victory
I said it's SOMETIMES double
It was a weak argument to start off with, I can also tell you sometimes Harvey Norman is cheaper than grey-importers like Kogan in various times of the year.
You can Neg my comments all you like buddy, it's the only thing that can make you feel better in the heap you're in.
Peace out, and stay in school
=)
@frostman: The only one trying to be superior is you, you are the one trying to correct everyone on maths and or grammar.
I agree sometimes Harvey Norman is cheaper than grey-importers like Kogan. I can also tell you that sometimes Harvey Norman imports products from the grey market and has specials on them.
I can only do a few negs a day, and by the looks of things, the majority disagree with you and your arguments. You can keep telling people that they are uneducated, but the only one you are fooling is yourself.
Just for your pleasure, I realise facts don't suit you well, but we can but try.
LG G4 32gb LTE: Harvey norman = $794, Android-Enjoyed grey import: $398. I realise there is $2 whole dollars in it. I will say that it is almost double and hope that you can process what that means.
I understand that facts and figures might throw you, and you will try and blame my education to make you feel superior. Before you argue about a topic, ensure that you have some knowledge in the area, just my 2 cents.
@frostman: You made a not particularly well thought out comment, and proceeded to pick up on the one mistype in mine.
You're getting constantly downvoted, I'm not sure why you're continuing this comment stream, especially considering you're being picky on maths, and yourself took half price to mean 70%-90% off.
Furthermore, I feel as though the fact that one of my degrees revolves around financial maths qualifies me to make a semantic error occasionally.
Apparently win10 Mobile is broken I have a low end windows phone at this price no thanks not enough apps
Not enough of what apps?
Just in general whatever my mates have on their android phone half the time isn't available on Windows. It was only last year they finally got the westpac mobile app.
Half the time is putting it lightly. Pretty much no apps. Nothing Windows is doing will bridge this app gapp any time soon either.
@Agret: They have tools for devs to help "port" over apps to a universal app code base. So still up to the devs. As others said, the java vm to be able to run android apps has been canned.
@Strand0410: Wow thanks for the info bud, I really like the 950xl well my money won't be going on any high-end phone purchase this year. I've preordered PlayStation VR that's going to be my only big purchase for the year I want to cut back. Kinda sad I really want the LG Godly5 on release 😞
@OnlinePred: It's a shame they did so. Thankfully they still have the support in Visual Studio to do the majority of the hard stuff.
Windows Phone could have been great, unfortunately the lack of developer support makes it a poor choice, IMO and IME.
I had a WP for a while and liked the OS, but the lack of apps killed it for me as it was crippled compared to iOS and Android.
Totally agree with you. I own windows phone mobile for 2 months, can't stand lack of apps. I would still buy 5x even if 950xl is sold at the same price.
I almost bought the 950XL but last minute decided to go Moto X Style due to lack of apps.
Some people don't mind putting up with this and using uglier third party versions but why pay for something when you only just use it half a$$ed. I want something to work out of the box properly. It's a shame because I wanted Windows to make it happen but all indications point to their mobile division being canned one day soon. It just get's more and more unpopular with each release they have.
I agree. I urge potential windows phone buyers to try it on store.
The browser is horrible, doesn't render basic pages correctly, is slow, not intuitive with basic functions like cut and paste.
The apps are almost non existent. The few big names that exist are up to a year of updates behind their ios and android counterparts.
If you just want a phone to call and text it's great but beyond that you'll be struggling along if you've experienced the other options previously.
I agree my cheap windows phone has a better speaker and call clarity to date in comparison to my Sony m4 aqua. There is something about windows that seems to give better quality phone calls compared to Android.
I actually preferred the W10M OS, and still get annoyed with my Galaxy S6 Edge after a number of months switching. I will stay with the current phone most likely until it dies, despite every few weeks considering selling it and switching back. I did buy a Gear VR and have spent a fair amount of time and money to improve my android experience, but still sometimes regret not hanging out until the new-gen windows phones came down to this price instead of being sold on changing OSs again.
I have to strongly disagree with the cut and paste comment. Selecting and copying text from messages, emails and web pages and then including them in messages used to be a stress free experience with W10M.
Also the in built swiping keyboard and word prediction worked and worked well on W10M, not so with the inbuilt keyboard or even paid Swype keyboard on new phone.
Additionally, Cortana worked like a charm. In comparison, OK Google often does not show up when I say "OK Google" (possibly due to switching from the stick launcher), and doesn't recognise things like "remind me to get bread next time I'm at the shops" without spending as much time as physically entering a reminder. I used to be able to ask Cortana "how do I get to <address>" and it would show me the public transport route and connections I would need to make to get there. Due to a standoff between PT Dept Victoria and Google Maps team, I cannot do that with current phone (and cannot get OK Google to use other map/ navigation apps by default).
I definitely have more access to apps now, and enjoy some a lot. I have to say that because I don't use Snapchat, Tinder etc there are not that many that I wouldn't be happy to live without for a better phone experience in general.
I do like the ability to customise via third party apps on Android though, and have installed Total Launcher, Tasker and Autovoice, which help with what I don't like about the native OS a fair bit.
Has anyone been able to find the pastel green 5x at a cheap price?
it's blue, but it looks green
jbhifi has it at $447 or something
No longer, jb hifi deal expired
I have a M$ 640XL. Nice enough 'phone, even if it is short on applications.
However, it's biggest failing IMO is the web browser. If you are going for a Windows phone, make sure you can live with a crippled web browser because there are no viable alternatives to M$'s pathetic effort.
yeh i agree with you there.. :(
I agree completely Mate Edge is a terrible browser, I hate how the search bar is down the bottom and it's definitely clunky. I had plenty of issues with the app store constantly failing to download updates for my apps that's if it could even open the store without freezing!
The app store is a joke. I hate how slow it is to download and install big games too. Sometimes they just won't install them at all. GTA SA runs way better on windows phone than android but installing the thing is the biggest pain I've ever had with installing a mobile phone game.
I agree fully about the app store, it needs serious work and to be much more professional if windows phones are going to survive.
I didn't mind Edge mobile back when I used W10M, though that could have just been in comparison to Explorer and the not-so-great third party browsers that I was used to on that phone previously. I would probably hate Edge mobile if I were to switch back now.
My 640 is pretty good with UC browser.
MS had rocks in their head if they thought $1149 for the 950XL made any sense.
Preface: I use both Android and iOS, so not really a fanboy of either. Have also used several WP devices.
No matter how much apologists and fanboys defend WP10, every single time I've tried WP (Lumia 520, 735, 820 and 930 for short stints), it's the same. "The UI is fab" and so on…"the next update will be the bees knees"…well I've now come to believe, WP is destined for the graveyard sooner or later (depending on how much money MS want to sink into it).
Apps on WP are either non-existent, and even for the ones that are present, their functionality is several generations behind the iOS/Android counterparts. Just look at all the major banking apps (and no, don't tell me to use the mobile website instead, because that defeats the whole point of having an app in the first place). Same goes for Youtube where I have to rely on third-party apps for decent functionality…the web browser is $#!7 and there's no realistic alternatives either unlike iOS or Android where I can give default browsers the boot if I feel like.
Even the music player app is poorly designed…need to go to the bottom of a long playlist when the phone is secured in a car cradle? Scroll, scroll, scroll….
WP apologists can keep going on all they want. The fact remains WP is a barren, desolate wasteland when it comes to apps.
You says exactly what I feel when I have the Lumia 925, given it a go and confirm WP is not for me.
$1129 and this is a grey import anyway. Price was high but i got enough freebies so warrant that so i'm not mad.
Apps are fine for me.
I jumped from WP, and while it can serve perfectly fine as a cheap handset for someone not big on apps, charging $1k is completely delusional.
MS thought that $1000+ 950 made sense for one reason - they're not going to be losing money on phones any more. If you don't think it's worth the price, they DON'T GIVE A RATS. Don't buy it. They made it quite clear mid-2015 that the days of selling WP devices at a loss were over.
I'm not going to get into the details of the rest of the rant, but simply say there are some apps which are completely up-to-date (including the CommBank app), some which are fine (function wise) even if their UI might be a little dated, and some which as you've pointed out are well behind the times - and many missing.
Let's just say that if you're someone who is going to live their life on their 4-5" devices, and need to connect to all the new social networks then WP probably isn't for you.
They don't want to lose money, that makes sense. They want to make money off what is still a half-baked platform well behind similarly priced peers, that makes no sense.
Whatever excuses MS and WP apologists have, app availability and quality, and carrier support make or break a phone platform. Neither of those are WP's strong points.
Also, MS take customers for fools at times. Trying to sell phones with Snapdragon 200 SoCs for $150+, Snapdragon 400s for $250+…even the $69 LG Leon has a Snapdragon 410, and better apps to boot.
Even if the app gap was closed a bit, the fact that "native" apps are crappy only adds to the annoyanced. Edge on WP10 is $#!7 as.
MS can either sell it at a more reasonable price and sell a lot more, or end up like this where they try and create an aura of premium-ness and end up having to dump stock nobody thought was worth the coin.
Just putting it out there we got one for a trial work phone, and it feels like the build is in beta still. We get crashes, settings are missing, pages don't render properly in the browser, camera crashes, camera quality seems very low compared to other phones we have (s6, G4, iPhone 6), and then even Microsoft's apps that we use on android and Ios are BETTER on those platforms compared to Windows….. e.g. Outlook, Office, Skype. I think I would pay $250 for one just to muck around with, but to use as a daily seems out of the question.
Other than the web browser issues I have to say that the 640XL is rock solid. I've had it for several months now and it has not crashed or locked up. I use email (native client) with 5 different accounts and the camera a lot.
I paid $250 each for two 640XLs just three or four months back.
NB: I'll concede that I would not buy a Windows phone again.
We have had a very negative experience. A 920 that we upgraded can't even open the camera anymore. We also have a few 950's and 650's that we provided to our staff, and nearly every day we get complaints of an app they need not installing, crashing, Bluetooth not working, random reboots/freezes, calls dropping etc. We had a mix of android and iPhone last year where we still had issues but not to this scale. I also use a 950 as a work phone, and I don't like using it, firstly I have to go third party to cover some of my apps, others just aren't available, and basic things like browsing web sites is so buggy and fiddly than my Note 4 (which has it's own problems but pales in comparison). Anyway just my experiences/opinions. If you like a basic phone without apps, Microsoft is an option.
Our 640XLs are still on Win8.1 - I think I'll leave like that as long as I can. I am not seeing the issues you are; Bluetooth is stable (in the car at least), the voice thingie works nicely when I am making calls or retrieving messages when on the road, emails from multiple accounts are nicely presented. Other than the lack of an adequate web browser, as a basic work horse it seems robust and competent.
Would I buy another Windows phone? No.
I stopped using Windows Phone the day my 640XL and the Spotify App decided to sit in a download loop even though it was only set to download over wifi… 8.5GB in just under 2 hours
Guys recently got a Windows phone too Lumia 550, and although it works smoothly for the most part, lack of apps is probably its biggest negative. I thought I could live without some apps, but seems it has far too little apps available to live with.
If I buy a new phone, it will definitely not be Windows, but likely will be going back to Android.
Dont buy any windows phone. I doubt anyone can handle app-free lifestyle from my personal experience.
Depends what apps you need.
It's not even that, but the quality of apps is FAR superior on android and ios. We are talking the same apps. Even Facebook messenger on my Windows Phone is so basic compared to android, no gif support, dodgy group chat support, slow startup. And thats just one simple app. No software companies care about Windows Phone unfortunately, you will get no support, be far behind in updates, and probably won't even get most apps anyway.
Facebook messenger win10 app is in development/beta and screenshots were leaked the other day, pc shots though i admit.
@happychild100: Case in point. Windows messenger is the most downloaded messenger service app on ios and android.
Yup all the feedback here is correct, we've been buying Windows phones for our work since before the time of the "smartphone (i.e. versions 5 n 6), Win Mobile 7 was very late to the market and since then they haven't done much to improve it, 8.1 was a good step forward but then nothing happened (i assume due to the change of leadership at MS).
For work purposes its great, it means we don't have to spend Big $ on users to have a phone for basic smartphone functionality, but at some point you hope that they improve and that just hasn't happened.
To top it off the flag ship phones are def not worth the price, i always thought with the demise of the blackberry MS had a chance to go for it in the business market (to be honest only market they had a chance in), they never bothered and kept releasing insanely priced flagship phones that run the same OS as the entry or mid level one.
I will never recommend it as a personal phone, as a business phone i do specially if what you need is just basic email and phone calls type functionality :)
You should see what some of the BB fanbois are up to in Whirlpool…some were happy to pay $1400 for the Priv, which is another PoS with a slow, laggy software and poor build quality…I mean, $1400 for a Snapdragon-808 powered Android…that's one bloody expensive keyboard considering the G4 routinely hovers around $450-500…
Spend $10 more, and the get the 'pack' version of the Nexus 5x…. Comes witha glass screen protector and a USB C to A cable (one isn't included in the box, only a USB C to C cable).
http://www.expansys.com.au/google-nexus-5x-lg-h791-32gb-carb…
You have to be very careful with USB C to A cables. I'm not sure I'd trust whatever cheap cable they're throwing in there (Joyroom?).
Well for $10 extra, you're getting a glass screen protector too, so its not a total loss if the cable is average.
I've got one coming, so I'll do the 'tests' to verify if it passes benson usb c tests that you can do at home!
keep in mind most 'C to A' cables can damage your phone
cable is sold by expansys, so they'll be covering the warranty anyhow!
As they have been selling this combo package for a while now, I'm sure they would have pulled the cable if it was causing issues.
I've got a combo pack coming, so will do the benson usb c tests that you can do at home and let you know!
I have the cable myself. I will test it and let you know results.
Windows mobile 10 is still poor on older devices. Might be better on 950xl, and at this price the 950xl is finally a viable option over Android. I have a 532 and 930, I have 10 on my 930 and 8.1 on my 532. I have found some apps are faster at opening on the 532 than the vastly superior 930. From what I've read over in the reddit windows phone forum the biggest issue with 10 it needs all the old apps to be updated to support it and be better optimized. So let's say you use an app like spotify, it'll perform worse on 10 than 8.1 until spotify make a 10 version. And with state of the app store who knows if or when the majority will see updates to be optinised for 10.
The biggest issues with windows phone are the poor annoying browser that reloads pages pretty much all the time irrespective of phone specs. The lack of apps are another one. The quality of the ones that do exist are in general much worse than iOS or Android equivalent. Lack of updates and support. I still can't get over how apps like my banking app goes years without an update. Many people have to rely on the browser instead.
Has anyone had experience with this seller? I'm really keen on getting the nexus 5x. Also do you think the 5x is a better phone compared to xiaomi redmi note 3 prime? TIA
Expansys!? Been around for decades…. great place to buy from!
Thanks Level380. Apologies for the lack of knowledge as I am still on level20-ish
no worries… if looking at the 5x, look at the pack version for $10 more. Comes with a glass screen protector and a USB C to A, plus the phone of course ;)
http://www.expansys.com.au/google-nexus-5x-lg-h791-32gb-carb…
Thats a good deal, how would these phones sync with a iMac for photos/music? And Pushbullet for messages?
Rumour has it windows 10 will be replacing windows phone 8/10 soon and the number of apps should increase dramatically. Nothing confirmed at present though.
The only thing they are doing is providing tools to developers to more easily convert their code base between/to windows universal apps. This will not increase the amount of apps dramatically, but MAY increase it slightly. It is still up to app devs, and they still need to put some work into a platform which barely has any coverage in the scheme of things. I would not rely on what might happen, rather look at what HAS happened over the last few years.
Windows 8 will still exist, the poor phones that don't have a direct upgrade to 10 get a branch of 10 which won't have all the features nor be kept up to date as the main branch. Windows 10 phones are still new so I wouldn't expect anything for a while. Windows 10 app store is pathetic, having an xbox store and an app store with varying apps mixed between them. Microsoft can't even compile their apps to universal successfully, how do you think 3rd party devs will?
Still waiting this to go to $199 fair price for 950XL.
So true! Complete junk
I had to use a Lumia 530 for a week while my Note 4 was in repair. Such sadness. The calendar app was particularly bad.
I really hope that Microsoft never releases a Surface Phone as as rebranded Lumia, because that will just drag the excellent Surface name down into the mud.
Nexus will be grey import !? It does say AU version in the website.
Edit : got my answer here
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/237440