Hi guys,
Today I was looking to sign up an Optus Broadband to pair up with my Optus mobile from the recent $40 deal. Bundling them together gives you $20 discount.
However, I found out that my line is telstra owned, and therefore optus have to charge me a premium for it,which is extra $20.
As soon as I heard the word telstra, I knew it's not going to be cheap.
What other store name or brand name, as soon as you heard it, u know that u won't be getting a bargain?
Old model, no stock.
Also, not a bargain.
Yeah, outdated tech for a premium price, they rely on a sucker being born every minute and it appears that here in Australia that is exactly what happens…
I agree with this on their PC line. The mobile chips are definitely not outdated tech and every year lead in terms of performance until competition catches up.
Ofc it would seem that apples iphones are faster in benchmarks take away android intensive operating system 1440P screens and replace with ios and apples 750 x 1334 pixels screen and see how much a difference the results are then.
Ios is VERY basic operating system.
@Axelstrife: Their CPU and GPU are very nice though. I personally think it's hard to fault Apple's Ax series. I kinda think Apple's Ax series and Android manufacturers' chips aim for different things, one focuses more on multicore, one focuses on single core performance. GPU wise, don't they already count the resolution difference in as well? They do ones without the screen on for example (i.e. Snapdragon 820).
Plus, it's really rare to see something that actually utilises the fact that tablets have more leeway with the power and heat.
@Axelstrife: Basic in terms of? Been doing iOS/Android dev for 5 years and would like to find out something I don't know!
What exactly does "intensive" operating system mean ? Drawing a screen with a few bits of text in a few colours isnt difficult for any modern phone.
@Axelstrife: iOS is basically a mobile version of OS X. Even down to the file system. If you've looked through the iOS file system your realise even the file layout is practically identical to OS X. The only thing that is drastically different aside from IO is the user's limitations.
On paper Android hardware seems to drown Apple's. You know, 8GB ram, 8-core CPU bla bla bla. Then Apple's A9 destroys the competition with less impressive sounding hardware.
For what it's worth, iOS and Android benchmarks are compiled native binaries, they're not virtualised. Thus the results should be able to be compared. Any OS that is overly demanding probably isn't all that good. To be quite frank Android and iOS are basically as capable as each other with the exception that iOS can't have its boot loader unlocked. Go compare jailbroken and rooted iOS. You can benchmark each of these OSes in these states as their functionality is practically equal.
It'd be totally irrational to claim that Apple's mobile SoCs are lacking, because they're definitely not.
@no not me: I kinda think it's not right to call one and the other less impressive or more impressive when the OSs are different and thus they try to use different technology to cater their needs (while minimising cost of course, they are companies, not charity).
Sure Apple products have high single core performance and Android ones have higher multicore performance on paper. I've seen both parties saying things like, mine has higher single core performance so it must be better and how they hell do you live with dual core. I kinda think it's just different approaches to the same problem.
Android utilises multi-core and therefore they go down the multi-core pathway (with ARM big.LITTLE solution/HMP yaddi yadda), whereas Apple utilises single core so they don't increase the core number while increasing the performance of single cores. If you look at their die size, Apple SoC take up as much space, even more even, as the Android one.
Android apps tend to run in the background more (which Google is trying to reduce), Apple apps tend to not (which Apple is allowing more of). Thus RAM differences.
Plus, Apple has advantages in app optimisation, because apps don't have to cater gazillion different hardware configurations. Consequently, I've read an article that Salesforce are actually going to release their app with supports to limited number of Android devices to avoid this issue.
I think in the end, it's all about what you get out from those. I am an Android user personally, and I personally wouldn't use an iOS device because they are simply not for me. Do I think iOS products are bad? No. I simply like some things that Android offers (which is just my personal preference).
Haha what? Maybe this was true at the start but with the variety of phones available on Android now you can easily pick much better or much worse phones than whatever Apple has currently depending on your budget.
I don't really care if someone thinks that Apple is bad value but to call anyone who thinks their products are decent value a sucker is a bit over the top. I work in IT and have been an ozbargainer for many years and I own a macbook and I certainly don't consider myself a sucker or uninformed about computers. I personally wouldn't pay a cent for windows as it represents really bad value for me but for most of the world it's considered their favourite O/S, each to their own.
I kinda think their laptop line needs refreshing, it's been awhile since they've refreshed their Macbook Pro line and Air line. Some people were hoping for one last month (with Keynote), which didn't happen (which I think wasn't likely going to happen).
I guess Air line might get scrapped (it collides with Macbook in terms of concept), which is sad, because if they refreshed it with a decent screen, my mother would've loved it (her collection of iOS devices would go well with a MacOS device + she needs a laptop with a good screen for her line of work).
@Oversimplified: There is a refresh coming. Leaks of a thinner and sleeker MacBook. Rumoured to come out Q4 2016.
@ashg5446: Yeah, I wouldn't be too surprised. They really do need to refresh some of their models. Pro models had leaks (i.e. with a strip of OLED thingy on the top of the keyboard acting as a function keys) before Keynote as well (it was around Keynote time if my memory is correct). Skylake has been out for almost a year now (released on August 2015).
Though hasn't the Macbook already got a small change to CPU (from Broadwell to Skylake)?
Apple is a status symbol though, like Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci. Rich middle-class tools don't mind paying extra if the product they purchase makes them feel superior to the hoi polloi. The bourgeoisie is obsessed with status, something that seems rather infantile to me.
Go drive a Great Wall car and use cheap made chinese phones to justify your opinion
Why is this down voted? I share the same sentiment, you can pay higher specs windows based laptop than a macbook pro. As thin and much faster.
If you like the Macos, install hackintosh in it.
@mcp2kpro:
A'cheap made'mobile phone is one that is designed to be cheaply assembled so that no mere mortal is able to do a simple thing like change a battery when it inevitably wears out! My daughter in law's iphone5 died after spending less than 2 seconds in a toilet bowl (without urine) because the battery could not be removed immediately to completely power down the electronics, where my daughter's Samsung s3 spent more than half an hour at the bottom of a river and survived because the battery was removed and the phone completely dried out before turning back on. Just because you pay a lot of money for something doesn't mean it's not a cheap Chinese product dressed up to be a status symbol. Also look at how Apple shifts it's profits to a tax haven thus paying no tax in Oz, don't be part of the problem!
@Solarlux: Firstly, iphone wasn't designed to be stored in toilet bowl. The samsung s3 has removable battery but later model of samsung galaxy no longer can. But you're comparing the 2 most mainstream mobile giants and their price tag are almost the same. There are other phones that designed to be water proof like sony Z series.
Everything is mostly china made these days, but they are not china products, please understand this before you put everything in the same basket.
There are many factors that determine a product quality and price tag, design aspect, quality material, build quality etc..
If you don't like Apple products, thats fine. But try not to justify your choice on people who loves Apple. Same as every other brands, like car. If Audi, BMW, Mercs are same price tag as Toyota, Mitsubishi. Then guess which car people will buy?
At the end of day, buy what you can afford. Nobody forces you to make those choices.
@solarlux or haters: ugh yea, old people use iphones too.. for the simple ease, I bet your parents or a family relatives maybe using an iphone too, guess they are all suckers also? but I know what u mean, just dont get ahead of the pride U think youre feeling. its sad to say is that your comment probably makes you lower than a sucker :)
lmao, same goes to the haters
Old people use iPhones because they like the old tech!!!😃
Depends. When it comes to mobile phone contracts - Apple in some cases represent the best value for money - if you were going to spend on an alternative brand flagship phones.
I'll give you my example with my iPhone 6 64gb. It was released in September 2014. I signed up through virgin mobile for $55 a month for 24 months. It included 2.3gb data, $300 phone calls to any network and free calls Virgin to Virgin.
Over 24 months that is a total cost of $1320.00. At the time the handset was valued at $1000.00, in that spec. So effectively I paid $13.33($320/24) per month for my plan. Which again, at the time was great value for money.
Great thing about iPhones too, is the resale. When my plan expires, I'm going to put it up on eBay for $600, and because I've kept it well in a case, I know I'll get this money back too.
Good luck with your flagship Samsung, HTC, to recover more than 50% of the purchase price after 2 years.
I don't know, that still sounds pretty expensive to me. There's heaps of phones for much less than $1000 and not all of them are terrible.
Am I the only one who spends $300-400 every 2 years on a smart phone that's just as good as the latest iphone for most users and $15 a month on a mobile plan?
2.3 gb is nice, but the $300 credit is a rip off. They just give you some "fake dollars" and then increase rates to something ridiculous like $2 per minute, so effectively you get 150 minutes included. Still not bad, but not as good as it sounds.
Resale value is unbeatable for Apple though.
Judging by benchmarks, particularly web browser ones, only the flagship androids can compete with the current iphones.
A $400 phone will make calls and send emails, but iphones do provide an excellent user experience which justifies the price, and I say this as someone who prefers android
@rememberme: no no no no
the nexus 5x for example is a $400 allrounder that allows you to do everything the iPhone 6S can. $400 phones are no longer heavily inferior to their flagship counterparts. phones like the OnePlus 3 offer killer specs at crazy price-points. and unlike last time, they actually got it right (no camera halfway down the back).
@rememberme:
Let's compare your phone with mine:
http://www.compare-cellphones.org/Apple-iPhone-6-vs-OnePlus-…
Released around the same time, yours for $1000, mine for $485
So yeah, both of them have certain advantages over the other and it's certainly down to personal needs and preference, but I don't see any feature on the iPhone that justifies more than double the price.
I dare to say, for 95% of users it won't make much of a difference which phone they use nowadays (except for the price of course).
@MrTweek: The specs are less important than the benchmarks. Besides, support wise, I've had my iPhone for 22 months. The battery started holding significantly less of a charge after around 700 cycles, so they replaced the whole phone for me. The warranty works out amazingly well.
@AlexD: So which benchmarks are important for the average smartphone user who needs his phone for email, whatsapp, facebook, tramtracker and youtube?
Tell me anything that an iphone can do, but my $500 phone can not. Preferably something that a lot of people actually need to do with their phones.
@MrTweek: What I mean is that both are powerful enough to get the job done. iPhones just have a really simple interface, a generally better warranty, and are easier to set up. I agree that with an Android device, you're typically getting more phone for your money.
I'm not saying that the average smartphone user needs an iPhone, but I would suggest they'd be able to use more features straight out of the box. I used to work in sales, and we'd often see customers returning Android & Windows tablets for iPads. Customers who we'd see regularly complaining about their devices would sometimes come back to tell us how great the device is.
Also, your average customer isn't necessarily going to buy a phone outright. Generally, in my experience (and against the spirit of the ozbargain community), customers like signing up to a plan that gives them a lot of calls/texts/data and getting a free phone. If they get a phone that's marketed as >$1,000 for 'free', instead of one marketed for ~$500, they're happy.
I agree that Android devices are a better fit for a lot of people, but for those who don't want to fiddle, the support and ease of use make iPhones relatively worthwhile for a lot of people.
where's the $5 discount come from? 64GB iphone 6 on virgin should be $60p/m back then
I reckon thats heavily inflated. Equivalent liveconnected/vaya plans would be going for about half of what you have paid monthly, which would pull the actual cost of the phone to +600 on top of what you've calculated. Of course if you assume that is the normal cost of a phone plan, then I guess it feels like you're getting the phone for Next to nothing.
Plus the australia dollar was doing relarively well two years ago, which would make the iphone if at a supposed $1000 relatively expensive.
I dunno. I bought a 15" Retina Macbook Pro with quad core i7 2.5ghz. 512GB ssd and 16gb of ram for $2200 (was rrp $3,000 at the time). Pretty sure at the time nothing came close to the specs of the machine for the price. Equivalent dells are more expensive and worse quality in my opinion.
Me too! Late 2013 were great value. I mean, it's only Haswell and doesn't have the PCIe SSD, but I'd still have to pay around $2000 to get something remotely similar. Still works as well as day one.
Huh? 10% off every day of the week
Won't be a bargain but still worth it?
Ferrari
That's what they want you to believe. A little bird told me that you can get up to 1% discount if buying one; 2% for multi-buys.
They also offer very favourable financing options if you're an employee.
Ebay 20% sale
I just posted elsewhere about this. Saw the sale today. My wife has been wanting to upgrade to the iPhone SE. The only iphone SE listed has a sell price of $795 for a phone which RRPs at $679. While it's a $40 discount once the code has applied, it's not cricket and I wont bat with such dodgy bowling.
I found some good bargains in the past 20% off though…
I find it useful especially if the item is tax returnable, because the price in the invoice is the full item RRP price, before any discount…
Also great for GST refund.
+1 for the cricket analogy
Say, it seems to be a bit of a sticky wicket. Think you'll sit this one out for a while. Mmmyes.
Tiffany & Co: never on sale
I agree, my ass tighten and soon as I heard that word.
@fm
I agree, my ass tighten and soon as I heard that word.
Better than loose .. I always say !
Your ass tightened..? wut…
Maybe not on sale but you can get corporate discounts. I got close to 40% off when I bought an anniversary ring for the Mrs early last year.
What's the corporate discount? How do you get it?
40% seems pretty good. Did you think about buying extra and flipping it?
corporate discount
Part of the perks of working for my organisation. Might be available at other companies too. You will need to check with your HRM team.
Did you think about buying extra and flipping it?
Nope. I've bought a wedding ring set for a friend once and I had to get the clearance from HR beforehand since it clearly wasn't for me.
What's your organisation? Industry/sector is fine if you don't want to disclose the employer. I've worked for a lot of big corporates and have never seen a 40% discount of Tiffany's. Similar, I have friends who've worked for big miners (bhp, Rio, etc) and they got discounted diamonds … But not 40% on Tiffany's. I wouldn't have thought that even Tiffany's employees get 40%, but I'm just speculating.
I'm also surprised that your HR was okay with you buying for a friend … Seems like the kind of thing they wod frown upon.
I stand corrected. Aparently Tiffany's employees get a 50% discount (according to Google)
Now I need to find someone with access to the discount :)
What's your organisation? Industry/sector is fine if you don't want to disclose the employer
R&D. Experimental science. Not in any way related or associated to Tiffany & Co.
Please. Explain.
Their marketing strategy is so successful.
Being close friends with a couple of gemologist, I've been briefly educated on diamonds and gold.
Discarding any debate on artificial supply and demand of diamonds, it's hilarious to hear from a Tiffany's staff that their diamonds are better because they are valued and assessed in house.
How funny would it be if you went to an auto showroom and be told that their car had been voted the best by their own staff, and as such, they are now going to charge you higher than sticker price.
Just give her an empty box. As long as its blue and has a white ribbon ;)
Sydney property. For the last decade every now and then someone on the newspaper would say the big sale is coming, but it's just getting more and more expensive.
As long as population keep increasing, they will need a roof…
Scotty, Sydney property is an asset class, not a brand. Stick to the question please or i'll report you to mod.
This Scotty guy seems to think he can just make up the rules as he goes along… :P
Scotty makes notes of all people who liked this comment whilst laughing maniacally
Scotty is a noob.
LOL!!
Nekt minnit… DisabledUser123456.
Savage
I was reading on valuations that Sydney is gonna climb for another year or so while Melbourne has almost peaked. Sydney has been climbing for so many years, can't believe its still not peaked.
I hear it's pretty cheap in Perth nowadays… Time to move to the west coast… If you can find a job…
Every now and then? These articles happen multiple times almost every day in Melbourne.
For the last 6+ years in the morning there's articles about how everything is overpriced, there's a glut of apartments and that the property crash is coming. Then in the afternoon there's articles about how everything sold for record prices over the weekend, there's still not enough apartments to house the upcoming generation, so on and so on.
Land is a finite resource people. It will always be in demand in popular metro areas. Waiting for a significant reduction in land prices in Melbourne and Sydney isn't a good game to play if you are looking to get into the property market IMO.
Nail, head.
Its like a can of sardines, the more that are put in the more valuablethe remaining room becomes to the sardines wanting in.
Then a building firm comes along adds water to inflate value (buys land) then adds a second layer (building) and people pay more then before when it was empty space.
Lol sardines… Us salmon swim upstream to more spacious waters.
Exit Mould :P
Mercedes
Most people can easily get 5%-15% discount on a brand new Merc. Just need some negotiation strategy + shopping around.
Halliburton, Raytheon, BAE, Thales, in fact every defence manufacturing company, not one has ever come under their already way over priced quote.
AKA every government contractor.
I tend to lean towards Lockheed Martin when they have their two-for-tuesday deal
I guess I should change the topic to: what brand name that always pisses you off?
While it may be true that Telstra mobile network is better than the rest, but I doubt Telstra phone wiring is better…
Harvey Norman pisses me off lately, I bought their foot massager from recent eofy deals. Click and Collect from Caringbah.
When I show up, first it was difficult to find where to colllect the item. When I finally found the place to collect it, the staff said they have to find it first. I waited 15 mins, when they come back and gave me a floor stock demo item. The item has battery inside, no packaging, scratches, and also not working.
I asked about how come it looks like it's used? How come no packaging at all? And they said that they don't know, and it is the only one they got…
I really don't know what to say…
Then there was that Nokia treasure tags that no longer supported by any mobile, but they sells them…
I guess, calling them a fraud is a bit too much, but it's so damn close.
I guess at minimum I would expect a Click and Collect purchases already prepared, make sure they are in stock, and pick up in relatively a breeze…
And definitely not being given a used demo floor stock broken item…
Aahhh… that good ole' Harvey Norman shopping experience.
They ain't called Hardly Normal with no reason.
While it may be true that Telstra mobile network is better than the rest
Incorrect, they can't even keep the thing up and running.
HN is the worst. I always seem to have a crap experience every time I shop there. Worst online buying experience I've ever had. Lost most of my package, I had to chase it up 40 days later. I even filed a paypal claim, thinking it was done, and finally the item arrived the next day. Although I cancelled the dispute, they had the audacity to get super snarky about it in the dispute reply, lol. Not to mention I paid a ton on shipping for a package that took 42 days to arrive.
Also Telstra sucks too. We got a free 'loyal customer' upgrade to our broadband data, (500gb) which was awesome. Three months later, we got HD channels for Foxtel and the IQ box wasn't connecting. So we contacted Foxtel who said it was Telstra's fault. So we contacted them, and they connected it up. When we saw our bill, Telstra had overcharged us by $400, and they bumped us down to 200gb again without mentioning it to us. When we queried this, they told us the plan was 'new' now and so we lost the bonus data for 'changing' plan. When we mentioned that we never actually changed plan, and what happened to being a loyal customers they claimed we didn't qualify for it, despite the plan being actually identical to the old one in price, data, etc, and no one informing us it was 'different' when we had contacted them. Then they said they can't change it because the computer does all of it and they can't touch it, its automated. Yeah right. Yes, it was a free upgrade, but it was the principle of the thing— had we gotten HD channels prior to the free promo, we'd still have the free upgrade, like many others had. (My friend, for one, he got a free 1gb upgrade, and pays the old price, and they keep giving him promos all the time). In the end they gave us a few hundred off our bill but I'm still upset they removed the upgrade. Not only that, they raised all the plan prices too, so it costs even more than it used to to get 500gb. Also we've been with Telstra for over 10+ years now, and at the end of the day, all they cared about was their extra $20 dollars a month from us.
Not only that, its pretty crap internet in the end. Yes, its broadband cable, and yes it hits 30mbps on a good day, but it spikes ALL the time.
Spearmint rhino
Probably wasn't a good idea googling that at work.
Snowgum, Kathmandu (specifically clothing items). For most items, even with huge discounts, they are still rather pricey. I am sure there are exceptions, but they are few and far between.
Try Uniqlo, their thermal stuff is much better value, same material, longer lasting (at least for me)
kathmandu are a shit brand. For that price just buy from the US (even now).
I would never buy full priced Kathmandu. They always have sales with mega discounts or even head to their outlet stores, like in Smith St, Fitzroy.
Doesnt the Kathmandu brand belong to Jerry Harvey ?
Don't think so, if this wikipedia article is up-to-date.
About the company Kathmandu and one of its founder Jan Cameron who has sold her stake in it. Currently, owned by private equity group.
Miele
They force all their retailers/resellers to sell at the same price.
Agreed, I hate that brand, I don't see any extra values in them…
I've owned a Miele bagged vacuum for a few years - it's absolutely brilliant.
No experience wth Miele other than their vacuum cleaners - they are awesome and hands-down the best (bagged) vac we've ever owned. I seem to recall the sentiment is the same in other ozb vacuum threads.
Miele run an agency system just like many other high end whitegood manufacturers. It's all ticked of by ACCC
Apple….