Please note that this deal requires you to combine two other deals:
Switch to Any OPTUS 24 Months Mobile Plan and Receive a $200 EFTPOS Gift Card @ Harvey Norman
Optus EOFY Family and Friends Offer: 25% Discount On 24 Month Plans (New Services Only)
This new phone has a pretty good contract price, $85/mth for 10GB Optus plan, it becomes even better after combining the two other deals making it come down to roughly $55.42/month! Calculated based on ($85*0.75)-($200/24).
The F&F offer is available in store too. According to some comments the Optus system they use at HN is the same as Optus stores, in that case the offer should be applicable too.
F&F works instore, if you take the code with you
Similar phone is about $600 (eg the HTC U Ultra for $632 with the 20% off ebay promotion)
Similar plan is the Optus $40 BYO 12GB for $30 with the 25% discount on a 12 month contract.
Can still get the $200 HN Gift Card if you go instore.
Contracted period is 12 months, total price for that period is $792 ($632 - 200 + (1230)) or $66 per month
If we take it to 24 months just for a fair comparison, it is only $1,152 ($632 - $200 + (2430)) or $48 per month
I do have to say that they are not exactly similar though, spec wise anyway. U11 is current gen while Ultra is pretty much with 2016 specs.
Biggest difference is SOC. SD821 vs SD835.
The SD835 does beat it in most test (not all), but it is actually pretty close throughout.
The biggest improvement is in the graphics processor (Adreno 540 vs Adreno 530), so great for extremely graphics intensive games.
U Ultra does have the larger screen and supports dual SIM.
The U Ultra also scores 10% higher on the battery endurance test.
Aside from that, they are near identical.
Without having the same model, I think it is about as close as you can get and was a fair comparison.
Yeah the SOC is certainly where the main difference is. The U11 does offer several other advantages including waterproofing, edge sense, and a much improved camera (especially focusing).
Depending on the person but for me personally I'd factor in the resellability as well, the U11 being current gen will probably allow you to sell for more later.
Ahhh, I forgot the waterproofing! That does make a bigger difference (to me at least) than the graphics improvement.
I still think it is a similar enough phone for some people. But I will conceded that the U11 does have a few more features up its sleeve that some people may be looking for.
Either way, redo the maths with an extra $150 for the S8 deal then…
They are not similar. the HTC U Ultra got negative reviews on all major sites and videos. The HTC U11 is seemingly very positive.
you can't get $200 for 12 month SIM only contract, plus the phone you list is from a doggy seller on Ebay, and it is grey import.
Correct, would need to get the 24 month plan if you want that $200 GC.
I shouldn't have included it in my calculations for the 12 month option.
I don't think the seller has doggy products, but for some, a grey import with dual SIM (and full support for Aussie LTE bands) is useful.
The U Ultra is a horrible phone.
that's actually not too bad for the data price. 30x12-200=160 about $13.30 a month, only if it was a different giftcard, no idea what to buy at HN. would be good if it was WW or coles for groceries!
Can't EFTPOS gift cards be used anywhere EFTPOS is accepted?
My first post was incorrect. You wouldn't get the $200 EFTPOS card unless you go on the 24 month contract.
So it should be $30 * 24 - $200 = $520 for 2 years.
Also, it is a gift EFTPOS card (Kind of like a prepaid credit card).
So you can use it where ever you can use a normal card.
oh cool, thanks thought it was HN card for some reason. will go check it out.
How can someone actually do this deal at this time, since they its currently online only.
I'd imagine that the product page is for buying outright ($999) only, basically has nothing to do with Optus. Contracting should be buying the phone and plan from Optus (via HN to get $200 GC).
never HTC again. too many problems down the track
I think LG deserves that title more…
Plus, HTC phones tend to age better than Samsung ones too, especially on the software side.
HTC's software seems to age better, but not their hardware. I've had several HTC devices develop hardware issues.
Like Nexus/pixel phones too….
I haven't tried the LG, as my HTC M8 has served me well over the past 3-4 years.
The HTC U11 is a great flagship. I picked on of these bad boys up on Wednesday.
My mate has the S8 and loves it, but the Aussie S8 doesn't come with the Snapdragon SOC 835 from all the US reviewers. Apparently the Aussie S8 uses a Samsung chipset.
the Samsung chipset is way better than the snapdragon what you on about?
It's good the s8 uses the exynos chipset, as it usually provides better performance and battery life over the Qualcomm offerings. Lucky for Samsung they avoided the dreaded snapdragon 810 that plagued the one m9 because they had the option to use their own chips.
I like that htc are offering the best main camera on a phone now, and audio output from the speakers is an improvement. It's a pity that the new flagship couldn't be an improvement in every facet. The selfie camera loses ois, and some will care about this loss. Same with the headphone jack, and from what I seen in reviews the dac isn't as good as competition like the v20.
The s8 vs U11, going to come down to what you want. They both offer strengths in different areas, and compromises in others.
The S8 has a new type of battery that holds 95% of its capacity after 12 months. That it the most important aging factor now a days given that you can't change the battery.
Battery doesn't mean much when the software is unusable though. Just look at how laggy Samsung phones get after a year, it's quite sad really… Even the s8 that's just out, ram management is horrible and it will only get worse over time.
@clse945111: so true, my s7 is slow at noe, I have to disable animation windows and shit. I've learnt to never update my flagship Samsung device within 3mths of the launch of their new phone. I'm a bit skeptical, but I swear they slow the s7 down….
My s8 is fastest Android phone I've had. I've had htc and Lg phones in the past. If the phone starts to slow down over time performing a hard reset usually resolves performance issues.
Samsung and battery should not be in the same line…..
I think LG deserves that title more
You mean to say you don't appreciate LG's boot loops immediately after the warranty expires features?
Yeah I only buy LG grey imports so I have a genuine excuse to get a new phone every 12-15 months. I wonder when other manufacturers will include this feature…
My 3+ year old M8 still runs perfectly smooth and is much more responsive than my partners 6 month old S7. Also no problems at all with my HTC 10. I'd say HTC probably easily has the best long-term usability out of all smartphone brands, clean android skin and durable hardware.
My old m8 used to take terrible blurry (common lense issue) over exposed pictures. The microphone also stopped working on it. The m7 I had before it would take lovely purple pictures. :) The one m7 my favourite phone design, however the build quality issues on that model was a big downer,
Just signed up contract in Optus shop this morning. Wish I would knew about this before.
Anyways +1 for the post!
So I can get the iPhone 7 128GB phone on the 10GB Data plan for $72.75 per month using the F&F discount instore at HN over 24 months with the Optus My Plan and still get the $200 Gift Card?
Edit- Just spoke to HN and it is for New Customers to Optus and not existing customers out of contract :( Was going to recontract.
Can you port out and port back in and be eligable?
Would think so
Port out to another carrier using a prepaid sim. Takes 30 mins
Is this for the gift card or the f&f discount? I checked my dad's mobile number and it says he is eligible for the f&f and his out of contract.
I can confirm you can combine the HN offer $200 card + 25% family friends offer I did it this afternoon @ HN. Be prepared to wait a long LONG time as HN staff have to do this over the phone w/ Optus for F&F deal. I was kept on hold with Optus with HN staff member for over an hour. Their phone line is super busy bc of these 2 offers, apparently.
Edit : you also receive eftpos card in store don't have to wait for mail.
The eftpos card can use somewhere else not just in HN right? Thanks
yeah anywhere eftpos is accepted
I just wondering 25% F&F discount can be used with tablet plan?
No - sim only or postpaid phone plans only
Thanks lot.
FYI A common downside to this phone raised by reviewers is the disappointing battery life
Actually last longer than s8
Thats BS. I have stats to prove it. First link are my personal battery stats and second link is to Phoneareana's battery benchmarks where the U11 outperformed both Galaxy S8's
6 hours screen time? Playing games? How long standby time? 2 days?
GSM arena the s8 scored higher in their battery tests.
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_u_11-review-1620p3.php
I suppose it depends what variant they tested too. The exynos variant we get in Australia probably offers better battery life.
I can get over 8 hours screen time with my s8+. It's a 2 day phone for me with the always on display set on during the day.
Let's see screenshots of usage and SOT like I provided above then
13 hours 10 mins SOT
http://i65.tinypic.com/2ik8tok.png
That's with everything enabled including Bluetooth and using iris scanner.
I suppose if I just ran airplane mode on Wi-Fi like they do on the review site tests, I might get another couple of hours or more. Based on the gsm arena review that beats even their video test for the HTC. I played games for around 3 hours in that 13+ hours. So it seems my s8+ is a bit better than your HTC and the gsm arena arena review unit.
The s8+ is best phone I've encountered for battery life. Ime Even beats out those lower end redmi note phones with their 4100 mah batteries. Which is pretty amazing considering the 6.2 inch screen, more powerful hardware and smaller battery.
You might not have realised I posted my battery usage screen in my First Imgur link (scroll down)
You'll notice Pacer is eating a large portion of my battery tracking my steps. (I'll turn it off next time to check the difference)
My usage was mostly web browsing, Facebook, Snapchat and email. I had Bluetooth and NFC on and screen brightness set at 50% Auto.
Whilst your stats look great, I'm going to take them with a grain of salt until I see your usage screen showing you didn't charge at any point
I would take anybody tests based on SOT with varied usage with a grain of salt. I'd rather see battery benchmarks that are set up to the exact calibrated screen brightness so it's test like for like. This would be a better benchmark that tests battery life.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.futuremark…
I'm surprised that I can match and beat gsm arena data. Most phones I've used don't come close to their results. If the HTC is anywhere close to the s8+ I'd be happy, but gsm arena shows that it isn't.
Perform the future mark battery test and I'll run it too, then we'll have like for like. :)
"U11 battery life blows S8's out of the water"
http://phandroid.com/2017/06/27/htc-u11-battery-life-review/
Did you run the battery benchmark?
I scored 13+ hours on s8+. I'd be surprised if you did much better than that?
That article you link to doesn't prove that the 11 is better… The author doesn't provide their testing methods. His phone certainly underperforms against mine, I get 6+ hours screen time even at max brightness.
For some reason you don't want a like for like test? Are you worried that your 11 won't perform as well as the s8+? Is that why you haven't posted results?
I had to give the phone back to HTC. Waiting for the Red colour to be available before I get one
HTC U11 was actually the worse flagship tested here for battery life. This is a better comparison too, since all phones are performing the exact same tasks.
https://youtu.be/YnaAZiorl7o
S8 was 2nd best, losing out to the one plus 5. Bit disappointed after seeing that. So it appears the U11 has one of the worse batteries on a current gen flagship.
This phone is no where near as good as the S8. So not sure why you would spend a little bit more for it.
https://www.stuff.tv/features/htc-u11-vs-samsung-galaxy-s8-w…
Stuff review suggest that s8 have better camera……….. Hahaha
Lol yet you link to a review which summarises:
"judging by our reviews (both of which culminate in full five-star ratings) and their specs, you’d do well to squeeze a cigarette paper between them"
'no where near as good'?
And yeah the consensus is that HTC 11 has the best camera available in a phone at the moment.
@carleast
What do you mean?
The HTC U11 is $200 less than the S8.
It depends which plan you go for. The S8 is cheaper if you take the double data deal of 7gb.
http://www.optus.com.au/shop/mobile/phones/samsung/galaxy-s8
ok. but outright the HTC U11 is a much better buy.
The Optus plans you have listed look like Samsung are feeling the pinch with HTC coming in a a sub $1000 outright price point and worked out a bundle with Optus to try to win over anyone being drawn into the HTC flagship.
I still have HTC OneXL and HTC One M7 and One M8 that my kids are using. Battery all running well and even for the units that are 6 years old.
Not having a stab at Samsung but a significant number of Galaxy owners from S5, S6 and even S7 have all reported battery issues including poor charging and battery life shortly after the 12month mark.
On a side note, I have a number of Galaxy Tablets at home and all seem to struggle to get to the 2 year mark. Ipads seem to last well and the Asus TF201 has been retired but only after service many years. Im sure it will still run very well if i were to power it up again.
7GB isn't 10GB included in this deal though, is it?
Another thing to note here is that handset repayments are not included in the 25% offer. So the S8 on the double data plan is ($65*0.75)+10, which is $58.75. $5 difference for 3GB extra, depending on how much data you use. I always opt for the higher data plan if the price is right, for convenience and not worry about going over my allowance.
But the HTC U11 with 10GB comes with 150 minutes more international calls, as well as Optus Sport. That, combined with the extra 3GB data is quite a steal for another +$5.
Even if you add a +$10 Fetch Mini into the deal, the S8 deal still costs +$15 for Optus Sport.
OK so I've gone through a few reviews about this phone…by all accounts this is a very very decent flagship. It actually out performs the s8 when it comes to real use speed tests (see High tech traveller's comparison on YouTube).
https://youtu.be/CaqJ8VDD9LQ
Faster and cheaper sounds good to me!
Will have a play in the shops and maybe pick one up.
All the reviews I have read (and it's pretty much all of them) show that the S8 is the better phone. Put them side by side and the S8 just looks far superior (having seen them). One or two reviews put HTC ahead on some funky features (typically HTC) that when all is said and done won't be much use.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/android/htc-u11-vs-galaxy-s8/
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/high-end-smartphones/samsu…
https://www.androidcentral.com/htc-u11-vs-samsung-galaxy-s8
https://www.stuff.tv/features/htc-u11-vs-samsung-galaxy-s8-w…
I really question a lot of the reviews … Consider how much Samsung spends on marketing. Looks is personal preference, I personally like the look of U11 more then S8, Had S7 edge and gota say I'm not used to the curse screens on the edge, its just not practical.
If you prefer the looks of S8, go for s8, if you prefer better music and arguably better camera, then U11.
Looks like a awesome phone, but glass back, really? One of the selling points of the HTC was its durability and aluminium casing. My partner's old M7 was riddled with chips and dents in the corners, splitting apart yet still worked. Take a look at the HTC U ultra's testing
Hello. Does this apply only to phones that's available in the Optus catalog/website? Thanks
Yes, has to be what Optus offers. Doesn't have to be the U11 though.
Speaking of which the reviews seem to be mostly evaluating 128GB/6GB model U11, Optus unit is 64GB/4GB according to their website
why are all these new phones coming out with no headphone jacks. I hope this doesn't become a trend, damn apple
what happens with prepaid Optus, do I need to port out and sign?
Prepaid is fine I think. It's postpaid that requires porting out.
ok, thanks :)
Anyone know best price for outright and where to look?
It was just out on Monday so probably won't be any cheaper than RRP ($999), can try haggling a bit at JB though.
Optus $984
Rather than porting out I think switching to prepaid is much easier? http://www.optus.com.au/shop/support/answer/switch-your-mobi…
A switch between a billed service and a Prepaid service takes about 48 hours.
Just got off chat and they said changing from postpaid to prepaid would not be eligible. This is what the chat person said "I see that option is available for the customers who were on Prepaid plan before the start of the plan." really confusing. So do I go into a store and port out to telstra then port back?
Just to clarify for anyone. I just spoke with HN on the phone and they said if you are switching from Optus Pre-paid to this EFTPOS card deal, you are eligible.
@JimJim:
Spoke to HN browns plains. Said that we would not be eligible for the $200 card coming from prepaid.
I think they have misinformed you then, I did this exact thing at the HN Melbourne store on the weekend. Maybe try contacting another store?
I currently have a z3 sony and my wife has an LG G4. I was going to either get the s7 edge or the HTC u11 roughly the same price per month after the 25% and the $200 eftpos cqrd.
I was going to give either phone to my wife and I get her G4 amd give my z3 to our son. Will my wife's Virgin sim work in these phones? I think virgin use optus.
Which phone is better the HTC or s7 edge?
Thanks.
Yes, Virgin will work as the phone is not locked. (and they're the same network anyway)
Between the two definitely the U11, it's a 2017 model while the S7E is a 2016 model, no point paying the same for an older phone.
The only real advantage of the S7e is the edge screen. The U11 has a faster processor, 64Gb storage, faster UI and will get longer support for major software updates
Ok, so I ended up doing this today, but for a Samsung Galaxy S8 instead as it was slightly cheaper and came with double the data allocation. I was porting over from Optus pre-paid.
Extremely good deal, although as someone else may have mentioned, you need to allow a good 1-2hr in the store, as the HN staff are having one hell of a time trying to get through to Optus. There were no less than 5 other people in the store doing the same thing as me, for various phones.
What plan on S8 and how much data ?
$75/month ($65 plan + $10 phone) comes with 7GB of data + unlimited google play/spotify/stan/netflix etc.
Reduced to $56.25/month + $200 EFTPOS giftcard.
The $65 plan doesn't come with unlimitied netflix/stan. Only has music streaming free.
It also comes to $58.75/month as the discount only applies to the plan, not the phone repayments
The website suggests it is included, unless I have misunderstood?:
http://www.optus.com.au/shop/mobile/phones/samsung/galaxy-s8
EDIT:
Yep, you're right. It's an extra $10/month to have Netflix/Stan etc. unlimited.
BTW, because the $10 handset repayment is not included in the F&F sale, your final monthly price will be $58.75. It's a good plan if you use less data and don't need the other inclusions of the $85 plan, personally I think that extra $5 is pretty worth it though.
@clse945111: Extra $5? The $85 plan comes to $72.75 as there is a $9 phone repayment for the S8. You would be better off going to the $100 plan for discounted price of $75 as there is no phone repayment and unlimited netflix/stan and 20GB data
Do you get a tax invoice for gst claim with this?
s8 is ok. confirmed with local HN store.
I got the HTC U11 on the friends and family plan linked in this offer from HN. There's no mention of the discount anywhere no email. Does someone know how I can get a confirmation that the 25% discount will be applied and I wont get a nasty surprise later on. The Optus agent refused to give me any kind of confirmation just kept asking me to wait for the second bill which would show the discount.
Isn't the F&F offer available only at Optus online and the Harvey Norman offer available only in store??
Are you sure you can combine them?