Ok so bear with me. The Pixel 6 is on special for preorder on the Telstra Rewards store/app for 286,000 points (going to 355,000 on 12th nov). if 355,000 points is equal to $999 (cost of the pixel 6) then each point is worth about 0.3c.
So 2,500 points is $7.04 worth but you can get the pixel for $792 + 2,500 points. Bout $200 off.
This works for most of the Pro range too.
Yeah wtf is Telstra plus
You need to be a Telstra customer (mobile, home phone, internet, Foxtel by Telstra) & join then you get points for paying your bills.
How is $200/20% off a freshly released phone "hardly a deal"?
@ESEMCE: He's saying its hardly a deal when you first need to be ripped by Telstra. Currently with Optus and pricing is a lot more competitive against Telstra.
@Fuzor: My Telstra products are a $40/month Unlimited 25/5 NBN "COVID" plan (my FttN maxes out at 30/8) and our phones are with Boost on the $200/year 80Gb plans.
Boost recharges add 1 Telstra point per dollar.
We're hardly getting "ripped by Telstra"!
In fact there is and I'd hazard a guess has never been a better NBN deal.
@[Deactivated]: It was a public COVID special.
Was listed here mid-late 2020, but I can't find it.
EDIT: Found it https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/551845
It required Centrelink registration for one of the Family Tax Benefits (pretty standard stuff that any family with kids is likely to have)
(I only signed up in the final days of the offer, contract expires in January, although it might go for longer as Telstra/NBN stuffed up our line activation and it took them 6 weeks to get right, no idea why, we've had NBN before)
12 month contract, started off at 500Gb, since upgraded (at no charge) to Unlimited.
@ESEMCE: thats cool, Im a former Telstra employee and get benefits beyond even that, my point was more that requiring pre-requisites (like already being signed to a particular carrier) to claim deals is a bit niche and relevant to only a small number of OzB users.
Im getting downvoted to oblivion though so Ill take the L
@ESEMCE: You're on a special plan they did for Covid. Its not going to be over 12 month. How much will it go to after the 12 month? I think that will be the real cost.
@Fuzor: 12 month contract only.
I'll be cancelling and moving at the end of the contracted period, unless I can get them to transfer me to the 5G plan (really want more speed).
The point is that there have been plenty of Telstra deals that are not ripoffs and on top of that, Telstra Points are easily got for free.
The argument that this is not a deal cause you need Telstra Points and to get them, you need to be ripped off is incorrect.
@ShopMindfully: No idea.
Maybe you needed a Telstra Account already active prior to joining Boost?
We were previously on the Telstra Prepaid Plus deal (another unbelievable Telstra deal where you could spend your recharge credit on Google Play including subscriptions to things like Netflix) so had Telstra Accounts already set up from that.
My mother, Wife and I all get Points added to our Telstra Plus Accounts when we do our annual recharges. We never set anything up.. It just happened.
when you first need to be ripped by Telstra
But what if you aren't being 'ripped by Telstra'?
I have the family on $300 Prepaid (on special currently for $270), works out to $25/month for unlimited call/SMS plus 200GB/year (more than enough for most). Much better than any deal from any other carrier once you include network coverage, speed, and some free international calls.
@garage sale: Half the country would have met the requirements… it was hardly exclusive.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/551845
You usually get 10 points for every dollar you spend, so you need to pay 250 to rack up 200 points
Is that a typo or maths has become rabbit's food?
Did anyone see the Sony Xperia Pro-I launch on Tuesday? Looks like all of Google's marketing hype on camera quality a) hasn't necessarily lived up to the hype (reviews suggest it's hot and miss vs the iPhone and S21 Ultra) and b) Sony gone all in on camera tech (albeit resulting in a ridiculous price).
https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/26/22745552/sony-xperia-pro…
former sony z1/2/3 user, and i always freaking loved their phones. The waterproof was amazing back then, and the camera was fantastic.
I had the Z2 I think it was and it was so slippery it would jump off a flat desk if I wasn't watching it!
Great phone otherwise!
Huh? What have you read? I’ve seen it take the camera crown again and iPhone is still king for video.
You do realise that Sony is a camera with phone functionality? Starts at $1,800USD. It’s a niche product not accessible by most. I wouldn’t compare it to the Pixel.
Yeah I saw a direct comparison with the 13 Pro Max from mrwhosetheboss and it was very close. Video is not as close but camera is on par if not better in some aspects…
also worth to consider one phone costs around 40% more than the other phone
a detail that matters to some, but for not for others eg. still living at home with parents
I've watched a few videos on the new Sony phone and it doesn't look that great. The default camera settings are very average but the pro mode has good results though you may need to spend time getting it set up.
I'm looking at GSMarena photos and the differences are massive on details. It's like the difference between smudgy oil painting look versus resolved shapes for foliage in the background.
@plmko: Yeah the default night photos are not good.
https://www.gsmarena.com/sony_xperia_pro_i_hands_on-review-2…
@Caped Baldy: Eitherway very niche product still. But I don't know, as a camera enthusiast who likes taking photos of city life I think the 'invisibility' of people thinking you are just taking a smartphone photos versus waving a DSLR style camera for photographers is priceless because people behave differently. So to get a phone packed with maximum camera quality is very rare.
@plmko: True true. I love the hardware and camera tech (landyard hole, headphone jack, phase detection, eye AF, dual aperature, and actual shutter button!) but sometimes it's let down by the software not being cohesive enough. Not sure if this has the fancy adjustable telephoto like in the xperia 1 iii.
For $1800 USD it is very steep. I do like the idea of a sleeper powerhouse camera phone. A while back I was tempted by a seconds rx100m6 for $1k …
I believe whatever issues were raised can all be fixed with software updates. The previous pixels got better over time as Google tweaked the software.
But most reviews I saw were in favour of the Pixel 6's camera ability.
I can't bring myself to read anything from the verge after their 'how to build a pc' disaster video.
Hope you watched the followup with LinusTechTips. That was great and a really good thing to do :)
That had nothing to do with The Verge though. Stefan left, I don't think The Verge cares at all. Threw him under the bus with bad advice.
They were a pretty great gang back when they were at Engadget and made the jump to thisismynext, which spun off to TheVerge. But after a good year or two, it all went downhill. Josh cashed out, and the others stayed under their new corporate/woke bosses.
TheVerge is a pretty bad site now, avoid it. Their "how to build a pc" video is exactly the type of material they represent, and their horrible reaction/victimisation/censorship that followed is their core values.
If you want a "mainstream" tech journalist, Linus Sebastian is still the gold standard by a huge mile.
That phone is 3 times the price of this phone (with the Telstra deal) for what is probably going to be no real difference in camera quality for most people. And for the people that would care about that difference, they're going to get an actual camera which could easily outperform the phone.
The Sony is worse because it has non-existent computational photography and it isn't a true one inch sensor at all. In fact, it has worse light gathering abilities than the iPhone. It's a lot of marketing hype for worse results at an insane price point.
Can to elaborate please?
Read this article:
https://www.dpreview.com/news/1641689739/sony-just-packed-a-…
It's not a true one inch sensor as the lens crops the image. iPhone has better light gathering as well.
There are various tests on YouTube showing, for example, that there is no discernable night mode and poor dynamic range (as no computational photography).
You havent even used the product. Why are you already giving judgement? I'm pretty sure the engineers in Japan would know if what they've done achieves no benefits.
Because other people have used and reviewed it? The image circle the lens can project the light on is only 12MPs, which is rubbish. It is marketing crap.
Well they're claiming to put a 1 inch sensor in a smart phone… You'd need a decent lens to properly take advantage. So yeah, a bit of marketing BS.
This comes from a Sony a7iii owner and someone that loved their Sony Z2.
Sony will drop out of the phone market in the next few years just like LG. They just don't sell (and for good reason), I certainly wouldn't be dropping $1000+ on one if it were my money.
I don't get the connection between the Google and Sony phones?
What do you use for the connection? WiFi, usb connection, bluetooth?
Dad, thought you were at the gym?
Google pixel phones are known for having great photos with lesser hardware. Sony is an imaging/photography giant with a successful camera division and supplies sensors for other phone manufacturers. Sony have just released another phone geared towards camera enthusiasts and could be seen as competition to the pixel though it is $1800usd and not locally available.
I get that, but I thought OP was making a connection between google marketing hype and the sony phone.
Ah yes the phone thats a camera first and then a phone that no one can afford or can buy due to limited market availability resulting in another flop for Sony.
The trouble is that it is not the case, it is not a camera. Sony is marketing it that way but it is worse than top camera phones like the iPhone or S21 Ultra.
If you use it like a phone camera, the iPhone or S21U would be better.
If you use it like a camera, it's way better than an iPhone 13 Pro or S21U.
https://youtu.be/9ayaQOBgbbo?t=189
https://youtu.be/9ayaQOBgbbo?t=245
https://youtu.be/9ayaQOBgbbo?t=333
price is like 2k
Good way to use the points from the vaccination care package
As soon as I log in the page seems to not want to load. Anyone else?
I had that issue with the Telstra website but on a hunch I used my VPN (Australian server) and it worked perfectly. There is something fishy with connection to Telstra website while using other RSPs.
I reckon the 128GB will quickly end up being too small unless you have cloud storage, especially with the camera and image processing. Depends how long you're planning on keeping this phone for. Wish more phones would have expandable memory as an option.
Google photos makes this issue redundant.
Do you get the free google photos storage as you did with the other phones?
Unfortunately not. Google photos also made the compressed/data saver photo uploads count towards data cap - previously these were also unlimited for any phone/photos.
@TechGuy96: But pixel phones still have access to unlimited storage if uploaded via "high quality". It's become an additional unique selling point of pixel phones.
They haven't for many years now. Even pixel photos count towards Google storage.
You're mixing up "high quality" and "original quality".
"High Quality", now called "Storage saver quality", has always been free all the way up to the Pixel 5. It remains free after the "Original quality" changes that started June 1st 2021.
Unfortunately the Pixel 5a and 6 don't come with any unlimited storage, but anything before that still does.
The original Pixel 1 continues to receive free unlimited original quality storage.
@eug: Apologies I should've been more concise with my language. When I say it hasn't been available for many years now I meant in terms of hardware cycles, ie the pixel 5 and 6 have no option for unlimited photos regardless of quality. Personally I think this is a huge oversight as it would have continued being a massive selling point as it was previously with the earlier pixel generations.
@TechGuy96: The Pixel 5 does; see the link above. The 6 doesn't, I guess all good things come to an end!
Personally I think this is a huge oversight as it would have continued being a massive selling point as it was previously with the earlier pixel generations.
I suppose they're banking on camera quality and features now. All other phones had free high quality storage previously so it wasn't that big a selling point.
@TechGuy96: Ah, sorry. As per what eug elaborated with, I was actually still wrong despite. I was under the impression that Pixel phones (including the latest releases) still had a form of unlimited storage via "High Quality" as opposed to "Original", but it looks like I'm wrong.
I was under the impression that Pixel phones (including the latest releases) still had a form of unlimited storage via "High Quality" as opposed to "Original", but it looks like I'm wrong.
No, you're just about right; all Pixels apart from the 5a and 6 still have unlimited high quality storage. The Pixel 1 still has unlimited original quality storage.
@eug: Well, that's what I meant I was wrong about, haha. And it was something that made me feel like getting a Pixel 6, thinking that I'd still have access to unlimited high quality Google Photos storage.
That's what I meant I was wrong about.
and streaming music
You don't prefer your old 128kbps mp3 files?!
They did, but they would rather upsell you to the 256gb or 512gb models
The has been said about phones with both 64/32GB storage capacities in the past, and it wasn't an issue for most people.
I've been running a 128GB phone for the last three years. When the photos take up too much storage space, I offload the full res files to a backup drive. Low res versions live on the cloud with Google Photos (or you could use Amazon for high res). I've only done that once or twice over three years. My apps take up less than 50GB including offline music.
How do you get Amazon unlimited Photo working with Prime AU?
I can only see free 5gb storage on my prime account.
Perhaps change the () to (Telstra Plus membership required).
And seems like it can be purchased outright without a contract compared to previous $799 deal?
If you have a Telstra Plus account and need 2,500 points AND are fully vaccinated
https://www.telstra.com.au/connected/supporting-covid19-vacc…
As we work towards reconnecting in person, we want to do our bit to thank you for doing yours. All Telstra Plus members who confirm they're fully vaccinated before 31 January 2022 can claim 2,500 bonus points - and will get a shot at winning 5 million points plus credit on eligible Telstra services for a year, capped at $3,500. Points will be credited to your account within 48 hours.
You don't need to be fully vaccinated. That's just to get some bonus freebie points.
Can you use your phone to vaccinate yourself?
All they ask for is a vaccination number - i wonder if you could use anyones
I have 48k points atm, so can use 45,500 points + $672. This is tempting but would like the new samesung :P
So sell it then buy your Sammy?
Tempted to get this but also wonder if there will be any better deals from JB gift card deals or black Friday
Hi, can you use points to convert actual credit or money for it ?
Damn, why is the 6 pro 128gb set at 6900 points… :(
Can't justify jumping up to the 512gb model and 2,000 short.
I have 30k points, so is very tempting with the standard 256g,
Does anyone know or how long the delivery may take? I mean, do they have the phones in stock?
Was 1 day delivery for me. They also advertise 2 hour delivery but not sure the requirements
Telstra points? Can I also pay with Monopoly money too?
Pixels are always unlocked, right? I have an old Telstra account and can get the 2,500 points for vaccination. Just want to use Boost while Telstra are on the "increase margin" end of the pendulum swing.
I bought my fiance and Pixel 4a 5g from Telstra, and she uses it just fine with Dodo.
Only prepaid phones are locked.
Someone on the next page is claiming that chat told them this is locked.
I double checked with Telstra support, the phone is locked and will cost $80 to unlock.
@shrewdster: I have my doubts; it wouldn't be the first time Telstra chat has been wrong.
edit: Someone else asked via phone and chat and was told it isn't locked.
![[Pre Order] Google Pixel 6 128GB $792 + 2500 Telstra Plus Points @ Telstra](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/05/659705.jpg?h=46f29aca)
how to get telstra plus and points?