It’s getting seriously competitive in the low-cost 4G handset space, with Kogan announcing presales on a $229 4G LTE 5″ handset.
The latest phone from Kogan to bear the “Agora” name comes with a 1.2Ghz Quad-Core processor, 5″ display screen with a stated resolution of 1280 by 720, 8MP rear camera and Android 4.4, AKA “KitKat”. It will take microSD cards, but curiously there’s no mention of how much onboard storage it has on Kogan’s web site. The release notes for the Agora state that it’s packing 8GB of storage on board.
Ultimately these aren’t bad specifications for the asking price of $229, although at that size the resolution is likely to be a bit of a jaggy sticking point, and not really the “stunningly sharp” display that the Kogan web site sells it as.
As with all things Kogan, you’re buying based on price but it’s hard to judge the actual quality, because this is a presale on a product that won’t actually ship until 29 August. It’s also a bit cheeky of Kogan to promote that a single year’s warranty is “free” — you have to pay $27.48 for three years or $34.95 for five — given even in the low cost space it’s reasonable to expect that a phone should last a year, and would therefore be covered by Australian consumer law anyway.
Kogan Agora 4G [Kogan]
Comments
9 responses to “Kogan’s Latest Budget Agora Phone Offers 4G For $229”
If they are charging for a 5 year warranty then that tells us Kogan thinks the phone will last 5 years in which case we are covered by a statutory warranty for 5 years. Never ever pay for an extended warranty.
How would you enforce this though?
ACC or your local Magistrates Court
ACCC or your local Magistrates Court
Nope, that’s not how legal things work. Statutory warranty covers the reasonably expected life of the product.
I could offer you a $50/30 year warranty on a $1 plastic bucket, that doesn’t mean the bucket is expected to last 30 years. I’m still obliged to replace your bucket for the next 30 years (from manufacturing defects not user damage) if you buy my warranty. It means I’ve made an estimate that I’ll be able to replace the bucket for you (even several times) for that period for less than the $50 I’ve sold you the warranty for.
Now on a mobile phone the most a reasonable person would expect the phone to last would be 3 years, but more likely 2 years.
The fact Kogan expect 5 years from their phone is plenty of evidence that the phone’s expected life span is 5 years, especially when they don’t state they expect it to last less than that.
They don’t expect all of them to last 5 years. Just enough of them so they make a profit on the warranty. It’s a numbers game where, on average, the consumer loses.
1GB of ram? Would have happily paid $250 for 2GB.
It appears to be seriously under specced compared to the OnePlus One which is selling now and is in a similar price bracket.
Can you tell us where it can be bought in Australia?