Silly spex for silly money and possibility of silly wait for delivery (ships after May 10).
Offer price of 99USD (circa 71GBP) limited to 40 units a day starting at 10am UK (09:00 UTC) Friday 08 April 2016, and if you miss those daily 40 you will be looking at nearer £87. Not clear when the daily counter will be reset but timezone quoted by vendor is UTC which is 1 hour behind current time in UK. Offer pricing may finish 12 April.
Spec summary: 5" anti-smear 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen @ 294PPI 1280 x 720, Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS, 3GB RAM, 16GB storage expandable to additional 128GB, MTK6753 64bit Octa Core 1.3GHz CPU, ARM Mali-T720 MP3 450MHz GPU, dual SIM dual standby, 4G LTE @ 800/1800/2100/2600MHz, unlocked for use with any network, Bluetooth 4.0, 1080p video, 13.0MP rear camera, 5.0MP front camera (not stated if either interpolated), OTG, 0.1second fingerprint unlock, fingerprint sensor, gravity sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, 80% s-b ratio, 140 grammes 142mm x 70.3mm x 7.9mm titanium alloy body, 2800mAh battery, quick charge (probably mains 2-pin charger), FM radio, enhanced speaker.
2G: GSM 900/1900/2100MHz
3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz
If pulled by customs, expect circa £22 import fees to pay.
Any requirement for warranty servicing may be problematic as supplier may expect handset to be shipped to HK/China, although you may be able to obtain some financial sympathy from your chosen purchase payment processor.
Potentially great value if you are not a Gearbest hater and are comfortable with a direct purchase from far East.
There may be opportunity to obtain similar 99USD pre-launch price by forum registration. No doubt some informed HUKD member may assist with details.
Possibility of upto 6% cashback for new GB customers; 3% existing customers http://www.topcashback.co.uk/gearbest/
Edit 08 April 2016
Vendor presale webpage now mentions 40 units daily at promo price, was originally 20: http://www.gearbest.com/promotion-vernee-thor-special-527.html
Top comments
wenttoabetterplace
7 Apr 1614#1
Usual pre-order nonsense from Gear Best.
wenttoabetterplace
7 Apr 169#20
You missed my point.
It would take very little for someone to add a keylogger to a Chinese phone rom. A keylogger plus a little networking backdoor would allow people to track exactly what you write. So if you then were to go to Paypal.co.uk, they would be able to see your username and password - and then do whatever they like to your account.
That's just one example.
Point being - Chinese phones quite often come with malware installed...so to just wade in without any concern for the integrity of your data is really asking for trouble.
shadey12
7 Apr 166#19
to be honest I'm more worried about what our government holds on me than some Chinese company or government having a fingerprint
wenttoabetterplace
7 Apr 165#11
~Nothing much wrong with 720p on a 5" phone.
I have a Blu Win HD LTE with a 720p screen, and a Lumia 950 (5.2") with a 1440p screen. Honestly, nice as the 1440p screen is, I'd sooner have the better battery life that comes with a lower resolution.
All comments (71)
wenttoabetterplace
7 Apr 1614#1
Usual pre-order nonsense from Gear Best.
Cooperuk
7 Apr 162#2
Amazing specs for the price though.
Waksta
7 Apr 161#3
Can anyone explain the £22 customs charge mentioned above? I thought anything under £135 were not charged customs. You might have to pay VAT on the purchase if its picked up but 20% of £71 is around £14.
wenttoabetterplace to Waksta
7 Apr 161#4
Isn't there a £10 or so handling fee?
AndyRoyd to Waksta
7 Apr 16#5
20% VAT + circa £8 handling fee.
qw3rtyhhng to Waksta
7 Apr 16#29
Anything over £15 can get customs charges
(There are some exceptions though)
cannibalwombat
7 Apr 162#6
Meh, seem fairly mediocre specs (720p screen, ubiquitous MTK6753 processor, tiddly battery) but decent for the money. The fingerprint sensor and wider than usual 4G band support are nice little bonuses though.
shadey12 to cannibalwombat
7 Apr 161#10
forgive my ignorance but what's wrong with 720 screen
helllraiser to cannibalwombat
7 Apr 161#24
Agreed however 2800mah is good for a 5" and with its 720 screen, one would expect it to have good battery life.
gbrown42
7 Apr 16#7
I used to deliver for UPS. It was 20% VAT + £11 surcharge.
Wanted to vote cold, but couldn't find a reason. Looks like stock Android so no issues with Play Services or anything like that and supports all UK LTE frequencies. It's a low end CPU but everything else looks pretty decent for this type of money. It's a hot from me.
wenttoabetterplace
7 Apr 165#11
~Nothing much wrong with 720p on a 5" phone.
I have a Blu Win HD LTE with a 720p screen, and a Lumia 950 (5.2") with a 1440p screen. Honestly, nice as the 1440p screen is, I'd sooner have the better battery life that comes with a lower resolution.
ferrarian
7 Apr 163#12
Good deal for the manufacturer as they can steal all your data and fingerprint for just 70 quid. HOT!
Bushes to ferrarian
7 Apr 164#14
Ah...that old chestnut. All discussions about Chinese phones attracts this cobblers from the ignorant.
shadey12 to ferrarian
7 Apr 16#15
i have had phones from gearbest for at least 3 years with all bank, paypal, dvla, passwords etc. never had any problems
![Fresh Breakfast Meat Box (Using code) @ Campbells Meat [Haggis / Lorne Sausage / Bacon / Black Pudding & More]](/images/topics/208684_1.jpg)
![[Xbox One] Q. u. b. e: Director's Cut on Deals with Gold](/images/topics/208716_1.jpg)
Opening post
Offer price of 99USD (circa 71GBP) limited to 40 units a day starting at 10am UK (09:00 UTC) Friday 08 April 2016, and if you miss those daily 40 you will be looking at nearer £87. Not clear when the daily counter will be reset but timezone quoted by vendor is UTC which is 1 hour behind current time in UK. Offer pricing may finish 12 April.
Spec summary: 5" anti-smear 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen @ 294PPI 1280 x 720, Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS, 3GB RAM, 16GB storage expandable to additional 128GB, MTK6753 64bit Octa Core 1.3GHz CPU, ARM Mali-T720 MP3 450MHz GPU, dual SIM dual standby, 4G LTE @ 800/1800/2100/2600MHz, unlocked for use with any network, Bluetooth 4.0, 1080p video, 13.0MP rear camera, 5.0MP front camera (not stated if either interpolated), OTG, 0.1second fingerprint unlock, fingerprint sensor, gravity sensor, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, 80% s-b ratio, 140 grammes 142mm x 70.3mm x 7.9mm titanium alloy body, 2800mAh battery, quick charge (probably mains 2-pin charger), FM radio, enhanced speaker.
2G: GSM 900/1900/2100MHz
3G: WCDMA 900/2100MHz
4G: FDD-LTE 800/1800/2100/2600MHz
If pulled by customs, expect circa £22 import fees to pay.
Any requirement for warranty servicing may be problematic as supplier may expect handset to be shipped to HK/China, although you may be able to obtain some financial sympathy from your chosen purchase payment processor.
Potentially great value if you are not a Gearbest hater and are comfortable with a direct purchase from far East.
There may be opportunity to obtain similar 99USD pre-launch price by forum registration. No doubt some informed HUKD member may assist with details.
Possibility of upto 6% cashback for new GB customers; 3% existing customers
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/gearbest/
Edit 08 April 2016
Vendor presale webpage now mentions 40 units daily at promo price, was originally 20:
http://www.gearbest.com/promotion-vernee-thor-special-527.html
Top comments
It would take very little for someone to add a keylogger to a Chinese phone rom. A keylogger plus a little networking backdoor would allow people to track exactly what you write. So if you then were to go to Paypal.co.uk, they would be able to see your username and password - and then do whatever they like to your account.
That's just one example.
Point being - Chinese phones quite often come with malware installed...so to just wade in without any concern for the integrity of your data is really asking for trouble.
I have a Blu Win HD LTE with a 720p screen, and a Lumia 950 (5.2") with a 1440p screen. Honestly, nice as the 1440p screen is, I'd sooner have the better battery life that comes with a lower resolution.
All comments (71)
(There are some exceptions though)
https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/143
I have a Blu Win HD LTE with a 720p screen, and a Lumia 950 (5.2") with a 1440p screen. Honestly, nice as the 1440p screen is, I'd sooner have the better battery life that comes with a lower resolution.