Gone up in price to 120 GBP?

[Guest MrPuddington]

I was checking the Vodafone site for signs of the G330, because it certainly has a few nice features. But not only is there no sign of the G330, also the G300 has gone up in price, and it now costs 120 GBP. It seems strange that a phone that is over 6 months old and certainly coming to a point where the successor should be out is now getting more expensive.

But on the other hand the price is in line with other countries, and we can all pretend that we just made a profit of 20 pounds...

[Guest dalyer]

For what it's worth...

€150 on pay as you go from Vodafone Ireland: http://shop.vodafone.ie/shop/phones-and-plans/phones/pay-as-you-go/phone-details/huawei-ascend-g300

€130 (€20 discount) if you port a number in (e.g. get a free SIM from another operator just to port the number and then optionally ditch it)

They did discount it to €130 (and maybe even €120?) a couple of times last year. I managed to get it for €110 (net of the €20 port in discount) around September. Unfortunately I was unable to get one of the £65 (?) Tesco ones in NI/UK around that time...

[Guest Cyda]

Still £99 @ Argos.

[Guest holtend]

Voda sell returned ones @ £80

[Guest MrPuddington]

Still £99 @ Argos.

Now they have followed to 119 pounds - I wonder whether that is because a software unlock exists.

[Guest Maximus9]

Now they have followed to 119 pounds - I wonder whether that is because a software unlock exists.

Sorry for being ignorant, what is a software unlock and why makes the phone more valuable ?

It is unexpected to say the least to see the price going up. Why did they reduced it to 65 and 80 a few month ago? Maybe getting rid of a defective batch?

That might also explain the returned ones sold now (nearly new as Voda calls them), maybe they replaced something and now they are trying to recover some of the losses.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Maximus9

[Guest fuzzyy]

Sorry for being ignorant, what is a software unlock and why makes the phone more valuable ?

It is unexpected to say the least to see the price going up. Why did they reduced it to 65 and 80 a few month ago? Maybe getting rid of a defective batch?

That might also explain the returned ones sold now (nearly new as Voda calls them), maybe they replaced something and now they are trying to recover some of the losses.

Vodafone normally sells phones a bit cheaper because they expect people will give them money through top-ups to call and text etc. If you want to use the phone on a network other than Vodafone, you have to pay them about £10. This means they still effectively sell the phone for full price. However, some people have worked out another way of unlocking the phone - the software unlock. You can do this for free, without paying Vodafone. This means they lose some money they expected to get, so increase the price of the phone to compensate.

Don't know if this is true, but that's what he means I think.

[Guest Maximus9]

Thank you, it makes sense, cause they actually charged £20 to unlock, but on the other hand, there were lots of reports about already unlocked phones and some getting unlocks for free. And there was the ebay unlockers for £5.

The software unlocks presented here are also very complicated and involve risks. All in all, doubt this is the reason for the price raise.

I remember some saying here in December that the G330 will sell for £100 and this is why Voda is selling the G300 at £80 and even lower.

Now G330 is about £180 on Amazon and the even the G300 is £120... so a totally surprising move. Maybe the ICS upgrade allowed them to consider the phone has a new life.

[Guest bladebuddy]

Or maybe the problems Huawei , vodafone e.t.c faced with the botched ICS updates has put more expense on this phone and they are trying to recoup some of that cost ?.

[Guest tcpaulh]

It was too much of a bargain. They've decided the market can bear a price rise. Simple as that I think

[Guest MrPuddington]

Thank you, it makes sense, cause they actually charged £20 to unlock, but on the other hand, there were lots of reports about already unlocked phones and some getting unlocks for free.

Yes, that is what I meant. Lots of reports on the internet may still not translate into any significant business, and I agree that the ebay codes are most likely more popular than the very complicated software unlock. But it is still interesting that the difference is exactly 20 pounds.

I remember some saying here in December that the G330 will sell for £100 and this is why Voda is selling the G300 at £80 and even lower.

Now G330 is about £180 on Amazon and the even the G300 is £120... so a totally surprising move.

A surprise maybe, but I bet Huawei was making a loss to gain market share (it is one of the first phones to confidently display the HUAWEI name). Remember that the specs were way ahead of any competing offer? And it was a lot cheaper than in other countries, too. So I bet the economies have shifted slightly, and Vodafone decided it is not worth losing money on every sale just to reach the magical 99 pounds.

In any case I think it is overpriced now, especially with the botched ICS upgrade. I doubt they sell many, but maybe they do not care. It may be a while before we see another great bargain phone at this price point. And I am still waiting for a good phone with official CM support - that seems to be actually getting more difficult.

Edited January 26, 2013 by MrPuddington

[Guest PaulMilbank]

Maybe they just found out CM10 and now 10.1 are available and are about to market it as being upgradable to jellybean. ;)

[Guest dalyer]

Just noticed today that the G300 is €120 from Vodafone Ireland.

http://shop.vodafone.ie/shop/phones-and-plans/phones/pay-as-you-go/phone-details/huawei-ascend-g300

You can get €20 off for porting another operator's number (e.g. from a free SIM)

And it may be possible to get a further discount of €24 via this cashback site www.fatcheese.ie.

So that's €100 or maybe €76 here.

Edited March 8, 2013 by dalyer

[Guest nsmacd1]

Back down to £84.99 at Amazon http://www.amazon.co...g=hotukdeals-21 or Argos - http://www.argos.co....&referrer=COJUN or Vodafone - http://shop.vodafone...scend-g300-payg

Edited March 8, 2013 by nsmacd1

[Guest dalyer]

Yeah - saw the Amazon UK price alright. Basically the same price as buying locally from Vodafone Ireland - i.e. €100 including porting discount.

[Guest kido44]

It's now:

Amazon -£85

Argos - £85

[Guest Skip Tracer]

I see that Argos still insist on having to buy a top up even though Vodafone don’t.

No wonder they were moaning the other day that the PAYG market has slumped.

[Guest nsmacd1]

£74.99 at Argos now

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5188381.htm?cmpid=COJUN&catalogId=10001&_%24ja=tsid%3A11674%7Cprd%3A1546795&storeId=10151&referredURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.argos.co.uk%2Fstatic%2FProduct%2FpartNumber%2F5188381.htm&referrer=COJUN

[Guest sharkyo01]

£74.99 at Argos now

http://www.argos.co....&referrer=COJUN

Plus this

"This handset must be purchased with £10 airtime, this will automatically be added to your transaction in store."

Bring it up to £85. But i got my new one from argos last week it was fully unlocked! So argos is the place to go!

[Guest jonmac73]

OK - have one reserved in my local Argos (same place I got my trusty ZTE Blade from).

Is this worth upgrading to from Blade ? Have read plenty on it & sounds good - wonder if there is anything better for that money.

My Blade is running CM10 fine, although a bit laggy at times it if fine as is second phone (work BBerry).

Thanks in advance

[Guest CoSmEeN]

so, the g300 was about £100 in uk? that's nice... in romania it was about €190-195 (about £165).... damn :-<