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The cheapest 4G + tri-band 3G phone returns. Used it for over 5 months and it is still as stable as a rock. No regret for buying it at $229 last year.
Huawei G526 4G Android Phone $129 (Was $199) @ Dick Smith
450
andylch on 12/03/2014 - 15:30 files.ozbargain.com.au (4257 clicks)
Last edited 12/03/2014 - 19:33 by 1 other user
Last edited 12/03/2014 - 19:33 by 1 other user
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Got mine in the $99 deal last year but gets very hot with extended game play (20 mins+) when wifi is on. Any1 else notice this?
I've used mine for extended periods and it doesn't get more than warm. I don't play games though, mainly browsing, reading twitter etc…
I use it as Wi-Fi hotspot always (at least few hours each time) and it is warm only. Never hot.
have you found a phone that doesn't get hot? (very hot is pretty relative, I find my iPhone gets pretty hot with extended use)
Is this in-store only?
Can't find it online.
http://search.dicksmith.com.au/search#p=R&w=huawei&url=http%…Yep - instore only by the looks of it.
"The cheapest 4G + tri-band 3G phone is returned" (to the shop because you don't like it?)
Haia it's ok lah…locked to vodafone?
it can be unlocked for around $5.
Or free if you manage to get some old stock. The IMEI's are linked to ship date, not activation.
@ Naga
Just wanted to say thanks for the link
(came to $4.73 converted with 28 Deg Card)
locked to vodafone?
mine unlocked for free…
Agree, great phone. 129, very solid, Antutu 12,000+, hard shell cases from China on ebay $2.60. Camera not as good as high end phones, of course, don;t expect an iPhone photo quality, if you need a great cam, buy an S3 or something like it. Everything else solid, 4G as expected super fast. Battery life = AAA+, never dies during the day, often 40-60% left at end of the day (I am not a super heavy user, though). Mine unlocked for free.
He is using G526 or some really low end phone with 256MB RAM? Every manufacturer has high end and low end products. Even Samsung's low end products is as buggy and dumb like a shxt.
He's using Huawei Ascend G510 and it's also a under $200 phone
My money is all on it being an operator problem..
not being a fan of a manufacture doesnt mean you neg the deal.
"Not a big fan of this manufacturer"
Sorry to neg you, but the above comment is not a reason to neg the deal. I use Huawei handset as a spare and it is value for money. The current deal is good 4G phone and value for money. Can you recommend similar phone under this price.I agree the stock android for Huawei phones are pretty crap and can slow it down especially if the phone's hardware is already low spec but once you load Cyanogenmod on these they're probably the best phone out there at the ~$100 price range
I bought one last time for $99 and never regret it. For $129 I would buy another one if I could find one.
Hi, just wondering if any of you who have the phone can confirm if it has 5ghz wifi. I see conflicting reports online and nothing specific on the huawei sites.
How do you find out if it has 5ghz wifi or not?
Engadget says yes it has both 2.4 and 5ghz on wireless-n: http://www.engadget.com/products/huawei/ascend/g526/specs/
Anyone report which store this was found in? Anyone seen it any any of their local stores?
At least Broadway and Chatswood
With pre paids like this I know I'll never be going on contract to get a decent handset again….
Finally… I've waited for this day for about 5 years.
This is better than a decent handset…
… and that it is.. much better than my unreliable piece of junk sony smart phone.
Tempted to buy another at this price…??
The one I bought last year was unlockable from the Vodafone site for free. So give that a try before buying the code of the bag man.
Great phone, and not just for the price. Does everything the majority want, but of course it'll never make those who need the latest and greatest happy.
Recommend grabbing a microSD card as the onboard storage is quite low, and the camera isn't top quality, otherwise it's quite snappy with a decent screen.
I was lucky enough to grab it in the $99 Dick Smith sale, but wouldn't hesitate to get it for this price either.
Be careful, just remember it has Emotion UI not stock Android. Haven't seen a stock rom for it either.
Edit: Sorry I'm thinking of the G510-0200, but still just check.It is stock android, not Emotion UI. Anyway, you can install any launcher app from Play Store if you like. I suggest Go Launcher EX.
What's wrong with Emotion UI by the way?
I highly NOT recommend Go Launcher EX. It was the only launcher I tried on this phone that had visible lag (and is bloated to no end).
APEX or Nova is the way to go imo.
I'm personally using Action Launcher and highly recommend that too.
Use older Go Launcher v3.7, you definitely will love it.
Emotion UI uses about 80% of all performance available on the G510-0200. That's my experience anyway and the experience of others. You can port over to CyanogenMod but lose functionality of things like GPS, PlayStore, etc. Isn't worth it for me to move over but the phones specs are definitely at a disadvantage because of the OS.
Root it and install CM 11.
Is there a CM 11 Rom for the G526?
Grabbed one @ Caloundra (1 left at around 16.45) great as a spare for me (beach, stormy weather, etc)
got it on charge now (no free unlock for me tho)
try here if you want https://unlock.vodafone.com.au/voila/handsetunlock/self-serv…
Deal expires 31/3/2014.
Got one from the previous $99 deal and was able to unlock for free on Voda Web site. Quick review:
Pros:
+ 540x960 IPS (better than typical 480x800)
+ GPS is good (gets a lock fast, even indoor)
+ Fast boot support (restart phone is quick)
+ MSM8930 CPU (at $99/$129) is goodCons:
- 1.09GB usable storage with 1.0GB internal SD partition
- Even with root access, and Link2SD, the partition stuff up means you cannot move large game downloads to SD card (unless you write a UNIX script to hack around it)
- Root + Link2SD + UNIX script makes the FastBoot not so fast
- Even when the phone is off, the battery slowly gets discharged (common issue for Huawei phones)Hardware wise, at $99 or $129, it is great. Software (partition in particular) really makes this phone feel like a low end Android phone. The correct way is to allow large game data downloads to go to an external SD card, NOT that 1GB internal SD card. In fact, it would have been better to allocate 2GB phone memory to app storage and allow full use of SD card for download app/game data, rather than this extremely annoying (1GB phone storage + 1GB internal SD).
If you have no need to play games on the phone and don't have the need to install lots of apps, then it is a good phone (for $99 or $129). This could have been a fantastic phone had Huawei not made that major software partition stuff up.
For those who knows a bit about Android. After you rooted the phone, installed SManager, the following script (for SManager) will get you started. I would probably install Titanium Backup Pro and Link2SD.
With the following script, you can put game data onto SD card, move TomTom map data onto SD card, and other app data / cache data. SD card is slower than internal storage, but at least you can install more apps this wey.
#!/system/bin/sh if mount | grep /storage/sdcard0/external_sd > /dev/null; then echo "Custom mount(s) already created" else busybox mount --bind /storage/sdcard1 /storage/sdcard0/external_sd busybox mount --bind /storage/sdcard1/tomtom /storage/sdcard0/tomtom busybox mount --bind /storage/sdcard1/Android /storage/sdcard0/Android fican you please give a more detailed step by step guide on how to do this for a newbie? ie. save the above script as .txt in the root of your sdcard? of the phone's "internal" SDcard? how to activate this script?
I have had this phone since the last $99 bargain but never really got around to getting the link2sd to work. I read somewhere you need to partition the external sd card in a special format to allow the data to be put there?
Link2SD is designed to solve the limitation of phone internal storage space (/data). The script is designed to solve a different problem. When you have apps or games which takes only a reasonably small amount of space in the internal storage BUT a fair amount of space in other area (e.g. SD Card or in this case internal SD card - 1GB only), you need a way to force/trick the OS to put all that data in external SD card instead (e.g. big games, offline GPS maps). Generally, you don't need to use a script, but Huawei really stuffs up this one. They are for different purposes. Though, in this case, you probably want to do both (as there is simply too little internal storage space).
- Install SManager (it is free).
- (IF) you want to use Link2SD, read: http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=SD_card… and prepare your SD card (FAT32, EXT2 combination - your FAT32 partition needs to be big and note that both partitions must be primary).
- Save the script above and put it in the FAT32 partition (e.g. Scripts/bind_sd)
- Open that file, and copy the whole content (so you can paste it later)
- Follow the following guide to add the script (but use the script provided above instead): http://www.technohunk.com/2013/02/how-to-execute-a-command-a…
- Once done, reboot is required.
You kinda need to know what the script is trying to do in order to determine whether you've done it right. Install a game like Need For Speed Shift and makes sure the game data goes to your external SD card.
I changed the default storage option in settings -> storage -> default storage location -> change from internal storage to SD card.
This puts all apps/game data etc on the external SD card and not the internal SD, everything seems to work fine like this, and no need to run any external scripts.
I had used Link2SD on my previous phone(HTC Incredible S) but found no need for it after changing the default storage location on the G526.
Thanks for this. Much easier and no need to root the phone.
Link2SD, installed but have not really used it on this phone either.
Just bought this phone today from Chullora, great phone! rooted it straight away and installed Titenium Backup, what I noticed is that the system partition had a lot of extra empty Space, so I converted many of the must have apps like Viber, whatsapp, telegram and many others to system apps, and along with your suggestion to change the default storage to SD the phone have now 760 meg of free space to install apps after all the apps that he wanted installed!!, very happy with the phone, I bought it as a gift for my 15 year old Nephew to replace his windows nokia phone 610.
I thought the point of Link2SD is the ability to move ALL data to SD card because some apps don't allow moving to SD card and eventually that 1GB of internal storage won't be enough.
So the above solution will alleviate the the problem somewhat until the internal fills up.
what is it with retailers doing "printed catalog only" deals ?
How are you meant to find stock ? Or is it a ploy to get you to the shop and sell you something more expensiveDidn't try to upsell when i got mine …but sometimes they have good deal on other things so…
Is this deal nation wide (all stores)?
@ jacknthebeanstalk
well OP is in Sydney and i bought one in Qld so looks that way
Got one for $99 and used mainly as a wifi hotspot.
Then came the proximity sensor fault, then it didn't turn on at all.
Now in Vodafone repairer's custody.
Gee the guy at huawei who made the ROM for this device must have hated his job. There are log cat errors everywhere. Seems as though he basically took another devices ROM and hacked it enough to work as there are lots of instructions that don't go anywhere.
Echo the above comments, great hardware but terrible software.
called 3 stores with stock in Victoria, and they all said the price has gone back up to $199 unfortunately. strange that the date on the tag in the pic says it doesn't end until the 31st.
Bugger! I called DS as well. They told me a couple of stores with stock but said the $129 price ended on the 9th and it is back to normal price. Spewing!!!!!
called 4 stores in SYD. was told the same story. $129 price ended on the 9th. :(
Yep when i bought yesterday the tag definitely said ends 31st March… funny company is Dick Smith
Funny ain't the word I'd use!
Same, called 3 stores in Melbourne and they said they're sold out. Also, they were priced at $199.
The deal is over. Can confirm that the price is $199 in Sydney now. This is really disappointing from Dick Smith.
bought it this morning for $129 from Chullora, they still have one in stock!
Stock wasn't the problem for me in the city - it was just that they were back to $199. And the guy I rang at Broadway (who had sold out) said the $129 price finished on the 9th. A customer in the city asked the guy to take the G526 box out of the glass case and scan it (obviously an Ozbargainer). It scanned at $199 so the man went away disappointed. I did too :( I really wanted one!!!
I managed to purchase the last one from DSE North Lakes (QLD) for $129.
I called earlier today to check the stock - they said last unit at $129, so I reserved it.
Went to pick-up later this afternoon, price scanned at $199!However I bargained a bit (and showed the picture from this post) and the sales lady kindly reduce the price to $129 :)
Thanks OP
I managed to pick up the last one in a DSE store, fortunately I had the picture taken by andylch (thanks)and they gave it to me for $129.
I have just tried to unlock it online at Vodafone and they want $75 for the privilege.
Any suggestions for the cheapest most efficient way to unlock it?
Why has this deal expired, if the date in photo shows 31/3/14 ? Maybe still try your luck if you are lucky to find physical stock and show the photo.
I have just been to DSE at Ingle Farm SA. The price tag for $129 is still on display and there was 1 phone in the cabinet.
Good price. I missed out the $99 deal last year, brought online, no stock. Attempting.