Samsung A52s 5G 128GB Smartphone $547 (Was $699) + Delivery ($0 C&C) @ Harvey Norman

130

Go to Deal

LGimmeBargins on 26/12/2021 - 10:54 harveynorman.co.nz (441 clicks)
Last edited 26/12/2021 - 17:06 by 1 other user

Hey guys, long term lurker first time poster. My apologies if I've listed this wrong.

Samsung A52s 5G seems to be one of the best bang for buck phones this year and the current price is pretty great. I just grabbed one.
It's marketed with a Spark sim but it's open network, I'm with Vodafone.

Harvey Norman $547, RRP $699. Shipping +6.95
https://www.harveynorman.co.nz/phone-and-gps/mobile-phones/s…

I'd rather not buy from Harvey Norman so I tried to price match/price beat with the following stores;
JB HiFi - No luck as not same model as theirs.
Samsung Directly - No luck.
Noel Leeming In-store - No Luck different model code.
Noel Leeming Online - No Luck different model code.

Ended up biting the bullet and purchasing from Harvey Norman. Sometimes deals are too good and you just have to forget your morals haha.

I tried the welcome email code for $5 off at Harvey Norman but that didn't work for me.

Related Stores

Harvey Norman NZ

• 

  Armani on 26/12/2021 - 12:03

  +1

  Thanks for sharing. Got it price matched at JB HiFi, queensgate.

  • 

    GimmeBargins on 26/12/2021 - 13:00

    +1

    You're welcome :)
    That's awesome! My local JB never gives me a deal but I'm glad yours did :)
    Enjoy your new phone, I'll be waiting a while for mine to be delivered. Happy holidays.

• 

  NovaAlpha on 26/12/2021 - 12:32

  +2

  Best bang for buck phones usually go to Xiaomi…

  I bought a mid range Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T 5G earlier this year for $350. Battery lasts insanely long, 4GB RAM and 128GB storage. That is $200 difference.

  • 

    huffboy on 26/12/2021 - 13:10

    nice. does google pay work on it?

    • 

      NovaAlpha on 26/12/2021 - 13:45

      +1

      Of course. It runs Android and all Goole Play Services apps work on it…Xiaomi has already taken over Samsung as the number #1 Android manufacturer and you can find their phones easily in stores.

      I suggest you look up their specs and compare the prices to Samsung.

      • 

        huffboy on 26/12/2021 - 14:11

        +1

        Cool. Thanks! Had Xiaomi's - mi3 and a few redmis way before - that time it had issues with android pay.

      • 

        GimmeBargins on 26/12/2021 - 14:44

        +1

        https://m.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=10661&idPhone2=…

        Hopefully that comparison link works.

        A52S 5G has
        2GB more ram.
        Faster processor.
        Brighter OLED screen.
        120HZ screen.
        IP67 rating.
        Under screen finger print reader.
        Better front and rear cameras.
        Optical image stabilization.
        More OS & security updates.

        Check out Reddit and see what they say about the phone. People seem to rate it well. Seems like a much better phone for $200 more than the Xiaomi… In my opinion.

    • 

      Rowjo on 26/12/2021 - 14:41

      If purchasing online look out for global version vs gloabal rom
      Global version allows for Netflix, maccas app, google pay etc
      Global rom is the chinese market variant that has been rooted to put the global rom on which these apps detect

      • 

        NovaAlpha on 26/12/2021 - 18:55

        Not true.

        Root is root, it's got nothing to do with Global or China ROM. You can root on either types of ROM.

        The ROM itself is a firmware, which includes a lot of partitions such as boot, recovery, system, etc. This also includes your firmware for radios.

        The reason why there are ROMs for different regions is due to a few reasons. The same phone could have slightly different hardware variants. For example, Samsung Galaxy phones sold in South Korea would typically use the Exynos SOC (Samsung's own CPU chip), whereas the ones sold elsewhere typically use Qualcomm's chip instead.

        It could also be a regulation thing, where phones sold in e.g. UK would need to come with the Vodafone app preinstalled, which wouldn't make sense for a phone sold in China.

        Typically, Xiaomi Chinese ROMs will come with a lot of BS and garbage apps. Whereas Global ROM will have less garbage and will definitely come with Google Play Services, as well as Play Store, which is obviously required if you want to use a Google account and to download apps from the Play Store.

        You can easily flash a GLOBAL or Chinese ROM on the phone. For example, my old Redmi K20 Pro Premium Edition is only sold in China and so it comes with Chinese ROM by default. However, I could just flash a Global ROM without issues. You can download Xiaomi ROMs from websites such as this:
        https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/

        You can flash individual firmwares or the entire ROM itself.

        You can also flash custom ROMs on any variants, regardless of their country.

  • 

    NovaAlpha on 26/12/2021 - 19:12

    Here are some examples as a comparison.

    https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/MPHMIX0110100/Xiaomi-Redmi-… - $378 (current price)
    https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/MPHMIX0110000/Xiaomi-Redmi-… - $328 (current price)
    https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/MPHMIX0311210/Xiaomi-11T-5G… - $678 (current price)

    The Xiaomi 11T 5G has a better CPU compared to the Snapdragon 778G:
    https://nanoreview.net/en/soc-compare/qualcomm-snapdragon-77…

    And typically, Mediatek CPUs have better battery life and are more efficient compared to Snapdragons. I've used my fair share of them and my current Xiaomi has a Mediatek Dimensity 800u CPU and I'm able to use the phone with 8 hours of actual screen on time and still have 50% of battery left. It's really a huge difference. Whereas my old Samsung Galxy S10+ wouldn't even last me a day. Same apps and usage pattern.

    And yes, I know the Xiaomi 11T 5G is more expensive, but only by $130 and you get 8GB RAM (2GB more) and twice the storage and of course better CPU. All of that for an extra $130. And if you don't care so much about the specs, then the first 2 Xiaomis are under $400 and cheaper and yet still decent specs.

    Of course, remember to check out 2nd hand phones on TM. You can usually get e.g. OnePlus or some high-end flagships from last year for around the same price and it'll probably be a better deal.

    But yeah, this Samsung is decent enough, which is quite rare as Samsung mid-range phones are usually priced pretty bad compared to their competitors. Either way, you can't go wrong with these phones. I would say though, I highly recommend Xiaomi if you value battery life as #1 priority. But you should also know what you're doing when using MIUI, as some people might not like it.

    • 

      NovaAlpha on 27/12/2021 - 15:19

      -1

      Also, I see a few comments regarding Android OS updates and security updates. Personally, I don't think that's really that important. I never trust manufacturers when it comes to them releasing updates on time and I don't trust their promises of providing Android OS upgrades for X amount of years.

      At the end of the day, there are always custom ROMs available and worst case scenario, there are GSIs that you can use and that works on pretty much any phone sold nowadays. If you don't know what the difference is between custom ROMs and GSIs, then do some research and look it up.

      As an example, one of the phones I currently use (Redmi Note 9T 5G) has a Mediatek chip and most custom ROMs are developed for Qualcomm chips. When I first purchased the phone back in May, there were no custom ROMs available at the time and so I used a AOSP based GSI and that was fine. I'm still getting regular updates. The same goes for any other phone, custom ROMs are almost always better compared to stock and flashing custom kernels and recoveries will make your phone go that much further.

      Of course, not everyone is techy and knows about Android, but once you start to learn more about these things, you'll come to realize that having really good specs and custom ROM support are more important than other factors.

      Also, keep in mind that manufacturers release a new phone/model every year. By the time you've spent e.g. $1000 on a flagship phone this year, you'll be out of date in a year, if not a few months. By spending say $300 instead of $500, you could perhaps buy a new phone with better specs in about 1~2 years, instead of waiting longer. Like, would you rather spend $600 on a single phone that would be outdated by next year, or would you rather spend $300 on a phone with really good specs that are 80%~90% similar to what you'd get on a $600 phone, then spend another $300 on another new phone the next year or the year following that? It's much better use off your money imo.

  • 

    Bill on 27/12/2021 - 13:56

    Got the 2 of the same exact phone for $298

    • 

      NovaAlpha on 27/12/2021 - 15:10

      Cool, that just further proves my point that they are much better value for the money compared to other brands.

• 

  Stoffel on 26/12/2021 - 13:26

  +1

  Curious as to why you'd rather not buy from HN?

  • 

    GimmeBargins on 26/12/2021 - 14:46

    +3

    Just personal experience and things i've heard from people who have worked there.

• 

  sleep-cheapies on 26/12/2021 - 15:18

  Just bought the A52 8/128. Is it worth returning that and getting this instead?

  • 

    GimmeBargins on 26/12/2021 - 15:31

    +1

    Depends on how much you paid. The A52s is a newer phone so it might get a couple more security updates in the future.
    The processor is a little more future proof on the A52s too, it's but speedier & more efficient. But TBH you might not notice a difference.

    Did you get the 5G model?

    I bought the original A52 for a family member and then grabbed a A52s for another one and it felt pretty much the same from my short time setting them up.
    I liked them so much I jumped at this deal to get me one haha. Either way you made a good choice :)

  • 

    Huntakillaz on 26/12/2021 - 17:49

    https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?&idPhone1=11039&idPhon…

    not really that different unless you desperately need 5G
    wait for next gen Samsungs with RDNA gpu's

• 

  mechaneer on 27/12/2021 - 09:21

  +1

  Thanks OP! Just price matched with Noel Leeming for Flybuys.

  • 

    GimmeBargins on 27/12/2021 - 09:28

    You're welcome you lucky devil haha. Which Noel Leeming store?

    • 

      mechaneer on 27/12/2021 - 10:52

      Online chat….often find that I have better luck on there than in store.

      • 

        GimmeBargins on 27/12/2021 - 11:01

        That's lucky, thanks for letting me know. I should of tried a second time with the online chat.

• 

  Mike88 on 27/12/2021 - 11:35

  Have been looking at upgrading from a oneplus 6 for a while but don't know much about the newer Samsungs. How does this compare to the s20fe which is also on sale but a bit more?

  • 

    Rooster on 27/12/2021 - 16:20

    Never go from One plus to Samsung….. Samsung they never changed and never going to be….. Got a Samsung A525G few months back but disappointed…..