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[ TECHLIFE #63 ][]
GUFF AND STUFF[ COME ON, HAVE YOUR SAY! ]
We want to hear what you think. Add to these discussions or email your views (in fewer than 250 words) to [email protected].
All correspondence becomes the property of Te ch Life and is subject to editing. Letters must include full name, street address, suburb,
state and phone number to be considered for print publication. Address and phone details will not be published.Grey imports also
come with a grey
warranty
About 14 months ago, I purchased a new LG
Google Nexus 5X from an online store that
looked to be the cheapest supplier based in
Australia. They had an Australian-based
‘.com.au’ website and their business contact
numbers were for Australia — but as I later found
out, they were not in fact legitimately Australian.
Now, problems arose when the Nexus 5X in
question stopped working two months after the
store warranty expired — it just wouldn’t boot
up. My local phone repair store confirmed that
the phone was dead; they couldn’t fix it, and it
needed to be sent back for replacement.
After contacting the online store, I was told in
no uncertain terms that the phone came with a
1-year warranty and that they couldn’t help me.
I contacted NSW Fair Trading and was advised
that Australian Consumer Law offers consumers
guarantees and rights regardless of the warranty
that comes with the product and that the product
“must be of an acceptable quality, fit for purpose
and free of defects” that lasts for a decent amount
of time. For mobile phones, this is seen to be
around 24 months. I went back to the store to try
again, advising them of my rights as a consumer
but unfortunately they just weren’t interested
and didn’t budge. Seeing that there was no
address for the company in Australia — despite
the website and Aussie phone numbers — and
that they were in fact based in Hong Kong, there
was nothing I could do further with them.
My next stop was LG — after several long and
frustrating phone calls hopping between them
and their mobile-repair representatives, they also
stated that they weren’t going to fix the phone,
as it showed up as an international model (Hong
Kong) and not Australian, and therefore LG
Australia’s stance is that they “do not cover the
Consumer Guarantee because the product is a
non-Australian model”.
The bottom line is to beware of the grey
import market, as the consumer rights we think
we have don’t necessarily apply, and there is no
recourse or consumer protection when things go
wrong. Next time, I’m going to pay a bit moreand make sure I buy expensive items like mobile
handsets from an Australian-based business.
At least, I’ll have somewhere to go if the handset
turns faulty. [ BEN HEILPERN ]Streaming media box
as mini PC?
Your articles on streaming video
devices in Te c h Li f e #59 were very interesting.
Since reading it, I’ve found several other high-spec
video-playback boxes which appear to be new on
the scene, perhaps recently out of factories in
China.Perhaps you have some comments about
them? Two boxes which look interesting are: the
Sunvell T95Z Plus TV Box Amlogic S912 Octa
Core 16G TV BOX and the R-BOX 16G TV BOX.
I was wondering if one of these boxes, using the
powerful Android apps like AndrOpen Office,
could handle many ‘big screen’ tasks that have
usually been the domain of the PC or the tablet?
In theory, these boxes could use accessories such as
a microphone, Bluetooth mouse and keyboard,
perhaps even a camera. One could travel anywhere
with one’s ‘PC’ in one’s pocket, all one needs is a
TV to provide the visual interface and a mobile
phone to provide a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Perhaps one’s smartphone could also act as the
Bluetooth microphone, mouse, keyboard and
camera, avoiding the need for separate dedicated
accessories? With so many smart technologies
converging rapidly, what do you envisage?
[ TONY ]Ed replies: There is indeed a huge number of
these low-cost, Android-powered media devices on
the market — the tricky part is figuring out which
ones are any good. Without having seen products
from either the Sunvell or R-Box brands you
mention, your best bet is to check online forums for
any other Aussies that have taken a punt and tried
one out. We’ ll also try to source some for review for
our next round-up, though given we’ve just done
one, that’s still a while away.
Regarding using one as a portable PC
replacement, you’re not the first to see this potential
— the Jide Remix Mini (www.jide.com) is geared
towards exactly this use, and the custom version
of Android it runs has even been released as a
standalone OS that can be installed to other
ARM-based devices, like those low-cost media
players (in theory).