Hello everyone! While I am new here, I have been lurking and reading everything for a good few months. I have finally decided to take the plunge and get the original Padfone. I won't go into detail as to why now, but basically the lack of keyboard dock for PF2 killed that device for me (as I suspect it did for a lot of you).
I have been doing as much research as to sources and prices as I can for the PF1 and thought I would share it with you here with the hope that you could either get something out of it or give me a critique. I am UK based so my research has been geared towards that market. Everything is correct as of today's date (3/12/12). I have used google's or ebay's currency conversion from GBP. I will use the following key: P16 – Phone 16GB, P32 – Phone 32GB, T – Tablet, K – Keyboard Dock, E – Extras (stylus, case etc), FB – Feedback. Here goes:
Occasionally second hand full sets come up on the UK page. The last one to go (which I was bidding on, but was pipped at the last *****ing second!!!) went for £565.55 (€697, $910.71). Obviously these come with the added risks that every second hand electronic device does – condition, malware, rooted, used by a drug baron etc etc.
The above are the sellers that appear on the UK ebay site as being international sellers or willing to send to the UK. If you go on the local sites, such as ebay.it (the Italian one), you find brand new full sets going for about £550 (€679, $886), which is just depressing. Even more depressing is that there are a good few second hand FULL sets going for about £385.41 (€475, $620.63). They are usually the 16GB version but even so, that is insanely cheap! These only post within Italy though.
AMAZON
Nothing on the UK site beyond screen protectors and magical gloves, but the Italian site has the P32 and the T from different sellers. The P32 is from amazon itself and the Tablet is from Team Web SRL, which is the second option down when you examine the options for buying after clicking through from the Padstation entry from the search results. These both ship to the UK and are the best prices I could find, so I will not include any others from amazon.it:
P32 – £377.54 (€465.29, $607.94) T – £163.11 (€201.02, $262.64)
Combined P&P to the UK is £22.73 (€28.02, $36.60)
This gives us a total for P32 + T + P&P of £560.26 (€690.49, $902.19)
OTHER WEBSITES THAT SHIP TO UK (only UK P&P quoted)
mobicity.co.uk – £4.99 P&P
P16, T – £619.95 (€764.0, $998.31) (Only option listed. I have sent an email asking about P32 and K)
portagadgets.com – £24.90 P&P
P16, T – £549.52 (€681.40, $884.89) P16, T, K – £645.42 (€800.44, $1039.32)
yesasia.com – £21.70 ($34.94) P&P ( not totally sure if I trust this site...)
P16 – £418.74 (€594.95, $773.99)
sysgo.co.uk – £6.00 P&P
P16, T – £539.95 (€665.46, $869.48) NOTE: This site seems very vague about the product so treat with caution.
uniprice.co – £12.00 P&P
This site is a strange one in that it does not seem to specify exactly which storage option you are getting. However the price is: £509.15 (€627.50, $819.88) for whatever you get. Again, proceed with caution!
EPILOGUE
If I have missed anything or any good sellers, then please let me know! Perhaps we could get a rating/reputation for each seller from our collective experience?
As I said at the beginning, I am looking to buy one, and plan to as soon as possible and as soon as I find the best deal that I can. Ideally I would like the full package with a 32GB phone.
I have heard that there can be problems with tax when ordering out with the EU, and I have no idea how to combat this?
My plan is as follows: if a decently priced full set does not appear, I will go for one of the phone and tablet combos and get a keyboard dock second hand for the TF101. I may even buy a whole TF101 combo package and give the tablet to my girlfriend for Christmas. This way, I reckon I will stand half a chance of keeping costs down.
Any advice on buying would be greatly appreciated!
I personally got mine from Mobicity UK incl. all the accessories. I can recommend that shop, their service quality is outstanding. The catch is the price. I bought mine, a 32 GB version, from them (not available anymore) when they had devices from Singapore. The EU warranty saved my ass, I had to exchange the tablet twice, because it was not working at all. They did without any problem (thanks again Ian).
The expansys offers sounds reasonable, they offer EU warranty, that should do it for you. You have to order the keyboard dock and maybe the stylus, if you need it, separately.The keyboard is a must if you plan to do some serious work (got my home office on it already).
Hi Ratatooie I live in the UK too. I bought my Padfone 1 (32GB full set inc BT stylus) recently. Ordered 12th Nov 2012, received 23rd Nov. I bought it on ebay from funnybom (Taiwan). I paid EUR 739.00 (free P&P) which became £613.48 GBP with exchange rates. The important bit missing from your summary is the import VAT which was £126 (~20%) and the Parcelforce handling fee which was £13.50. This came to a total of £753. There were no problems with the packaging or delivery. Cheers James
Hi guys cheers for the replies. I intend to get the full set by hook or by crook too. I had the idea of getting the tablet and phone combo then getting a keyboard dock for the TF101 so that it would work out cheaper.
The cheapest that I could find is the Italian ebay seller (nexths_store). It works out to about £445 + £12 postage and is within the EU so I will not have to worry about import duties. The keyboard dock would be say another £95 for a total of £552 give or take a few pounds for shipping etc. By my reckoning this is fairly good.
jncarter wrote ...
The important bit missing from your summary is the import VAT which was £126 (~20%) and the Parcelforce handling fee which was £13.50. This came to a total of £753. There were no problems with the packaging or delivery.
Yeah this was something that I have no idea about unfortunately. I have never really imported anything of this value before from a country outside the EU. Do you think it would make a difference if a friend were to buy it in Taiwan for me then send it as a gift?
Hi guys cheers for the replies. I intend to get the full set by hook or by crook too. I had the idea of getting the tablet and phone combo then getting a keyboard dock for the TF101 so that it would work out cheaper.
I think I read somewhere that although the TF101 keyboard dock and Padfone keyboard dock are interchangeable they are slightly different: the Padfone keyboard dock doesn’t have as much movement. It was speculated that this was to stop it from toppling over as it is top heavy. I don't have first hand experience of this.
ratatooie wrote ...
The cheapest that I could find is the Italian ebay seller (nexths_store). It works out to about £445 + £12 postage and is within the EU so I will not have to worry about import duties. The keyboard dock would be say another £95 for a total of £552 give or take a few pounds for shipping etc. By my reckoning this is fairly good.
Do you want to get the Bluetooth stylus as well? Mine was in the box with the Padfone Station I don't know if that is standard. I think they are about £75 on their own. Your price is much better than I got, does it include the stylus? I think if you take off the cost of the stylus and the import VAT that they are comparable.
jncarter wrote ...
The important bit missing from your summary is the import VAT which was £126 (~20%) and the Parcelforce handling fee which was £13.50. This came to a total of £753. There were no problems with the packaging or delivery.
ratatooie wrote ...
Yeah this was something that I have no idea about unfortunately. I have never really imported anything of this value before from a country outside the EU. Do you think it would make a difference if a friend were to buy it in Taiwan for me then send it as a gift?
I wasn't sure about the import VAT. I found out about it the expensive way . I don't know how to avoid import VAT. Someone else will have to advise.
I got a nice reply from mobicity.ac.uk about my enquiries:
"Hi ratatooie, Thank you for your inquiry in our item. 1. We don't have the 32GB version as of yet, we have no updates as to when it will be release. We only have the 16GB 2. Currently, we are out of stock for keyboard dock. If you place an order for the item, the warehouse will continue to try source this ite, for you and will provide you with updates as they receive them from our suppliers. 3. As of yet, we don't have the exact price for the 32GB"