Samsung's new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge smartphones will go on sale in Australia on Friday week, starting at $999 outright for the S6 and $1149 for the S6 edge.
But it comes amid complaints that the phones are packed with "bloatware" - unneeded, pre-installed software that clogs up disk space. Tech website ZDNet has explained how to remove the plethora of pre-installed software.
Starting Friday April 10, the phones will be available in White Pearl and Black Sapphire, but not the blue and green colours some were hoping for. Depending on price, you can either get 32, 64 or 128GB worth of storage.
The smartphones will also be available on plans with major mobile phone carriers.
The GS6 and GS6 edge will be available for pre-order online from 5pm Monday and pre-order in stores from Tuesday and through selected telco partners.
The announcement of the flagship phones from the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer comes a week after Taiwanese rival launched the $1099 HTC One M9 in Australia.
The new Galaxy smartphone range offers battery technology that will deliver faster charging and longer lasting power than ever offered in a Samsung device, according to the company.
It also offers built-in wireless charging that can be activated by simply placing the device in a separate compatible charging stand, which is sold separately.
Apps including Uber, Microsoft One Drive, Evernote, Kindle, The Australian newspaper and Quickflix are among a variety of "Galaxy Gifts" that will come pre-installed for Australian users, which Samsung says will give customers "an amazing experience".
The handsets will also come pre-installed with Samsung's music streaming service, Milk, featuring more than 150 stations.
Telstra, Optus and Virgin Mobile have the handsets available for pre-order in all three storage capacities, while Vodafone only has the 32GB and 64GB models listed.
As usual, they're waving data bonuses at customers who pre-order the handsets by April 7 inclusive.
For the 32GB model, Telstra is offering 6GB data on its $95 (edge $99) 24-month plan and 10GB data on its $130 plan (edge $134); usually 2.5GB and 4GB, respectively.
The lowest tier Telstra plan for the 32GB model is $80 for the Galaxy S6 and $86 for the S6 edge, including $550 worth of calls/MMS, unlimited standard text and 5MB of data, upgradeable to 1GB of data or $500 extra calls and MMS.
Telstra announced limited data offers on some of its plans on Monday, including more than doubling the data cap on some cases. It is also offering free six-month subscriptions to its Presto video streaming service.
Optus, meanwhile, is doubling the data on offer to customers who pre-order the new Samsung handsets in the next week.
Those who order the 32GB Galaxy S6 on an Optus $80 two-year My Plan Plus ($85 for the S6 edge with handset repayments) will get 6GB of data, plus unlimited standard national calls and up to 300 minutes of international calls to selected countries.
The data bonus ramps up to 10GB per month on the $100 My Plan Plus, including unlimited standard national calls and up to 300 minutes of international calls to selected countries.
A free six-month Netflix subscription is also included in the plans.
The lowest tier Optus plan available with the handsets is $60 ($66 for the Galaxy S6 edge), including 500MB data, 300 minutes of calls and unlimited text.
Vodafone has the 32GB and 64GB models available for pre-order on its popular Red plans, with a few carrots thrown in.
The 32GB handset on Vodafone's $80-per-month two-year Red plan ($83 with handset repayments; $88 for the Galaxy S6 edge) includes 4GB data with unlimited data for the first two months under its "Data Workout" model, although orders before May 5 will get a bonus 2GB per month, and online orders with have an additional bonus of 1GB per month - bringing it up to 7GB in total.
The $80 plan also includes unlimited calls and texts, and the choice of a one-year free premium subscription to music streaming service Spotify or Fairfax Media mastheads online*.
Vodafone's lowest tier plan for the handsets is $62 inclusive for the Galaxy S6 or $69 for the S6 edge, including 300MB of data, with unlimited data for the first two months.
Virgin Mobile customers can get the 32GB S6 on a $67 monthly plan over two years ($73 for the edge), including 1GB of data, $500 worth of calls and unlimited text. Customers can also roll over their unused data month by month.
*Fairfax Media is the publisher of this website.
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