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Launched overnight in New York, Australian pricing and availability has now been announced for the HTC One M8.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
It’s official: HTC has not followed its previous trend of announcing a phone months before any stock was available. If you so desire, HTC One M8 can be in your hot little hands from the slightly inauspicious date of 1 April. HTC has set the RRP at AU$899. We’ve also seen announcements from all three major telcos.
Telstra
Telstra is taking pre-orders right now, with the M8 available on 1 April — pre-orders will get the HTC Dot Case free of charge. According to the telco, the M8 will be the first smartphone compatible with Telstra’s recently acquired 700MHz spectrum.
Telstra will have the M8 on a variety of plans, including the AU$70 Mobile Accelerate Plan. On a 24 month contract this plan costs AU$82/month (with a AU$12 monthly handset repayment) and has AU$700 worth of included calls and MMS, with unlimited local SMS and 1.5GB of data. Minimum cost over the 24 months is $1968.
The $80 Business Performance Plan comes with a AU$2 per month handset repayment, meaning it costs exactly the same amount as the above plan and has exactly the same data and call allowances.
Any HTC One M8 phones purchased on a 24 month contract can have Telstra’s New Phone Feeling added to them, letting you change phones after 12 months (for an additional monthly fee).
You can also just purchase the phone outright from a Telstra store for AU$840.
Optus
Optus will likewise be taking pre-orders on the M8 from today.
The M8 will work on Optus’ 4G Plus network, which currently has a fairly limited footprint, although Optus will be expanding the range of the technology over the next year.
The telco has a special introductory offer for anyone looking to get the M8 on its network. Up until 10 April, the phone will be available on the Optus AU$60 plan with handset repayments of AU$12 per month (AU$72/month all up). The plan offers 600 minutes of talk, unlimited SMS and MMS and 1.5GB of data. Minimum cost over 24 months is AU$1728.
Vodafone
Again, pre-orders are open now for anyone wanting the M8 on Vodafone’s network.
The phone will be available on Vodafone’s Red AU$65 plan with AU$10 monthly handset repayments. For your AU$75/month you get unlimited local calls and unlimited texts both to Australia and International. Data allowance is normally 1.5GB, but Vodafone has a deal until 29 April to double limits for the length of your contract, meaning you’ll get 3GB a month for the next two years. All up over the 24 months, you’ll pay AU$1800.
Truly data hungry consumers might want to jump up to the AU$80 Red plan. This has no handset repayments, the same unlimited calls and SMS, but you’ll get 5GB a month and pay AU$1920 over the 24 months.
You can also buy the One M8 outright from Vodafone for AU$899.
We’ll update with any plans and offers from MVNOs such as Virgin as they come to hand.
