Kogan covets 'flagship' phone buyers with $239 Agora 8 Plus

Seemingly taking naming inspiration from a famed comptitor, the Kogan Agora 8 Plus aims to attract near on $2000 phone buyers with a model a tenth of that price.

Ok, ok - so no-one is going to mistake a Kogan Agora 8 Plus for an iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X or Galaxy S8+ or Note 8.

But your wallet isn't going to mistake the $1000 to $1500 to $1829 hit that one of those other flagship phones will cost for the $239 pre-sale price you'll pay for Kogan's latest smartphone.

Naturally, Kogan says its "Agora 8 Plus is packed with amazing features including a Gorilla Glass scratch-resistant display, a huge 5.5" 1080p screen, and both front and rear cameras.The phone is also 4G compatible and has dual SIM slots, making it even easier to switch between mobile numbers for work and personal use and compatible across all Aussie networks."

The dual-SIM slots are 4G and 3G compliant, so no worries about other phones with dual SIM slots that force one of those SIMs to be 2G, which is supposed to have had a brief reprieve with Vodafone but which is effectively dead in Australia.

The second SIM slot can be used with a MicroSD card for memory expansion instead. There's also a USB-C connector, but according to the specs below, it only operates at USB 2.0 speed, making it USB-C in form factor only, without the much faster speeds that true USB-C delivers.

I guess it's a clever way to look like it has the same USB slot you'll find on the latest Android smartphones, but without needing to use the presumably more expensive chipset that allows what are normally super fast USB-C speeds.

And, while there's no facial or iris recognition with the newest Samsungs, or Face ID as with the iPhone X, there is a fingerprint sensor, a long-lasting 2950 mAH battery, Android Nougat 7.1, Android Pay compatibility thanks to built-in NFC, a rear 13 megapixel camera, a front-facing 8 megapixel and a "powerful 1.5GHz Octa-core processor."

Here's a photo - article with specs continues below!

The man who knows "y", Kogan Product Manager Sergiy Bobrovnychyy, said: "Smartphones are a necessity for everyday life, but a lot of people aren't able to keep up with the sharp price increases for new devices.

"We've built a phone packed with all the high-end features that Australians demand, but at a fraction of the price.

"At Kogan.com, we are committed to making the latest technology more accessible and affordable for all Australians and the new Kogan Agora 8 Plus is a testament to that."

Whether Sergiy knows whether the Agora 8 Plus will get Android security updates on a regular basis, or will ever get an update to Android Oreo 8.x is something we'll have to ask, and if not, we'll just have to ask "y" not.

Available now "exclusively at Kogan.com for a pre-sale price of just $239 until 24 November," the specs are below. 

A slim clear case for $19, developed specifically for the Kogan Agora 8 Plus can also be purchased at Kogan here. 

Kogan Agora 8 Plus specifications:

AudioLoudspeaker - YesMicrophone - Yes

CameraFlash - YesFront - 8MPRear - 13MP

Connectivity2G Network - 850 / 900 / 1800 / 19003G Network - 850 / 900 / 21004G Network - 700 / 850 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600Bluetooth - 4.0GPS - YesKogan Mobile 4G Ready - YesNFC - YesSIM Type - Micro SIM + Nano SIM/MicroSDUSB - USB 2.0, Type-CWi-Fi - 802.11 b/g/n (2.4Ghz & 5Ghz)

DimensionsDimensions - 155 x 77 x 9 mmWeight - 173 g

DisplayResolution - 1920 x 1080Size - 5.5"Type - IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen

FeaturesPhone Features - Fingerprint Sensor

InputsCard Slot - Micro SD, up to 128GB

ModelColour - BlackType - Kogan Agora 8 Plus

PerformanceCPU - MT6750T 1.5GHz Octa CoreGPU - Mali-T860 MP2 680MOS Android - 7.0OS Version - 7.1 (Nougat)RAM - 4GB

SensorsAccelerometer - YesCompass - YesGyroscope - Yes

StorageInternal Storage - 32GB

Source: Kogan covets 'flagship' phone buyers with $239 Agora 8 Plus