2 posts tagged “off”
Sadly, I am here to report that I have not returned home from my trip to Portland with a new Nokia handset. Rather, I return with the sad realization that when it comes to being things being too good to be true, they usually are (except in the case of the HP Mini 2133 or Nokia E90 transactions I had). To summarize quickly, the guy has a knock-off Nokia N97. Had I not had my wits about me I likely would be holding this device in my hand right now.
Here's how things unfolded... I found a listing for a "New In Box Purple N97" on my local craigslist. I asked the guy if he would trade for my Apple iPod Touch 32GB, and he said yes. Now, I see this as being a rather fair trade but the majority of N97 owners would rather receive cash or something better.. fair enough, they've got a rare device and are allowed to demand a decent premium.
We agreed to meet outside of a Starbucks in Portland, and that's what we did. The guy pulled out the N97 in it's box... much smaller than any Nokia box I'd ever seen, but the design was believable for a high-end Nokia especially if it was carrier issued. I opened up the box and pulled out the N97 (which at this point I will note was definitely purple versus Nokia's occasional "plum" color). It was identical in size to what I was expecting, and the weight was good as well. I noticed that the secondary camera appeared a bit odd, and when powering on the device a blue LED illuminated in the corner of the screen... stranger still. Then I noticed that the display size was smaller than I was expecting, in addition to having no physical play (aka it was capacitive). There was no Nokia startup screen either. The "widgets" on the standby screen consisted of a clock, a calendar, and a text message box.
Fair enough, maybe this was a prototype-style device of an N97 for a different market (I know that the Chinese Nokias tend to have their WiFi disabled, anyways). I took off the battery cover and was presented with a battery believable to be a Nokia one, but this had no holograph or English written on it anywhere. In fact, it was covered in Chinese characters. Same happened to the space underneath the battery. Then I looked at the SIM-tray and realized this was in no way a Nokia product. Made a test call anyways (it worked), played with the menu just a little bit, then told the owner that I was going to have to back out of the transaction, this wasn't the product I was led to believe it was. He understood, and said it was no problem. (He was a very pleasant guy, and claimed before we had met that the device belonged to his wife. Since he used an iPhone (and therefore would be unable to tell a real from a fake Nokia) I can't blame him, and believe his intentions to be good.)
So, having wasted a few dollars of gas money and quite a lot of time, I decided I'd start a list of things for people to look for when purchasing a Nokia handset to ensure they don't get burned when purchasing second-hand, just in case they haven't been in the game long enough to know what's what.
- Look for the Nokia hologram (the two severed arms shaking hands) on batteries. The buyer may have replaced them with an OEM-spec battery, in which case the hologram will be missing. (I've yet to see anyone use a non-Nokia battery, though.)
- Batteries have a model number listed on them. (For example, the E75 uses the BL-4U battery.)
- Nokia never uses cheap and flimsy aluminum sliding trays for holding SIM cards. This isn't a very good test, because they do use trays (and sometimes these are aluminum), but if the tray is difficult to use, it's generally a good sign that the phone may not have been taken very good care of.
- Typically, the battery cover will having writing on it's backside. In the case of E-Series with a metal back, they tend to have the metal-type printed on them. (Ex. "STAINLESS STEEL" or "Mg")
- The front-side of the battery cover will have Nokia written on it most of the time.
- Look up what the camera on the back of your device should look like. (A simple picture of the backside usually suffices.) If the device has something weird, inspect it with a critical eye.
- Check how "NOKIA" is written on the device. If it's written "NOKLA" or "NOKlA" (the second one has an "L" in place of the "I"), walk away. It's often easy to overlook details like this because of the excitement of holding a new device.
- Is the spec-list correct? If it is correct, does the phone actually have all of those features?
- If the display is touchscreen, and it shouldn't be, it's not a Nokia. I don't care what the owner tells you about it being a prototype, it's a knock-off and you won't be happy.
- Is the display capacitive? As of August 2nd 2009, Nokia only has two touchscreen devices (the N97 and the 5800). Both have resistive displays. If yours doesn't, something is wrong.
- What does the front-facing camera (if it has one) look like? This will be really obvious if it's incorrect. In other words, if it looks like the same image-sensor as found on the back of the device, something's wrong.
- How do the buttons feel? Are they flush when they shouldn't be? In addition to being a fairly good test for a fake device, it's also a good indicator of abuse by the previous owner.
- Is the software legitimate? This might be harder to tell on an S40 phone, but on an S60 it should be rather obvious.
Hopefully that will help anyone out who goes looking for a second-hand Nokia but is worried that they might find themselves with a fake. I honestly tell you right now that I almost walked away with this fake N97. I wasn't trusting my gut instincts but as the warning signs piled up I finally told myself I'd be better off with a lesser (but real) phone than this knock-off. And I almost convinced myself that this device was a real one, despite my senses telling me otherwise. So just be sharp out there... this was by far the most convincing N97-clone out there, and I hate to think of people it might snag.
The Teach the Technophobe experience has officially kicked off! Read more here:
Anyways, keep your eyes posted there as the project moves forward. I've been told that a new challenge is coming very soon (Monday?). The prize to be won by being the first to progress through all four challenges is five Nokia E75 devices to hand out to family and peers to trial! Wish me good luck, I'll keep you posted!
