How to know if a cell phone is ORIGINAL (and new)

Cell phones are one of the things in which, currently and commonly, people are deceived or cheated. There are unscrupulous sellers who do not deliver what they offer. Others may not be clear about the product they are marketing. There is no shortage of those who have been victims before and want to save their investment at the cost of someone else’s money.

Knowing if you get what you pay for can seem like a very complicated or technical task in this area. It is not entirely. There are some basic tips that anyone can put into practice to avoid being cheated. These and others mentioned below can help the buyer to determine the originality or even legality of a cell phone, smartphone or tablet, in such a way that it pays the fair price (or avoids buying).

How to know if a cell phone is original or new

IMEI must match

This is a cell phone identification code. Each device has a unique and unrepeatable IMEI worldwide. The IMEI is simply a string of 17 numbers.

The important thing is to know that this IMEI is usually indicated in three parts: the equipment box, the chassis or casing, and internally recorded in the software. It must be the same in all three cases. If not, it means something is wrong.

For example, if the phone’s internal IMEI does not match the one outside on the chassis, it possibly means the computer is stolen. Stolen devices are usually configured with another IMEI, because the owner has the possibility to report and block his mobile, providing the original IMEI.

If the IMEI of the box is not the same as the one that appears on the device, possibly the equipment is not original, it is used, remanufactured, etc. The box may look authentic, new, show the model name indicated by the seller, but a totally different product could have been placed inside . This is the importance of preferring equipment with security seals, although unfortunately not all manufacturers seal their products.

Where do I find the IMEI

The IMEI is printed on a sticker or sticker that is affixed somewhere on the box.

Already in the equipment itself, the IMEI is indicated on the chassis. In some cases it is printed on a sticker, attached to the battery compartment. That is the case of phones with removable battery. In other cases where the battery is internal, it may be directly engraved on the chassis. That is the case of the iPhone or some Samsung Galaxy S.

Internally, the IMEI can be viewed by entering the following into a phone dialer:

*#06#

Immediately after entering this code, the IMEI (or MEID) number will appear.

The serial number must also be the same

This is another code that the manufacturer uses to identify the equipment. The format varies from manufacturer to manufacturer; it is generally a string of numbers and letters.

With this code you have to handle it the same way as with the IMEI number. That is, verify that it is the same on the device and in the software. Currently, several manufacturers do not usually put the serial number on the box.

Like the IMEI, the serial number is usually printed on the rear panel of the computer or in the battery compartment. Internally, some devices often return the serial number along with the IMEI by entering the code * # 06 # in the phone dialer. In other cases it is usually in the system settings, “About device” option.

Check the power of the equipment

If you are buying X cell phone model, find out online its power or performance score (reference value). Once you know, do a performance test on that cell phone and verify that the difference between the two values ​​is not exaggerated.

For example, if you are going to buy a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, search the internet for the following «antutu benchmark samsung galaxy s7 edge». Next, install Antutu Benchmark on the computer and run the performance test available in the application.

Don’t worry if the values ​​are not the same. This can happen because the same cell phone model can come with different types of CPU or GPU, which can make them perform differently (although not extremely differently). What you should see is that the difference between both values ​​is not crazy. If the equipment you are buying has a brutally lower value than the reference on the internet, it is surely not original. What you should have in your hands is a mobile with a chip and internal components of low quality and capacity, and this is the reason for its very low score.

As you can see in the image above, my original S7 Edge scored 137,872, compared to 158,313 on the internet. It is a disparity of around 15%. I mean, it’s original. If you had, for example, a score of 30,000, it is too low compared to the reference. So surely what you would have would be a replica of S7 Edge.

Internal component information

The previous test analyzes the power of the internal components. But there are also applications that specify the internal components that the device has. However, it is no longer safe to trust this data. In the case of Android, that information from the internal components is extracted from a system file. That file can be manipulated by the manufacturers of the Chinese clones. In any case, it is not unnecessary to take a look and compare that information with the specifications of the original equipment, to see if any suspicious inconsistency is found.

Find out the warranty status

Manzana

Some manufacturers allow you to find out the warranty status of a device online. Apple , for example, makes it very easy. On this web page, enter the serial number of the Apple mobile and return the information. Obviously, if the computer doesn’t have the full warranty time or doesn’t have one at all, it won’t be legit.

HTC

HTC also offers something about it. Through its online chat system (English), the user can consult some data of a team, providing its IMEI or serial number. For example, you can check the remaining warranty period, the equipment activation date (date from which the warranty begins to run), which operator was activated, model and color of the device. A new phone should not show an activation date and should have a one year warranty period.

Upon contacting an HTC representative, I was told that the company does not remanufacture equipment, but may use defective device components. He also told me that HTC does not (or will) put remanufactured or refurbished equipment on the market, even through a third party.

Samsung

For its part, Samsung offers information through the support line 1-800-726-7864 (English and Spanish). Through this route, you can only find out the date of manufacture of a piece of equipment, providing the serial number. Nothing more pitifully. But it will be a good sign if a date is confirmed (hopefully recent). The other thing that can be done is to confirm that this date coincides with that of the phone (consulting the Phone Info application indicated below).

Know the cell phone previously

Generally, on the Internet is all the information you need to know if a cell phone is original or not. A good resource to visit is YouTube. There you can find videos that compare the counterfeit and original versions of cell phones, side by side. An original cell phone is always different from a fake in several aspects (box, accessories, design, appearance, software, etc.). The original keywords vs. clone / copy / fake / chinese / korean generally help to find this content.

Particular signs

The aforementioned applies to all cell phones in general, of any brand, model or operating system.

Now, each brand or model of cell phone can have its special methods, tricks, advanced or hidden menus, and unique resources to verify its legitimacy. For example, there are some USSD codes that can be entered into the dialer to check special menus for certain brands. In Samsung there are codes like * # 0 * #, or * # 1234 #. Also startup modes such as recovery, which have a specific appearance for each brand, which is usually different from the recovery of a Chinese cell phone or replica.

Again with Samsung, there you can know how long a mobile has been in use since the last time it was turned on. Check in Settings> About device> Status> Connection time. There is no guarantee that the phone will be brand new because this counter resets when the phone is turned off, but you can be sure that if it is several hours old, it has been used for at least that time.

How to know if a cell phone is NEW or REFURBISHED

It is important to know that there are new original cell phones on the market as well as original remanufactured, reconditioned or “refurbished” cell phones. All three terms mean the same thing. Refurbished equipment is that which, after being released to the market as new, has returned to the factory due to a defect, which is corrected, and is again put up for sale.

Obviously, a refurbished team is not new. For that reason it is cheaper. The problem is that some vendors may go overboard and want to sell remanufactured equipment like new.

Refurbished equipment has some detail that differentiates it from new equipment. The box, for example, may have a different design than a new equipment. The stamps and stickers may have some information that claims it is refurbished. Unfortunately, there is not much information on this topic.

For Samsung cell phones there is an application called PhoneInfo (downloadable from the Google Play store) that allows you to find out if a device is remanufactured or not. I could not guarantee its reliability and I would not know how to detect this. Whatever it returns as a result, this could be taken as an indicator that needs to be confirmed.

Bonus: How to see if it’s stolen

In addition to checking the IMEI, there may be another way to determine if it is a stolen cell phone. For example, in Ecuador people can find out if a device is reported stolen. They only have to enter the IMEI of the mobile on the page tucelularlegal.info and this information will be returned. There it is even indicated if the equipment is approved in the country.