How to identify a fake N900
 

I've been looking to buy a Nokia N900. A bit late, I know, but I love flip-style phones (currently own an N97) and I can't stand these new touch-only smartphones.

I'm a bit picky and would prefer a new one or at least "as new", which makes my quest even more difficult.
So I came across this listing on ebay, which states "Nokia N900 in NEW condition", but I'm worried that it might be fake.
It does come with what appears to be an original box, and from what I can tell if has all the visual featurs of an original N900.

However, the phone is said to be "made in Finland"; even says so on the sticker behind the battery (box sticker is not photographed) and I've seen numerous discussions where people say most N900 phones are made in Korea.
Second issue is the "peel off" sticker from the screen protector. Is that like a standard thing for aftermarket screen protectors, or is it something you would find in a refurbished phone? I'm worried that it might contain non-original parts.

What do you guys think, does it look safe?
I plan on asking for a photo of the box sticker, to see if it matches the phone. Is there anything else I can ask the seller in order to confirm authenticity?

Thanks!

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

The case looks original - it's still all matte and stuff.

Finland-made N900s are HW revision 1801 though - IIRC they were only sent out during Maemo Summit and the preorder program on Maemo.org.

This is likely to be one of the Hong Kong refurbs.
100 quid is a bit much for them. Hunt for the 30-60 ones, and buy two in case the other breaks.

Easiest way to verify is a screenshot from X-Terminal of

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

I (as stated many times on TMO) used to have N900 device which was "Made in Finland" like the one from your link. It was refurbished device from China, it was genuine of course, but with "reinforced" (my a**) USB port, many talk time hours on the clock, and the screen was dead after few months (if not faster). This one might be the same, worse, or better - you'll never know before You buy.
Some time ago on eBay in UK I saw brand new N900 in box with papers for 200£, and that is the price of real new one. Did sell mine (brand new as well) for 200€ (which I regred till now, I should leve it with me), so now You can see the diference in pricing.

Leave an thread in Buy/Sell, AFAIK there are good few lads here with more then one BNIB N900's on TMO. Who knows, maybe one will be short on cash.

Good luck.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Thanks for the replies!

Is there something wrong or different about revision 1801?

What exactly do you guys mean by Hong Kong / China refurbs? Are these phones originally from the Chinese market, or just regular phones sent to China for repairs?

Is X-Terminal part of the stock N900 firmware, or is it an app you have to install separately?

So bottom line is that 100 quid might be too much for this.
I do however like your optimism about being able to find a BNIB N900. I recently missed out on an opportunity to get a new (never used) N900 from a US seller who didn't ship overseas, and I thought I'd never find a chance like that again.

I guess I'll just wait a little longer and see what comes up.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

There are two main fake N900s:

The fake-fake has a TV tuner and can only run J2ME midlets looks just like a N900 but super fake. I don't see these anymore.

Then there is the real rebuild fakes. These use new plastic outers like we will use for the Neo900 and a rebuilt system board.
This is a roll of the dice, I personally bought one thinking it was old stock. There were problems from the start where I couldn't uninstall/reinstall some apps. I tried to reflash and it reached 40% and bricked, never could get it into flash mode again.

The real-fakes are what you find now. Best case it was a relatively unused N900 which only needed a fixed USB. Worst case like mine several chips were hot air soldered off other phones, my system board looks like it was modded inside a coal mine.

I would suggest avoiding any 'NEW!!' N900s at this point and buy a good used phone from a personal auction, not a big auction seller or ebay store. I have even been burned buying an allegedly almost new phone at almost-new-used price here at TMO. The phone had a non-working microSD slot and the GSM chip was loose so I couldn't use extended batteries without loosing the SIM registration. It was from a prominent poster so even here caviat emptor, buyer beware.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Hit your local classifieds. I bought 4 used N900s over the past year in various stages of wear. I now have one mint, two used and one completely broken N900 for spares for a total cost of $280. Funny part is I only have one OEM charger and two batteries between all of them. :)

So keep looking, and definitely stay away from the new ones on Ebay. At this point real nee N900s are as rare as pink unicorns.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Amazon claims to have new N900s for sale, via their partners. It's unlikely they really are new, of course, but Amazon's return policy is very good, even when the item comes from their partner. If you bought an N900 at the Amazon site that was claimed to be new, and it turned out to be an obvious lemon, I'll bet Amazon would make sure you got a refund.

For what it's worth I bought a "new" N900 through Amazon about 9 months ago, and as far as I could tell, it really was new.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Amazon is the best place to buy. Bought many, all refurbished with some better than others, but all performed well. None was a complete fake. you will notice that someone left an app that doesnt come with factory settings or the keyboard is a bit worn, but overall the refurbished units look and feel good. returned only once out of many purchases.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

You could get a Chinese N900 Frankenstein-rebuild on Amazon or elsewhere with clean new outer plastic but unless it has at least a year warranty I would avoid them as there can be problems when chips are re-soldered from dead non-working boards to bring one phone back to life. They look new but they mostly have an ashtray for a system board from sloppy fast soldering and hot air guns.
A Franken900(Chinese N900 rebuild) is one of those rare cases where the extended warranty really makes financial sense.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

I think to avoid fakes the best bet would be to buy a locked phone from a private seller. It is very unlikely that any large GSM carrier will provide fakes on its contracts.

Then you can either get a free pay-as-you-go SIM card or ask the seller to get a free SIM card for you and send it along with the phone and unlock the phone for a small fee.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

I don't think there was such a thing as a locked N900

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

My N900 has an option "enter unlock code" from the network operator. Maybe it's about something else.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Interesting. That's the first time I hear about that, and I've been following this forum closely since N900 release.

Thanks.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

is that phone fake or real, where is it madehttp://sharemobile.ro/data/share/Scr...101-064419.png

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

I have a real N900 and I seem to remember there being an option in settings for device unlock(not sim or standby unlock), even though it came unlocked from Nokia. Maybe that went away when I purged unneeded programs or put CSSU on because now I can't find it.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Settings -> Context menu (or how do you call that menu in the title bar?).

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

AFAIK, every device have/had this option at some point, although, I have never heard of it being put into actual use. Maybe it's leftover from some carrier-friendly lockdown mechanism planned/introduced (but unused) by Nokia?

Anyway, the point is moot, as no carrier in the world have now a N900 in their offer.

/Estel

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Nothing more to add. ;)

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

If you are asking me, I am positive the phone is real, it is made in Korea.

I am quite happy with it so far, the only thing I want to find out is how to fix imap4 connection to gmail, and how to make video calls via google talk and skype. :confused:

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

There was a thread about Gmail issues in Modest. I cannot vouch for the solution since by policy I avoid anything Google wherever I can and as such I did not follow the thread. For the same reason I cannot tell you anything about Google Talk. But I can tell you that Skype video calls work fine here straight out of the box. You need to add your account in Settings->VoIP and IM accounts.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Yep. I learnt the lesson to look in both places, thanks!

I am surprised to learn that somebody is avoiding google by policy but uses skype. However, just adding the account does not help.

I suspect the solution is here: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=77695, as I have had similar problems with N9 some months ago.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

A locked N900?

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Sorry for OT but oh, yes. Definitely. I used Skype long before it became Microsoft. Everybody I know and matters to me is on it. Nobody uses anything else. No Whatsap, no Google Talk, no Jabber, no nothing. Skype. Difficult to avoid. The acquisition made me hesitate for about 3 seconds but it was not enough to switch and try to force everyone in my circle to do the same.

But even without that, I would choose Microsoft products over Google any time. Microsoft may be evil but they are evil only as far as large corporations go. Do you drive? Then you deal with a corporation more evil than Microsoft every time you fill up.

Google is worse. Microsoft gets their money by seling software. Google does by selling you. Oh yes, I would choose Microsoft over Google any time.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Arch Linux has a great article regarding setup of Skype, a couple of options. As a separate user and in a sandboxed environment. The Skype protocol is proprietary as I guess everyone here knows and safe to say sends more than "keep alive" TCP packets when not in use.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

What's the difference between those n900s made in Finland and those from Korea? I've had a nice N900 from Korea and sold it for 70€.
Here's one: http://tablica.pl/oferta/nokia-n900-...tml#bb8491adcf I might check it out for you if you want.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Pretty much every single N900 a person is likely to come across was made in Korea. The process of "remanufacturing" necessitates a new sticker is made for the body so the IMEI number on the phone motherboard and IMEI on the body match. In their infinite wisdom the remanufacturers will state the phone was "made in Finland" instead of Korea. It's an easy way to spot them.

You can expect a poorer quality:
Touchscreen.
LCD?
Plastics sometimes.
Rear metal screen slider "dexigned in Finland".
Keyboard. Alphanumerics rub off in short order.
Bezel will almost certainly have stripped and broken screw thread.
I got an outwardly excellent but inwardly rubbish fake Nokia branded charger with one I bought.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

so this is not fake?
~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor : ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 249.96
Features : swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp thumbee neon vfpv3
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x1
CPU part : 0xc08
CPU revision : 3

Hardware : Nokia RX-51 board
Revision : 2104
Serial : 0000000000000000

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

No, it's not a fake. My revision is 2101 with BogoMIPS at 499.92 and I bought mine WAY before the fakes starting appearing on the market.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Nice =)
Why do i have only 249,96 BogoMIPS?

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

The reason is because you bought a mobile computer that can do a lot with very little.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Because that's what it should be. I don't know why jperez2009 gets double the number. Overclock?

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

ok, because i clock mine a little bit 805-850Mhz. Maybe he has like 1000-1050Mhz =)
But what does a fake one say in cpuinfo?

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

The BogoMIPS show you current clock rate of CPU. (more or less ;))

So 250 minimum, 500 can be often seen, 600 is possible on stock devices. On KP equipped and overclocked devices they may look different/higher.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

In other words, jperez2009 was either running something on the background that raised the current CPU freqency or he has overclocked the lower limit above the default 250 MHz.

Back to your question, I doubt you could tell a fake N900 by dumping /proc/cpuinfo. I mean, there is no (longer?) such (a) thing as a completely fake N900, only a lot of refurbished devices that are being sold as "new". A complete fake (a device that looks like an N900 but has completely different electronics inside) would most likely not even have a terminal in which to type 'cat'.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

ok, because i'm gonna buy a refurb one so it's not gonna be a fake one. I get the orginal box and stuff. So if you are looking for a "new" they use to be refubished then.
thanks

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Hello!

I just recently bought an used device. There was some dirt and dust under the digitizer, so i checked how to dis- and reassemble it (i was working at Nokia for near 2 years, assembling phones, so i know a bit about this kind of work). It turned out that the previous owner did some nasty job to the poor soul. Some screws are missing, others were replaced by other types which damaged some part of it. Luckily near everyting is functional, except that it does not recognise for example when i open the keyboard.

I am curious, if even the fake devices have the right type of housings and other parts, with which i could replace my damaged ones.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

You don't need a fake device just to get a bunch of screws. Buy one of the spare housing kits on eBay for about a tenner (whichever convertible currency) and you are set.

For your keyboard problem see my experience in this thread. It is quite likely the damn magnet again.

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Thank you for the response! Sadly some screw holes are badly damaged, so i'd need a full body replacement. I'll consider buying one that you mentioned in your review. You walked this path already for us, this way its more easy to start with.

Thanks!

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

Another options is to buy a black one and replace just the parts with damaged screw holes. My experience shows that the more parts you use from the original the better :)

Re: How to identify a fake N900
 

i've always learned to check for the white paint on the nokia lettering on the face of the device.. Sometimes I go a bit further, open it up and see if there are any Silver screws, or Chinese parts.. I've bought a Chinese nokia n900 by accident once.. It came in a Lumia case with none of the original packaging. The original seller was claiming that it was new.. It had all of the listed problems. Always buy within the country you live in and never buy anything from China or it's surrounding countries. Not trying to be prejudice against the fine and wonderful people of China, but there is a lot of bootlegging that goes on there.