N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t genuine?
 

Hi all, four days ago I received an N900 purchased on Ebay. I have another N900 purchased at Amazon for over two years (made in korea 2104 Revision). The Ebay says N900 Made in Finland:confused: (revision 2101). Knowing it could be imitation did a complete test and compare it to my other N900 with the same settings, apps and update CSSU testing (full flashing, test write speed memory get 17.2M / s, 1150mhz overclock without problems, inject packets, etc. ). The truth is that I'm impressed that works just like my previous N900:cool:, plastic quality is identical including the stylus. I think it is not a fake phone. Also 7th n 8th IMEI number is 03, according to research means that it is made ​​in KOREA. Now the only problem I could detect is the LCD you have two white spots. Research the source of this problem and it is a bad factory assembly. To fix this I open the n900 and disassemble the slider and screen to mount again. Do not know if that would work with me. But I need a suggestion for now is not whether to stay with this device made ​​in Finland and sell my other old n900 really works well. I just wanted to renew it. Now I'm confused and could fail in the future this device bought on Ebay. Any suggestions?

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

As far as I know first batches were manufactured in Finland, the last number in IMEI is the check digit and the second last is part of the serial number and its not too uncommon for pixels to die or break.

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

Then it made ​​in Finland Original? :) This is an example I found IMEI out of my doubts:

*" After pressing This code, you will see a 15-digit number on the screen time immediately Which is called IME number.

The number Might be as below:
3 6 9 3 9 5 0 3 2 3 5 5 6 7 8

Now look at the 7th and 8th digit. These two digits will Ensure your phone's quality! "

If is 03 should be made ​​in korea. And if I were in Finland should be 00. Am I wrong? Thank you.

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

Yep. These are, in fact, more or less fine phones - they've probably just been refurbed to some degree or another. Now, this being said - don't be surprised if you run into some degree of issues later. Mine had a semi-functional USB port that turned into a non-functional USB port which took a repair store about 2 weeks to diagnose and fix. (No, it hadn't actually broken off. The store said they found a hardware issue, but wouldn't tell me what it was.)

Edit: And they're probably not made in Finland either - most of those stickers are fake, though the IMEI on the sticker may or may not be.

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

I somehow managed to read that you were talking about the last two digits..sorry...7th and 8th digits used to indicate the location of the device's construction until 2002, but today the type allocation code is eight digits long so it the 7th and the 8th digits don't probably mean anything by themselves.

EDIT: It is possible for one phone model to have multiple type allocation codes depending on revision, manufacturing location, and other factors, but after little research it seems like every N900's TAC is 35693803.

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

If it is 'new' it is probably one of the Chinese fakes which take a repaired or reflashed system board and wrap it in a new locally made LCD and plastic case. This creates an unfortunate situation especially for Asian N900 owners who have to compete with the fake new market to resell their N900s many in good used condition.
Depending on the problem they had to fix you could have a great N900 with a few more years of life still left or like me spend $250 on one that was wonky and full of non-functional apps. Mine took half a flash before perma-bricking (won't enter USB flashing mode) after about a week of ownership. Best of luck with the new phone until there is another truly great hackers gadget to supplant our N900.

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

it's a genuine nokia.
Majority work prefect, but will have minor differences too original brand new store bought n900's. there is a youtube video for a 'Fake nokia n900 unboxing' or.. something, it's not a fake nokia but it is a refurbished n900, i bought one also but i knew what it was etc.

The first tell is the box they come in, the embossed keyboard on the front has no spacebar. The box has cheap thin shiny black plastic inside, the user manual can sometimes be a photocopied book stapled together, you can see the corrugations in the cardboard when you open the box etc.. the phone itself, the plastic 'nokia' bezel surround on the front is black but the nokia logo is black not white, below the battery there sometimes might be a small oval sticker with a dragon on it, typically placed over the screw, from when it was put back together in china.

it's potluck with the 'made in Finland' stickered phones, some have new screens, some have new motherboards/keyboards etc etc.. all work fine bar one or two, it's just the accessories that come with them you need to be cautious for..eg.

the N900 i recently bought had a new screen, works great only setback is that it's a fraction dimmer than a genuine nokia screen. not a problem since the phone was only $160 aud.. However, the earbuds were random 'Noika' crap, the mini ovi suit CD had nothing on it and i went through 3 phone chargers since the first one i was sent overheated and literally blew up, told the seller( i was lucky i got a great seller) and he said he'd replace it with two new chargers and if they didn't work he would give me a full refund-one of them worked... but im using an old Samsung charger anyway since i don't want to start a fire in my house.

sometimes the battery's are knockoff's but sometimes you get genuine ones.

anyway, it's cheap enough and if it's a dud go though paypal and say you ordered a new phone but this is a refurbished one that's got X problems.

hop this clears everything up for anyone confused.

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

Yes, my new N900 from Ebay "made in Finland" have correct Number IMEI 35693803XXXXXXX and Revision 2101
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Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

So far my new N900 refurbished working very good, today I'm reviewing the camera, the writing speed and internal memory with Pierogi Infrared Remote Control. I have been a surprise, Memory internal got 17.2M / s write, the camera gets a little better contrast and focus, and Infrared Remote Control has a bit more range than my other N900 made ​​in Korea. I remember that my two devices are using the same settings (CSSU testing, apps and files MyDocs) The only problem is the screen, has two white spots only appear when white background. Research the source of this problem and it is a bad factory assembly. To fix this I open the n900 and disassemble the slider and screen to mount again. Any suggestions about this problem? Thank you.

Re: N900 Made in Finland purchased on Ebay, Is´t Original?
 

Well I had the same two white spots on my 1th N900, after few months the display was gone. The housing was brand new, and the sticker under battery also was saying "MADE IN FINLAND". IMEI number was correct, and so on. But the sticker was like some kid stick it there, and it was diferent to stickers on rest of my devives (one I currently own, and one I sold here on TMO - history of those was clear and true "Made in Korea" used for few hours).
So the one from "FINLAND" had 300+ hours of talk time - imagine that (and where is using / playing if You wish, time).

You have to know, that all "china new" devices are geniuine (I'm not saying anything about funny fake things that only looks like N900 and You'll know they are fake from first boot up), but all of them are refurbished devices with houndreds hours of using behind, or for example minor faults that had been repaired. The whole housing is new, most good quality, or even the same quality as geniuine product.

There is no point in comparing speed, parts, etc. As both Your devices are Nokia's products. The only thing is, one of them was nearly dead, and had whole hosing changed + mayby mUSB reinforced / repaired.

Best way to find out, what's the story behind is scan it with Phoenix sw. Then You will find out few interesting things - like life timer (which can not be changed, and it's counting from new).