How to know if a cell phone is ORIGINAL generic Chinese replica Ex: samsung

Cell phones are one of the things in which, currently and commonly, people are deceived or scammed. 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 victimized before and want to save their investment at the expense 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 misled. These and others listed below can help the buyer determine the originality or even legality of a cell phone, smartphone or tablet, so that they pay just enough (or avoid 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 case, the chassis or casing, and internally recorded in the software. It must be the same in all three cases. If not, it means that something is wrong.

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

If the IMEI on 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 appear to be authentic, new, show the model name indicated by the seller, but inside it may have been placed a totally different product. 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 attached to one side of 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 with removable battery phones. In other cases where the battery is internal, it may be engraved directly 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 in the 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 equipment. The format varies from manufacturer to manufacturer; it is generally a string of numbers and letters.

This code must be handled in 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 IMEI, the serial number is usually printed on the back panel of the computer or in the battery compartment. Internally, some devices usually return the serial number along with the IMEI when entering the code * # 06 # in the telephone dialer. In other cases, it is usually in the system settings, “About device” option.

Check the power of the equipment

How to know if a Samsung is original (or any other cell phone)

If you are buying X model of cell phone, find out online its power or performance score (reference value). Once you know it, do a performance test on said 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 your 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 different). What you should see is that the difference between the two values ​​is not unreasonable. If the equipment you are buying has a brutally lower value than the reference on the internet, it is probably not original. What you should have in your hands is a mobile with a chip and internal components of low quality and capacity, and that 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%. That is, it is original. If you had obtained, for example, a score of 30,000, it is too low compared to the reference. Therefore surely what you would have would be a replica of S7 Edge.

Internal component information

The above test looks at 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, this information on the internal components is extracted from a system file. That file can be manipulated by the manufacturers of the Chinese clones. However, it is worthwhile to take a look and compare that information with the specifications of the original equipment, to see if any suspicious inconsistencies are found.

Find out the warranty status

Apple

Some manufacturers allow you to check the warranty status of a computer online. Apple, for example, makes it very easy. On this web page the serial number of the Apple mobile is entered and the information is returned. Obviously, if the equipment does not have the full warranty time or does not have it at all, it will not be trusted.

HTC

HTC it also offers something about it. Through your online chat system (English), the user can consult some data of a device, 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), in which operator it 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.

When contacting an HTC representative, I was able to indicate that the company does not remanufacture equipment, but can use components from defective devices. He also told me that HTC does not (“and will not”) put remanufactured or refurbished equipment on the market, not even through a third party.

Samsung

For its part, Samsung provides information through the support line 1-800-726-7864 (English and Spanish). By means of this route, you can only find out the date of manufacture of an equipment, providing the serial number. Nothing more unfortunately. 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 with the Phone Info application indicated below).

Know the cell phone previously

Generally, on the Internet there is all the information that is needed 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.). Original 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 own 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 the special menus of certain brands. In Samsung there are codes like * # 0 * #, or * # 1234 #. Also start modes such as recovery, which have a specific appearance in 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. You have to check in Settings> About device> Status> Connection time. It cannot be guaranteed that the phone is brand new because this counter resets when the phone is turned off, but you can be sure that if it has several hours, it has been used for at least that long.

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 remanufactured, reconditioned or “refurbished” original cell phones. All three terms mean the same thing. Refurbished equipment is those that, after going on the market as new, have returned to the factory due to a defect, which is corrected, and is again put up for sale.

Obviously, a refurbished equipment is not new. For that reason it is cheaper. The problem is that some sellers may be too smart and want to sell remanufactured equipment like new.

Reconditioned equipment has some detail that differentiates it from the new ones. The box, for example, may have a different design than a new computer. The stamps and stickers may have some information stating that 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 computer is remanufactured or not. I cannot guarantee its reliability and I cannot say how it detects 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 is 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 homologated in the country.

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