[Q] S4 i9500 buying tips

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UNForces

Senior Member
Aug 6, 2013
79
5
Cairo
I'm planning to buy a used S4 through a local website that offers a space for people to display ads for their phones (something like Swappa), but the problem is that :
- I have seen many fake products which looked exactly the same and even have TouchWiz on JB. What's more confusing is that most of these products have a printed valid IMEI number.
- used phones might have hidden problems with their sensors, or hardware in general even if they are genuine.

Questions:
01- I though I might compare the valid printed IMEI with the one I get when dialing *#06#, but I'm not sure if that number can be faked as well, can it?
02- Is there a systemic way of checking the sensors, cam, microphone, wifi etc by an app or something similar?
03- I think a benchmark tool like Antutu's can help to see the exact specs and compare them to the original ones. Can some of you take a screenshot of the exact specs as they appear in Antutut Benchmark or Android System Info.
04- How to know if a genuine S4 has been flashed before if it has an unrooted stock rom at the moment of checking?
05- Any advice on what to look for when examining a used S4?

PS: I will have physical access to the phone before buying.
 
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RubbaBand

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2014
1,530
1,528
Benghazi
Im not sure about the answer to these questions
but I can help with this
 

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RubbaBand

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2014
1,530
1,528
Benghazi
have fun
 

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Zaraee

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2013
58
15
Kuala Lumpur
I'm planning to buy a used S4 through a local website that offers a space for people to display ads for their phones (something like Swappa), but the problem is that :
- I have seen many fake products which looked exactly the same and even have TouchWiz on JB. What's more confusing is that most of these products have a printed valid IMEI number.
- used phones might have hidden problems with their sensors, or hardware in general even if they are genuine.

Questions:
01- I though I might compare the valid printed IMEI with the one I get when dialing *#06#, but I'm not sure if that number can be faked as well, can it?
02- Is there a systemic way of checking the sensors, cam, microphone, wifi etc by an app or something similar?
03- I think a benchmark tool like Antutu's can help to see the exact specs and compare them to the original ones. Can some of you take a screenshot of the exact specs as they appear in Antutut Benchmark or Android System Info.
04- How to know if a genuine S4 has been flashed before if it has an unrooted stock rom at the moment of checking?
05- Any advice on what to look for when examining a used S4?

PS: I will have physical access to the phone before buying.

well,you can check if your phone is genuine or not simply by using this app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.vndnguyen.phoneinfo

if your phone is fake samsung it won't detect at all

second use this app to detect your hardware info and sensor
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inkwired.droidinfo

i always have this 2 apk stored in my sdcard so i can install and check the phone if i'm buying 2nd hand phone

P.S:i've been using these method since i've been scammed once for buying fake samsung galaxy s4 because it has fake antutu app
 
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UNForces

Senior Member
Aug 6, 2013
79
5
Cairo
Conclusion

I searched a lot and here's a systematic test.
  1. *#06# (dial it on the phone itself)
    to get the IMEI number and compare it to the one printed on the package and the warranty certificate if any is present.
  2. Droid Hardware Info and Phone INFO ★Samsung★ (apps from Google Play)
    use these two apps to check the hardware specs (like processor, number of cores, GPU, ram, etc)
  3. Diagnostic Menu *#0*# (again dial the number on the phone itself)
    and test all the items
  4. Connect to a laptop to check if it's read properly.
  5. Use a Micro SD to check if it's read properly and try to copy a couple of small files to it.
  6. volume down – power – and home to get to download mode it should say
    CURRENT BINARY: Samsung Official
    if Custom appears somewhere in current binary or system status, the phone has been flashed before.
  7. Check the battery look and weight and connect charger and see percentage/min.
    NOTE: There's a faulty battery batch whose serial starts with BD1 you can find more info in this thread
  8. Check the hand and headset buttons and their buttons. And rotate the 3.5 mm jack while playing some music to see if there's a problem with its socket appearing as distortion in sound.
 

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