Hello everyone!
I thought to share my observations of a fake Nokia 8250. It was the cheapest on Ebay at the time and it looked a bit different in item photos; my opinion is that don't buy because everything had at least something wrong. The quality of this is far from fake luxury 8xxx-series or Vertu phones, which require more careful inspection to spot a fake phone. I've earlier bought cheap Chinese covers to badly worn phones I wanted to sell, and I hated them all: they don't fit properly, they feel cheap, etc.
The box looked quite good, though there wasn't any model markings or the usual IMEI stickers. Just Nokia logos + some generic text. The "Be original" text amused me a bit.
The box had the familiar layout. There was the phone itself, a charger and a small leaflet which had issues: it was printed too wide so that square icons were actually rectangles, and it was stapled horisontally so that one lifted the page up to see the next one, etc. If we ignore the horrible housing at this point, one could spot this as a fake because the battery was already inside the phone, not packed separately.
Left one is the fake phone, right one is an authentic phone (though it's worn). Differences are obvious: different color shades, different layout on 3, 6, 9 and # buttons, scruffy Nokia logo, odd ring around the screen (reminds me of Nokia 1611), and looks like the fake cover is kind of fatter and more round than original cover.
Back cover is different too: no graphics, logo misses its chrome, and a place for strap/lanyard is missing (top left corner) from the fake one.
Chinese had to print a new sticker under the battery. Unfortunately they used an IMEI from a Samsung Galaxy III, too low code (some of my 2110 phones had a bit higher code), and I believe this Asian model was never manufactured in Finland -- they made 8210 in Finland though. Oh well, that's just a sticker...
I opened the phone up and compared it with genuine 8250 and 8210 phones. The PCB and UI board were identical with authentic 8250 board, it wasn't a modified 8210 or something.
Uh-oh, we have a problem... First of all, it did not accept any SIM cards I offered, but all locks were open and SIM card slot looked just fine. Second problem: it reports an IMEI belonging to a Nokia 8210, which is a bit WTF. Sidenote: you can see how the screen is already scratched a bit after few hours of handling it.
I read the firmware from the phone to have a backup, and then flashed a slightly modified 8210 firmware. Now it accepts SIMs! Also got 7 bar signal & battery meters and Finnish language, which original 8250 didn't have.
Not sure why they changed the IMEI. NokTools shows that IMEI and original IMEI are the same (I don't think it really show original IMEI), but why the TAC number is wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a blacklisted phone, but I never know as I don't know the original IMEI.
Wait! There's more!
Charger looks good. Except the 2D barcode is over the reserved space. And the case looks odd where the prongs stick out. I started to open the screw... and it was plastic and part of the case!
The charger opened with a single blow of a hammer -- it's going to trash anyway. I've never opened genuine Nokia charger but I'm quite sure this thing lacks plenty of parts and safety measures.
There you have it. Embarrassing housing, hardware is real but even that is tampered and wrong...
Cheers!