How to differentiate between parallel and licensed mobile phone products

How to identify refurbished mobile phones or parallel imports

1. Shell. The shell of the new machine is tightly joined, and the gaps are flat and smooth without burrs. Refurbished machines generally use imitation of the original casing. The gaps are uneven and have burrs. The upper and lower parts of the mobile phone casing are prone to not closing tightly, leaving large gaps. When identifying, you can use your little fingernail to try to insert it into the seam between the upper and lower covers of the mobile phone. If it can be plugged in, it's a refurbished machine. And you should never buy a mobile phone with a matte surface like a new phone and small particles on it. The paint on the casing of this kind of machine is sprayed by JS. Over time, the paint will fall off (the small dust particles on the casing are caused by the lack of vacuum environment when painting);

2. New There is a faint smell of sandalwood when you open the cover of the machine. If it is a refurbished machine, JS usually needs to do some cosmetic work on the body. Although the surface is smooth, it is not dry enough. There is a rubbery, plastic, or chemical smell after opening the cover or removing the battery. The smell of chemicals;

3. Keyboard and data cable interfaces. Due to long-term plugging and unplugging of charger plugs and data cables, black scratches will appear on the charging interface of refurbished machines that are difficult to remove. Most keyboard refurbished machines use the keyboard from the old machine or imitate the keyboard. The uniqueness of this keyboard is that it feels relatively soft and does not have the toughness of the new keyboard;

4. Charging test. It is best to charge for a longer time, usually more than 10 minutes. Because many refurbished machines will lose power after charging for a long time. This is also a very effective way to judge refurbished machines;

5. SIM card chip contacts and battery contacts. These two contact JS generally cannot be replaced. If it is a refurbished machine, there will definitely be clear friction marks on the SIM card chip contacts, which will look shiny. This is caused by excessive friction. If it is an unused chip from a new machine, the contact surface should be frosted;

6. Fixing screws. Mainly check whether there are obvious scratches on the screws and the knife-edge interface, and whether there are pick marks on the two rubber pads under the inner screen.

7. Call quality. Bring your own SIM card to test the machine, call your friend, preferably a landline, and ask the other party how the call quality is, whether the call sound is clear, whether there is any noise, current sound, and whether the volume suddenly drops;

8. Price. Since most of the spare parts for refurbished machines are early products and of poor quality, the price is also low. If you encounter a mobile phone with a ridiculously low price but the merchant calls it a parallel import, you can basically conclude that it is a refurbished phone.

Mobile phone technology continues to advance, various parameters are constantly being refreshed every day, and the new terms that come one after another are even more confusing-fortunately, mobile phones do not have Guinness records, otherwise I believe it would be chaos.

About the screen

What are you most concerned about about the mobile phone screen - 260,000 colors? Or the screen size? In fact, when we buy a phone, we should pay attention to the following four parameters: material, color number, resolution, and size. Let us understand one by one:

Material: In terms of screen material, the most common one is TFT and STN, generally speaking, the display effect of the former is significantly better than that of the latter. In addition, based on STN technology, Samsung has developed an exclusive UFB screen. All indicators are improved compared to ordinary STN, but it is still difficult to compare with TFT.

Number of hair colors: Common signs such as "65536 colors" and "260,000 colors" on promotional leaflets are actually the number of hair colors. Theoretically, the higher the color number, the richer the displayed colors and the better the effect. However, in fact, you cannot rely entirely on this parameter, because even if the color number is the same between different models, the display effect and style will be different. 65536 colors It is not surprising that the effect is better than 260,000 colors, because it also involves factors such as resolution, material, size, etc. The specific choice should be made by yourself.

Resolution: Regarding resolution, there can be a clear conclusion: the higher, the better. Because the higher the resolution, the more delicate and clear the picture. For example, Panasonic’s VS, MX, and SA series models all have QVGA (240×320 pixels) resolution, and the brightness is as high as 300 lumens (1 lumen is equal to 1 candle). brightness), the effect is first-class.

In addition, the Nokia N90 also has a resolution of 352×416 pixels, and the level of detail is surprising.

Size: The bigger the size, the better. At the same resolution, the larger the size, the rougher the display. A large screen must have a high resolution to achieve excellent results. Combining the four key points of material, color number, resolution and size, we can find that only when the four are balanced can the best display effect be obtained. It does not make much sense to highlight a single parameter, coupled with the experience of field observation , in order to choose the model that you are most satisfied with.

About ringtones

When it comes to ringtones, I believe everyone will think of chords, but a high number of chords does not mean high sound quality, and the two cannot be equated. The number of chords only shows how many tracks the mobile phone can express in the same piece of music; while the sound quality relates to many aspects, such as ring tone chips, speakers, sound sources, etc. Nowadays, many manufacturers like to boast about the number of chords, but in fact it is just a cover-up. The most important thing is to experience its actual effect in person, whether the sound is pleasant to the ear, whether there is popping sound, whether the three-dimensional effect is rich, whether the volume is sufficient, etc. In addition, you should also pay attention to the ringtone settings of the mobile phone, such as whether the SMS ringtone can be changed directly, whether there is a limit on the number of downloadable ringtones, whether the ringtones placed on the memory card can be directly called, etc.

About MP3

Due to the popularity of MP3, the role of polyphonic ringtones has gradually been diluted. To understand the MP3 function, we need to clearly understand whether the mobile phone supports MP3 ringtones and MP3 playback - whether MP3 can be used as text message tones, whether the MP3 ringtones on the memory card can be directly called, and if you use the mobile phone to play MP3, you need to understand the built-in player Functions, whether it supports loop, list, random playback, whether it supports equalizer selection, whether it has advanced functions such as AB repeat, appearance selection, 3D surround, and bass enhancement.

More importantly, you need to know whether the phone supports background playback. It would be best if you can send text messages while listening to music. When playing in the background, whether the response speed of the mobile phone is affected is also an issue that needs attention. If you only see vague words such as "supports MP3 function" in the leaflet, you should pay more attention.

About shooting

A new term is very popular in mobile phone shooting recently - autofocus. Ordinary mobile phone cameras generally use fixed-focus technology. Although the cost and technical threshold are low, they also have obvious disadvantages. For example, it is difficult to obtain clear images when shooting at close range, and it is even more difficult to obtain macro capabilities. Autofocus can automatically measure the distance of the subject to obtain precise focus. It can handle both long-range and macro shots, maintaining the clarity of the subject to the greatest extent. It is much more advanced than fixed-focus lenses. It automatically Focus technology has long been a standard feature in traditional and digital cameras.

Another thing that must be paid attention to is interpolation. The principle of interpolation will not be introduced in detail. Simply put, it uses a specific algorithm to enlarge the photo, but at the expense of image quality. For example, Sony Ericsson K700, Mitsubishi M800, M900 and other models can obtain higher-pixel photos through interpolation technology. Of course, the image quality will also be reduced.

About memory

Memory has always been a tricky place. To sum up, there are probably the following four points -

1. The name is not worthy of its name: different algorithms This leads to differences between the official parameters and the actual situation. Usually we say 1024KB = 1MB, but for the convenience of calculation, many manufacturers prefer to treat 1000KB as 1MB, so the actual results are different. For example, many mobile phones with a nominal 64MB memory, Only 60MB is actually available.

2. Fishing in troubled waters: Some models claim to have 128MB of memory, but in reality only more than 20 MB are available for users to use. Why is there such a huge gap? Because other parts of the memory space are used for the storage of system files and solidified resources (built-in wallpapers, ringtones, etc.) and cannot be used for other purposes. Just like a computer, after installing Windows, the hard disk space will be reduced a lot, but it will not be used for other purposes. After installing the operating system, can the computer be used? cannot. Therefore, fishing in troubled waters has become a matter of course.

3. Independent allocation or shared resources: The memory space of some mobile phones is fixedly allocated, such as 30MB for pictures, photos and ringtones, 4MB for JAVA, 1MB for MMS, etc. , which means less allocated memory for users; other mobile phones adopt the design of shared resources. For example, the total memory is 82MB, you can fill all 82MB with MP3, or you can allocate it to Various functions and space allocation are more humane.

4. Stealing a dragon and turning it into a phoenix: MB is the abbreviation of MByte, which means "megabyte", but some manufacturers will deceive users into not understanding it and secretly replace the concept of "MBit", so As a result, the memory capacity increased by 8 times, but it was not helpful for practical applications. It was really abominable. Fortunately, this situation is only a very small minority.

About the battery

As for the battery, we only need to clarify one concept: the nominal standby time is only a reference. Why do you say that? Because this value is tested by the manufacturer under the most ideal environment, it has almost no practical value and can only be used as a reference. In addition, although the higher the battery capacity of a mobile phone, the better, but the standby time is directly related to the environment, signal, frequency of use, and method of use, and is very flexible, so the real use time still needs to be verified in person.

What is the difference between licensed mobile phones and parallel-imported mobile phones?

Let’s talk about the issue of parallel-imported mobile phones that everyone is familiar with and interested in. Friends who have plans to purchase parallel-imported mobile phones read my little guide. , you should not waste your money or be deceived. Friends who have no purchase plan can also increase their mobile phone knowledge. However, it should be noted that I am not encouraging everyone to buy parallel imports, but some licensed mobile phones are really ridiculously expensive, and the price difference between licensed products is really too big. Everyone wants to spend the least money to buy the best mobile phone, right?

Friendly reminder: The most popular parallel-imported mobile phone on the market is definitely Samsung. The reason is very simple. Samsung’s licensed mobile phones are very expensive, and the price difference with parallel-imported mobile phones is huge. Under normal circumstances, it is recommended that if the price difference between parallel products is not big, it is better to buy licensed mobile phones, because the quality and after-sales service of parallel products cannot be compared with licensed products. Of course, there is another situation, that is, some gamers want to buy some mobile phones that are not listed in the mainland, such as Nokia 5140, N-Gage, Sharp GX32, Sagem, etc., so they can only choose to buy parallel-imported mobile phones.

Selection and identification of parallel imported mobile phones

How to distinguish parallel imported mobile phones is probably a concern of many friends; generally speaking, JS that specializes in selling parallel imported mobile phones will not pass off parallel imported mobile phones as licensed products. , and there are many and relatively simple ways to distinguish parallel imports from licensed ones, such as checking serial numbers, network access licenses, etc. We mainly need to learn how to distinguish parallel imports of mobile phones of different grades.

It is a commonplace to talk about the "A, B, C" issue of parallel imports. To put it simply, the parallel imports of version A are from Hong Kong, and the licensed products sold in Hong Kong are exported to the mainland; the parallel imports of version B are from Mobile phones sold in the European and American markets are shipped to the mainland and are flashed with the Chinese version and Chinese font library; the C version is refurbished and second-hand phones, which are more common in the Guangzhou market. Let us first take a look at the differences between these types of parallel imports and their respective pros and cons:

Hong Kong mobile phones are relatively better among all parallel imports, because they are also licensed goods themselves, and they only make money through tax avoidance. Take the difference. Since the Hong Kong bank itself supports Simplified Chinese and is basically the same as the licensed ones, buying a mobile phone from a Hong Kong bank is the best choice for purchasing parallel imports; of course, the price of a Hong Kong bank mobile phone is also the highest among all parallel import phones. For example, the price of the licensed Samsung D508 is around 4,200 yuan, while the price of the D508 sold in Hong Kong is generally around 3,200 yuan, while the price of the B version of parallel imports (referred to as water-modified) is around 2,700 yuan. The difference between Hong Kong stores and licensed products is mainly in after-sales service. Mobile phones from Hong Kong stores cannot enjoy the free warranty service of mainland customer service (KF).

Some time ago, there was news that Nokia's Hong Kong-branded mobile phones can enjoy the same warranty treatment as licensed products in the mainland. Nokia officials confirmed this news, but it is worth noting that Nokia's Hong Kong-branded phones will enjoy KF services in the mainland. The purchase invoice must be provided (licensed Nokia mobile phones do not need to provide any proof of purchase when repaired at KF). However, Hong Kong banks cannot provide the original invoice purchased in Hong Kong. In other words, mobile phones purchased from Hong Kong banks still cannot be enjoyed in the mainland. Warranty service.

Friendly reminder: Don’t underestimate after-sales service. The failure rate of mobile phones is very high. Generally speaking, mobile phones have bugs of one kind or another. Generally speaking, the lower the software version, the better the quality of the mobile phone. The more problems and bugs there are, coupled with some possible quality problems, perfect after-sales service is very necessary. Who wants to worry about using a mobile phone?

The biggest advantage of water-modified mobile phones is that the price is cheaper than those in Hong Kong. The disadvantage is that the quality problems are relatively serious.

The quality problem of water-modified mobile phones is mainly in terms of stability. Since the Chinese version flashed is not official but written by some software experts themselves, the stability is greatly compromised. For example, the N-Gage, Nokia's first gaming phone, had to flash the "Jiufang" Chinese input method which was very troublesome, and had serious crash problems. These problems waited until the N-Gage QD was launched in the mainland, and the N-Gage was flashed with QD's software. version was resolved.

Friendly reminder: Water modification is cheap, but it sacrifices quality. If you only use your mobile phone to send messages and make calls, you can also consider buying it. If you want to play with your mobile phone, you should choose a Hong Kong bank. Or it should be a licensed product, otherwise the phone you buy has many problems, costs a lot of money to repair, or even has no way to repair it, then you will only regret it.

The C version of parallel imports is a small number of JS using refurbished phones and second-hand phones to pass off as new phones. They are the cheapest and have the worst quality. We just want to avoid buying such phones. The specific identification methods are as follows. List them separately.

How to identify parallel imports

Now that you know about parallel imports, you have to learn to distinguish them. Now I will tell you some simple and practical identification methods:

1 Checking the serial number is the most common method and must be done. The specific method is to enter "*#06#" in the standby state and compare the number displayed on the screen with the number on the back of the fuselage. If they are consistent, it may be authorized.

2 The Hong Kong mobile phone has Chinese symbols on the keyboard, while the water-modified mobile phone has the symbols artificially carved on it. It is rough, unnatural and opaque. You can see it by turning on the keyboard light in a dark place. It is especially obvious on metal keyboards like Motorola V3.

3 Open the back cover of the mobile phone and remove the battery. There is a mobile phone model on the back of the fuselage. Many of the models in Hong Kong are the same as those in the mainland. For example, the Hong Kong model of Samsung D508 is also called D508, while the Hong Kong model of Samsung D508 is also called D508. The modified model is D500 (probably because Chinese people prefer the number "8").

4 Samsung's Hong Kong mobile phones have the "ANYCALL" logo on the panel just like licensed products, while Samsung's mobile phones only have the "SAMSUNG" logo.

5 Check the mobile phone version. Licensed mobile phones have relatively fixed official versions, while parallel imports also have some specific versions. Some versions will only appear on Hong Kong mobile phones. The specific versions of each mobile phone are different. Xiaojiu can't introduce them one by one, so everyone needs to find some professional mobile phone forums and ask relevant mobile phone experts for advice.

6 Some mobile phones may only be water-modified machines and are not listed in Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking regions, including some mobile phones imported from South Korea and Japan.

7 There is no doubt that pure English mobile phones are also modified. If you do not need Chinese text messages and are fully confident in your foreign language skills, you can also choose it, because such mobile phones have not been flashed and the quality is the same. Same as licensed goods.

8 The price of parallel-imported mobile phones is also relatively fixed. The price of the same mobile phone in Hong Kong stores is similar across the country. If it is much cheaper, it is a refurbished or refurbished phone.

9 You can identify refurbished machines by checking the production date. For example, enter "*#92702689" in the standby mode of Nokia's non-smartphone area to display the production date and other information. If the date is too early, do not buy it. ; The methods of distinguishing specific brands are different. You can go online to find the query method yourself.

10 There will also be some signs of wear on the casing and fixing nuts of refurbished machines. In addition, the batteries of refurbished machines are usually assembled. One is because JS is reluctant to match the original battery; the other is that the original battery It's easy to see if the contacts are worn, and the casing on a refurbished machine is probably not original.

The above only introduces some relatively common identification methods, and the identification methods of specific brands and models vary.

After talking for a long time, it was just a method of differentiation. Some people may say, if you know how to tell the difference, you can just buy it? Then you may be deceived. Identifying parallel imports is just basic, just like the multiplication table in mathematics. Only when you learn it can you solve the problem. The methods are dead, but buying is alive, and the knowledge is also in it.

Now list some similar mobile phone terms and explain them one by one:

1) Licensed goods 2) Cross-selling goods 3) Parallel goods 4) Hong Kong bank 5) European version

6) Refurbished machine 7) Recharged new machine 8) Triggered machine 9) Clone machine

1) Licensed products. The licensed products we refer to refer to licensed products from mainland China.

What is domestic licensed product?

Domestic licensed products are products that have been approved by the manufacturer and have been authorized by a certain merchant to be an agent or sold directly by branches of the manufacturer

in a designated area. , the price of licensed products is often relatively high, but

Because of the formal local agents, product warranty and after-sales service are often more guaranteed.

Domestic licensed products warranty:

Warranty service provided by the manufacturer’s customer service center

The assured purchase index is: 9

Reason: after-sales service is average Neither is very good, so I give it a 9.

2) Cross-selling goods. Cross-border goods are also a type of licensed goods, and people in the industry call them speculators. Cross-selling exists in various countries and regions

Let’s just say this (I haven’t been to other countries, but there must be one in China, because that’s what I do). Because licensed goods have to pay a lot of taxes, the price is relatively high, and the consumption level in each region is different, which led to the eventual emergence of cross-selling. Today's cross-border trade is no longer a simple south-to-north water diversion project. It can be said to be very dark and corrupt! ~

After-sales guarantee, just like licensed products. Because the goods you get from some regular stores may have passed through my hands.

The assured purchase index is: 8

Reason: The key point is that people who are stringing things together may not be able to carefully check it.

For example, last time I sent 200 1100 mobile phones to a customer, I told them they were unlocked, but they shipped them without inspecting them

Later I found out that it was not unlocked at all. This is still a trivial matter. It would be depressing if it were a clone machine. So

Give me an 8.

3) Parallel imports. To put it simply, it is a mobile phone imported from other countries and regions without going through customs.

This term refers to a wide range of parallel imports, including European versions, Hong Kong and other licensed products from other countries and regions, cross-selling products, recharge of new phones, cloning, refurbishing, etc. It may be easier to understand in this way, which is to import all kinds of goods from our mainland to the United States. The United States will call all these goods parallel imports. Parallel imports generally do not come with warranty.

Except for capable merchants, they will undertake the warranty themselves. I would like to add that the previous parallel import refers to the European version.

Purchase with confidence index: No evaluation

Reason: Parallel imports include many varieties. Cannot generalize

4) Hong Kong Bank, I guess everyone’s eyes will be brightened by it. To be honest, so am I. Hong Kong banks are licensed products from Hong Kong,

the same as licensed products from China. The quality will be better than that from mainland China.

There are a lot of traditional Chinese characters that need to be messed up, and I personally feel that they are harmful to the computer. All in all, Hong Kong is pretty good. Although Hong Kong and Guangzhou are very close, it is troublesome to go back and forth. Therefore, many merchants simply waive the warranty for Hong Kong companies. NOKIA said it is a nationwide joint warranty, but that is just what NOKIA

said. Do you think the mainland dealers are willing to repair it for you? In other words, there is a gap in after-sales service, and the official

charges for upgrades!

Purchase with confidence index: 7

Reason: No after-sales service, rinsing the machine may cause harm to the machine. But its quality should be better than that produced in mainland China.

5) European version. In fact, this is the real parallel import (because Hong Kong is also a part of China, but it can also be regarded as ***. Alas, China's tragedy). The definition for the European version should be like this. A mobile phone produced in place A is to be shipped to place B. Someone evades the tariffs through some channel and enters the Chinese domestic market.

Mobile phones for sale. So, the European version is licensed in a certain region. What about the warranty? The warranty can only be provided by some merchants.

Purchase with confidence index: 7

Reason: No after-sales service, rinsing the machine may cause harm to the machine. But its quality should be better than those from mainland China and Hong Kong.

But it is also divided into specific places of origin. So giving a 7 means that it is almost the same as the Hong Kong bank.

6) Refurbished phone: According to the mobile phone industry, this kind of phone is made by cleaning some recovered second-hand mobile phones with chemical liquid

, replacing the casing, installing the battery, and charging If the device (counterfeit) and packaging are sold as new, it is a refurbished machine.

Generally speaking, China often sends these goods abroad. So it is not difficult to imagine that other countries will do the same.

This is why some people have prejudices against the European version and the Hong Kong version. No warranty. Some merchants generally promise repairs in one month. What's disgusting is that many JS machines are sold to you as new machines.

Buy with confidence index: 2

Reason: Although they are fakes, the motherboards are all original. It's okay for friends who use it together.

It's okay.

7) Recharge a new phone. This kind of mobile phone is a very new mobile phone that some mobile phone dealers have taken back, or some mobile phones that are sent to the Internet by some telecommunications companies in Hong Kong

or other countries. The mobile phones sent are used by many people in those areas.

It will be sold as a second-hand phone in the future, and then sold through the phone. In short, the concept of recharging a new phone is this kind of phone

The phone is almost the same as the new phone. Damaged or scratched. In fact, the distinction is very simple. Some machines that are not sold in mainland China are available in Hong Kong (such as Sagem).

Purchase with confidence index: 5

Reason: These goods can be said to be second-hand from Hong Kong. The affordability is relatively high because there are more players in Hong Kong.

8) Trigger. The board machine is also called the assembly machine. The concept of board machine is very vague to everyone, but in popular terms it is a machine board that is assembled from non-original motherboards, repaired motherboards, or useful parts removed from scrapped machines. Board

, install the casing yourself, add the battery, and repackage the mobile phones sold after collectively called board. Triggers are the most harmful

and may explode!

Buy with confidence index: 0

Reason: There is no need for a reason, don’t make fun of your life.

9) Cloning machine, you will know what it means just by looking at the name, it means COPYing the licensed serial number and a series of DD

. Copy to another machine. The original cloning machines were relatively poor, and some of the current cloning machines are so fake that even the maintenance workers don't know whether they are genuine or fake. But most of them can be identified. No warranty.

Purchase with confidence index: I don’t know how to evaluate it

Reason: No one will buy a clone machine on purpose. Usually they are just fooled