Whether you're buying an imported used smartphone or a local hand-to-hand device, the fact remains that you need to check your prospective handfriend with scrutiny, so as to be sure you're buying that much-needed peace of mind and not some headache.

Here's a quick rundown of 11 things you need to look out for when buying a used smartphone:

1. Battery Health
For iPhone lovers, except you're buying an edition that launched at least 3 years ago, you can't entirely rely on the battery health percentage in the Settings. A lot of Nigerians are obsessed with this reading when it, in fact, means nothing in most cases. The percentage can be altered By Ikeja technicians in a matter of seconds.


What's most important is to connect the device to a mobile data (not WiFi), tune the brightness all the way up, while checking out the phone and running a few apps. A decent battery should last 25-40 minutes screen-on time per 10% of battery.

2. Bottom and Ear Speakers

Play some music and make a phone call. If there's no network, dial the emergency num 112 and confirm if you hear anything.

3. Mouthpiece
Go to the voice recording and record your voice. Once you can confirm that the phone hears your voice, you don't need to make a call to confirm if the mouthpiece works.

4. Vibration.
Ensure the vibration motor works and that there are no wobbling of any sort when the phone vibrates. The presence of any wobbling is an indicator that the phone has been worked on with some parts not sitting tightly.

5. Screen Calibration
For tech savvy folks, there's a complicated way to do this. But to make things easier. Just download "Touch Screen Test" app from Play store and leverage it to ensure there are no dead zones on the digitalizer. You can also test the keyboard if it responds well or hold and drag around an app on the home screen. If the app continually escapes your touch while dragging it around, it means the screen's digitalizer is faulty.

6. OLED or LCD screen
If the phone you're buying conventionally uses an Amoled screen, navigate the phone to a point where there are mostly black areas, tune the brightness all the way up, and check if the black areas light up or look blueish. If they don't, it's a genuine OLED screen with deep blacks. If the black areas light up, it means the phone is housing a replacement LCD screen and not the follow-come OLED. This is especially important for iphone 12 upwards models and Samsung S series.

7. Screen Protectors
Don't buy a used phone with the protector applied. Ensure to remove it as some buyers use this to conceal any crack or deep scratches, especially those privacy screen guards. You won't know a screen is cracked with it applied.

8. Camera
Needless to say, you must check the front and back cameras. Look out for any blurriness or difficulty in focusing on objects. You're virtually good to go if none of these is present.

9. Overheating
In most cases, you'll most likely be buying a used phone under direct sunlight, resulting in a lil bit of warmth in the hand. If this doesn't degenerate to overheating to the point that the phone becomes uncomfortable to hold, you're good to go.

10. Sensors
Any decent phone should host of different types of sensors. Check if it turns on/off when it senses your ears or skin close to the ear speaker while on a call. Does the phone switches orientation when you tilt it landscape or portrait?
Does the fingerprint sensor work when you register your prints?

If it's an iPhone X model upwards, reconfigure the Face ID at least 3 times to be sure it's working optimally.


11. Wipe/Factory Reset

Most importantly, you need to factory reset the phone before paying the seller. A stolen or WWU iPhone will request for iCloud details upon resetting. If the seller can't provide this, don't pay. Some folks fall victim of buying WWU iPhones as Factory Unlocked.
Some Android devices now ask for specific login details of the immediate past owner when you factory reset, don't pay if the seller can't input these.

Remember, don't pay for any phone unless it's been factory-resetted in your presence.


And that's a wrap. If you need replacement parts for any of your devices, do well to reach out. we sell everything from batteries to screens to back glasses, speakers, down boards, etc.

Moderators: puskin, dragnet, honsule

Please bless us with this material on front page


Took me some time to write

Hmmm, Nice

Noted

Good. Thanks .
Front page pls

Police or SARS case.

Avoid used phones by all means, if you must buy buy from someone you know personally.

Quite Insightful.

Thanks for taking out time to write this thread.

My contribution is that:
while taking note of these precautions before getting a phone, ensure that you're also buying your device from a reputable brand.


Doing a proper research about the gadget company you want to patronize should be the first step to take, then other precautions follows


There are numerous reputable vendors you can get gadgets from with peace of mind.. like friimarket.com , slot.ng , konga.com etc...


These firms already has a name they'd want to maintain & they wouldn't want to put their reputation at stake by selling broken, fake or damaged gadgets


I can vouch for friimarket.com oooo

we are very reliable when it comes to brand new & Uk used gadgets

No 1: check your pocket and don't go beyond your budget otherwise, OYO in this Tinubunomics