{"id":1276,"date":"2015-01-25T19:10:35","date_gmt":"2015-01-25T19:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.hovatek.com\/?p=1276"},"modified":"2025-04-05T18:59:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-05T18:59:49","slug":"how-to-identify-a-fake-samsung-android-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-identify-a-fake-samsung-android-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"How to identify a fake Samsung Android phone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/bpyeki\/uploads\/2015\/01\/how_to_identify_a_fake_samsung_phone.jpg\" alt=\"How to identify a fake Samsung phone\" class=\"wp-image-1277\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of my most hilarious\u00a0days of 2014 was when a friend\u00a0of mine was feeling oppressed by my Android phone (not like he knew much about phones anyway) and was determined to outshine me. He&#8217;d been checking out some Samsung phones online and was feeling even more oppressed by the price tags&#8230;..till he struck a deal. Without consulting anybody, he went and got himself this brand new &#8220;Samsung Galaxy S4&#8221;. It all started when he wanted to know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/how-to-root-android\/\">how to root the Android phone<\/a>. When I heard the price, I didn&#8217;t suspect foul play and decided to check the phone out. To my surprise, it was fake. Just a little more money would have gotten him an original. What made it even more hilarious\u00a0was his facial expression when he finally realized\/accepted it was fake; more like &#8220;Awoof don purge my belle&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this guide, I&#8217;ll be showing you some techniques which will aid you in spotting fake Samsung phones either when your&#8217;re allowed to install stuff or just surf through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"important\">What are the things to look out for when trying to spot a fake Samsung phone?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. <strong>Download Mode<\/strong>: The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/forum\/thread-40218.html\">Download Mode<\/a> on Samsung devices allows you to unlock the bootloader and flash the firmware (with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/forum\/thread-519.html\">Odin<\/a>). If you have followed the procedure for the model in question, but the device doesn&#8217;t enter Download Mode, then you know there&#8217;s <em>fire on the mountain<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. <strong>Physical appearance \/ performance<\/strong>: If you&#8217;ve seen the original or can get access to one then a side by side comparison would be a good pointer. You should compare the screen size, buttons, sensors, display quality, user interface, components under the back cover and logo. If you cant get an original then online pictures from different angles should do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">3. <strong>Graphics and performance<\/strong>: Reboot the phone then observe the boot\u00a0sound and animation. Also, try running some games and apps then observe the phone&#8217;s performance<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4. <strong>Samsung Codes<\/strong>: Try dialing the codes below. If the device responds to some correctly then that&#8217;s a pass; else, it has failed this test:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Knowing SW Version, PDA, CSC and Modem \u00a0*#1234#<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samsung SW &amp; HW Info \u00a0*#12580369#<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samsung Test mode \u00a0*#0*#<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samsung Service Mode *#197328640#<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samsung ADC Reading \u00a0*#0228#<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samsung Bluetooth Test Mode \u00a0*#232331#<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samsung Bluetooth Address \u00a0*#232337#<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Samsung Ciphering Information \u00a0*#32489#<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">5. <strong>Phone specs<\/strong>: Check for the phone&#8217;s specifications online to know what to expect in the original then begin comparing by going to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Settings > About to check for Android version, model number, baseband, kernel version and build number<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Settings > Storage to check the storage allocations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">6. \u00a0<strong>Samsung Kies (older models)<\/strong>: Samsung KIES is a desktop manager for Samsung phones. If its unable to recognize the device then that&#8217;s another red flag. To carry out this test:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/hovatek.com\/redirect.php?link=http:\/\/www.samsung.com\/ph\/support\/usefulsoftware\/KIES\/JSP\" rel=\"nofollow\">Download Samsung Kies<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Navigate to Settings > Applications > Development and disable USB debugging<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Navigate to Settings > Wireless and network > USB settings and tick Ask on connection<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Launch Samsung Kies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Connect the phone to PC and select Samsung Kies when prompted for a connection mode<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kies will attempt to connect to the device, give it some time<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kies should display the device&#8217;s name and firmware version \u00a0if the phone is detected. If Kies can&#8217;t detect it after several attempts then that&#8217;s a red flag<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span class=\"important\">Where can I get original Samsung phones ?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s very important you patronize only trusted phone vendors. You could check out some original Samsung phones\u00a0by clicking <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of my most hilarious\u00a0days of 2014 was when a friend\u00a0of mine was feeling oppressed by my Android phone (not like he knew much about phones anyway) and was determined to outshine me. He&#8217;d been checking out some Samsung phones online and was feeling even more oppressed by the price tags&#8230;..till he struck a deal. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[818],"tags":[20,126],"class_list":["post-1276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-android","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13021,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1276\/revisions\/13021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hovatek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}