It’s no secret that Apple technology is very, very not cheap. Nevertheless, the desire to have premium products encourages many to find options for entering the apple world, either borrowing money from friends and relatives or gradually paying a loan. And there are those who go for their dreams to the secondary market. If Mac computers are bought, as a rule, by professionals who know exactly what they need them for, and the iPad is not a “basic device”, then iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch are the most popular gadgets from all Apple products.
Usually the first device with which a person “breaks” into the apple world is precisely the iPhone. Actual flagships will not significantly fall in price soon, so for an adequate buyer who does not pursue the most modern technologies, proposals for buying flagships in the secondary market in 2018 and 2017 will become quite interesting. And for someone in 2020, an excellent option would be the acquisition of the iPhone 7/7 Plus.
Content
1. What iPhone can I buy today?
2. Which iPhone is not worth buying in 2020
3. How to choose a used iPhone
4. How and where to buy used iPhone
5. How to check the original packaging of the iPhone
6. How to check the charging, cable, and headphones that come with the iPhone
7. How to check the appearance of the iPhone
8. How to check iPhone screen
9. How to check iPhone buttons
10. How to check Touch ID or Face ID
11. How to check if water got into iPhone
12. How to check IMEI iPhone
13. How to check if the iPhone is locked
14. How to check the iPhone camera
15. How to check if iPhone firmware matches its model
16. How to check iPhone battery wear
17. How to check GPS and accelerometer
18. What applications to use for checking Phone
What iPhone can I buy today?
To date, from last year’s flagships, Apple officially sells the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, as well as the iPhone XR. The new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max can still be found in large retail chains. iPhone X will be a little harder. iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, you can try to purchase officially restored the so-called Factory Refurbished. These are devices that have undergone a complete replacement of the battery and the case, and sometimes the screen, tested in conditions that meet Apple requirements and sold almost like new. However, in 2020 it is already difficult to find such a device in the balances in the warehouses of large retail chains. All other devices of 2015 and earlier – alas, only used ones, at best restored in the conditions of a certified service center.
What iPhone is not worth buying in 2020
Based on this, I categorically do not recommend today considering the purchase of devices such as iPhone 5s and iPhone 6/6 Plus due to the termination of their support by the company itself (they did not receive iOS 13) and have a small amount of RAM for comfortable work modern applications and games. I also do not recommend the device that I still use myself – iPhone 6s. It seems to feel pretty good on iOS 13, but after you pause at least seven, not to mention 8 Plus and newer, which have TrueTone and the interface works faster, you don’t want to take the flagship of 2015. Perhaps 6s and 6s Plus will still receive iOS 14, but iOS 15 they most likely will not see. Yes, and no goodies like compressed video and photo formats, stereo sound, etc. that appeared on the iPhone 7, they will never be.
How to choose a used iPhone
If it’s not about buying in some official trading network, then, of course, Avito, Yula, OLX and other advertising platforms to help you. But here the first pitfalls immediately begin. On trading floors very often for the purpose of fraud, one-day accounts are registered, the task of which is a trivial scam. Therefore, the first thing I insistently suggest paying attention to is the date of registration of the seller on the trading floor and his reputation, if possible.
The second point is the announcement itself. Examine thoroughly what the seller offers, the photos attached to the product description. It is important to check the package contents of the device. Is there any original packaging, charging, lightning cable, headphones. If the seller sells the gadget without packaging and accessories, you do not need such a device. Look for other offers. Let it be more expensive, but at least with some confidence that it will not be Chinese self-assembly.
The third point is the most piquant. Phoned the owner, suggest that he go through the diagnosis of the device in an authorized service center, of course, at your expense. In this situation, you, of course, will lose about 500-600 rubles, but you will receive more or less truthful information about the device, for which you are going to pay a significantly larger amount.
There are two possible options. If the seller agrees, it is definitely worth considering this option. First, inspect the gadget, packaging, and accessories yourself, and then, if everything suits you, go through a service check and then buy. If you do not agree, then you decide. The seller may be against opening the device, citing the fact that then he will not be able to sell it to someone or because the moisture protection or something else will be violated. If your knowledge and experience are enough without checking in a service center to distinguish factory China from a makeshift – take a risk, if not – look for another seller.
How and where to buy used iPhone
Arrange with the seller to meet in a crowded place, preferably some kind of cafe with good lighting, the presence of sockets for charging, the ability to connect via WiFi to a stable Internet. Take along a LED flashlight, wet wipes (to check the oleophobic coating), MacBook, or any Windows laptop with iTunes installed.
Well, if there is a smartphone from which it will be possible to distribute mobile Internet via WiFi in case of the unstable Internet in the institution where the meeting will be held. It is best to go to a meeting with another close person who can help you, depending on the situation. Time and place should be selected in such a way that loud music, a large number of visitors did not interfere with you and there was the opportunity to calmly inspect the device and its configuration.
How to check for original iPhone packaging
First of all, you need to know what the original packaging looks like, the original smartphone and accessories that come with the kit. Do not be too lazy to find relevant information on the Internet. Yes, on the Apple website, information is only about devices that are relevant today, but no one has canceled the Google search engine. The archives are full of images and even completely saved web pages from the Apple website dedicated to the product you are going to buy.
The box itself should have the appropriate look. All stickers on the back and inscriptions on them should be made in a clear font, evenly, and not crookedly obliquely. The box must have an IMEI device. If the inscriptions and labels on the box are clearly not of factory quality, the fonts are blurry, poorly readable uneven inscriptions, then we have a very cheap Chinese fake.
But in fairness it is worth noting that modern scammers have already learned to fake Apple branded packaging and labels with inscriptions, so outwardly the perfect box is far from guaranteeing the original product inside.
How to check the charging, cable and headphones that come with the iPhone
We look at the lightning cable. On the connector, all contacts must be of high quality, no burrs, oxidations. Although it’s worth mentioning here that the seller can say that the cable has worn out during operation and will be right, since Apple’s charging cables usually wear out very much after two years of operation.
Similarly, we check the complete EarPods. There should be no barbs, molten and irregularly shaped guides that fix the wires from the remote control with a microphone to the headphone, the headphones themselves should be normal color, there should not be any inscriptions on the headphone. The lightning connector must be of appropriate quality. All the latest cables and headphones are not labeled on the wires. But on my original headphones and the charging cable from the iPhone 6s, a short distance from the connector there is a branded inscription “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China. ” On branded Apple charging, this inscription is required.
And there are still typical inscriptions, the quality of which must be checked. In addition, you need to know that for different countries, Apple puts different charging blocks with suitable types of plugs in the kit. Preparing to purchase the device, you need to study in advance on the Internet how the original charge intended for sale in a particular country will look like.
You will definitely need to check how the headphones sound and how the phone charges. There are tons of videos on YouTube about how Chinese fakes look.
How to check the appearance of the iPhone
The iPhone case must match the color and material of the model of the device you are going to buy and the one indicated on the package. Any discrepancy immediately indicates that the seller is lying. On the case there should not be dents, chips, characteristic traces of blows.
Perhaps, in pursuit of a low price, you agree to cover up physical flaws with a beautiful case, but you need to understand that any smartphone crash is not just another scratch or dent on the case – this is a big shock to the components inside. And this concussion sometimes does not immediately appear, but after several weeks of operation, when WiFi suddenly starts to fall off, the Touchscreen stops working adequately, the device suddenly starts to lose network and GPS.
From any shock associated with the fall, the tracks on the board can come off, the cables can be damaged, and repairs can be very expensive, because many other problems can be found in the diagnostic process. We definitely do not need such a device.
Unfortunately, I have to note that today in artisanal Chinese workshops they have learned how to make cases of very good quality, which can be distinguished from the original only by a specialist who has examined a single gadget. Famous asterisk type screws near the charging port on older iPhone models today can be twisted to new ones in almost any workshop.
A very important point. In the off state and with black wallpaper, the screen should be the same dark color over the entire area of the matrix. No spilled glue under the glass and near the frame. In the on state, without streaks, without stripes of different colors and lines, without different shades of color at different viewing angles. But it is important to remember that the OLED screens of the iPhone 10, 10s, 10s Max, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max may slightly “yellow” – this is normal.
Be sure to look at the broken pixels, for this we display screensavers or wallpapers of a uniform color. The backlighting of the display should be uniform. Go to Settings – Screen and Brightness and change the brightness from minimum to maximum and vice versa several times. The brightness change should be smooth, without jerking when moving the adjustment slider. Be sure to check the operation of the auto brightness of the screen, as well as whether the screen blanking sensor is working when the smartphone approaches the ear.
The originality of the display can be checked by moving the application icon. Clamp the icon of any application in the dock and select the Change Home screen mode. Next, we begin to smoothly move the icon from right to left and from bottom to top. So you need to go through the entire display. The application icon should move smoothly without jerks and delays over the entire display area. Checking 3D Touch. It should work at every point on the sensor. But you need to know that in the latest flagships of the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, as well as in the iPhone XR, Apple removed the 3D Touch technology, replacing it with the software Haptic Touch.
A very important point. On iPhone 8 and newer, we check the operation of the TrueTone function, if the function is not available, then the device was being repaired and it does not have an original display.
How to check GPS and accelerometer
To check the GPS you need to run any map service, for example Google Maps and determine your location. In this case, you need to check whether geolocation services are enabled in the Privacy Settings. But you need to understand that indoors, satellites can be caught worse, so you may need to go outside. The accelerometer is checked by running the built-in Compass application.
How to check iPhone battery wear
Buying an iPhone with a maximum battery capacity below 90% is impractical. The first thing you contact the service will be replacing the battery with a new one. I was forced to replace the battery on my iPhone 6s three years after reaching a capacity level of 83%. The device just lived with me no more than 5 hours. At the same time, I practically did not use anything on it, I just made several calls and answered messages in the messenger. For everything else, the iPad Air 2 was used. After replacing the battery, the phone began to live confident and a half days. In this case, the use case has expanded significantly.
You need to know that iOS, starting with version 12, does not allow third-party programs from the AppStore to show the level of battery wear. To display relevant information, iOS itself contains the necessary tools. Moreover, non-original batteries are not supported by these tools, and in the Maximum capacity column of the Battery status settings section there will be dashes or no information at all.
But the Chinese learned last year to produce chip batteries, which are correctly detected by the system, and show a rather high capacity for a long time. If you have a Mac, it would be nice to check the battery of the connected iPhone with coconutBattery.
