INFO: Some advice on buying a Motorola A1200

[msandiej]

Gosh...I keep thinking of things to say!

Here is a VERY good way to check the authenticity of your Ming...

Go to motorola.com and use the warranty system. You type in the IMEI and it will return the manufacturer warranty info for that phone. It WILL tell you if the IMEI is a valid Motorola IMEI.

[PaulF]

I don't think either myself OR MSANDIEJ were saying "buy from this guy" what we both did was give advise based on our personal purchasing experiences.

I see my first post ever on this site came out wrong. I wasn't referring to this thread when I said "buy from this guy". I thought that was obvious because nobody said that.

Back to my problem. Part of the "charm" of buying from eBay is beating the system so you are never really sure what you will get. I made sure it said "new", "Motorola" and "in the box". The concern I had about the legality "in the US" was so I had reason to do something if I wanted to return it or report it. I am trying to convince myself that it can not happen here. My previous purchase on eBay, to my surprise, arrived in a package directly from Hong Kong,China. The customs sticker said it was a gift.

[nodramachicks]

most of the things that i've bought on eBay from outside of the country have come tagged as "GIFTS" to avoid customs duties. Beating the system is great, in my opinion that's the GREAT thing about this site, beating and improving on what Motorola decided was the best product.

[aka120]

Here in US, got my ming from Exoticphone.com for $249. Shipped right away, It is A1200r with 25P. generic. Phone was brand new, unlocked, came with all OEM i.e. 512Mb SD card, 1battery, 1 usb cable, 1 charger, 1 wired headset, 1 MPT cd, and the company also threw in a power plug converter for the wall charger. S&H was a bit high, like $35, but its 2nd day delivery, so it shipped quick

[nodramachicks]

ahhhh, HERES a question, once it's been determined that your seller and product is genuine, is there ANY way to know what FW is on the phone BEFORE buying it....? I would think this would save LOADS of time and effort FIXING and FLASHING out of the box

[msandiej]

Naw, not really...I know that FOR NOW, the A1200R ships with 25p Generic...and the A1200 ships with...shoot, 48, I think? But that can change as MotoDev makes their firmwares.

[Moth32]

But that can change as MotoDev makes their firmwares.

I, personally, am not counting on that.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Motor...ch-59380.shtml

[nodramachicks]

I, personally, am not counting on that.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Motor...ch-59380.shtml

SAY IT ISN'T SO!!! why would they go and fix something that isn't broken? so much for it's unique identity! anyone have any further info on this or input?

[msandiej]

Well...this has been in debate for sometime. According to a friend at Moto...this is because the carriers have had such a hard time with the iPhone because of the OS. It has to be sent to Apple for repair, as only they know how to deal with the issues.

So, for carriers, Windows is the optimal OS. This allows them to maintain control over the phone...which means less user complaints.

I look at it like this...Those of us that have the phone now run it on Linux. We can mod it to our hearts content. Realize that the US release will be carrier locked, too...Chances are most of us would still buy the Linux unlocked.

To my knowledge, this is ONLY for the US release version of the Ming.

[Alpha43]

msandiej you did an excellent job at making this thread.. Glad to see it as a sticky!!

I was actually going to make a thread of reputable places to do business for the ming. Ill work something out but so far you did a perfect job, keep it up!




~Alpha~