[MrCorleone49ers]

Hi I'm buying a Bold 9700 off a private group tomorrow, meeting them in their store. Anyways I was wondering is there any way to check is the phone is brand new or if it has been used/refurbished. Please do not give me the obvious check for scratches etc. Possibly the IMEI number or something to do with the battery. Also I heard that you can check exactly how many seconds the phone has been in use for? Please reply asap!!

[Superh3ro]

I don't think there is away other than searching for personal data on the fone or check the vendor blackberry site using the pin or imei number and see if there is an account under the numbers
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

[somerandomguy]

You won't be able to tell from a software perspective.

Your only bet is to open the device up and try to figure out what has been replaced / repaired.

the uptime of the phone is the number of seconds since powered on. A battery pull will reset this counter

[obi1]

well,i've both my bb9700 few weeks ago, new one.somebody bought it from me from another country.i am quite an old user of bb, so i've done the fallowing tasks:check the codes from the box with the codes from the phone.imei,pin,and so.check the bb case for scratches.it should have all the protective skins on the display, camera, leather back.because you don't have any obvious screws, you should look if the case wasn't forced or opened.you can easilly spot it.check the white squares from the battery/inside of the phone, they should be white NOT red.it should boot up for the first time, and ask you to do some settings.you can also google the long code from the box, and see if the code is for a bb9700.check all the buttons after it boots up.charge your phone battery for the first time.it should last at least 4 or 5 days...at least for me.take some photos.it should have a good quality.usually, the CHINA made bbs, have a poor camera resolution, allong side othe issues.check where it was made.my one is made in canada.if the case was changed, you gonna see the difference after a few days.a fake, cheap, china made case, never can compare with the quality of a good original bb case.i think that's pretty much all.check other's opinion, regarding this.luckilly, i had an original bb.