Is the Buy It Now price on that brand spanking new N95 too good to be true? It is. Read on to find out what to look for when shopping for a Nokia N95 and discover how to avoid all the replicas floating around.

The Nokia N95 is currently the best phone on the market feature-wise. It sports a quad band/HSPDA antenna, built in wifi and gps, a jealousy-inducing 5 MP camera complete with Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and a powerful LED flash, all tucked into a sleek design about as long and wide as your credit card and almost as thin. It has a boatload of features I'm skipping over, but those are the highlights and anyhow, this isn't a review of the phone.

Being the tiny powerhouse that it is, it's no surprise that copies of the phone abound. Most of the fakes were made before the Nokia N95 was even released, just for people who couldn't wait to get their hands on the real thing. Unfortunately, a few of them look very much like the real thing and those fakes have flooded ebay. They were originally supposed to be cheaper than the Nokia N95, but sometimes you find auctions touting them as the real thing. There are currently two different types on ebay that look sufficiently like the real thing that some sellers may not even realize they have the fakes.

So, how does one go about finding out which of the various N95's are really Nokia N95's?

There are many subtle differences between the fakes and the real thing which one might overlook at first blush, but they become very obvious once you know what to look for.


Dual Band vs Quad Band

This is a detail that you can only find out about from the auction's description of the phone. The fakes can only use two bands - 900/1800 MHz and therefore will not work in the US. They will work in China where they were made as well as parts of Europe and Asia, maybe Oceania and Africa as well but I'm not sure about this part. The real deal uses the whole spectrum of GSM frequencies available - 850/900/1800/1900 MHz as well as HSDPA, so if you're looking for a phone to use in the US, avoid the auction that says Dual Band.

Dual Slider vs Single Slide

The Nokia N95 is the first phone with this neat feature; sliding it up exposes the keypad and sliding it down exposes the dedicated multimedia keys. None of the fakes have the second slide option - they can only slide up. This is something else to watch for in the auction description, since most pictures on ebay don't show the phone slid down to expose the multimedia keys.

Single vs Dual SIm Cards

The real N95 can only accept one sim card, whereas the fakes can take two. Watch out for this in the description.

Now onwards to pictures.

Numero Uno: Touchscreen

This is the biggest giveaway. The Nokia N95 DOES NOT have a touchscreen. Nokia's symbian phones and touchscreens do not go together.
Anytime you see the word Touchscreen in a listing for an N95, run away from that listing as fast as you can! One look at the description or the picture will tell you right away.

Here's is a picture of the fake Nokla N95. See that row of icons on the bottom of the screen? That is the telltale sign that the phone is indeed touchscreen.
The Nokia N95 has two softkeys on the bottom of the screen, one on the left and one on the right.
Note: The camera mode on the real Nokia may have tiny icons on the bottom of the screen depending on the options selected by the user. However, they look a bit different from the Nokla's icons and they will always have the two softkeys Exit and Options. Most of the images on ebay will not show the camera mode, so this will hardly ever be an issue.



Number Two: No branding

Compare the picture above to the real N95 next to it. The images are a bit blurry thanks to ebay's limit on size, but you can see the empty space at the top left of the Nokla whereas the Nokia has the words Nokia N95 in that spot.
Note: There will be some variation here. I have seen a few Noklas with the Nokia N95 branding, so be aware.
Also, next to the camera is a tiny square where the light sensor is located. Notice how this square is missing on the fake.


Number Three: Multimedia Key: Square vs Diamond icon
                              Menu Key: Fast Forward icon vs Tilted Sphere icon

Again this image is a bit hard to see on the Nokia, but you can see the square icon on the Nokla's multimedia key (arrow #3). The entire square is depressed into the key, making it a grey icon with no backlight.
On the real Nokia N95, the icon here has four tiny triangles embedded in such a way that they form the four tips of an open diamond. When the phone is on, the backlight on this icon is white, which really highlights the difference.
On the opposite site of the Multimedia key lies the Main Menu key. On the Nokla, the icon basically looks like a fast forward button, and again, it is grey and has no backlight when the phone is on. On the Nokia, the icon is made of two curved lines that touch to form an open sphere leaning to the left. The backlight color of this icon is a bright cyan.

A Different Fake

The second fake Nokla floating about is a little less realistic than the one shown above, but it is realistic enough to impress you at a quick glance.
This version has the icons on the bottom that tells you it's touchscreen. Unlike the other fake, it has the words Nokia N95 at the top left corner and it also has the tiny square next to the camera for the light sensor though I'm not sure if it performs the same function on this phone.
I have heard that the thing that looks like a front camera here is really a second speaker, but I can't verify this information.
The defining feature (other than the touchscreen icons of course) for this fake is that its Multimedia and Menu keys are about half the size of the real one and they have no icons.
The center key and D-pad is also a lot bigger on the fake.
 
       


That's it for the front of the phone. Let's take a look at the back.

1.   2.      3. 

From left to right, 1- the real Nokia N95, 2- the first fake (grey icons on Multimedia and Menu keys) and 3 - the second fake (half sized Multimedia and Menu keys).

Comparison between #1 and #2

The back of  #2 looks very similar to the real Nokia, but again, the makers didn't copy every single thing.

1. First off, the branding on the back says NOKLA in #2 as opposed to NOKIA on the real N95.
2. Right next to #2's camera is an engraving of the number 3 - maybe they were trying to make it look like 3G's branding, or someone is really fascinated with the number 3.
    Either way, the engraving doesn't serve any real purpose (other than to help you differentiate between it and the real thing).
3. Also, on the other side of the camera, the real N95 has a toggle switch that opens up the camera lens.
    #2 has some dots that mimic the shape of the switch, but no physical switch at that location.
4. This should be obvious, but I'll mention it anyway. The color of #2's casing is black. Nokia N95 comes in only 2 colors - deep plum (picture above) and sand.
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     It is now possible to buy a different colored housing for your Nokia N95. Putting it on involves opening up the phone, which most people will not attempt.
     Unless the seller specifically said they replaced their phone's housing, it's safe to assume that the housing on it was put on in the factory.
     At the same time, you might see an auction for an N95 with an exotic color like gold, pink, green etc where the seller claims the phone is limited edition.
     It isn't. You can pick up your own exotic colored housing for cheap from ebay.
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Comparison between #1 and #3

One quick look at the back of #3 and you won't even have to guess where it stands in the real vs fake category.

1. The branding on the back does say NOKIA on #3 but it is written horizontally rather than vertically as in the real N95.
2. Huge giveaway here. The camera's design is a disaster. It looks nothing like the real phone and there is that big circular... thing on the lower left of the back.

Accessories

The accessories list will only really be needed if the listing does not have a picture of the phone but it may be useful in deciding whether a message to the seller asking for a picture is worth your time.

Stylus - The touchscreen phones need a stylus to function, so if a stylus is mentioned anywhere on the auction, the phone is a fake.
Batteries - Some of the fakes come bundled with two batteries. Seeing two batteries in the listing will not necessarily mean that the phone is fake, but it may be worth staying alert for other giveaways in the description.
256 MB Micro SD card - Some of the fakes come with a 256 MB card. Same as the batteries, a card of this size is not necessarily an indication that the phone is fake.

Here are the accessories that normally come with a Nokia N95.

Home Charger
Lithium Ion Battery
Nokia Video Cable for TV Out
Nokia USB Cable
Stereo Headset
1GB MicroSD Card and Adapter

Bear in mind that a seller may choose not to include any or all of these accessories.

That's about it for this guide. There are some really subtle differences that I skipped, but the stuff that I mentioned are the main things to look for. I can't stress enough how important it is to see a picture of the real item before diving into the auction. Sellers reading this, please please use a real picture. Buyers, this is an expensive piece of hardware and you really do not want to spend your hard earned cash on a cheap replica (unless you're into that). Many have wasted good money only to be bundled with an expensive paperweight.

The features on the fakes are nowhere near those of the real N95, so don't believe the auctions that say the copies are just as good. Example, the fakes do not run Symbian OS, which is undoubtedly one of the best features of Nokia's smartphones. The camera on the fakes is a low quality 1.3 MP. Those are just two examples in a long list of sub par features. If you just want a cheap phone with a nice design and you're in an area that uses 900/1800 MHz, don't let me dissuade you from buying one of the copies. However, if you're looking for the quality hardware that Nokia built, you know what to look for. Happy Symbian Shopping.

Adios.


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