Purchased used Nexus off Craigslist...nightmare

[AndroidHead05]

Hey guys, So I purchased a used Nexus from a guy locally. I showed up and he had a box with charger, headphones, case, and screen protector. The phone looked perfect and he put his sim in and activated the phone along with showing me data worked along with calls. I bought the phone and took the phone to Verizon and had it activated. It activated fine, so I thought I made out good at this point. However, after looking at the phone further, it appears to have the 1850 Mah battery and the identification sticker under the battery does not have the Samsung logo. It just lists Model SCH-1515 V and shows the serial number and imei number along with STA 02/20/2012 Made in Korea.

I put in a code i found online to check and see if its refurbished and it shows NO for reconditioned. Here is the confusing part, the phone was first activated on 2/28/12 according to the software and has a lifetime call log of 82 calls at around 63 hours. The guy stated he owned the phone since December 17th and he wont return my calls. Do any of you guys know any additional information about this phone that can help me indentify what it is? Also, the phone seems to drop 4G coverage alot and when it first boots and shows the Google logo with a lock logo that appears below it. Does this mean anything? It also has the Superuser icon in my apps list. I feel like an idiot for buying this thing. Maybe I can flash it and fix the radios witha custom rom.

 

[SuperIVIan11]

It sounds like he had unlocked the bootloader and rooted it.

 

[Paul627g]

Sounds like he gave you a bit of a story on purchase date. As far as the Lock icon, it appears it was rooted having the Superuser icon and then he locked the boot loader afterwards.

You will be able to verify more of this by attempting to boot into CWM and also you can verify if it is indeed rooted by installing a root required app like Titanium Backup from the Play Store and see if it prompts you for Superuser permissions on first run.

 

[AndroidHead05]

I was worried the phone was stolen or some type of demo unit or something because of the generic identification tag under the battery. I will try and install a root required app, but why would you lock the bootloader? Also, could he have screwed the 4g radio somehow, as my thunderbolt always had solid 4g coverage at my house. This thing drops it and displays the triangle consistently.

 

[Paul627g]

Not really sure why they would lock the boot loader, if it was rooted there is no point in locking it back up. Verizon sure didn't give it a good look over, I would think any store rep would take a quick spin through the app list and notice the Superuser icon...

 

[AndroidHead05]

thanks for the replies Paul, I was indeed able to flash clockwork recovery mod which prompted for superuser permission and I allowed. So by booting into clockword recovery mod, this shows it is unlocked. Yeah he just asked where I got it, told him just bought it from craigslist and he activated it.

 

[Paul627g]

thanks for the replies Paul, I was indeed able to flash clockwork recovery mod which prompted for superuser permission and I allowed. So by booting into clockword recovery mod, this shows it is unlocked. Yeah he just asked where I got it, told him just bought it from craigslist and he activated it.

So it sounds like things are okay, hopefully it will continue to stay that way for you.

 

[ohiomoto]

First, always call VZW to make sure you have a clean ESN before you buy a phone. They will tell you if it's been reported stolen.

Sounds like your phone is fine. Maybe it was a little buggy and the guy got sick of it or something. Maybe he already exchanged it and the new one didn't work any better for him. Since it's unlocked I would flash a ROM. My phone has worked much better with a custom ROM than it did when it was stock.

 

[pool_shark]

Sounds like he gave you a bit of a story on purchase date. As far as the Lock icon, it appears it was rooted having the Superuser icon and then he locked the boot loader afterwards.

You will be able to verify more of this by attempting to boot into CWM and also you can verify if it is indeed rooted by installing a root required app like Titanium Backup from the Play Store and see if it prompts you for Superuser permissions on first run.

If I'm not mistaken the lock only shows if the bootloader is unlocked.

 

[AndroidHead05]

Alright, well now that you guys have comforted me..haha What is the top ICS rom now? Ill have to find a tutorial on how to flash roms to maybe help fix this spotty 4G coverage issue. It goes in and out, very frustrating!

 

[Mooem]

If I'm not mistaken the lock only shows if the bootloader is unlocked.

That's correct. It will go away once the bootloader is re-locked.

 

[Iceycold]

AOKP is extremely good. Milestone 4 is out right now.

[ROM] Android Open Kang Project - toro - milestone 4 - xda-developers

 

[Sploinkin]

That's correct. It will go away once the bootloader is re-locked.

Something I noticed when I unlocked it is that the lock might be there, but the space where the lock is open is very small. To the uninitiated it might look locked if you're not staring intently.

 

[turdbogls]

Something I noticed when I unlocked it is that the lock might be there, but the space where the lock is open is very small. To the uninitiated it might look locked if you're not staring intently.

either way, if there is anything on the boot screen other than the words "google" the phone is unlocked.
a locked phone (first boot up of a brand new phone for instance) has no Lock icon on the boot screen. just the words Google.

OP, seems like you are still OK. you will notice worse data connection compared to the thunderbolt. i know i did. but it is getting better.

i would flash AOKP MS4, and the 4.0.4 radios along with it. those seemed to help out a little.

and with 4.0.5 being talked about, i would assume a new radio will come with that to make them even better.

if you ever need to take it in for replacement or warranty work, be prepared to be disappointed as a used phone (like yours) is not covered by Verizon. you will have to go through insurance unless you find a loophole like a nice Verizon Rep did for me.

 

[AndroidHead05]

Thanks for the help guys! Very informative posts. I will check out that AOKP MS4 rom and flash the new radios for it. Thats good the rep was looking out for you, I couldn't count on that level of help here locally.

 

[AndroidHead05]

Where is the radios for Milestone 4? I currently have Baseband now is 1515.10V.EK05/ 1515.Ek04 4.0.2 Build ICL53F KErnel 3.0.8-gaaa2611 android-build@apa28 #1.

 

[bakerbert]

ROMS do not flash radios, you have to do that yourself.

Here is a list of all available radios for LTE Gnex (simple to flash)
[RADIOS][Galaxy Nexus] All available radios/basebands - RootzWiki

4.0.4 radios will work on any 4.0.3 ROM (I am currently using M4 with the 4.0.4 Radios)

 

[I Monarch]

Not really sure why they would lock the boot loader, if it was rooted there is no point in locking it back up. Verizon sure didn't give it a good look over, I would think any store rep would take a quick spin through the app list and notice the Superuser icon...

Haha... no they wouldn't. Reps don't make money off of activating COAM equipment, so they wouldn't "take a quick spin" through your apps to see if it's rooted. They wouldn't care, nor know what that means.

 

[Paul627g]

Haha... no they wouldn't. Reps don't make money off of activating COAM equipment, so they wouldn't "take a quick spin" through your apps to see if it's rooted. They wouldn't care, nor know what that means.

Sure I understand that situation. Activation=money. I guess I have a picky local Sprint dealer, they always take quick scan through your app list when performing anything to it... Probably have a manager that is aware of things and has made it mandatory for his/her employees to watch out for this.

 

[bear_lx]

it seems every samsung phone i have ever bought has had radio issues... thats why i went to moto. data drops are very common right now though, with a myriad of models. there are firmware updates being pushed out to fix them though, or at least attempt to. wouldnt hurt to reformat the thing and flash a stock rom, make it completely stock before you go messing with it, just so you know everything that has been done...

ps also once it is stock, make a back up