Hi All,

I recently purchased 2 new N900 devices from eBay. They were sealed with the Nokia seal. Functionally they are fine I but noticed that the the whites seem more like cream than white.

I compared this to my original device that I purchased in 2010 just to be sure. The question I have is is there anyway to change this or it is a hardware defect of some kind.

Thanks in advance.

Could you show us some pictures?

I think that you might get refurbished units, as there are, virtually, no new/unopened N900's left. The refurbished ones have original mobo (often after-damage one, that got fixed), and everything else as replacement OEM parts. Chances are, your LCD is OEM replacement, too.

/Estel

Here's a picture. The top phone is is my one and the bottom one is the one from eBay.

It looks like Estel could be right on the money with his assessment though.

Thanks Estel. I'd say you are most likely correct.

There is another possibility, too. Even more common than OEM screens, are OEM digitizers. N900's digitizer have characteristic, that should help our trans-reflective screen to work properly in direct sun - namely, it's so-called "sunglasses effect",when you look on the digitizer alone.

There is a slight possibility, that your LCD is genuine, but digitizer is replacement, with different tint, that makes colours offset. You could check it by disassembling screen, connecting every tape *without* putting screen back together, and checking, if sole LCD is indeed giving tinted colours (as you've noticed, it's most visible for whites).

Now, I wouldn't put my money on it - I suspect that both screen and digitizer is OEM - but, comparing both components to original ones, you may pinpoint which element is responsible. If it's the LCD indeed, you're in even more luck, IMO - there are tons of non-working N900's (broken ports + requiring reflash, broken modem, or broken everything) with vandalized digitizers, but LCDs intact. If the colours bothers you, you could get one of those, and replace screen.

To be honest, it's much harder to find genuine digitizer in mint condition (and N900's resistive touch is of fantastic quality, which many times isn't reproduced appropriately in OEMs), than mint LCD.

To be honest, I had accident with N900 during summer (it fell from 5 cm height, but hit ceramic edge of cup - result, broken LCD. for comparison, some time before it felt from more than 2 meters into terracotta floor - but without hitting any edges - and wasn't even scratched, modded mugen backcover absorbed whole impact, shredding to pieces in the process) and I was glad that it was broken LCD, not broken digitizer. Replaced it with one of my surplus LCDs, without any problems.

/Estel

Thanks Estel. I spoke to the seller on eBay and asked him some further questions about the device. He is convinced that it is new and made with genuine 100% Nokia parts.

One thing that I noticed is that the one he sent me came with a seal. So I looked at the box from the original one I purchased from Expansys in March 2010. I noticed that there was no seal. These "New" phones are selling on eBay from £269 to £400.

Anyway, I have my original, a used one with a host of network hacking tools installed and another spare one which I bought from another seller a while ago which appears to have the same problem with the white colours.

I have the option of returning the one I recently purchased for a full refund so I will probably do that.

Until the Neo N900 is available. Is there a general consensus amongst the community on Android phones?

I also have genuine N900's with differing white colours.
I assumed it was just the digitizer plastics or even a combination of digitizer and screen protection. Either way in swapping the display units around it follows the display.
A white terminal screen side by side is the only way you would be able to tell the difference.