[General Topics] kavstubh:
Buying a "Used" phone is a learning experience. I want to share my thoughts and

hope people learn

from the experience and mistakes (Oh yes..mistakes :( )

It was my first time buying a second-hand device or well second-hand anything for that matter.

mod edit - irrelevant youtube links removed

History:

I was using a 1st Gen Moto G (falcon / XT1033). It was getting pretty old, but the development was still strong (Kudos to all the developers on XDA, I was on 7.1.2). App loading times were getting worse, battery-life was okay (I don't use the phone much). But when I needed, the phone was slow to respond... so I used to waste a lot of time looking at the loading screens.

Probably time had come to replace the humble Falcon!

Needs:

Wanted to try a second-hand device.

Needed a decent processor.

I don't mind taking a hit in the Camera dept.

Budget restricted to Rs. 6500 or $100. (+- Rs 1000 / $15)

Usage: 1.5 years at least.

Most important: Needs to be supported well on XDA (So no worrying about the software for at least 2 years)

Prospects:

a) Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Pros: 1) AMOLED

2) Stylus (USP - I always admired the innovation in the Note series, especially the "S-Pen")

3) Within the budget

Cons: 1) Support on XDA is mediocre (Just Samsung ROMS) ( I like vanilla Android)

2) Confusion about ROM support for the Exynos version. (Snapdragon has plenty of options)

b) Google Nexus 5X

Pros: 1) C'mon, its a Nexus with a sorta flagship processor.

2) Great reviews

3) On Oreo already + Plenty of development (what could go wrong within next 2 years?....:confused:)

4) Plastic Build (Yes) - Wouldn't need a bulky case!

Cons: 1) More research showed that the beloved N5X can die anytime. Snapdragon f%*ked up 808 (ftm the entire 8XX series of that year). Gods of XDA have a fix for it too.. (Takes performance hit though... Disables high-performance cores)

2) 32GB variant available at around Rs. 8000 (a bit over budget)

3) Didn't want the phone to die without any signs and start the process all over again.

4)Few listings available.

c) The winner of the contest

Moto G5 Plus (32GB / 4GB)

First a little bit about the phone. Motorola did a great thing ( releasing an 'S' version midway in the life-cycle). This made them slash the price of the earlier G5 Plus. Thus, prices were around Rs. 9000 for a 6-7month old device.

I found 2 guys offering around my budget (Lowest among the listings). One had the 'Invoice' and other didn't but was cheaper by 10%. I decided to go with the 'Invoiced' one.

Pros:

1) Snapdragon 625

2) Better camera than the competition

3) Not a 3-year-old flagship.

4) Again, great reviews and an international model.

Cons:

1) Metal build (Slippery AF)

2) Software stuck on 7.0 (Won't be much of a problem though)

3) A bit over-budget but doable.

I went to the guy, checked the phone (more on it later), paid him the cash, got the phone.

Conclusion:

The phone is good. Has quite a lot of dents (was abused quite a bit). It had a fall on one corner, so the screen from that side has popped out a bit. Thus, some dust has entered in the front camera.

After story: So, the thing is I rushed my decision to buy a phone. The lowest offers listed need not be genuine. "If it is too good to be true, it probably isn't". I should have checked the phone more. I should have tried the front camera. Take someone who has more experience, or has the same phone. They will notice the difference more prominently. Check the phone properly, take time.

People will try to con you.

After some days, I went to the service center to get the front camera lens cleaned. They told me that, the screen is not original (I hate myself now). I can notice a blue/violet shift from one angle when the screen displays black or darker colors. The screen is duplicate. :(

I don't mind it that much, but I feel that I got ripped.

But this process of going through all this led me to write this experience. Please take care while shopping 'Used'.

Present:

Now I am stuck with this phone. I don't hate it, but it reminds me every time, that I was conned. :(

Btw, I TWRP the next week, and now running AOSP Extended on Oreo.

SD625 being a 64-bit processor can handle Google camera. Happy about that!

I am now confident that, if I chose to buy a 'Used' phone next time, I know what to do!

I read might be boring. It's my 1st write-up of sorts. Thanks!