• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Should I sell my bricked device?

ODog2323

Android Enthusiast
I have a beautiful unlocked Galaxy Note 2 N7100, never misused or abused, not even rooted. One day it simply decided not to power on. Worked fine all day, then just never woke up. I did all the research, and yes, changed the battery. It seems to be a goner.

It's since been replaced, and now I have a very fancy paperweight. I was about to list it on eBay as a non functional parts device.

Of course I never had a chance to wipe the phone, so if I sell it and some whiz kid is able to bring it back to life, they'll get instant access to a whole bunch of my stuff, even without my SD card.

I'm assuming then it's probably not a great idea to sell this thing. What do you all think?

Safe to sell, or put it at the far end of a firing range?
 
How much would you be asking for? >_>

Not everybody'd want it to run it. I'd be taking it apart completely and putting it on a paste board, is what I want a broken/dead phone for, for my students.
 
Sure but how would I ever know? I know not everyone is up to no good...

I'm curious how others have handled this situation.
 
You've got a point. The only phone I've sold/given away I hand-wiped 4-5 times in a row, then kept the microSD myself. But that was also an Android 2.3 device with almost no onboard storage.
 
Of course I never had a chance to wipe the phone, so if I sell it and some whiz kid is able to bring it back to life, they'll get instant access to a whole bunch of my stuff, even without my SD card.

Did you have a password on the phone? It's very difficult to access data on internal storage with Android phones which have a password. They would end up having to reset it.
 
Did you have a password on the phone? It's very difficult to access data on internal storage with Android phones which have a password. They would end up having to reset it.

No password :-\ This was before I got smart(er) about security.

Don't even know how much of a concern it would be. I mean, what the chances are that someone could actually power it on...
 
Can i go out the box and ask if you tried fixing it?
(Hope someone can confirm but) if you hold in Power, Volume Down, Home for like 10seconds, does ANYTHING happen?

If not, why not just sell the display panel and battery on ebay (if youre paranoid about onboard data).
I wouldnt worry about data though tbh, i could probably find out more by your email add' lol :p
 
Can i go out the box and ask if you tried fixing it?
(Hope someone can confirm but) if you hold in Power, Volume Down, Home for like 10seconds, does ANYTHING happen?


Yea, I did a bunch of research and tried the usual recovery tricks and a new battery. If I hold buttons down for a few seconds all I get is a quick red flash from the notification LED.
 
Even with a factory reset, someone with access to mobile forensics equipment (PC, usb cable and Oxygen forensics software, 6 month free trial available) could most likely get some stuff from the apparently dead phone. I like the suggestion of selling the screen/digitizer on EBay and physically destroying the rest (Hammer Time!)
 
Even with a factory reset, someone with access to mobile forensics equipment (PC, usb cable and Oxygen forensics software, 6 month free trial available) could most likely get some stuff from the apparently dead phone. I like the suggestion of selling the screen/digitizer on EBay and physically destroying the rest (Hammer Time!)

Listen to all this stuff somene would need.. worth it?
Im pretty sure i could just google "upskirt" or "wikileaks" instead lol :-)
Dont worry. Punt the thing. Just dont think about that the person could fix it and double his money :beer:
 
Back
Top Bottom