Buying a used 920, what should I watch out for?

[TheAtheistReverend]

Hi, New guy here switching from Android.
I'm buying a used 920 soon and getting a killer deal (supposedly because of scratches on the screen) but I am a little worried about the possibility of it being sold because of other defects. Can anyone here tell me what some more common problems might be that may be hidden until I open "that app" or use "that function"?
If they are fixable with info from the forum here, I'm not worried about it. I'm happy to tinker, I just don't want a phone with a crap camera that is caused by faulty lenses or something not fixable.

Thanks in advance!
-TAR

 

[allos autos]

Welcome to WP! And to WPCentral!

In my experience, the thing to look out for with used 920s is that many vendors, especially on eBay, refurbish the phone and use a cheap replacement chassis in the process. If you're not buying off of eBay, disregard.

A lot of people, myself included, experienced an issue with the chassis creaking at points. At first I thought this was a problem, but after seeing a video of a 920 being disassembled and reassembled, I realized that it's just because of the snug fit of the screen into the unibody chassis. The creaking only happened sporadically for the first few months of ownership, and now my phone only creaks if it gets really hot. It really bothers some other 920 owners, though. I thought I'd let you know beforehand so you didn't think that you had a major problem.

All of the other issues I can think of are not 920-specific and can happen to any phone: poor/damaged antennae, leading to poor call quality and/or dropped calls; battery won't accept a charge and/or discharges too quickly; the body isn't perfect so ehrmagerd I have to flame Nokia, MS, Ballmer personally and anyone else who crosses my path.

Oh, and you may not have an Instagram app. ;-) Enjoy your 920!

 

[rm rf]

Dust in the front camera lens.

A vertical blue stripe of stuck pixels about 1/4 of the way from the left edge of the screen.