So we’re at it again! This time we’re helping a client get his money back from eBay and PayPal in a case of a counterfeit iPhone 3G S.

The side-by-side unboxing, package contents analysis, and real iPhone 3G S vs. fake iPhone 3G S video from MacMedics is coming soon.

Here’s some preliminary photos to get the story started. I also wanted to warn folks that to the untrained eye, you could easily get stuck with a phony iPhony on the street. The look, the feel, the weight, and even the Apple like retail iPhone box are all pretty convincing. iPhones make great gifts during the holidays, but don’t grab one too quickly. be sure to check it first. See my handy guide in six photos below. Links to large size photos taken with real iPhone 3G S are at the bottom of this post.

Here we go:

Real iPhone 3G S box for White iPhone 3G S is in foreground. Fake box which is taller and wider is behind it.

Again, real box is in foreground, fake box is behind it.

Smaller iPhone 3G S box is on the left. If you look closely you can see iCal and clock are set to same date and time. Fonts and icons vary, but all in same place.

Box contents from fake iPhone. Note stylus, old style iPhone power brick, battery booster, funky headphone, and free protective case!

Box contents from real Apple iPhone 3G S

The real iPhone 3G S is on left, the fake one on the right. You can see that it's pretty different. Note Internet Explorer icon in place of Safari.

Large size photos can be found here:

http://www.macmedics.com/images/Counterfeit-iPhone-LG-1.jpg

http://www.macmedics.com/images/Counterfeit-iPhone-LG-2.jpg

http://www.macmedics.com/images/Counterfeit-iPhone-LG-3.jpg

http://www.macmedics.com/images/Counterfeit-iPhone-LG-4.jpg

http://www.macmedics.com/images/Counterfeit-iPhone-LG-5.jpg

http://www.macmedics.com/images/Counterfeit-iPhone-LG-6.jpg

Update: 3/8/10 MacMedics has lowered our iPhone 3G & 3G S glass/digitizer repairs. iPhone 3G is now $89 and iPhone 3G S is now $99. Flat fee FedEx Express shipping anywhere in the USA is only $10!

MacMedics Cyber Monday deals: iPhone glass repair $20 off and MacBook LCD repair $100 off!

So maybe your iPhone had a hard Thanksgiving, if so your friends at MacMedics have you covered with good deals on our iPhone glass/digitizer service.

iPhone 3G glass/digitizer/lens repair only $89 (Regular price $109)

iPhone 3G S glass/digitizer/lens repair only $99 (Regular price $129)

If you MacBook is home from college or just got caught up in some holiday hi-jinx and ended up with a broken LCD, we’ve got that too.

MacBook (Black or White plastic model) parts and labor $249

These special prices are only good Monday and Tuesday (November 30th and December 1st). Must metion “Cyber Monday” to get sale price. If you can’t get you device to us in time, call us to set up your repair, and we’ll hold the price for one week until your unit reaches us.

Return FedEx Ground shipping is included for all three deals. Upgrade to FedEx Express for only $10!

Call 1-866-MAC-MEDICS to set up your repair!

Update: 1/5/10

See all of our iPhone “Do-It-Yourself” warnings posts at this link. They have become some of the most popular posts on the MacMedics Blog because they are true. Check’ em out!

Update: 11/6/09

We are seeing more and more iPhones that have been damaged during do-it-yourself repairs. Folks, the videos you see on-line make it look very easy. There’s a reason for that, the companies that make these step-by-step videos on iPhone and iPod disassembly and repair are the same people that are selling all of the parts, tools, and supplies you need to perform the repairs. They want it to look as easy as possible and they often edit the video in their favor making it look like it’s easier then it really is and that it takes less time then it will take you. I can guarantee you that guy/gal in the video is NOT performing the repair you are watching for the FIRST time.

This blog post is a bit of rant, so if you’re already on the same page as me, and you think paying $20 to $30 plus parts cost, and getting FREE return shipping via FedEx to have my guys fix your iPhone right the first time, and you want to avoid the risk of trying it yourself then, just use this form. If you need us to e-mail you a pre-paid FedEx Express label we can do that too, and we’ll just add $10 onto your total repair. Questions? Just call us 1-866-MAC-MEDICS or Email us. 99% of the iPhones that reach us are fixed the same day the arrive, and we pack them back up and ship them back for next day FedEx delivery. If you’re local to the Baltimore-Washington DC area, then just drop your iPhone off in the morning (at our Millersville, Maryland office), and we’ll have it done by the end of the day!

If you need more convincing, then keep reading. I love to talk shop!

So you broke your glass on your iPhone, you look on-line and find what appears to be a reasonable price on the replacement part.

Here are some questions you NEED to consider BEFORE you pay for the parts.

1. Is it a real part, or is just a copy. If copies of the iPhone glass worked well, then I would offer them. I don’t and the reason is, they are terrible. Just like all of the other well made Apple products, the parts all fit together very tightly, so a cheap knock-off part is not going to have the same fit and finish as the real thing.

2. What’s the total price? Ok, so you’re buying the part. Something that weighs about an ounce, and they’re charging $5, $6, or $7 for shipping? That’s a rip off. If you have MacMedics repair your iPhone we pay for FedEx Express “AIR” return shipping, so you’ll have your phone back the day after we fix it.

3. Do you have everything you need to perform the repair? You DO need correct tools, a “spudger”, and you need the correct supplies as well. When installing a new iPhone lens (the top glass) it needs to be correctly held into place. As you can see from the picture in this Blog post, people try all kinds of things including epoxy, Super Glue, and double-sided tape. This is not what you want to use. You need a laser cut adhesive strip that fits your iPhone model correctly.

4. What’s the warranty on the part you are planning on buying? Lots of people are selling parts on-line and on eBay, once they have your money and they’ve sold all of their parts that they got from who knows where, are they going to be around tomorrow to provide a warranty? Most likely not. MacMedics is a well established business founded in 1989, so we’ll be here if you have a problem with our repair. All of our iPhone repairs are backed by our 1-year no-hassle warranty.

4. Just like in the case mentioned below in the Blog post, people often break other parts of their iPhone when they try to service their unit on their own. If you make even one mistake, you could end up in a situation where you need two parts and that adds up very quickly. A common mistake is to crack the LCD while trying to remove the broken glass. (Like this guy!)

5. Do you have the right part? You can buy the iPhone glass WITHOUT the digitizer attached for about $10. This looks like a good plan, but separating the glass from the digitizer is nearly impossible and it’s just not worth the risk. With iPods more than iPhone, people that order their own parts often end up with the wrong item or the right part but for the wrong revision iPod or iPhone.

6. How much time will you have to wait in order to get the part you ordered or how long will you iPhone be away at some “basement repair center”. Seriously, you don’t want to have to wait for some guy who works at Pizza Hut come home from his day job in order to process your order or repair your iPhone and then ship out the order/repair when he feels like it. Plus, your time is valuable! For a first-timer doing this repair, figure about 2 hours. Plus you’ll need to be grounded for static (another expense and risk. Read the Blog post below).

Save yourself a whole bunch of hassle and just send your iPhone to MacMedics for repair. Yeah, it costs a little more, but what’s $30 to $40 more, when it can be repaired quickly, and efficiently with a 1-year warranty and free return shipping via FedEx Express.

If you’re ready to ship your iPhone to us, just use this form. If you need us to e-mail you a pre-paid FedEx Express label we can do that too, and we’ll just add $10 onto your total repair. Questions? Just call us 1-866-MAC-MEDICS or Email us

Here’s an iPhone 3G that a client brought to us today. He tried to do the repair himself and not only did he mess up the part he bought (new top glass for about $50), he also ruined the gasket that goes around the glass. Also, note the red arrows where he tried to use double sided foam tape to hold the glass/digitizer to the frame. This DID NOT work. We also discovered that he scratched the LCD, and he must have NOT been grounded for static, as the logic board was also ruined. Sadly, he’s going to be buying a new iPhone – This unit is toast. We’ve pointed this out before, but going the DIY route only saves you about $40. Don’t risk further damage or delays, just send it to MacMedics. We’ll get it done same day, and we’ll do it right. We’ve already performed this repair many, many times. See our Blog post for all of the details.

Don’t forget this. In this case the client went the DIY route, bought all the DIY parts, DIY supplies, paid the shipping on the DIY parts, then destroyed the DIY parts trying to use them, so he can’t get his money back (and they might not have been returnable in the first place depending on where they came from), AND he has to replace the iPhone. So figure if you bought all you need it’s going to be about $75, the parts get messed up in the attempt, and the phone gets toasted in the process. That’s about $500 if you can’t get a new iPhone subsidized by a new two-year contract. So add up all your time and hassle, plus $500 versus a MacMedics repair which is $109.99 with a 1-year warranty.

iPhone front glass/digitizer + spudger + adhesive kit = $75.84 Paying MacMedics $34.14 extra to do it right = priceless http://bit.ly/4Jszz

So when I ordered my iPhone 3G S, I thought that grabbing the “overnight shipping” might speed my results. After a few tantalizing e-mails from Apple and UPS it looked like my iPhone might arrive as much as two days early. Sadly, this turned out to be a big fat iPhone fairy tale, but that did not stop me from hoping that it would REALLY arrive early.

I think on Thursday, I started getting e-mails (I think a total of five of them arrived) from Apple saying they would refund that extra shipping. I’m not sure why, but I’ll take a refund.

Here’s what they had to say today via e-mail:

To Our Valued Apple Customer:

Sincerely,
Apple Online Store Team

While MacMedics is not lucky enough to sell the iPhone 3G S, we have been getting hammered with the crowds. Why’s that you ask? Well, new MacMedics clients have been having a hard time getting an appointment with an Apple Genius because of the crowds looking for or picking up a new iPhone.

We’d like to remind all of the Apple users in the Baltimore-Washington area that you never need an appointment to come see a MacMedic and you won’t have to drag your Mac though the mall either. When you see a crowd at the mall that means that there is often an equal amount of Macs waiting to be serviced in the back. MacMedics is also proud to perform ALL Macintosh MacBook AND MacBook Pro repairs in house. What does this mean for you? It means that your service is faster, because we don’t ship hard or difficult repairs off to Apple depot service. It also means that we’ll pinpoint the problem and fix only what’s wrong which means that you’ll only pay for the parts you need.

Apple also has issues with laptops that have HAD liquid damage or units with large dents on them. We can fix the problem you have and we WON’T force you fix the other issues if you don’t mind work around the dents and/or dings.

See our post on our NINE reasons why NOT to wait in line at the Apple Store for more info on this topic.

My new iPhone 3G S just arrived. Here’s the unboxing video:

The iPhone 3G S is the exact same size as the iPhone 3G so cases you already have will work with the new iPhone. The iPhone 3G s is 1 ounce heavier that the iPhone 3G.

AT&T updates it’s policy on upgrading to new iPhone 3G S for customers who already have iPhone 3G.

http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=1574

An Update for Our Customers:

Some customers have had questions about our plans and policies for iPhone 3G S, and we’d like to provide you with answers. We’d also like to announce a change to the date when some iPhone customers are eligible for our best upgrade pricing to iPhone 3G S.

Pricing:

Importantly, we want our customers to better understand our wireless device upgrade program. Like most U.S. carriers, we offer a variety of phones that we sell below our actual cost when customers agree to sign service agreements. In general, the more a customer spends with us, the quicker they become eligible for a price break on a new device. For example, iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line with us generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months into their contract.

We also currently offer early upgrade pricing only for iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G.

All of that said, we’ve been listening to our customers. And since many of our iPhone 3G customers are early adopters and literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible due to iPhone 3G S launching 11 months after iPhone 3G, we’re extending the window of upgrade eligibility for a limited time.

We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.

If you’re one of the many customers who will benefit from this change, please note that our upgrade eligibility tools will reflect this change on Thursday, June 18.

We invite you to come to our stores beginning Friday during normal store hours, although please be aware that customer demand may exceed supply in some of our stores. You may also preorder online on June 18 at www.att.com/iphone, and your iPhone 3G S will arrive in 7 – 14 days. Or you can purchase iPhone 3G S at Apple’s retail and online stores, as well as at other popular retailers.

If you’re one of the customers who benefits from this change, and you’ve already preordered from an AT&T store, we’ll adjust the price of the device when you pick it up. If you benefit from the change and you pre-ordered from AT&T online, we’ll send you an e-mail and issue you a credit.

If you pre-ordered an iPhone 3G S through Apple’s online store, your upgrade eligibility will be reassessed based on AT&T’s new upgrade policy for iPhone 3G owners. If you are eligible for the lower price, Apple will issue you a credit for the difference as applicable.

So, what if you still aren’t eligible for our best upgrade pricing and you still want iPhone 3G S now? You do have options:

You may qualify for the iPhone 3G S early upgrade price of $399 (16GB) or $499 (32GB).
You can pay full retail—and not have to sign a 2-year contract—at $599 (16GB) or $699 (32GB).
You can wait until you’re eligible for our best upgrade pricing. We invite you to check your upgrade eligibility by visiting www.att.com/iphone, calling *NEW# (*639#) on your AT&T device (we’ll send you a text with upgrade information), or visiting any of our over 2,200 stores.
If you want more details on our pricing and upgrade policy, check out our FAQs. And as always, you may visit one of our stores to talk with a representative.

In Summary:

We’ve listened to our customers — and hope our response helps answer some of your questions and concerns.

We are incredibly proud to be the U.S. carrier for the new iPhone 3G S and will work around the clock to be ready on June 19 to serve customers who are interested in the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.

MacMedics is pleased to announce that we are now performing all iPhone (first & second generation) and iPod touch repairs.

MacMedics will repair your 3G iPhone’s digitizer (the glass on the front of the unit) for $109.99.

Update 9/4/09: MacMedics is now also offering iPhone 3G S glass/digitizer repairs. Same deal as below for $129.99. Show us that you follow us on Twitter or Facebook and get $10 off (for a limited time).

Here’s what our service includes:

1. Same day service. Drop it off in the morning, and pick it up in the afternoon!

3. FREE One-way FedEx Express shipping. Send your broken or sick iPhone to us and we’ll repair it and pick up the return FedEx Overnight shipping. If needed, we can arrange to send you a pre-paid FedEx label as a PDF via e-mail, and you can securely pack and ship your phone to us for $10 extra. If you live or work near our shop in Millersville, MD (5 minutes from BWI airport) you can drop it off in the morning and in most cases pick it up in the afternoon.

Having your iPhone repaired locally makes good sense, as you don’t have to worry about shipping it to the West Coast (or who knows where!) or when you’ll get your iPhone back. All MacMedics iPod & iPhone repairs are performed only in our Millersville, MD office. Of course, if you’re a MacMedics client or just someone that wants to ensure that your iPhone is being handled by a reputable Mac service firm, we are happy to accept iPhones that are mailed into our repair center. If you’d like us to e-mail you a FedEx label, just get in touch, and we’ll send one right over. We are going to be shooting for same day turn around for all iPhone glass repairs. You can drop your iPhone off in the morning, and we will likely have it done later that same day.

Apple iPhone 3G with cracked/shattered glass (digitizer)

Don’t forget that MacMedics also fixes all other types of iPods (including) the 4th gen Nano. We also specialize in difficult Macintosh repairs, like LCD replacements, hard drive upgrades (to 500 GB), liquid spill rescues, Mac & iPod data recovery, and logic board repairs at very competitive prices. All MacMedics hardware repairs are backed by our “no-hassle” 1-year MacMedics warranty. The Apple Store and most other service providers only offer a 90-day warranty.

As always, no appointments are necessary for all iPods, iPhone, and Macintosh repairs. Just walk in to speak to any of our expert Mac techs.

A number of MacMedics clients have asked if the Apple warranty or AppleCare will cover a broken iPhone screen. Sadly, no the Apple warranty is null and void if you drop the phone and break the digitizer or LCD. Same holds true for iPhones that have water damage. There are detectors inside the phone at both the top and the bottom that will indicate when water has been present.

There are also a number of 3G iPhone “glass” parts for sale on eBay and the Internet. They usually sell for about $20 or so. This part IS the glass for the front of the iPhone. The only problem is that there is no practical way to separate the working digitizer from the broken iPhone glass. The part we use is the glass with the digitizer already attached. This is really the best way to do this repair. Also, as a side note, all iPhones are very difficult to open without causing damage and the iPhone’s cables, screws, and parts inside the iPhone are TINY. We’ve already seen a number of phones that people have tried to fix on their own with unhappy results. Even if you can find the right part, that’s not counterfeit, or has flaws in the glass, you’re only going to save about $40 by doing the repair yourself. Bring it to us and let us take care of it for you. Don’t take my word for it, read this posting from Jay Garmon from TechRepublic. He did his own repair, and said he’d not do it again.

There’s a flurry of people all over the Internet offering iPhone and iPod repair services. We hear about them all the time, and we often have to “re-fix” items that have ALREADY been repaired once. We only use the parts we’d use for ourselves in our own repairs. We also are not afraid to spend an extra few dollars to get a iPod battery that’s actually pretty decent. Many of our iPod repairs include a free battery and all include free ground return shipping. Don’t get the run around from a guy that has to do his REAL job first, then work on your iPhone at night to make extra money. This IS what we do, and we love it! We’re also a REAL Mac repair shop, so come visit our Apple Certified technicians and we’ll help you figure out the best way to to get your Mac. iPhone, or iPod fixed for you.

Here's what the shop floor at MacMedics looks like.

About MacMedics:

Since 1989, MacMedics has offered its clients award-winning Apple sales, support and consulting to business, education and residential customers. The company offers a broad range of services including desktop computer set-up, maintenance and administration, system and network administration, consulting and technology planning, Internet service and hardware set-up and troubleshooting, onsite and in-store training, emergency response and preventative maintenance. MacMedics provides Apple Authorized sales and service to over 8500 clients from their three offices in Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia.

MacMedics is the oldest and largest Apple Authorized Value Added Reseller and Apple Authorized Service Provider in the Mid-Maryland area. Our headquarters in Millersville, MD is home to our award-winning Mac service center.

MacMedics’ Millersville, Maryland Apple Service Center is 5 minutes south of Baltimore-Washington International airport (BWI) and 1/10 of a mile from I-97. We are only 10 miles from Ft. Meade/NSA and just 1 mile from Severna Park and about 5 miles from Arnold.

Coming from the Apple Store in Annapolis, MD? http://tinyurl.com/cgzt4a

Coming from the Apple Store in Towson, MD? http://tinyurl.com/cbevvm

Coming from the Apple Store in Columbia, MD? http://tinyurl.com/cbftyl

Here’s an iPhone that we fixed recently. The damage is pretty bad, so look away:

After we replaced the glass and the LCD you can’t tell that this iPhone ever had a problem.