Is Battery Guru reliable way of checking if a PB is brand new ?

**retrofinn** · 01-18-2013, 09:39 AM

I bought a 64 Gig from Walmart. It was supposed to be new, but the box was not sealed. The date on the box was May 2011,and it was destined for Latin America. I installed Battery Guru. It showed 0 recharges suggesting the unit is new. I would like to know if this is reliable indicator. Thanks.

**Lendo78** · 01-18-2013, 10:28 AM

Define "New", and I would say that the Battery Guru is saying you haven't charged it yet.

**retrofinn** · 01-18-2013, 11:29 AM

My definition of new is that it has not been used and refurbished, or charged before.

**The Computer Guy** · 01-18-2013, 11:58 AM

Mine has 298 recharges and a battery health of 86%.
Should I be concerned?

**Ishaq786** · 01-18-2013, 01:33 PM

No PlayBook boxes, anywhere in the world come sealed.

**retrofinn** · 01-18-2013, 01:42 PM

The first two PB which I bought a year ago were taped at the sides of the box.

**Cynycl** · 01-18-2013, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by The Computer Guy

Mine has 298 recharges and a battery health of 86%.
Should I be concerned?

You should be if you didn't charge it 290 of those times.

F2 · 01-18-2013, 03:43 PM

I am not sure if anyone knows if Rim can reset that number but they probably can. Unlikely that Walmart can tamper with it.

**joshua_sx1** · 01-18-2013, 10:35 PM

Again, the only 100% assurance that your unit is new, is when the box is still officially sealed... other than that, we have to relay on some Apps like Guru that can tell us how many times the unit has been charged and/or from the Sales Rep that told us the unit is new...

**Zildjian71** · 01-18-2013, 10:47 PM

Ishaq786 I don't know where you got that idea from, I have bought 6 PlayBooks 2 16g and 4 64g from The BlackBerry Store, Office Depot and Staples and all of them were sealed.

**peter9477** · 01-19-2013, 11:25 PM

Battery Guru (which I wrote) reliably reports what is the OS tells it. The OS very likely reliably reports what the battery tells it. The battery (or rather its microcontroller) would reliably report the contents of its non-volatile memory. We don't know for sure whether RIM ever resets the count on refurbished units but I think it's unlikely.

Since there are no moving parts what's more important is the actual battery capacity. Do some full discharge and recharge cycles and see where the health heads. New units would always be above about 90 and rarely as high as 100. May take a week or three before the value stabilizes enough for you to rely on it...