what can i do to check for authenticness

this is it..

more pics....

this is the box it came in it does not look like the original n900 box but the phone seems legit it works fine it has the right os just downloaded cssu but haven't installed it yet.. how long does battery take to charge.

legit. welcome aboard

$200 is a little too much imo, but take care of that new brick, haha. The fact is N900 is an ancient device now.

But, like you, I'd buy another N900 any day!

thanks bro so should i go right ahead and just install cssu i already downloaded

i don't think you can download CSSU
but yes, update the device to CSSU. or, you may want to keep it in stock for a while longer just to get a feel of how things work 'normally'

I had bought one n900 from such chinese seller from ebay in 2013 and the price was right, listed as new and was made in finland too as seen from the posted pictures on ebay.When i received it, the box was not original but phone looked new.I used it for few days and i thought of comparing by disassembling it too my original n900 which i had bought from nokia usa, and it turned out the parts where just refurbished, even the digitizer and lcd where not original.I just have that phone as a back up now and using my oringial one even today with usb port intact.

I hope your situation is not same and you got a legit one.But now a days even on amazon, the products are just coming from chinese sellers.

with all due respect ... will CSSU or other Maemo software install on a fake N900? I would happily buy all those fakes tbh.

otoh, i agree as far as returning possibilities i still am not so happy about the price op paid for the device.

why i'm i getting this when i try ti install cssuQ: I can't update, as I get the message: TO UPDATE YOUR DEVICE TO THIS VERSION OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM YOU MUST USE NOKIA PC SUITE ON YOUR PC. CONNECT THE DEVICE TO YOUR PC VIA A USB CABLE AND LAUNCH THE APPLICATION.