Up for sale is an incredibly rare, intact piece of smartphone history. This is a complete testing fleet consisting of six (6) authentic, pre-production BlackBerry development prototypes. They are still housed in their original, transparent "FOR INTERNAL USE" laboratory sorting tray.

I checked every single one of these devices, and the level of software preservation here is amazing. They came straight from a development environment and have not been wiped into generic retail units.

Why this collection is special:

1. No IMEIs Anywhere: Every single phone chassis completely lacks factory IMEI regulatory text or printing. This confirms they are early Engineering Validation Test (EVT) and Design Validation Test (DVT) devices built by RIM before the hardware design was ever submitted for standard commercial network approval.

2. Live Engineering Software: Five out of the six phones boot directly into active "Cal Mode" (Factory Calibration Mode). Each displays its own unique internal asset tracking ID and direct cellular band selectors. (see pictures) 

The last phone boots into the raw "Factory 05 (No Application Linked)" staging environment. I wonder what you'll find baked onto the onboard memory on this one? 🤔 

3. The Crown Jewel (Phone #22): Phone number 22 is an absolute standout. It features the missing IMEI footprint, the active Cal Mode software loop, and the silver printed RIM Evaluation warning door. Best of all, it features a highly unique machine-vision alignment grid printed right onto the physical keyboard keys (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9) which RIM's robotic test fingers used to calibrate keystroke testing in the lab.

4. The "MRB" Stamped Sorting Tray: The plastic tray has a handwritten "MRB" (Material Review Board) label over the left slot. This slot contains a stack of loose test bezels, a Canadian "Rogers" carrier validation frame, and another machine vision alignment grid print. 

 5. Completely Unopened Motherboards: To protect the fragile display ribbons and aged plastic tabs, the internal metal midframe shields have never been unscrewed. Given the lack of IMEIs and the active calibration code, these green logic boards are almost certainly stamped with early hardware revision letters (Rev Alpha/Beta).

What you get:

• 5x Live Cal Mode No-IMEI Prototypes (Units 3, 4, 7, 12, 22)
• 1x Factory 05 Raw OS No-IMEI Prototype (Unit 8)
• 3x Silver Printed "Property of RIM / Evaluation Unit" Doors
• 3x Clean Textured Prototyping Doors
• Assorted loose testing frames (including the Rogers bezel and second vision alignment)
• Original "FOR INTERNAL USE" / "MRB" Laboratory Sorting Tray

If you do some research you'll see that these are some of the earliest prototypes to ever of been produced. Estimates put less then 100 units are left out in the wild today and less then 1000 units total. Phone #22 in particular comes from a pool of less then 50 units produced. 

Important Note on Condition:

These are being sold for historic preservation, archive, or museum exhibition. Unless your looking to have some fun with the software because I for one am super curious! 

The screens light up cleanly as pictured. There is no commercial consumer OS installed on these devices. They are clean and functional and truly unique. Please note that I will not ship my test battery with this lot for safety reasons, however I will gladly purchase a new test battery for the buyer. 

Warning to Buyer: Please do not attempt to connect these to standard consumer desktop flashing tools (like BlackBerry Desktop Manager or modern loaders). Doing so will completely wipe the rare factory calibration environments and permanently destroy the historic value of the lot.

The collection will be packed with extreme care using anti-static materials. To comply with vintage electronics shipping regulations and international customs, batteries are not included.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like specific photos of the screens. Reasonable offers are welcome.