Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually confirme

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cyanic
 
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Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually confirme

Post by cyanic »

I'm currently looking very specifically for NTAG203 tags to study, and it seems Adafruit is the only place still selling them. However, a pack of Adafruit NTAG203 cards I bought were not only not NTAG203, but actually counterfeit NTAG213s. Despite any misgivings about that, I'm still looking for NTAG203s. Currently eying the micro transponder type, which if NTAG203, would have an NTAG203F, but there are NTAG213Fs on the market as well, so that alone isn't a good indicator. Does anyone know for sure which Adafruit NTAG203 products actually contain NTAG203? Maybe someone at the warehouse could scan some of them with NXP NFC TagInfo to verify.

(In case you're interested, I'm implementing accurate emulation for various NFC tags, and NTAG203 has a weird counter system that I want to check out. Just reading the datasheet isn't enough, because actual implmentation on genuine chips do deviate from the description in particular behaviors.)

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by adafruit2 »

hmm we're pretty sure they *used* to be NTAG203 - how are you determining what they are? :)

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cyanic
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by cyanic »

I purchased product ID 4034 at Digi-Key. Used NXP NFC TagInfo to see tag type and memory contents, and also issued some commands that work for NTAG21x but shouldn't work on NTAG203. I tweeted about it here.

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cyanic
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by cyanic »

Any updates?

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by adafruit2 »

yah we just got an update right now - the manufacturer changed from NTAG203 to NTAG213 during the chip shortage without telling us. we should assume that all stock of 'ntag203' is really 213
if you cannot use 213, email support@adafruit for a refund (or DK can refund you!)

we're going to get more info on the next email volley and then update all the product description once we have cemented what and when :)

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cyanic
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by cyanic »

Awesome, thanks for letting me know. I'll link Digi-Key to this post and see if they could process the refund.

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freddyboomboom
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by freddyboomboom »

I think it would be nice to update your Tweet telling the world that you got counterfeit parts from Adafruit.

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adafruit_support
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by adafruit_support »

freddyboomboom wrote:I think it would be nice to update your Tweet telling the world that you got counterfeit parts from Adafruit.
hi freddy,

do you mean "I think it would be nice to update your Tweet telling the world that you DID NOT got counterfeit parts from Adafruit."

?

(and yep!) we'd appreciate a follow up on twitter @cyanic , thank you!

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cyanic
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by cyanic »

They are stilll counterfeit by their failure to pass NXP's originality check as per NXP NFC TagInfo, but I will mention the stock cannot verified to be NTAG203 and link to this thread.

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freddyboomboom
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by freddyboomboom »

do you mean "I think it would be nice to update your Tweet telling the world that you DID NOT got counterfeit parts from Adafruit."
I meant that the Tweet said the parts are counterfeit, and it would be nice to update the post saying they're not counterfeit, that the manufacturer of the NTAG substituted a different part.

A part substitution doesn't mean counterfeit to me. Counterfeit means that a different manufacturer has made a version and is claiming it is something made by the original manufacturer. Completely different than a part substitution by the original manufacturer.

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cyanic
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by cyanic »

The substitute part is the counterfeit. If you looked at the screenshot of NXP NFC TagInfo, you can see the originality signature cannot be verified. If this was actually an NTAG203, I wouldn't be able to tell since there's no get signature command, but since it's NTAG213, the command does exist and the signature can be tested. So saying it's counterfeit is perfectly valid.

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by adafruit2 »

the factory is telling me the chip is from NXP - we're going to try and get some pictures of the reels or something since its very hard to qualify a sealed plastic card :)

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cyanic
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by cyanic »

Mind you the date printed on the product label I have is from 4 years ago, so current conditions might not necessarily reflect on the same state then, but in any case it's probably a good idea to go around and check the current stock for whether the signature passes. NFC Tools also has NXP signature validation implemented, in case you want to check a second source as well.

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adafruit2
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by adafruit2 »

OK sry but we downloaded the app and we dont see where you find the part that says its counterfeit? or is this one ok? we can check stock once we know exactly how to :)
(we can def see where it says NTAG213)
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cyanic
 
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Re: Which NTAG203 tags that Adafruit sells are actually conf

Post by cyanic »

Is that the iOS version of NXP NFC TagInfo? I've not used that myself, just the Android version, which shows additional configuration info and full dump of the tag if you enable the full scan option. For NTAG213, on the Extra tab, look at the "Originality check (asymmetric)" section. This section won't be present for NTAG203 because it does not support fetching signature.

I took a chance and bought the micro transponder type tags (2800) from Digi-Key. They've arrived, and NXP NFC TagInfo say it's indeed NTAG203(F), so that's good. Date on the label says 2017-07-12.

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