The answer is very simple: when you compare strings through == operator, you actually compare if two different variables refer to a single String object. And they don't, the string in the array and newly created "231" are different String objects with the same contents.
The right thing to do is to use the folllowing expression: "231".equals(parts[0]) or "231".equalsIgnoreCase(parts[0]). This will give you what you need and return true if these String objects contain the same values.
