How prevalent is image-retention/ghosting issue - Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I've noticed a very slight amount of ghosting on my n7, but most of the existing discussion relates the white-backed google I/O devices (and it's not as bad as some of those examples).
It's most noticeable when switching between landscape and portrait modes. For example...
- Browse threads on xda in landscape for several minutes: Strong contrast between white website and the black back/homescreen/taskswitcher bar.
- Press homescreen button (switches back to portrait).
- I can now see a faint impression of the bar running up the side of the screen, It fades after a minute or two. This is on the default wallpaper.
It's the sort of thing you may miss if you didn't know it was there.
It's not drastic, but my concern is whether it's likely to get worse. At the moment it's less annoying than say a stuck pixel (I'd kick myself if I went for a replacement and found not only did it have ghosting but pixel defects as well, especially given the annoying 'it's not a fault' stance that manufacturer's take on that issue).
I have the screen lift as well of course, but then it seems that's unavoidable?

androidfish said:
I've noticed a very slight amount of ghosting on my n7, but most of the existing discussion relates the white-backed google I/O devices (and it's not as bad as some of those examples).
It's most noticeable when switching between landscape and portrait modes. For example...
- Browse threads on xda in landscape for several minutes: Strong contrast between white website and the black back/homescreen/taskswitcher bar.
- Press homescreen button (switches back to portrait).
- I can now see a faint impression of the bar running up the side of the screen, It fades after a minute or two. This is on the default wallpaper.
It's the sort of thing you may miss if you didn't know it was there.
It's not drastic, but my concern is whether it's likely to get worse. At the moment it's less annoying than say a stuck pixel (I'd kick myself if I went for a replacement and found not only did it have ghosting but pixel defects as well, especially given the annoying 'it's not a fault' stance that manufacturer's take on that issue).
I have the screen lift as well of course, but then it seems that's unavoidable?
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Click to collapse
I'm returning mine because of it. Sounds similar to what you are noticing, but is bad enough that if I spent long enough in the Gmail app I can actually read some of the messages in the imprint left on the homescreen. I noticed it as soon as I first turned on the device and googled for the issue - not because I read about the issue and went looking.
I get the impression it's only some of the I/O devices and a few early retail ones that have this issue. It's far more annoying to me than the screen lift issue and there are hundreds of posts on here about screen lifting. I think if the ghosting was as prevelant there would be a lot more posts on the topic.

00se7en said:
I'm returning mine because of it. Sounds similar to what you are noticing, but is bad enough that if I spent long enough in the Gmail app I can actually read some of the messages in the imprint left on the homescreen. I noticed it as soon as I first turned on the device and googled for the issue - not because I read about the issue and went looking.
I get the impression it's only some of the I/O devices and a few early retail ones that have this issue. It's far more annoying to me than the screen lift issue and there are hundreds of posts on here about screen lifting. I think if the ghosting was as prevelant there would be a lot more posts on the topic.
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Click to collapse
I read about potential ghosting before the device was available, but had forgotten about it by the time mine arrived.
The first time I noticed it was after browsing the bbc news website, there was a faint impression of the site banner running across the middle of my homescreen. Initially I thought it might be uneven backlighting. Then I remembered the ghosting on the I/O devices.
So I wasn't specifically looking for it, but it might have taken me longer to figure it out what is was if I hadn't known.

I haven't noticed it on mine at all.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

I don't see it, and I just watched about 30 min of a video with a constant tv network logo in the corner.

Well, I went into my local store this afternoon to have a look at the n7 on display.
The screen was suffering from the usual separation (no surprises there), but I couldn't replicate the ghosting issue. Guess I'll be looking at getting a replacement for mine then...
Sad, really love the tablet, shame there are so many teething issues.

Mine is a Pre-Ordered 8gb model and I certainly have extensive image retention. For example, if I leave the default homescreen (with the transformer movie cover on it) up on the screen for anything more than 10 seconds, it will be retained when I scroll left to the blank screen. It remains for something like 3 minutes. Obviously I am RMAing the device and all I can hope is that the replacement doesn't have this issue at least to this extreme level. Is anyone else having this level of retention?

Related

Xoom screen dim on the bottom edge

I searched around the forums and did not see anything else posted about this. I just bought the WiFi only Xoom and am very happy with it, except for the fact that the bottom edge of my screen is darker and dimmer.
To clarify a little bit, I mean the edge of the screen thats next to the ports on the bottom of the Xoom. Normally its impossible to notice since I usually hold my xoom in landscape and there is the black bar at the bottom. If I open a pdf file or ebook, and then view it in portrait mode, I notice a darkening of the screen along this edge. It kind of looks like a shadow or a very slight black blur. The darkness is not that exaggerated but once I noticed it, I could not stop looking at it when reading.
Now I normally go on a witch hunt for problems with new devices when I first get them. The more I pay for them, the harder I look. I thought at first I might be doing this with the xoom and kind of blowing this out of proportion, but last night I was showing it off to a friend and he noticed it before I even mentioned it.
Does anyone else notice the darkness along the bottom, or do I just have a defective panel? Its easiest to see if you put your brightness around 80% and then display something that has lots of white, like a pdf or ebook, and then hold it in portrait mode.
I will post pics of it when I get home tonight.
i've noticed on all the xooms i've looked at too, including the one i bought. someone once replied that it was defective, but i think it's actually how it's made.
most people's eyes may not be sensitive enough to notice this i suppose.
I hope this is not the case. This might be a deal breaker for me since I need a device that I can read on a lot.
Can anyone else verify this?
Mines not like that. I'm using the Verizon one. I use it in portrait often.
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App
i just exchanged my defective one (had wake issues) for a new one and guess what - dim bottom too.
that makes 8 xooms i've looked at that have the dim bottom. it's only noticable on white/light bg and if you don't have your menu bar covering it.
i picked up the wifi xoom yesterday and noticed it when togglieing the bottom right corner setting button (battery indicator). When looking at this the entire right portion of the screen dims. Other than that, it is not noticeable.
jland22 said:
i picked up the wifi xoom yesterday and noticed it when togglieing the bottom right corner setting button (battery indicator). When looking at this the entire right portion of the screen dims. Other than that, it is not noticeable.
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Click to collapse
This is a purposeful UI effect (what you are talking about, not the OP).
For the OP, I looked at my Xoom diff brightness levels, angles, orientations, etc, cannot see any dimming. 3G model. Not very helpful, I know.
also, if you look at the top of the screen (landscape mode) at an angle you can see the light source. the lighting just isn't even. i'm positive that if i look at anyone's xoom i'll see it since the back lighting is made the same on all... unless they switched mfg's in production like the evo4g's did.
Well thats a real bummer. I think I might just hold onto mine for a while and maybe try and do a warranty replacement later in the year if they fix this issue.
Did you notice any 3g models having the dim bottom, madsquabbles? Or for that matter, has anyone noticed this on the 3g model?
I first noticed it on the 3G. thats when I posted my first question.

SAMOLED+ Pixel Response Time and Touch Screen Discussion & My Review of These Parts.

SAMOLED+ Pixel Response Time and Touch Screen Discussion & My Review of These Parts.
Hey all, I wanted to start a thread to have a discussion about these two things that are my only disappointments in this phone.
Let me start by saying I think this phone is awesome, and yes I feel there are a few other faults on the phone (lockscreen delay when running off the battery due to the CPU taking a second to kick in, weak GPS/wifi signal sometimes, heavy banding on gradients etc) But those are software issues and I know in the near future Samsung/Devs will sort this out.
But I had some big complaints that aren't (still I hope not) software issues. Firstly;
- Response Time.
By this I mean when you buy a new monitor and the response time is listed as 4ms or whatever. This is the time the pixel takes to make a full change. A slow response time will cause ghosting. And that's exactly a issue that the Samsung Galaxy SII faces. Ghosting.
I've gone through 4 replacement SII's for various reasons, and on all of them they ghosted. So it's not just my phone. Samsung bizarrely states the response time is 0.001ms which would be there would be no ghosting at all. However there is, quite a bit actually, by my testing the screen is actually around 6-8ms.
I want to see if anyone else notices it. I know there's been a couple of threads on this but I want to see if the majority of people notice this. Here's how to test, go onto white page with black text on, and then scroll down the page at a moderate pace, not to fast not too slow, try it at different speeds as well just in case you don't get it right.
The easiest way I find to do this is use the inbuilt stock news app, load up any story and it'll give you a long white page with black text you can scroll through. As you may notice if you got a decent set of eyes on you, the text will leave a trail. Also known as ghosting. To me, I find this absolutely unacceptable on such high end device.
- Colour
Also, as it's been widely reported and has been noticeable on all my GSII's, the colour temperature is very 'cool', nowhere near the perfect 6500k. As a result, white's look very blue. This is fine and you hardly notice it on it's own, however when I'm using the device at my PC, which I use on a 32" IPS panel TV I professionally calibrated, the whites on the GSII look more blue than the ocean! Technically this is a software problem and can easily be sorted when custom roms come along but jeez, this is some bad stock colour calibration.
Also when you tilt the display, the viewing angles are generally very good, however tilting the display by pretty much any angle adds an extra blue tint to the screen on an already blueish screen.
I'm an absolutely screen quality perfectionist so these points really get to me. Especially considering this is such a high end device.
Overall I'd give the display a 6.5/10.
After the colour temperature has been sorted, I'll give it a 7.5/10.
If the ghosting can get minimized somehow even slightly through software on top of that, I'd give it an 8.5/10.
Secondly;
- Touch Screen
Now we all know about the movement deadzone/threshold on the touch screen which is massively annoying, but hopefully that'll get fixed in the near future. But What I'm going to complain about is the low sensitivity of the touch screen is the best way I can describe it.
On my HTC Desire, I can tap the screen ridiculously lightly and quick, and the device will register the input, absolutely no questions asked. Absolutely brilliant.
However on the GSII the sensitivity seems to be a lot lower, I can tap the screen lightly and quickly and the screen won't register the touch at all. This is pretty damn annoying as sometimes I just tap the screen lightly normally and I have to retap things. Not very often but still. I wish the device was as sensitive as the HTC Desire.
In it's current state I'd give the touch screen an 8/10.
If the movement deadzone and sensitivity got fixed, it'd be a 10/10.
Now I'm sure I had more to write about but I've forgotten now. I'll edit it into the post if I can think of the other things.
Now as I said, I think the GSII is a smashing phone, sure there are a lot of niggles at the minute, but I know they'll get sorted soon. Just the points I've outlined in this thread are things I'm scared won't get sorted. But you never know, I'm really hoping they can get sorted/do get sorted.
As I said I've had 4 Galaxy S2's all had the above issues, and I've used 2 other S2's from friends who also have these issues, so it's widespread, I'm just curious if people actually notice it.
I've added a poll to the thread regarding these issues. Please don't lie to yourself about this stuff, if you notice it, please answer honestly
I honestly hadnt noticed any of this stuff, i even watched a video of the deadzone and couldnt replicate it myself. I also think the touch response is fine you must have a very light finger/thumb!
The ghosting i hadnt noticed probly because i dont read text as im scrolling i tend to go a page at a time and the fact that im too taken back with the smoothness that pages do scroll.
The blue tint you guessed it i hadnt noticed but then again its not often i hold my phone up to specially tuned monitors.. Then again maybe theres a reason for it maybe it helps reduce glare in sunlight, then again maybe im talking aload of ****e!
no offence but you sound like you could moan for england! chill out and focus on the things it does do well and you may notice the negatives less
Personally....I think your nuts. This is the best screen ever on a phone. I have none of those issues, the touch screen perfectly responsive, my whites are white as white can be. You keep getting your phone from the same supplier and that leads me to be what the problem is. mine is perfect in every way. lucky me I guess
rojdag said:
I honestly hadnt noticed any of this stuff, i even watched a video of the deadzone and couldnt replicate it myself. I also think the touch response is fine you must have a very light finger/thumb!
The ghosting i hadnt noticed probly because i dont read text as im scrolling i tend to go a page at a time and the fact that im too taken back with the smoothness that pages do scroll.
The blue tint you guessed it i hadnt noticed but then again its not often i hold my phone up to specially tuned monitors.. Then again maybe theres a reason for it maybe it helps reduce glare in sunlight, then again maybe im talking aload of ****e!
no offence but you sound like you could moan for england! chill out and focus on the things it does do well and you may notice the negatives less
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Click to collapse
Haha I could moan for england ;P
Nah it's just I'm very picky when it comes to screens. And I definitely expect the best on such a high end device, unfortunately the SGSII falls abit short on this.
It's still a great device. Really wish I didn't notice this sort of stuff haha.
stillbrad said:
Personally....I think your nuts. This is the best screen ever on a phone. I have none of those issues, the touch screen perfectly responsive, my whites are white as white can be. You keep getting your phone from the same supplier and that leads me to be what the problem is. mine is perfect in every way. lucky me I guess
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Click to collapse
Best screen on a phone possibly. It's not the best screen ever though, it's good don't get me wrong, but not the best.
And I assure you, your device has everything that I outlined in my original post, it's just down to the user if they notice it or not. When I used my friends Galaxy SII's (who both got it from different places to me and each other) I asked them about this stuff and they had no idea what I was on about, so I thought my phone was faulty and I had a look at their GSII's and theirs have the same problems aswell, they just don't notice them. (They did after I pointed it out though muwhahah)
I must not have a sgs2. Maybe its because mine is from first batch but I have none of your listed issues. After 4 devices, it cant be samsungs fault.
Heh, guys every SGSII have these issues, I'm not arguing that, was merely checking to see how many people notice these issues (not many in the grand scheme of things apparently) there's quite a lot of reports of these problems so it's just down to the user
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I guess I have horrible standards. No shadowning on my phone.
The ghosting and blue-ish colortemperature I noticed right from the start. But to be honest: I really dont care. At least the ghosting is nothing which stands out of the crowd... all of them have it ... HTC, LG, Apple. The only reason you don't notice it as much, is the lower contrast on the other displays.
As for the sensitivity: It's a little lower than with my htc hd2, BUT I'm actually glad it is. The sensitivity on the HTC phones is ridiculously high. You don't even have to touch the screen and you end up clicking something, which can be quite annoying sometimes. On the SGS2 I never had any missclicks, nor did I have any non-responsivenesses. Perfect setup for my taste.
I think all of the average joe out there probably doesn't care about all this minor issues. You must have the intention to find the fault of the phone in order to get what you want to find but do you think most of us would be doing this? Haha.. Tbh I don't really care as long as the phone does what I want without falling apart. lol..
Yeah I was a bit surprised by the ghosting, having seen the response time claims, but neither that nor the colour temp (on 'movie') have really bothered me so far.
What has irked me a bit is the image sharpness. On a site like m.engadget.com the coloured text on white background has a dark outline all around it, which to me looks horrible. Anyone else noticed that?
I think the ghosting issue is due to the low fresh rate of the touch screen.It's lower than 60HZ.
When you scroll the screen,the animation is not smooth enough,so you see the ghosting.
It's more of a visual persistence issue.
I remember when some choppy animation showed in CRT,I can see ghosting.
Never the less,when your finger leave the touch screen,let it scrolling itself,you can see the "ghosting" would be less noticible.
But you can still see it,that's because of 60HZ refresh rate of the Display.
I just wondering if there is any way to change the fresh rate of the touch screen.
What are you doing that's causing ghosting issues? There is a definite color temp issue but that's how every amoled screen has been so far. I would take a little bit of blue tint over the black color performance
The thing that causes the ghosting, as I said in my original post, it fast movement. The screens pixels can't change fast enough so things leave a trail.
As I said the best way so see this is to loadup a long page with a white background and black text and then scroll down at a moderate pace, fast but not so fast you eyes your eyes canty follow the line of text. If toy do it right and you've got a decent set of eyes you'll see that the text leaves a trail.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
hi,
You are not the only *nut* i noticed that on my device the grey sux big time,... specially on rgb 100 100 100 have a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1084543
My white is ok, but the grey goes magenta,
PLUS
if u go to 160 dpa u will see the effect better on greys and gradients which involves grays!
nongrata23 said:
hi,
You are not the only *nut* i noticed that on my device they grey sux big time,... specially on rgb 100 100 100 have a look here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1084543
My white is ok, but the grey goes magenta,
PLUS
if u go to 160 dpa u will see the effect better on greys and gradients which involves grays!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, there's a lot disappointments with the screen on this phone. However as the poll is so far proving, majority of people don't care for quality as much as us. Only a few others care/notice about the things we're complaining about.
rojdag said:
no offence but you sound like you could moan for england! chill out and focus on the things it does do well and you may notice the negatives less
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks .. Thats the funniest **** i have read all day...
Theres nothing wrong with my sgs2 and ive owned Hero's Desire's Nexus One's and even an LG2X.. This phone is superb.. This dude does sound a bit anal..
Hey. I can definately notice ghosting on this screen if i purposely try to but as others have said, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. When watching films or playing games it's non-existant.
As for the whites, you yourself stated you can't really notice until you hold the device against your professionally calibrated screen. How are the blacks in comparison? Out of interest, how much was that screen/calibration.
I think the main problem with alot of peoples gripes is focusing on only the weaker aspects of the phone rather than the device as a whole. People want perfection which unfortunately doesn't exist in the world of electrical consumer tech.
now i see this horrible grey everywhere i cannot even look at my phone any more!
I hope that this issue would be enough to change my device!
Hey drm111, as you know I have those problems too.
Did you have them on all your 4phones?
1) As you know I have this topic in wich one screen had this blue ish coat on the screen, noticable from the angles you talk abouth. But the other one does not have it.
So maybe not everyone has that blue coating? Did you investigated that further?
2) As you also know there is this yellowish/darker 1/3 of the left screen, probably some don't notice it. You have to be in a dark room or in a light one really looking for it. You read abouth this huh?
But I you didn't post it here. Aren't you having this problem? And did you have it on al of your 4 phones?
3) Ghosting, yes i notice it to. No sharp text when scrolling,is that the ghosting too?
I have this first generation ipod touch, text stays sharp when scrolling. Should be the case here too.
4) Than you have the grey tints, wich turn pink. You can see it in the topic of nongrata23. But some phone don't have it it seems. Software or hardware?
We need to figure out what is 'normal' and what isn't. As I don't want to send my phone back if it is normal at this point for all the gs2 that are on the market.
Let me start by saying i used to work for a PC magazine and was among those who blew the whistle on the nVidia texture replacement fiasco surrounding the Geforce 5800. I can see a single texture out of place in a high FPS game, so my eye is VERY keen.
The colour of the SGS2 is slightly blue yes, but mine is no worse than the average LCD, including the Retina display.
Response time is seemingly slower than the previous AMOLED screens ive seen, but again is more than a match for the LCDs out there.
I would say samsung have made a trade off between the sub pixel density and other factors. It works for me just fine.
The 16bit thing is interesting. It looks to me like the screen isnt 16bit, but it is using 16bit at times. Thats a driver issue.

Dark patch on screen

Has anybody else noticed a dark patch on the edge of their screen? Along the top side of my screen, I can see it going off white when browsing a website in portrait mode for example.
It's like the back light isn't working properly there or something. Anybody else got this, should I get a replacement?
It's not hugely visible but it's noticeable on a white screen at any brightness level
Idk, it's up to you. I have light bleed in my right hand corner that is always visible, unless your in a well lit room on 0% brightness. I can't decide whether or not I want to send mine back though because of how common these backlighting issues seem to be.
Yeah. Mine is flawless otherwise. Its so barely noticeable I think I'll just get used to it.
Same ha ha, other people can't even spot it when i point it out to them on auto-brightness.
Yes, I noticed mine right away, but like others have said, its hardly noticeable. It doesn't bother me at all...
Sent from my Nexus 10 baby!
Same thing here. Most noticeable on a solid white background. I'm starting to think it's not a lighting problem but something to do with the way the panel is manufactured. If I hold the tablet in landscape so it's perpendicular to my face with my eyes lined up with the camera, the brightness is even across the panel. As soon as I tilt the bottom towards me, the brightness falls along the top edge. Makes it seem more like a viewing angle issue related to the way the layers are assembled or maybe a difference in pressure on the panel along that edge.
I decided to live with it because it's very rare that I have an app running in full screen that puts a light background across that area.
Same issue for me as well
jtown said:
Same thing here. Most noticeable on a solid white background. I'm starting to think it's not a lighting problem but something to do with the way the panel is manufactured. If I hold the tablet in landscape so it's perpendicular to my face with my eyes lined up with the camera, the brightness is even across the panel. As soon as I tilt the bottom towards me, the brightness falls along the top edge. Makes it seem more like a viewing angle issue related to the way the layers are assembled or maybe a difference in pressure on the panel along that edge.
I decided to live with it because it's very rare that I have an app running in full screen that puts a light background across that area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue with my first unit, did RMA and got second one. Second one had the exact same issue. Finally decided to get refund. The play store customer support said that there were few people reporting it already. This might be a design issue as well- the way device is tapered differently at the edges(backlight might not be aligned properly), two strong magnets near camera etc. Just speculating.
Dark patch here too. RMA process underway. 1/3 of screen has yellow tint. Noticeable when reading on white background. Annoyance.
boominski said:
Dark patch here too. RMA process underway. 1/3 of screen has yellow tint. Noticeable when reading on white background. Annoyance.
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Click to collapse
Keep us posted on the replacement device!
Same problem here. I received my Nexus 10 yesterday and notice dimming primarily (exclusively?) along the long edges. While reading a web page with a white background in portrait mode I found myself wondering if chrome was adding a gradient to the edges for some stylistic effect, but realized that made no sense. I observed the same problem with Firefox, and then I installed a screen testing app and observed the dimming with a solid white screen.
It sounds like this is probably a manufacturing/design error. Now I have to decide whether it's worth the rigmarole of exchanging the device, probably to no effect. I guess this is the risk you take when purchasing a device sight-unseen.
If you bought it from a store it would still be unseen, since it would be in the box. I had the same problem with the iPad 3. It took me three exchanges to get one with an acceptable screen. All of them had dark, blotchy, yellow patches. By all accounts it's due to the adhesive glue they use. We shall see what the replacement brings. Order is currently at the 'pending' stage.
I also have this on my screen. Right side when in portrait mode. You can't see it in landscape, which is weird. My wife and I have decided to keep it, though, as everything else about it is perfect. Plus, this defect, if you want to call it that, does not detract from our enjoyment and uses.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
I don't have a dark patch on mine, I just received it yesterday.
boominski said:
If you bought it from a store it would still be unseen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To clarify, I meant that I'd never had the opportunity to use *any* Nexus 10 in person. Had I done so, and noticed the dim edge, it would have at least raised the possibility that there was a design or manufacturing issue.
Speaking of which, I examined an in-store Nook HD+ display unit yesterday and what do you know: it had the same dim edge issue.
By the way, where did you hear about the adhesive glue explanation?
jmcharles said:
I also have this on my screen. Right side when in portrait mode. You can't see it in landscape, which is weird. My wife and I have decided to keep it, though, as everything else about it is perfect. Plus, this defect, if you want to call it that, does not detract from our enjoyment and uses.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
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Click to collapse
"Right side" doesn't really tell us anything haha.
eallan said:
"Right side" doesn't really tell us anything haha.
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Click to collapse
Very well. Same side as the camera.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
jmcharles said:
Very well. Same side as the camera.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine has--I assume--the same dimness along the entire length starting about 1/4" from the bezel along the "top" camera edge. It is actually somewhat distracting when reading a book in portrait mode. If I flip the screen around so that the dimness is on the left edge, for some reason I find it much less annoying. Unsure if this is a warranty replacement issue though. I haven't found another Nexus10 to see in person yet.
deisner said:
By the way, where did you hear about the adhesive glue explanation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was all over the iPad forums when the iPad3 came out. Plenty of people with dodgy screens. Some reported success in leaving brightness turned up to max and plugged in for 24hrs etc to dry. But may have been placebo. It could also be an entirely different cause other than adhesive. After all, what do I know? In any case, mine's heading back, but the replacement is still stuck on 'pending'
I had a rare bit of luck. Somebody sat next to me on the bus yesterday evening and pulled out an oddly familiar black tablet. I explained the problem I was having and asked if I could examine his Nexus 10. His device had a perfect display, with no detectable dimming near the edges. So the issue appears to be a manufacturing defect, not a design flaw, and something that could in principle be solved with a replacement unit.
I called Google last night and have my RMA email. I'll ship it off this weekend.
deisner said:
I had a rare bit of luck. Somebody sat next to me on the bus yesterday evening and pulled out an oddly familiar black tablet. I explained the problem I was having and asked if I could examine his Nexus 10. His device had a perfect display, with no detectable dimming near the edges. So the issue appears to be a manufacturing defect, not a design flaw, and something that could in principle be solved with a replacement unit.
I called Google last night and have my RMA email. I'll ship it off this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love it if you would come back and post if the replacement has or does not have the issue.

[Q] Poor screen uniformity (+yellow tint) - brightness and colour - Feedback Please!

So the Nexus 4’s potentially quality screen has crappy screen issues. There. I said it.
What I mean is that it’s a GREAT screen in some ways (resolution mainly) but it’s let down by what seems to be noticeably poor quality/manufacturing.
Why do I say this? Well, it’s been my experience that the Nexus 4 (in general) has a chronic problem with significantly poor screen uniformity for both colour and brightness. I ordered my first phone on the 13th December 2012 and as soon as it arrived I was pretty excited at finally getting a new phone (upgrading from Galaxy S1 the N4 is a beautiful beast).
When I booted it up and started using it I immediately got a sinking feeling as I realised that the bottom third of the phone had a slight but easily noticeable yellow gradient tint to it along with the left edge and the right edge was grey/dingy about a half a centimetre in. The left side and bottom third were also noticeably brighter than the right side of the phone. I’ve illustrated this in the attached pic. It’s all fairly subtle – but it’s definitely there and is easy to see.
Since I use (like most people I guess) quite a few apps that have white or solid colour backgrounds (gmail, currents, google books, email, messaging, chrome etc) – this lack of uniformity really made things look crappy in a not spectacular but just “sub-par” way unless I was viewing something which was a picture or video or filled the screen where it wasn’t noticeable.
So I called Google Play and told them about the problem and they arranged for a return.
When I got my replacement I booted it up and immediately, even before getting past the X logo animation noticed a big spot of light bleed at the top right. *Very* easy to see and my heart sank.
There on in I opened up the Mail app and closed the keyboard so I got a nice, mainly white screen. Again I noticed the same issue with the yellowing tint to the bottom and left but this time it was *more* noticeable.
To cut this long story short I’ve now sent back 3 devices for this issue, about to send back my 4th and my 5th should arrive tomorrow. I’m not holding out much hope.
I’ve seen this exact same issue on about 4 other Nexus 4’s in shops in the UK (Carphone Warehouse, O2) and while there looked at the HTC One X, iPhone 5 and the new Lumia phones from Nokia running Windows Phone 8. Those phones in particular (with LCD screen tech too) didn’t have these issues *at all* as far as I could tell. In fact the HTC One X screen looked to me to be flawless, as did the Lumia 820 and 920. If I could put the screen from the One X into the N4, I would. Sadly, not gonna happen. Sadly I don’t want the One X but do want an N4. P.S. I know LG manufacture their own displays.
Now I’m NOT claiming to speak for ALL N4’s (why I’ve started this thread) but I do believe that it cannot be a coincidence that ALL the N4’s *except one* showed this issue. I believe that LG simply manufacture the screens in such a way that they invariably have these tinting and brightness uniformity inconsistencies and that because most people don’t care, they don’t care.
********What I’d like is to ask if people with an N4 they’re happy with could do the following and provide the following info:
*Open the Mail app and close the keyboard (press down arrow at bottom). Look at the white of the screen and see if there is any edge or part of the screen that is noticeably *brighter* or *more yellow*. Are there any areas of the screen that are noticeably darker or duller? Do this for different brightnesses (low and fairly high). What do you see? Any yellow tint? Any inconsistency in brightness? All ok? Perfectly even?********
TL;DR: I’ve had 4 Nexus 4’s from Google Play all with the same yellow tint and brightness uniformity issues. Very noticeable. Not acceptable to me for a device that displays a lot of white “pages” and solid colours. Other phones (that I don’t want) do not have this issue (annoying). Please can you give feedback from your phone.
PLEASE NOTE:
Other threads discussing the “yellow tint” issue invariably attract trolls in their varying forms.
DO NOT reply to this thread if you simply want to say any of the following:
1) I don’t see a problem with mine therefore I don’t understand what you’re talking about.
2) I don’t see a problem with mine therefore you’re imagining a problem with yours.
3) I don’t see a problem with mine therefore you’re expecting a “perfect” screen and they don’t exist.
4) There are more important things in life to worry about. (A: I’m not “worried”, screen uniformity is important to me, get over it.)
5) I see a slight yellowing but I don’t care therefore you shouldn’t care. There are more important things in life to worry about.) [see above]
The attached illustration is slightly "exaggerated" to make sure the effect is reproduced for all screens. Not by all that much though.
UPDATE: 31/01/2013: Well I've received *another* N4 replacement today and lo and behold the exact *same issue*. With this one I'm going to wait it out at least a week and see if it improves. I *really* want an N4 as in every other way it's truly a great piece of tech. Pray for me guys!
Re: [Q] General poor screen uniformity - brightness and colour - Feedback Please!
My screen has no discolorations or brightness unevenness that I can see.
Sent from my Paranoid Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
I've had tint issues with all three handsets. First two it didn't disappear after use. This third handset SEEMS to have gotten a little better after a week.
All three had light bleed. First one was least noticeable, last two including the current have two blobs of light bleed in the exact same places along the top of the LCD.
It's almost as if something during manufacturing (screw tightness?) has caused it on both handsets. They are both 212K and revision 11.
It's annoying me and I may do one final RMA once I see what this new wave of devices brings.
mine's fine.
I did what you asked, OP and I'm not seeing and unevenness, yellow tint, or brightness issues (aside from auto-brightness being stupidly low).
The only issue I have with my screen is poor colors. I have a One X and an iPhone 5 that I sometimes compare with my N4's screen and it's shockingly apparent that the N4's screen has colors that just aren't worthy of a top-tier device. The resolution is nice and all, but I like it when the colors are nice and accurate. It's most easy to tell when comparing images of people and looking at their skin. Now I'm no anthropologist, but I have a pretty solid grasp of what skin looks like. The One X is probably the best at representing things the way they look IRL, followed by the iPhone 5. I don't know if it's just my N4 or other people have the same issue. I've tried using apps to adjust the color (FauxClock with Faux's kernel, to be specific), but nothing makes it look quite as nice as my other phones.
I guess you never asked about the second part, but there it is.
I had that issue when I received my device, Used kernel setting to rectify the problem but after 4-5 days of use it gone away. Now device is perfect.
I recommend you to stay with it for 3-4 days before returning it and check.
blackplague1347 said:
I did what you asked, OP and I'm not seeing and unevenness, yellow tint, or brightness issues (aside from auto-brightness being stupidly low).
The only issue I have with my screen is poor colors. I have a One X and an iPhone 5 that I sometimes compare with my N4's screen and it's shockingly apparent that the N4's screen has colors that just aren't worthy of a top-tier device. The resolution is nice and all, but I like it when the colors are nice and accurate. It's most easy to tell when comparing images of people and looking at their skin. Now I'm no anthropologist, but I have a pretty solid grasp of what skin looks like. The One X is probably the best at representing things the way they look IRL, followed by the iPhone 5. I don't know if it's just my N4 or other people have the same issue. I've tried using apps to adjust the color (FauxClock with Faux's kernel, to be specific), but nothing makes it look quite as nice as my other phones.
I guess you never asked about the second part, but there it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback - very helpful. I got *another* one through today and it seems "better" by a bit than the previous one at least. I think I'll see how it goes. Good to know that it's not only me sho can see the difference.
Audioboxer said:
I've had tint issues with all three handsets. First two it didn't disappear after use. This third handset SEEMS to have gotten a little better after a week.
All three had light bleed. First one was least noticeable, last two including the current have two blobs of light bleed in the exact same places along the top of the LCD.
It's almost as if something during manufacturing (screw tightness?) has caused it on both handsets. They are both 212K and revision 11.
It's annoying me and I may do one final RMA once I see what this new wave of devices brings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the phones I've had have been 301K and they've all had the same issue with yellow tint/backlight inconsistency in a very similar way. I'll have sent back 4 N4's if I decide to keep the current one! I think you're probably right about the screw tightness or some such other minor thing during manufacturing. It's not like a viewing angle problem. It does look like something to do with assembly in particular. Please do let me/us know how you get on and how things work out.
ksavai said:
I had that issue when I received my device, Used kernel setting to rectify the problem but after 4-5 days of use it gone away. Now device is perfect.
I recommend you to stay with it for 3-4 days before returning it and check.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used FauxClock on my previous device (sat here waiting to go back) and it did seem to improve the situation slightly - but then since the screen isn't uniform, it reduced the yellow where it was yellow but then made it too "blue" on the rest of the screen. I really hope that this yellow tint is a "glue" issue or something that will even out through repeated use due to heating/cooling - i.e. expanding and contracting which somehow settles things down. I'll keep this one about a week and see what happens. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for your feedback guys!
Re: [Q] General poor screen uniformity - brightness and colour - Feedback Please!
alsheron said:
5) I see a slight yellowing but I don’t care therefore you shouldn’t care. There are more important things in life to worry about.) [see above]
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Click to collapse
^ this is pretty much all I can say.
Every nexus 4 phone I handled had a slightly yellower screen at the bottom. For me its barely noticeable, not as yellow as it is in your illustration.
They all seem to have that same issue, along with light bleeding across the top edge.
You can keep RMAing if you're not tired of that .. But you will not receive a fully uniform no matter what.
If screen uniformity is important for you get one of the above phones you mentioned.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda
beegbear said:
^ this is pretty much all I can say.
Every nexus 4 phone I handled had a slightly yellower screen at the bottom. For me its barely noticeable, not as yellow as it is in your illustration.
They all seem to have that same issue, along with light bleeding across the top edge.
You can keep RMAing if you're not tired of that .. But you will not receive a fully uniform no matter what.
If screen uniformity is important for you get one of the above phones you mentioned.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info, that's interesting to know. Out of interest, how many have you handled? Going by some comments on XDA and around the web regarding this issue, you'd think that the yellow tint was only on a handful of handsets and an isolated quirk, not as I suspect and you seem to suggest, a common trait of the N4.
alsheron said:
Thanks for the info, that's interesting to know. Out of interest, how many have you handled? Going by some comments on XDA and around the web regarding this issue, you'd think that the yellow tint was only on a handful of handsets and an isolated quirk, not as I suspect and you seem to suggest, a common trait of the N4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well,
I ordered three of them, all screens looked identical with the exact same issues: some yellowing at the bottom with a light bleed over the top edge (especially top right corner). I had to RMA 2 out of the 3 due to severe screen issues (screen flickering and dead pixels). Received 2 new units, screens have the exact same issue. I have 2 friends with N4s and their screens are like that too. It's almost not noticeable.
beegbear said:
Well,
I ordered three of them, all screens looked identical with the exact same issues: some yellowing at the bottom with a light bleed over the top edge (especially top right corner). I had to RMA 2 out of the 3 due to severe screen issues (screen flickering and dead pixels). Received 2 new units, screens have the exact same issue. I have 2 friends with N4s and their screens are like that too. It's almost not noticeable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the light bleed appear like small blobs from the top edge?
My worst is the top left, about an inch in. Then there's another smaller blob nearer the right hand side. Little bit leakage top right and top left, but its worst along the actual taskbar.
I will take a picture tomorrow.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
My first nexus 4 (rev 10) has perfect whites except the bottom of the screen would turn yellow after warming. All of the 4 RMA devices I've recieved (rev 11) don't have this issue EXCEPT all the rev 11s are calibrated horribly leading to the entire screen being yellower than my rev 10 unit. The screens are uniform, however, I just wish they calibrated the phones like they did with the rev 10.
The new rev 11s have a calibration problem while my rev 10 has a glue problem.
The new rev 11s also have a dimmer screen than my rev 10. I kinda just want them to send a perfect rev 10 to me.
Interesting because calibration issues affect the whole screen. If any part of the screen isn't the same "tint" as another part and its noticeable then this isn't something that can be fixed with calibration. Calibration can only save a uniformly "yellow" or "blue" tinted screen. To that end I wish mine was uniformly yellow. Mine is a rev 11 and I'm on my second day with it and hoping the bottom and left yellow tint fades soon and that it's just glue. I've tried Fauxclock and applying various screen tweaks with a previous similar phone and it helped somewhat but there's nothing can be done about unevenness in the tint really unless its glue and it dries.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Users with defective screens (pink/uneven color temps), what model do you have?

I'm on my 4th phone, and this one is by far the worst. I busted out my Galaxy S4 to compare, and it's night and day difference. The S4 (also super amoled) is completely uniform color temp, and has almost zero color shift when you tilt the phone. Every 6P I've had has some type of pink to blue color gradient, and shifts to blue when I tilt it just a tiny bit forward (like everytime I'm reaching for the notification tray). I'm starting to think people with "zero issues" are either smoking the hype pipe, or having a completely different experience. All 4 of my phones are 64GB Graphite, with build dates of 10/25 or 10/27. It seemed there were a disproportionate number of 64GB Graphites reporting these issues. I'm thinking I keep getting phones from the same crappy batch(es). I'm wondering if there is any correlation between the color/size variants and these defects.
I'm considering returning the phone for good and either reordering in a month or two, or getting a 5x to hold me over until next years Nexus. I got Nexus Protect and the whole shebang with the 6P because I was planning on keeping it 2+ years.
2x bad 64gb graphites for me. 3rd one seems to be better, but not perfect. I'm not sure if I'll RMA it or not. Like you said it seems like every screen has issues and it's just a matter of how bad it is. The 3rd one isn't too bad at least.
Frost 128gb, no problem at all except for the random reboot.
warplane95 said:
Frost 128gb, no problem at all except for the random reboot.
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Click to collapse
Frost 64GB and same as you, no defects but I need to check if I got a random reboot while asleep as it asked me for the secure boot password when I unlocked it this morning. Strangely, once I did this, the phone appeared to have been exactly where I'd left it, instead of going through the usual boot up process of loading home screens, widgets etc.
I do wish to clarify that I do find this device to shift colors ever so slightly when not looking straight on. It is nothing major and I put it down to Google/Huawei not sourcing a good panel. It is the obvious shift expected from lower end panels due to changes in viewing angles. I do not classify that as a defect. I will post pictures of this in another thread in General.
At the most extreme near 180 angle, I can see some green rainbow effect. I don't know if this is due to my cheap screen protector or it has something to do with the Gorilla Glass treatment on the panel. It really is a non issue for me. I NEVER noticed ANY of this until I came along the forums and read people complaining about defects, making me go LOOK for them on mine. This doesn't mean others aren't suffering from defects.
warplane95 said:
Frost 128gb, no problem at all except for the random reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine had the freeze and reboot issues. Did it 7 times in the span of 5 days. Put it on safe mode and still rebooted. Factory reset the device and clean install of apps and rebooted once. After that one random freeze, the device hasn't had one in 48 hrs and counting but still rma'd for a new device to make myself feel more at ease knowing that there is no internal hardware issues.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Not had any reboots at all but my 3 phones had increasingly worse displays. Alu 64gb, manufacturrd 18/10, 28/10,28/10. The original 18/10 was the best of them all but still not good with pink hue on the left side of the screen.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
subhani said:
Frost 64GB and same as you, no defects but I need to check if I got a random reboot while asleep as it asked me for the secure boot password when I unlocked it this morning. Strangely, once I did this, the phone appeared to have been exactly where I'd left it, instead of going through the usual boot up process of loading home screens, widgets etc.
I do wish to clarify that I do find this device to shift colors ever so slightly when not looking straight on. It is nothing major and I put it down to Google/Huawei not sourcing a good panel. It is the obvious shift expected from lower end panels due to changes in viewing angles. I do not classify that as a defect. I will post pictures of this in another thread in General.
At the most extreme near 180 angle, I can see some green rainbow effect. I don't know if this is due to my cheap screen protector or it has something to do with the Gorilla Glass treatment on the panel. It really is a non issue for me. I NEVER noticed ANY of this until I came along the forums and read people complaining about defects, making me go LOOK for them on mine. This doesn't mean others aren't suffering from defects.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have the color shifting, but this is probably caused by the tempered glass screen protector. anyway, I always look a the device with an angle of 90 degree.
Thanks mods for cleaning up the hate speech. It amazes me people think we should be grateful and accept any crap Google ships. The way QA works, it's not an issue unless the customers make it an issue. If Google can save money and use grade B panels, and their customers don't seem to mind, then next year they might use grade C panels.
This is what my 6P looks like on the google homepage at normal brightness levels: https://goo.gl/photos/z77YPDta247Jh3Zt5
Last I checked, there is no gradient on the google homepage that goes from pink to green. And if you're curious, here is what that looks like next to a Nexus 5X: https://goo.gl/photos/3huN7dPbeBKqrodf7
Every one of my 6Ps has a color gradient when looking directly at the screen. That's not taking into account the crazy rainbow effect when you tilt the display just a few degrees any direction. I had multiple Galaxy S4s, which also have a samsung amoled screen, and they are all completely uniform and have close to zero color shift at normal viewing angles.
So to everyone that thinks we are just picky @#[email protected], in all my years and hundreds of consumer electronic devices I've owned, I've only ever RMAed two other devices: a plasma TV that buzzed like a bumblebee, and an og PSP that had dead pixels and completely outrageous back light bleed.

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