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Is your s4 screen affected by vertical line issue or uneven tint display?

  • Yes

    Votes: 22 51.2%
  • No

    Votes: 21 48.8%

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,493
Out of interest, did everyone just accept it and move on with this?

What what would you expect others to do? Just keep playing ‘exchange game’ until they find a display that doesn’t have any Unevenness? Think about all the non-tech consumers who don’t frequent a tech site and likely will never even notice this display discrepancy with the Apple Watch at all. I can understand others who want to return the watch, but I personally don’t think it takes away from the experience for those who don’t know what to look for.
 
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richard371

macrumors 68040
Feb 1, 2008
3,683
1,887
If it’s obvious under normal viewing try to exchange it. If you have to sit in a dark room with the brightness turned down all the way you may get one wore or better. I’d probably hold off at that point.
 

techno-Zen

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2015
1,851
3,144
Gilbert, AZ
Testing for this is the only time some people are turning the digital crown to wake the screen, and then they go online to voice their outrage.
This is not true at all. I do it all the time

I've forgotten about it but I'm definitely pulling a warranty claim in a few months
 

tromboneaholic

Suspended
Jun 9, 2004
3,706
3,024
Clearwater, FL
This is not true at all. I do it all the time

I've forgotten about it but I'm definitely pulling a warranty claim in a few months
I mentioned "some" people, not all. I'm not claiming it's not something that people who use the watch a certain way won't notice. I just have a feeling from some of the comments here and on Reddit that a number of people had to go looking for the issue to find it.
 

iPhysicist

macrumors 65816
Nov 9, 2009
1,343
1,004
Dresden
This is not true at all. I do it all the time

I've forgotten about it but I'm definitely pulling a warranty claim in a few months

I did "the thing" in the cinema. I couldn't recognize the screen bleed (wich is there when turning the crown in absolute darkness).
 

alpi123

macrumors 68020
Jun 18, 2014
2,023
3,377
I thought OLEDs don't have light bleed? Since the black area is completely turned off pixels, I don't know how can you see if there's any light bleed... and on pictures it looks much more pronounced. From personal experience.
 

akash.nu

macrumors G4
May 26, 2016
10,846
16,969
I thought OLEDs don't have light bleed? Since the black area is completely turned off pixels, I don't know how can you see if there's any light bleed... and on pictures it looks much more pronounced. From personal experience.

It’s more of an uneven lighting than bleed as such.
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,493
I thought OLEDs don't have light bleed?

They don’t. The thread title is inaccurate by stating ‘Light Bleed.’ OLED does not require a backlight like LCD panels do, it each pixel is independent of each other, producing its own. What others are seeing is inconsistency in color shifting in various parts of the display, it’s not entirely abnormal for OLED to exhibit this, but to certain a degree, _it_ can be more extreme in some cases Over others.
 

mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
In a normal use i see that the right side is brighter when for example scrolling in settings or in a message app scrolling the quick answers or using the grid view rather than honeycomb view with apps.. Those test images under shows the issue better. Brightness is set to 2/3 from the watch settings.

When scrolling settings all gray boxes are like a gradient from middle gray to light gray (left to right) so the screen isnt uniform at all. So if the app is using gray colours (which probably shows an uneven brightness better) the gradient from normal colour to lighter colour is visible and the screen doesnt look uniform. Not all apps use black colour - neither the settings app too... so that is the problem. Black is black when the colour is black - when it is something else the uneven screen is more or less visible.


Top left, the screen with a test image (using dark gray image) in a dark room. Two other images are in a normal lighting in a living room. The right side (crown side) is much brighter as you can see..

I quess i could call to apple on the next week..

7185b64b244572aa32dbc36f8c31231b.jpg
 
Last edited:

stevenbeerbaum

macrumors member
May 30, 2015
39
15
I "could" live with it if it would just be visible on the test image. But all the color watchfaces and the "fog"-watchfaces in red and grey are completely green on the left side ... this isn't acceptable.
 
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mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
I "could" live with it if it would just be visible on the test image. But all the color watchfaces and the "fog"-watchfaces in red and grey are completely green on the left side ... this isn't acceptable.

yep, but the green watch face is atleast greener from the other side
 
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mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
Did some testing and actually every colours are affected, not only grays but all - some colours shows it better (=meaning the display looks worse) some less. For example if i want to use green colour as a watch face, it looks bad...

I received mine on friday so im going to call apple tomorrow and ask them about this issue - then i decide if i return it or get it replaced.

c92b157e75a1071a734b81fff211c974.jpg


In daily use (e.g. notificationd):
097239f24100c1a57d15fc93f37fe452.jpg


If you use any other than black watch face the apple watch looks like a piece of crap - like a cheap junk on your wrist:

9af9d4b16bb39d2cde0d39ecaa761c32.jpg
 
Last edited:

stevenbeerbaum

macrumors member
May 30, 2015
39
15
That's exactly what I see on my device ... but on the left side.
Hope I'll get the replacement unit the following days. Don't like the idea to have 750€ blocked on my card and get a replacement unit in 3-4 weeks.
 

mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
Did they send the replacement unit and you can keep the current one as long as you get the replacement unit or did you need to send the current watch back before getting the new watch?
 

stevenbeerbaum

macrumors member
May 30, 2015
39
15
I bought Apple Care + to get an express replacement which is still pending ... don't believe that I'll receive a new one next week. Apple is out of stock because of production issues, high demand and the bricked watches.
 

Poder

macrumors newbie
Jul 29, 2010
11
2
Hello,
I’m afraid a lot of series 4 watches show the same issue to some extend. The second one bought last week, produced in week 42 (aluminium) and the previous one I had, bought beginning October (stainless): both show(ed) the left of their screen with a brighter greener side when displaying grey background. I decided to keep the aluminium one and wait a few months then ask for service. Otherwise I fear wasting time and nerves on playing the exchange lottery now.
 

mrex

macrumors 68040
Jul 16, 2014
3,458
1,527
europe
Hello,
I’m afraid a lot of series 4 watches show the same issue to some extend. The second one bought last week, produced in week 42 (aluminium) and the previous one I had, bought beginning October (stainless): both show(ed) the left of their screen with a brighter greener side when displaying grey background. I decided to keep the aluminium one and wait a few months then ask for service. Otherwise I fear wasting time and nerves on playing the exchange lottery now.

i dont start playing the lottery... im not sure if i just return the watch and ask a refund. maybe ill try to get another watch on next year on something else when and if they have better quality control then. at the moment im abit tired of the quality you get from apple: my mbp needs a keyboard fix, ipad pro 2nd gen has a touch screen issue, blackmagic egpu crashes my macbook everytime it is ejected from the system (safari webkit or something else is causing the problem (error message)) and now the watch has a screen issue... and i had to reset and pair the watch two times to get the workout app/watch face app to appear under the location service to track the route. does they do anything right anymore - even their own services with their own hardware seems to be buggy as hell..
 
Last edited:

Knight3

Suspended
Oct 19, 2018
280
272
I notice the effect slightly more on the Grey Nike watch face. But other than that it doesn't seem like much everywhere else.
The Settings app seems a bit more worse in the picture than it actually looks.

Do you guys think I should try the exchange or just be glad that it's not worse?

IMG_0037.jpg
View attachment 803308
IMG_0039.jpg
 

44267547

Cancelled
Jul 12, 2016
37,642
42,493
Did they send the replacement unit and you can keep the current one as long as you get the replacement unit or did you need to send the current watch back before getting the new watch?

You keep your original watch until you receive the replacement watch, once you receive the replacement watch, then you send back the defective watch to Apple in the packaging materials that they sent you. You have five business days to send the watch back to them, before they charge your credit card the full amount.
 

MrGimper

macrumors G3
Sep 22, 2012
8,758
12,519
Andover, UK
You keep your original watch until you receive the replacement watch, once you receive the replacement watch, then you send back the defective watch to Apple in the packaging materials that they sent you. You have five business days to send the watch back to them, before they charge your credit card the full amount.

In the UK they have to receive the old device back within 10 days of you receiving the replacement.

Edit: I’ve had 2x 10.5 iPad Pro (white spot on one and shadowy corners on the replacement) and 1x iPhone 8 Plus (Taptic Engine gave up) replaced under express replacement and no issues regarding replacement charges being incurred.
 

Hamsterhjulet

macrumors regular
Oct 1, 2015
243
246
Denmark
After a month of waiting I finally received my Apple Watch Series 4 SSSB. I read multiple report of people having this issue so I feared the worst. And no exception, my brand new watch have this issue too.. this is so freaking annoying. I hoped Apple would have fixed it by now, but I guess not.
It might be a bit nit picky, but I’ve payed a lot of money for this watch, and so have you, and therefore I don’t think we should accept it. $1050 (at least here in Denmark) is too much money for a “almost” perfect product. At that price I would expect a perfect product.
I’m going to try an exchange, but as many have mentioned, it probably won’t help. Fingers crossed or else I might have to wait for the next one, which is a bummer as this was to me my first Apple Watch ever, which made it that more exciting.
 

jonnyb

macrumors 65816
Jan 21, 2005
1,311
1,515
Inverness, Scotland
I don't mind paying top prices when I know I'm getting Apple's best, but my Series 4 had this quite badly so I returned it. I didn't fancy playing the screen lottery game and I figured downgrading to a Series 3 would be fine. I miss the bigger screen and the haptic crown but I'm getting basically all of the utility and I've saved nearly £500.

I'll see if Series 5 screens are better before I try life on the Watch cutting edge again.
 

dk_iceman

macrumors newbie
Nov 16, 2018
1
0
the problem we are seeing is nothing new to OLED or AMOLED..

even today I can get uneven backlight on grey backgrounds when lowering the backlight, just like the series 4 watch...

and that's on my previous NOTE 8, 9 and Huawei P20 pro, mate 10 pro just to name a few..

I really can't decide if I want to try and return it or just try living with it, as I'm not going to use it in a way the screen will be so dim lit..
 
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