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iPhone Screen Checkered Pattern
- Thread starter sjb
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Haha, I knew someone was going to say that. When I was making the video, some girl was talking on the phone. I guess she got some bad news. 
I wasn't porno.
I wasn't porno.
That poll is probably skewed by the fact that people who have the problem (i.e. 7 series owners) are more likely to be interested in articles on this.
Slightly off-topic...
Speaking of which, unless I'm mistaken I believe the term is "polka dots" not "pokadots."
Speaking of which, unless I'm mistaken I believe the term is "polka dots" not "pokadots."
I have 5** screen. I upload the Apple logo wallpaper today to see how the screen will perform on the white shadow area, and end up seeing the dots at specific angle at max brightness. It's not obvious at normal brightness. Interestingly there's less and less obvious or no dots(look like there are some dot pattens, but really can't tell) at the iphone desktop under the same angle same brightness when I can see dots at photos.
The battery glow and the white shadow area look like color bit been lowered.
two angle of the screen, I also found a dead pixel
The battery glow and the white shadow area look like color bit been lowered.
two angle of the screen, I also found a dead pixel
I wouldn't sweat it. I have a 7 series also, and never noticed the dots until I saw this thread. At first I felt like you, but the more I read, the more I began to realize that the 7 series may actually be the better display, and shows the dots precisely because of it's higher contrast (personally, I'll take better contrast over higher brightness any day). This post was particularly informative:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/3938766/
In particular, this image:
http://home.scottsblocks.com/images/iphone dots/fig-e.jpg
So, why are there even dots there in the first place? Well, I think this post explains that pretty well:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/3940022/
Basically, it's some sort of dithering/compression creating those dots as artifacts. (In fact, when I first saw those dots, the first thing I thought was that they looked like the dithered images on old 256 color displays.)
So, in short, some sort of software issue is causing dithering, which creates those dots on both phones. The higher contrast of the 7 series phones makes the dots much more evident.
So the good news is:
1) 5 or 7 series owners can both feel good about their displays, for different reasons.
2) The issue is most likely something that can be corrected in one manner or another through software.
Hi pixelshaders, thanks for the pictures. Now we know it is NOT a particular screen that causes the dots, it's actually how the system renders the images to be displayed. So that's good to know.
Since it's not that noticeable at all, people should just stop comparing and worrying. It probably can be fixed with software update, or maybe the way pictures are rendered on the iPhone is to use less memory and load faster with the 620MHz ARM processor. The way the phone handles graphics is already by far blown away any other phone I've seen, so I have nothing much to complain about.
Since it's not that noticeable at all, people should just stop comparing and worrying. It probably can be fixed with software update, or maybe the way pictures are rendered on the iPhone is to use less memory and load faster with the 620MHz ARM processor. The way the phone handles graphics is already by far blown away any other phone I've seen, so I have nothing much to complain about.
Yes, it's a rendering method. But now the problem becomes that some of the 7** screen don't have the quality they should have, and it a bit look different from other.
Seems iphone used a special algorithm to reduce data(color bit?) on graphic processing, like video compression, it lower the part that less focus to human eye??
Seems iphone used a special algorithm to reduce data(color bit?) on graphic processing, like video compression, it lower the part that less focus to human eye??
Those without the "really obvious" dots, don't worry. I am sure that those who have spent a lot of time posting on this topic had a very legitimate concern and issue. For those who have been casually reading this (myself included), please don't let this taint your opinion of your phone. I have a 7**** series phone with very faint dots (only visible in pitch black at 100% brightness, as I'm sure a majority of you to have). First, how often will you use your iPhone in these conditions? Second, the posts claiming that the 7***** series has more contrast than the 5***** is, in my opinion, true. Today I spent about 1 hour in the Apple store playing with 2 of the floor models that were side by side. The 5****** had a very noticeable blueish tint to it (which could affect the otherwise dots... potentially). All of the Apple floor models have a video from "The Fray" at my store. This video has a lot of deep shadows in the background. Not only did the blacks in the video seem deeper on the 7***** (with no visible dots!!), but the skin tone was noticeably different (I had both playing perfectly synced, right next to each other). That blueish tone made human skin look sickly, where the 7***** rendered skin tone very accurately. Through, all of my test (which, I don't think the Apple employees appreciated much -got a lot of weird looks-) the 7**** series looked more accurate. The 5***** did display less dots, but again how often will you have your 7 in pitch black turned all the way up?
Sorry for the long post, but if you are just reading (not one with the isolated bright dots working to find a solution for their phone) don't freak out, you may have the better LCD now and even more so when software bridges the gap.
Sorry for the long post, but if you are just reading (not one with the isolated bright dots working to find a solution for their phone) don't freak out, you may have the better LCD now and even more so when software bridges the gap.
I have a 7 as well and it has a spectacular picture. No dots. I haven't locked myself in a dark closet yet though. But as other posters in the know have said,
I'll take contrast over brightness any day.
I'll take contrast over brightness any day.
I don't know if one was brighter than the other... they were just different. The blue tint on the 5***** gave a bit more of a glow. The icons on the 7***** seemed to "pop" a bit more. I was surprised that I could tell that they were different LCDs just by looking at them. But like I said, I liked the over-all color of the 7 model more, it seemed more accurate when looking at pictures on the web, library and movies (and I could not find dots on any of these).
Theory is right. 256 colors on anything but bold color graphics would yield very ugly results. Photos are impossible to look this good without any banding at 256 colors. Yes, perhaps the bad iphones (they are bad btw) have lcds that are only capable of 256 colors or the drivers are operating at 256 for some reason. But you'd be seeing a lot more than just dots. Photos would be so ridiculously banded on mindless photos like sunsets that people would be really up in arms.
Whatever it is, rest assured the dots are NOT on purpose. They are NOT how your phone is supposed to be. Take it back.
It may not be 256 colors but certainly under a thousand. Even if you view fine photos on the iPhone library and zoom in one can see the "gif" pattern effect that seems to happen to them when they are "optimized" for the iPhone. So maybe 600 and some odd colors...not sure.
Also, ALL phones do this. You can really see the effect by looking at thumbs in the photo library that have a slight gradient - such as sky photos.
So all iPhones have this "reduced" rendering, probably be design. But with certain LCDs this "optimized Quartz interface" seems to show its spots!
Taking is back? Maybe an option but it looks like a lot of the phones have this. I still think some sorta color profile can fix it - assuming the scaled down OS X can do profiles....
I have that model. Bought it on day one. No dots. No dead pixels. Looks great. Tried full brightness, black screen.
Take it back folks. I've got a buttload of Costa Rica skies and sunsets. Blue, orange, etc. Gradient heaven. There is NOTHING on my phone even closely resembling gif banding. Gradients are immaculate on the thumbs page(s).
Seriously. Take the thing back, complain, do something. I do web design for a living. I can spot banding, dots, compression, artifacts, etc. from a mile away. My phone is not exhibiting these issues.
Every phone I have seen is rendered this way. Odd that yours is not. And just to clarify, its the thumbs we are talking about where is pretty obvious there is a palette reduction. While the photos are "optimized" in the same manner apparently, they are re-dran and blended if you view and zoom in to the full size ones. However, if you zoom in you can see blended pixels.
Also just to note. I dont see this as a problem at all - but its to show how the iPhone graphics seem to display which may help explain the grid pattern better.
Please take a closer look at yours. You can even see it on the YouTube icon.
Here is an example:
Original (well, a lot bigger of course)
What is seen on screen:
Original converted to GIF - which is what is seen on the screen but this helps clarify.
By the way, anyone recognize this particular pic?
Every phone I have seen is rendered this way. Odd that yours is not. And just to clarify, its the thumbs we are talking about where is pretty obvious there is a palette reduction. While the photos are "optimized" in the same manner apparently, they are re-dran and blended if you view and zoom in to the full size ones. However, if you zoom in you can see blended pixels.
Also just to note. I dont see this as a problem at all - but its to show how the iPhone graphics seem to display which may help explain the grid pattern better.
Please take a closer look at yours. You can even see it on the YouTube icon.
Here is an example:
Original (well, a lot bigger of course)
What is seen on screen:
Original converted to GIF - which is what is seen on the screen but this helps clarify.
By the way, anyone recognize this particular pic?
Yep. Can YOU not tell the difference between the last two? The last one has been dithered to 256 colors. The other is simply a lower resolution, softer, etc. but does display any characteristics of banding. It displays the characteristics of a photo of an lcd screen, but is certainly THOUSANDS of colors. Which is usually plenty to display photos. In fact, Apple laptop lcds are only capable of thousands of colors.
Every phone I have seen is rendered this way. Odd that yours is not. And just to clarify, its the thumbs we are talking about where is pretty obvious there is a palette reduction. While the photos are "optimized" in the same manner apparently, they are re-dran and blended if you view and zoom in to the full size ones. However, if you zoom in you can see blended pixels.
Also just to note. I dont see this as a problem at all - but its to show how the iPhone graphics seem to display which may help explain the grid pattern better.
Please take a closer look at yours. You can even see it on the YouTube icon.
Here is an example:
Original (well, a lot bigger of course)
What is seen on screen:
Original converted to GIF - which is what is seen on the screen but this helps clarify.
By the way, anyone recognize this particular pic?
Oh, and blended pixels is pretty much jpeg compression. When they recompress your photos for iphone, the certainly don't make them gifs. Just try to make a gif anywhere near the quality of a photo on an iPhone. It just isn't even plausible. Even regular phones don't convert their images to gifs. They just aren't a viable format. Ah, hell. Take a photo with your iPhone and download it DIRECTLY to your computer. It is a JPEG. It will tell you how many colors it is. I know you're trying to say the screen may be reduced colors, but it goes in steps. It's either 256 (where they'd look like horrible gifs), or it's thousands or it's millions.
Now, if others iphones are looking like the gif you posted (not the screen image) they should should be returning their iPhone now. However, it does look like a driver or software issue that could be fixed. But the screen shots I've seen of the problem, don't look at all like that. They don't look like a gif problem. They have the dots and yet the photos still retain full quality.
So the good news is:
1) 5 or 7 series owners can both feel good about their displays, for different reasons.
2) The issue is most likely something that can be corrected in one manner or another through software.[/QUOTE]
I too was very happy with the quality of my screen(a 7 series) until I read this. A friend of mine has a 5 series so we compared them this morning. They ARE different, the black's on his do appear blacker. On the other hand, as he pointed out some of the other colors on his looked washed out compared to mine(the blue done button on some screens for example). He also felt it was probably a software issue that could be resolved. The bottom line, he is still very happy with his, and I am still very happy with mine.
1) 5 or 7 series owners can both feel good about their displays, for different reasons.
2) The issue is most likely something that can be corrected in one manner or another through software.[/QUOTE]
I too was very happy with the quality of my screen(a 7 series) until I read this. A friend of mine has a 5 series so we compared them this morning. They ARE different, the black's on his do appear blacker. On the other hand, as he pointed out some of the other colors on his looked washed out compared to mine(the blue done button on some screens for example). He also felt it was probably a software issue that could be resolved. The bottom line, he is still very happy with his, and I am still very happy with mine.
I too was very happy with the quality of my screen(a 7 series) until I read this. A friend of mine has a 5 series so we compared them this morning. They ARE different, the black's on his do appear blacker. On the other hand, as he pointed out some of the other colors on his looked washed out compared to mine(the blue done button on some screens for example). He also felt it was probably a software issue that could be resolved. The bottom line, he is still very happy with his, and I am still very happy with mine.[/QUOTE]
I think you missing the point of the thread : the grid pattern. If you dont have it, thats great since it seems not all 7 series do. But the main point of this thread is bout the annoying grid patter that some have, not necessarily the contrast, etc.... So thats the problem, the contrast comparison is just another difference.
I never said they were converted to GIF, I said its LIKE GIF compression. And 256 to thousands of colors are NOT the only "steps". If you knew anything about graphic design, you know there are many variations between those two - its graphics cards that are generally limited to 256, thousands, millions, etc... But color data reduction can basically be customized and limited to any color quantity. Also, its not RGB, its YUV.
Also, I am sure you noticed that photos imported to the iPhone are greatly reduced in resolution and size, right? It was the first thing I noticed and is rather annoying. They use the same conversion done for the iPods. And when you download a photo from the phone, its CONVERTED to Jpg.
You are clearly missing the point. While the display may be limited to thousands of DISPLAY colors, there is further "optimization" of the GUI itself including the thumbs used in the photo library.
This optimization is what seems to create this VERY OBVIOUS "GIF effect" across the display resulting in a grid on certain phones that have high contrast and THATS what the thread is about - trying to figure out why its happening: software or hardware? By now I think we have our answer.