Just returned my iPhone 7

[zhenya]

But most people simply do not notice or care. For instance, it absolutely blows my mind that high end TVs are not factory calibrated. TVs have one job... accurately displaying content. Yet there isn't a single TV on the market that comes close to accurate on any preset out of the box. Factory calibration can't replace true and regular calibration in your environment, but it's so much better than what you get out of the box.

I totally agree but the reality is that TV manufacturer's know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the brightest tv in the room is what sells. Nearly every TV I encounter in friends and family's houses are always on the Vivid or equivalent setting. Yet when they come to my place I often get comments on my 6-year old plasma I bought used off Craigslist for $200 and how good it looks. Even my mom who is a professional photographer commented on how good it looked recently when the photo slideshow came up. The problem is that a properly calibrated screen is significantly dimmer and much more yellow than what the mass market has come to expect.

 

[QquegChristian]

I totally agree but the reality is that TV manufacturer's know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the brightest tv in the room is what sells. Nearly every TV I encounter in friends and family's houses are always on the Vivid or equivalent setting. Yet when they come to my place I often get comments on my 6-year old plasma I bought used off Craigslist for $200 and how good it looks. Even my mom who is a professional photographer commented on how good it looked recently when the photo slideshow came up. The problem is that a properly calibrated screen is significantly dimmer and much more yellow than what the mass market has come to expect.

They need a "vivid" preset and a "calibrated" preset is all. The same way I've heard that newer Samsung phones have a preset that doesn't make them the oversaturated mess they once were.

I'm a photographer and cinematographer. Thankfully the main destination of my photography is print (cookbooks), but I cringe when I think of all the TVs playing my movies with vivid colors, heavy noise reduction, 120hz soap opera processing, dynamic brightness, etc. I had to return 4 TVs last year to find one that actually let me turn off ALL processing... most did the auto brightness thing the iPhone does with no way to turn it off. I think the main reason they do it is to get the energy star certification, but also to make blacks look more black. That may be a reason Apple does it too. To compete with AMOLED blacks better. But black blacks aren't worth it when you've lost all the detail in the shadows AND highlights.

 

[Costino1]

Didn't we all know this phone wasn't going to be a huge upgrade?

I'm coming from a 6+ and am not excited for the phone. I know it's the same form factor basically, but I am looking forward to a phone that isn't scratched, doesn't have battery degradation, and has 2016 technology.

Everything you posted are things we were all well aware of during the Keynote and also came to light during the rumors unfolding.

The days of us getting brand new technology and form factors ended in 2014 with the iPhone 6. Sure, maybe the 2017 iPhone might have a glass body but it's basically the same thing from-here-forward.

 

[Jimmy James]

no headphone jack is a plus, its 2016 get with the times

where you disappointed the wasn't a rotary dial?

Exempt I do t use a rotary phone. I do use the headphone jack.

The analogy would be more like removing the handset from the old rotary phone and telling you to pay extra for an accessory, even if it is more convenient on one level.

 

[danilko1]

I am still waiting on my 7+.

However even 6 months ago or more, I was thinking I may not want to upgrade to the iPhone 7. Year after year I have purchased each new model. The iPhone 7 is more like a 6Ss, than a true 7. But next year we are thinking there will be a 10 year anniversary model.

My reason for upgrading this year, and every year, is beyond what each new revision has to offer. My household has the 6s+, 6+, 5s and 5. I get the new phone and everyone gets a bump down.

I think there are significant upgrades to the 7, but we can't see them yet. Just like 64bit, bare Metal, Apple Pay, and all other new features over the years, we don't get the full design intent until months to years down the road.

Regarding the screens, there is always something wrong at launch. I don't know if it's relaxed restrictions on B stock or if it's simply the floor manager at Foxconn being a slave driver. Through Christmas we will see these issues. It's a part of being an early adopter of anything. My Day One Xbox One has a loud fan noise all the time. It's a launch defect.

Last year the 6S+ had light bleed binding at the top of the screen and a spot at the lower left. If I didn't go looking for it, I wouldn't have noticed so much. However, because of the complaints, I did notice it and I went through three phones at the Apple Store, where all of them had it. I gave up and went home with the best of the three. This whole year I didn't notice the spot at all. But checking just now. It's still there. Not real obvious but also not really a defect that I would need to disclose if I were to sell, never mind selling it 4 years from now. At $100 to $200, no one is going to care.

I do think the OP is going over the top. However he needs no excuse at all to return his phone. He's not happy - not satisfied, that should be good enough. There is nothing remotely wrong with the iPhone 7. It is what it is. It's not going to hurt anyone. You are just rattling of tantrums. It's not like you depend on any of these features to make money. Heaven forbid if you depended on screen calibration to do your job.

The 6S is a very good phone and the 7 is not much better. I can believe that.

I just don't know anything about the sapphire home button or camera lens. If it's true, maybe last few years Apple had made a point of saying so as a bullet point. This year it's not a bullet point. Maybe it's not necessary. Let's see how things go months from now, if it's a real issue. You can't say Apple is getting cheap on us, not for this.

Frankly I am most upset that AT&T is no longer offering the subsidy. That is a real jerk move, and my bill remains the same, as if I am giving them an extra $225 each year.

 

[Gudcj]

After just 18 hours and 2 different iPhone 7's I have just returned the 7 and gone back to the 6S.

As of right now, the 7 is not a superior phone to the 6S in my opinion, for the following reasons:

-Yellow screens. This is a problem every year when they change the display. The good screens will come back in a few months. I think this has something to do with the manufacturing process of IPS displays. A residue is deposited for the first few million. In a month or so, the clear blue screens will return. This isn't glue, intentional, more correct, or any other BS reason we hear every year. Its a defect of the manufacturing process. 2 iPhone 7's I got both had vastly inferior screens to my 6S, even after color profile/tint correction. Contrast, clarity, and brightness all worse than the 6S.

-No noticeable speed increases. I put the phones next to each other and tried my hardest to make the 7 run faster. It didn't. In some cases web pages loaded faster on the 6S. Plus the intentional delay after clicking the home button that was introduced in the 7 makes it feel slower and laggier.

-Marginal at best camera improvements

-Weird home button that doesn't work unless pressed with bare skin (no more gloves).

-Legitimate concerns about the lack of sapphire (lower quality materials)

And for all this what do you get in return?

-No headphone jack.


No thanks, Apple

I just returned mine too. 2 in my household with the same yellow screen. Before I returned it I compared with the ones they have for display at Apple Store and the display looks perfectly fine.
At Apple Store they said they don't know what it is and advised me to return it.
So I'm gonna wait some weeks to buy it again.
Just registered now to this forum to let you know 2 in my house and 1 friend returned it too.
It's supposed to be 25% brighter than 6s, not ****ing warmer.

 

[danilko1]

Another thing. You aren't just buying phone.

In Jan of 2015, after a battery recall on the iPhone 5, I had it repaired. After this the phone died. Apple replaced my iPhone 5, with a brand new less than a month old iPhone 5 64GB Silver. This is a whole year after they stopped selling it. The 5c was already out. Yet they were still manufacturing my phone model with the whole purpose to replace it after the fact. Who does that? Apple.

 

[mebehere]

Apple is not infallible. I've been fairly lucky with clear, white displays. I had the original iPhone. It had the semi widely reported dead strip.

I got a refurbished phone to replace it. It had a RED tint. Plus, the battery died before I was eligible for a 4 (long time maybe, but there was no 3G in my city and no reason to upgrade at the time.), but the phone was expensive as hell.

Apple is not infallible. I'm running iOS 10 on my 6, and it's working great. Gonna keep what I've got.

No reason to bash anyone regardless of his or her opinions on these phones. People have different expectations. And, these phones can suck when they shouldn't.

They're expensive. If they don't meet marketing hype, you have a valid gripe.

Thanks for your time.

 

[FoxD]

After just 18 hours and 2 different iPhone 7's I have just returned the 7 and gone back to the 6S.

As of right now, the 7 is not a superior phone to the 6S in my opinion, for the following reasons:

-Yellow screens. This is a problem every year when they change the display. The good screens will come back in a few months. I think this has something to do with the manufacturing process of IPS displays. A residue is deposited for the first few million. In a month or so, the clear blue screens will return. This isn't glue, intentional, more correct, or any other BS reason we hear every year. Its a defect of the manufacturing process. 2 iPhone 7's I got both had vastly inferior screens to my 6S, even after color profile/tint correction. Contrast, clarity, and brightness all worse than the 6S.

-No noticeable speed increases. I put the phones next to each other and tried my hardest to make the 7 run faster. It didn't. In some cases web pages loaded faster on the 6S. Plus the intentional delay after clicking the home button that was introduced in the 7 makes it feel slower and laggier.

-Marginal at best camera improvements

-Weird home button that doesn't work unless pressed with bare skin (no more gloves).

-Legitimate concerns about the lack of sapphire (lower quality materials)

And for all this what do you get in return?

-No headphone jack.


No thanks, Apple

He actually has valid points. At this time, the 6S is superior in many ways.

 

[Jayson A]

In my experience, launch screens look better and they get worse after the first few batches.

That's just what I've noticed over the years.

Also, cooler vs warmer is a personal preference, not a defect.

You like cool screen temperatures, I like warm. My iPad screen has a yellowish tint to it and it's fine.

 

[Guda.FL]

This is becoming like crackberry. God forbid someone dislikes his phone And makes a thread.

OP has very valid points that i can agree on. 2nd day on the 7plus....i can say while there are technical changes with the home button and another camera which isnt that great at closeup clarity tbh this isnt the release that i would write home about compared to 4, 5, 6 etc.

Those with a 6S plus who have not pre ordered...take your time as you may not need to run and spend money on this unless you are a techie and love new equipment.

I think its a nice phone, i love the new home button and to my 6 it feels old school. There are improvements but quite honestly they could have called this 6S rev2.

Someone was made to be stupid here by claiming they made a new color to draw attention and they were probably right.

 

[kre62]

Display variance has always been an issue with iPhone suppliers/manufacturing. It isn't glue drying. It isn't only the first batch, though I would imagine that, if Apple is using multiple suppliers, that once the demand slows down, they can use the better supplier more exclusively.

Attached is a photo of the two iPhone 6 in my house. Both were purchased about 9 months after launch. Both are the same exact model purchased at the same store on the same day. Both are over a year old and have been heavily used. Photo was taken on a 5D mark iv DSLR with white balance calibrated to 6500k using a neutral gray card.

There is clearly a difference between the two. As a photographer, the phone on the left is far more accurate color-wise. In fact, it is nearly a perfect match to my calibrated studio monitors. The phone on the right is too cool AND heavily shifted toward magenta (which will give the phone on the left the appearance that it is shifted toward green).

The annoying thing about taking this side by side just now is that the more correct phone on the left (my phone) is noticeably softer than the right, where text is tack sharp. So there is yet another difference in the panels.

I was one of the people that had a scuffed iPhone 5 out of the box many years ago. Apple let me keep the original when they sent a replacement. When the replacement arrived the display was far more cool than the scuffed model. But beyond that, the replacement had a significantly worse color gamut. Colors were washed out and highlights blew out to pure white when the other phone still showed detail in those areas. I kept the scuffed phone as the replacement was inferior in every way.

So, not to complicate things, but be on the lookout for differences in color temperature, sharpness, and color gamut differences.

As there get to be fewer and fewer features that can be added to distinguish new models, I always hoped Apple would push toward greater consistency. You can't tout these huge advancements in display quality if the displays are so varied. I remember them touting the cameras used to cut the glass parts of the iPhone 5 to ensure a perfect fit. I think it's time they put that attention to detail into factory calibration of every screen that goes out the door. Relatively cheap ASUS ProArt monitors come with a factory calibration report in the box.

With no way to calibrate iOS displays ourselves, a factory calibration would be better than nothing and prevent a lot of returns from people playing a panel lottery.

But most people simply do not notice or care. For instance, it absolutely blows my mind that high end TVs are not factory calibrated. TVs have one job... accurately displaying content. Yet there isn't a single TV on the market that comes close to accurate on any preset out of the box. Factory calibration can't replace true and regular calibration in your environment, but it's so much better than what you get out of the box.

Thanks for this excellent reply. That's one thing I forgot to mention that's been present on all these yellow screens - less sharp text. I always notice that too. The screens from the other manufacturer, what I call blue/white or really "clear" screens always have razor sharp text, excellent contrast, and just that wow factor you get when you look at a really clear sharp display. I never get that feeling looking at one of the yellow screens.

Yes it's still possible to get a display from this (IMO) inferior supplier after launch, but it seems to be more likely around launch. Sounds like a combo of both (slightly warmer with clear text and good contrast) would be your ideal. Mine is still the clear whiteish/bluish screens with perfect text, but if they would nail the basics on every panel we could adjust temperature as needed.

 

[oftheheavens]

Yet another 6s owner with a rather rambling, nonsensical argument... like they're the ONLY target market for Apple's latest release ... sheesh.

not sure what you mean by that. I have owned every iPhone generation. If you were referring to the person I was responding to, i totally agree with you lol.
[doublepost=1474175800][/doublepost]

Wow. Drooling like Chris Brown at a women's UFC match over the backlit apple idea.

"It serves no purpose, and absolutely drains my battery... but I sure do love a glowin' apple logo"
-Ricky Bobby

I have wanted one since they made the backs flat glass. what was that the 4's? I saw somewhere, I'm sure google will provide, that there was a service charging a butt load to do it. Kinda like that luxury brand iPhone remakers that have gotten famous lately...forget the name of that too.

 

[tgi]

Where's the comparison pics of blue vs yellow screens. I've never had any screen tint issues on any launch day iPhone.

Does that mean I'm normal?

 

[jk4lebron23]

The fact that so many people liked that post is sad...
[doublepost=1474176593][/doublepost]

I may get another 7 when the good screens return, but you're kidding yourself if you think the screens shipping right now are in any way better than the 6S. These are the same low quality launch screens that ship every year. I've seen these screens a thousand times, on my 3GS, my 4S, my 5, my 5S, etc. My 6 and 6S were fine (though many got bad 6 screens, I got lucky that year I guess), but now we are back to bad launch screens. Sad.

Um...my screen is fine? Nobody is kidding theirselves and you aren't ruler of all when it comes to screens

 

[oftheheavens]

You Da Man, have set this Forum on Fire that and the other Retruned my iPhone thread on here are OVER 15,000 Views that's Viral for this an any other forums in less than 24 hours. You Hot a Nerve that can't be Un hit.

#1. Owners of 6s and 6s Plus you have a Superior device stay put
#2. People with 5s and old 6 and 6 Plus, The 7 is a good device.
#3. There is little to no reason to get Excited for. 7 or 7 Plus if you own a 6s Plus

agree with 2 and 3 but 1 is arguable with the free upgrade that most carriers offer. I upgraded from a 6 to a 6S to a 7 and love each one. only think I don't like about the 7 is some of my games progress didn't carry over but that is on the dev not apple.

 

[QquegChristian]

Where's the comparison pics of blue vs yellow screens. I've never had any screen tint issues on any launch day iPhone.

Does that mean I'm normal?

I posted a picture of the two iPhone 6 in my household a few posts back. Saw a similar difference between 2 iPhone 5 (it was actually worse than this, as one panel had an entirely different gamma).

It's two different suppliers if you ask me. Every year, people complain, people say it is glue, then people just adjust to the new color temperature and get used to it.

Honestly, if you're coming from a blue tinted iPhone and get a yellow tinted one, I'd highly suggest you keep it and let your eyes adjust. The yellow tinted screens are probably more color accurate. Most screens lean toward blue, so accurate color can be jarringly yellow at first. In the end though, you'll adjust and you'll know that your photos will print as you see them on the screen, you'll know that products you order online will match what you saw on the screen, and that you are seeing videos/photos on the web as the creators intended them to look.

I can put my "yellow" phone next to pages in books I did photography for and they look nearly identical.

 

[mi7chy]

I just returned mine too. 2 in my household with the same yellow screen. Before I returned it I compared with the ones they have for display at Apple Store and the display looks perfectly fine.
At Apple Store they said they don't know what it is and advised me to return it.
So I'm gonna wait some weeks to buy it again.
Just registered now to this forum to let you know 2 in my house and 1 friend returned it too.
It's supposed to be 25% brighter than 6s, not ****ing warmer.

Apple source their displays from different companies. The good sharp white one without backlight bleed is from Japan Display Inc (JDI). The pissy yellow one is probably Foxconn/Sharp. You just have to play the display lottery until you get one with JDI.

 

[roland.g]

I may get another 7 when the good screens return, but you're kidding yourself if you think the screens shipping right now are in any way better than the 6S. These are the same low quality launch screens that ship every year. I've seen these screens a thousand times, on my 3GS, my 4S, my 5, my 5S, etc. My 6 and 6S were fine (though many got bad 6 screens, I got lucky that year I guess), but now we are back to bad launch screens. Sad.

A thousand times for 7 generations of phones. That's like each one that comes out you return in 150 times until you get a screen you like. I thinks there may be a bigger issue here.

Funny how my 6S Plus and 6 Plus and 5 and 4 and 3G and original iPhone were ALL launch weekend phones.

So my 7 Plus screen couldn't be worse than my 6S Plus screen, because by your rationale, my 6S Plus screen was a launch day device that suffered from their same repeating problem.

My 7 Plus screen would only be inferior to screens coming out in a few month or from the past 8 months of 6S Plus production.

Did you use a brush or a roller to paint yourself into this logical corner of nonsense?

 

[Mildredop]

I think this is something that people have wanted for so long (basically the beginning) that we've just accepted it's not happening.

For the record I would be all for it. I think Apple's answer is the Watch. I just got one myself and am very happy with it so far. But I could absolutely get behind notification loght.

It's probably the single biggest reason that's stopping me going back to iPhone. iPhones are just dead bricks when the screen isn't on. I remember constantly having to wake the phone whenever I re-entered a room or returned to my desk in order to check for any missed calls/texts.

Apple's answer seems to be the repeating alert, which is just annoying.

A notification light or active OLED screen would change all that.

 

[duction]

Head over to Samsung forum, there a whole lot of people feeing stupid and wasting their money on Note 7 right now.

Not quite sure what that has got to do with apple phones on an apple forum but alright lol, ive no interest in samsung.

 

[mrex]

After just 18 hours and 2 different iPhone 7's I have just returned the 7 and gone back to the 6S.

I dont see any reason to upgrade from 6s to 7 than ois. If you already have 6s and doesnt need ois, why would you even consider 7? Better to wait atleast 7s.

 

[mrex]

Head over to Samsung forum, there a whole lot of people feeing stupid and wasting their money on Note 7 right now.

Wait what!? Are you saying that Samsung doesnt replace malfunctioning Note7 or why it is waste of money? Did they loose their money and the phone... im confused...

 

[gorkt]

So odd. With the exception of my first phone, the 3G, I have gotten a first day launch phone every upgrade cycle and have never seen an off color screen. Maybe I am just not sensitive to subtle color variations.

 

[MacModMachine]

Wait what!? Are you saying that Samsung doesnt replace malfunctioning Note7 or why it is waste of money? Did they loose their money and the phone... im confused...

no they have not replaced them yet.

and yes i feel like i have lost my money. no word from them.