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Don't give up - Apple have to get the message that customers won't accept sub-standard components on their premium products.

In his Keynotes, Steve Jobs describes the iPhone and iPod Touch screens as 'gorgeous'. Well, they're not gorgeous if you can't view video on them without wanting to cry.

I queued up for 12 hours to get my iPhone from Regent Street on Friday and the lighting along one edge of the screen was all patchy. I took it back yesterday. They were helpful in swapping it out for a (thankfully) good one but they said that they wouldn't keep letting me open boxes until I found a good one.

This annoyed me on two counts a) that it should be such a lottery in the first place and b) I spent 12 hours being interviewed and photographed by the press and radio generating untold thousands of pounds in publicity for Apple products. I think I (and every Apple fan) deserves to get a product they're 100% happy with.

Take it back and keep trying until you're happy

Well, on my third iPhone now - all of them have had the 7455232 screens, and all have had the negative issue - including one I swapped out yesterday.

I've had a week 42, 44, and now 43...! I just want a decent screen!

Back to CPW I go on the way home!
 
Well, on my third iPhone now - all of them have had the 7455232 screens, and all have had the negative issue - including one I swapped out yesterday.

I've had a week 42, 44, and now 43...! I just want a decent screen!

Back to CPW I go on the way home!

I'm getting my 4th iPhone tomorrow and i'm also hoping that I get a good screen :(
 
I haven't done any tests but to me the screen is beautiful and I've no concerns. I've shown people video on it and they have all been very impressed - and these have been Lifted (short film before new Pixar effort) and an episode of Lost, both of which are very dark. I'm sorry people are unhappy with their iPhone experience but I'm not. And I only queued for 35 minutes because I have things to do during the day but I was still running by 7pm on the Friday.
 
I haven't done any tests but to me the screen is beautiful and I've no concerns. I've shown people video on it and they have all been very impressed - and these have been Lifted (short film before new Pixar effort) and an episode of Lost, both of which are very dark. I'm sorry people are unhappy with their iPhone experience but I'm not. And I only queued for 35 minutes because I have things to do during the day but I was still running by 7pm on the Friday.
Good to hear you got a good screen as well. I'm pretty upset that the whole iPhone experience has been ruined by the bad screens. People keep telliing me 'you're being picky' or 'it's fine', and that just angers me a bit, because the difference is as clear as night and day. I've posted several photos already in another thread - and here's another.

ff.jpg
 
Good to hear you got a good screen as well. I'm pretty upset that the whole iPhone experience has been ruined by the bad screens. People keep telliing me 'you're being picky' or 'it's fine', and that just angers me a bit, because the difference is as clear as night and day. I've posted several photos already in another thread - and here's another.

ff.jpg

it would ne much appreciated if u could you provide the good picture or movie which this image iwas taken from so that we can test our iphone as well?
 
my iphone is fine
I am not denying that some people have issues but alot of the threads about screen issues seem to come from people misunderstanding how contrast works on LCD screens and perhaps regretting their outlay for the device in general.

the black-on-black test looks fine on my device. if I turn it to an angle it looks the same as any other LCD I have. including my Archos 605 and HTC Touch, except for one thing :-
The iphone is different from other devices in that it has a glass screen. This was a big draw for me as its fundamentaly more robust then the plastic on other devices. However glass does have different refraction properties and this causes more a of twinkle at different angles. I am pretty sure that by now Apple would have made sure that no faulty displays were slipping through.
 
I am pretty sure that by now Apple would have made sure that no faulty displays were slipping through.

You'd think so, wouldn't you - but it does seem that the majority of people with a certain LCD ID have this issue. It's not us being picky - for me any dark videos are completely unwatchable, and looking at remotely dark pictures is a joke. Like I mentioned in my post above, 3 seperate iPhones I've had all have had the same ID with the same issue. My partner's iPhone however looks completely different, and I'm going to do what I can to make sure I get the same screen quality as that - after all, why shouldn't I?
 
You'd think so, wouldn't you - but it does seem that the majority of people with a certain LCD ID have this issue. It's not us being picky - for me any dark videos are completely unwatchable, and looking at remotely dark pictures is a joke. Like I mentioned in my post above, 3 seperate iPhones I've had all have had the same ID with the same issue. My partner's iPhone however looks completely different, and I'm going to do what I can to make sure I get the same screen quality as that - after all, why shouldn't I?

if you see another iPhone that has radically different/better display then I agree. just make sure its your screen thats faulty and not hers:)
(how do you check LCD number ?)

but after 3, it is unlikely that you will see much difference on a fourth, although you could be really unlucky.
 
I have one dark dead pixel on my iPhone but it's so small that I doubt I'll bother to change it for fear of getting a worse screen on the replacement.

Blacks display perfectly, no problems when testing the picture posted above.
 
I have seen dozens of units; there is extreme variation even amongst LCDs of the same model number. So many different tints, brightnesses, contrasts, et cetera... iPhone screen quality is quite inconsistent.
 
I just bought my iPhone (o2 UK network) a few days ago and I'm worried if I'm being too picky.

The bottom 1/3 or maybe half of the screen (when held portrait) appears to be a slightly off-white/yellow hue, then towards the top of the screen, it appears more of a 'cold' white.

This is of course a subtle gradient that is only really visible on solids (white in particular).

I understand that this is possibly down to the way the display is backlit. The funny thing is, I went to the o2 shop to look at others, and they also had this subtle hue. Some more than others. However, I did start to worry if I was just seeing things.

Basically, does anyone else see this on theirs. Maybe open a blank Safari page and look at the white at the bottom and the white at the top.

Cheers.
 
I just bought my iPhone (o2 UK network) a few days ago and I'm worried if I'm being too picky.

The bottom 1/3 or maybe half of the screen (when held portrait) appears to be a slightly off-white/yellow hue, then towards the top of the screen, it appears more of a 'cold' white.

This is of course a subtle gradient that is only really visible on solids (white in particular).

I understand that this is possibly down to the way the display is backlit. The funny thing is, I went to the o2 shop to look at others, and they also had this subtle hue. Some more than others. However, I did start to worry if I was just seeing things.

Basically, does anyone else see this on theirs. Maybe open a blank Safari page and look at the white at the bottom and the white at the top.

Cheers.

My first iPhone had this to an unacceptable degree. The top left corner (when in portrait mode) was very white and changed to a more green/grey as it went across. So when viewing a white page in Safari in landscape it was very noticeable.

I went to the Regent Street Apple store where they must have 20 or 30 iPhones on display. They nearly all had the problem to a greater or lesser degree but mine was definitely the worst. I decided to get mine swapped for another which I'm very pleased with. There's still slightly more white light at the top edge but I think it's the best I've seen so far.

I'm now happy. I'd suggest you take yours back if you're similarly unhappy.
 
I am afraid I don't know you so I don't trust you!

I think you have a bad screen you just do not realise it like I imagine most of the people who buy a UK iPhone.
Yes, that's right. We in America shipped all ****** ass phones to the UK. It's truly a personal dig on you pal.

Honestly man, you want help and you actually want to say that you don't trust the guy after he answered you? Is it because there is a chance that you got a bad one and no one else did so instead of returning it you'd rather whine and disrespect people? Grow up kid!

You have a bad screen and my guess is that there is at least one other bad screen out there but all of the UK was not shafted there are good screens in the UK. You don't know me so you don't trust me, I get it but my guess is your issues do not start and stop with trust. ;)

Crazy party of 1.
 
I am just staggered by the overall ignorance of some of the community on this forum page! I am all for expression but surely, on all forums, it saves everyone some time if the moderators act accordingly and in this case they should have acted!! "UK Screen quality a huge dissappointment..." go and sort your head out! Hardware manufacturers can have batch issues and if so, you are entitled to swap it out, but to insinuate that Apple deliberately shipped a lower spec screen for the UK audience, is frankly childish! This forum should be for tech-enthusiasts and people, who like me, have waited for the iPhone for over many months and who realised within 3 hours of activation that the iPhone is in a completely different league to anything from Nokia, Motorola, HTC, or any other mobile device manufacturer out there today. If anyone is in any doubt about the issues with early technology adoption, then go and buy Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm!
 
Wow. Lamest. Thread. Ever.

Why are people so convinced that bad screens are intrinsically tied to a specific manufacture date? Countless threads on the topic have proven nothing.

Manufacturing anomalies can occur under myriad conditions...due to anything from variances in materials, temperature shifts, or the guy running the production line who overslept, etc...and they can occur at any time during the process.

Whoever posted the title of the thread "UK Screen Quality a huge dissapointment!" ought to go work for the National Enquirer as editor in chief of the FUD dept. What a ridiculous basis-free generalization.
 
I may have somewhat generalised in my thread title.

But it is CLEAR that the more recent iPhones and iPod touches have inferior screens to the earlier models.

You can see it by comparing the older screens to the newer ones. There are dead pixels and dodgy blacks.

So maybe the thread should have been entitled "New iPhone Screens are a dissapointment"... I am sure there are people happy with their screens but there is clearly a downturn in quality control at Apple recently and there is no excuse for that - if every iPhone since the US run in June was bad then I would understand but it seems the quality dropped off and that is what is dissapointing!

Personally my 3rd iPhone swap with one dead pixel is acceptable but today I noticed that the touch screen seems to not want to respond when I slide to unlock from time to time - I am not sure what to make of that - anyone else have that problem? it doesn't happen all the time but it has a few times today...
 
I have never seen another iPhone, but I can say my (UK) iPhone has the best screen of any mobile device I have ever used. Both text and video look absolutely gorgeous on this thing.

I cannot comment on the quality of screen others here are getting, just mine is simply stunning.

A batch problem is all I can assume...
 
Do you think it's worthwhile returning a iPhone for one dark dead pixel which doesn't overly annoy me? Apple have said they will change it but I'm scared of exchanging it for a phone which suffers from some of the other problems posted here, mainly negative black screen or bad signal quality. My current iphone is perfect on both of these.
 
Do you think it's worthwhile returning a iPhone for one dark dead pixel which doesn't overly annoy me? Apple have said they will change it but I'm scared of exchanging it for a phone which suffers from some of the other problems posted here, mainly negative black screen or bad signal quality. My current iphone is perfect on both of these.

If it doesn't bother you, why exchange it?
 
I've had four iPhones. My first iPhone had what I'm calling faulty blacks. My second iPhone had a very distinct dead blue subpixel located high and centered left to right when viewing movies - its effect on blue skies in movies was too obvious to keep. My third iPhone's touch screen went dead on the lower quarter rendering the iPhone useless. I'm on my 4th, which is excellent across the board.

There appears to be several different issues that can happen with the screen.

1. There's definitely a possible negative black issue that resembles what appeared on early iPod touches. This is what cjmal's iPhone seems to be displaying. It appears as if the screen is being viewed at an extreme angle when it's actually being viewed head on.

2. There's also an issue where the iPhone's rendering of blacks and grays vary greatly from one iPhone to the next. In this case a gradient from white to black will not display the final shades of gray. This noticeably affects black details in movies and photos. One noticeable place this happens is on the load screen immediately after you select a video from YouTube. That screen has a long gray to black gradient. On my first iPhone, that screen was basically black.

3. Then there are subpixel anomalies. Dead subpixels that don't light up. And stuck subpixels which are always lit.

4. There are also several issues people are reporting about fading and changing hues across the screen. My current iPhone had a brownish tint to it, either I've gotten used to it or it resolved itself as the screen "burned in."

Obviously there need to be some minimum acceptable standards. Hopefully a significant number of complaints will cause Apple to take a look at the issues. I've seen some very surprised looks when I show Apple geniuses just how poor their own iPhone display is from a good one. The difference is quite noticeable.

I changed one of the tests on AppleServedUp to reflect what my limited testing using iPhones at my local Apple stores revealed. The gradient was clearly visible into the green on the best iPhones. Yet some iPhones wouldn't display a gradient even into the orange, while others were barley visible at all. My current iPhone has gray visible all the way to the black. If anyone wants to post or email me a picture of their screen displaying the gradient test at full brightness, I'd appreciate it. You can send the images to gradienttest at appleservedup dot com. You can also let me know what you think is an acceptable level of gray for the iPhone's LCD.
 
I visited the Apple Store Glasgow today and considered exchanging my phone due to the dead pixel but on viewing the demo phones I decided against doing so. All demo phones and the phone they offered me had 7 series screens and every single one of them did not display gradients as well as my 5 series phone. Several had the negative black problem.

The Apple genius I spoke with noted down the Field Test code and the web address for testing the screens.
 
Blast! Just got my iPhone from the Glasgow store.

Week: 43
Panel: 7459072
Dead Pixels: 0
NegBlack: No

Damn thing is perfect. I'm going to miss out on all the fun I could have had whining and moaning... ;)
 
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