Hey quick Q, i bought a S3 on Wednesday, just noticed that when the screen is green ( or when browsing 0 brightness) that there is a faint whitish pixel that always shows up. Its not visible on black screens, red, purple, or blue.
Anything i can do? Or should i not even bother as its only 1 and how often does the screen go green.
There is no such thing as stuck pixels on AMOLED screens, only defective (either always-on or always-off) pixels or lazy pixels.
While it may sound stupid when related to what I just said, try the app 'Dead Pixel Detect and Fix' and let it run for half an hour.
It will cycle the colors very fast. It will most probably not work but it's worth a try.
If it still appears, try taking it back. Defective screens on a new 600$-handset is not very nice.
ah i see, but can you explain to me why it does not show up on a black screen/background? I just find it interesting and would like to know the reason behind it.
cruisx said:
ah i see, but can you explain to me why it does not show up on a black screen/background? I just find it interesting and would like to know the reason behind it.
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If it bothers you, just take it back to where you got it from and get it either fixed or see if they can give you a new one.
LCD screens use a white backlight illuminating the whole screen from behind. White includes all visible colors from near-infrared to near-ultraviolet.
To create the different colors they use crystals which are rotated by a power source in the correct angle that only a certain color (e.g. blue) is visible.
LED-Screens [*] and their derivates such as OLED get rid of the backlight and instead of using crystalls, replace each dot with a ligh-emitting diod (LED) which by itself gives light. However LED's have a big deficit; they can only produce one single exact color. So, similar as with the old CRT screens, LED's use multiple colors per pixel [**], these are the RGB colors (Red Green Blue). So each pixel is made up of multiple so-called sub-pixels.
If all 3 are lighted, they mix together to white, any combination in intensity (from 'off' to 'full brightness') gives you millions and millions of colors to display.
(It's easiest to see on large-scale LED televisions, just move very close and you see the 3 tiny 'lamps')
Now your particular issue is that a certain, due to one of several possible issues is not powered off or connected incorrectly; it is lightened at the wrong time.
So the reason it only shows at certain combinations is, that at other combinations you cannot see it due to the difference in color being too marginal or the other LED's also being off.
While it's unnerving, these issues keep arising during production. One has to keep in mind that one such small screen is made up out of thousands of individual light sources which can each be triggered individually to form millions of different colors.
Usually quality-control should get rid of such screens, but sometimes one slips through. I'm not sure what Samsung's standard for the S3 in regard to maximum defective pixels per inch or unit is, but you can (and should) always try to get it replaced.
[*] A lot of cheapskates sell LED televisions where in fact a normal LCD panel is built-in but they refer to the backlight source which in their case (and most other current productions) in fact is an LED source. It has nothing but the name in common.
[**]
This is not entirely true since structures such as active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) share LED's between pixels to cram a higher pixel densitiy in the same physical size.
d4fseeker said:
LCD screens use a white backlight illuminating the whole screen from behind. White includes all visible colors from near-infrared to near-ultraviolet.
To create the different colors they use crystals which are rotated by a power source in the correct angle that only a certain color (e.g. blue) is visible.
LED-Screens [*] and their derivates such as OLED get rid of the backlight and instead of using crystalls, replace each dot with a ligh-emitting diod (LED) which by itself gives light. However LED's have a big deficit; they can only produce one single exact color. So, similar as with the old CRT screens, LED's use multiple colors per pixel [**], these are the RGB colors (Red Green Blue). So each pixel is made up of multiple so-called sub-pixels.
If all 3 are lighted, they mix together to white, any combination in intensity (from 'off' to 'full brightness') gives you millions and millions of colors to display.
(It's easiest to see on large-scale LED televisions, just move very close and you see the 3 tiny 'lamps')
Now your particular issue is that a certain, due to one of several possible issues is not powered off or connected incorrectly; it is lightened at the wrong time.
So the reason it only shows at certain combinations is, that at other combinations you cannot see it due to the difference in color being too marginal or the other LED's also being off.
While it's unnerving, these issues keep arising during production. One has to keep in mind that one such small screen is made up out of thousands of individual light sources which can each be triggered individually to form millions of different colors.
Usually quality-control should get rid of such screens, but sometimes one slips through. I'm not sure what Samsung's standard for the S3 in regard to maximum defective pixels per inch or unit is, but you can (and should) always try to get it replaced.
[*] A lot of cheapskates sell LED televisions where in fact a normal LCD panel is built-in but they refer to the backlight source which in their case (and most other current productions) in fact is an LED source. It has nothing but the name in common.
[**]
This is not entirely true since structures such as active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) share LED's between pixels to cram a higher pixel densitiy in the same physical size.
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yes
Related
There are a few threads out there that have touched on this issue but none as far as I can see that deal with it directly.
The problem comes when you display a pure black screen in low light conditions. It shows that the AMOLED screen is actually grey / blotchy / cloudy instead of being pure black. Initially I thought mine had fingerprints or smudge marks on it, until I realised they were behind the screen. I guess I might have got a phone with a screen that was replaced, but the amount of people who have also reported a similar issue leads me to believe that it might be a manufacturing default? The blotches / clouds on the screen dont change, but exhibit a random formation as one would expect from a defect. It is also possible to see a very faint outline of light running along 3 edges of the screen.
Naturally this is a situation that doesnt reveal itself very often. But I as I use my phone a lot at night, especially reading ebooks or watching films, you start to notice it more and more where you have large expanses of empty black screen.
What I would like to know is how many people have got screens that exhibit this behaviour and how many of you have sent them in for service or had them replaced?
Is it a common issue and something that is to be expected from this type of screen?
You can test if yours has this problem using 'Screen Test' (its free) from the market place. It cycles through solid colours and patterns every time you touch the screen.
Just do it in bed with all the lights out P), give your eyes a few seconds to adjust and see what your screen looks like displaying pure black.
I'm very interested in everyone's experiences and any input or information you have.
Thanks everyone in advance!
ps: I came from a ZTE blade (OLED) which has a uniformly dark grey background when displaying pure black. I kinda expect this as it is a budget phone (albeit with a better than budget screen), but I didnt expect the SGS2 to be quite as bad.
Use "screen adjuster" from the market and set contrast to -60
i have never seen this black low light screen defect. but i am asking you people if any of you have noticed that ugly blurry shadows which are perfectly visible with low light, on white backgrounds especially. they look like marks above the actual display and make high quality images look like low resolution.. it is annoying as hell..
I have this. Noticed it one night when my phone was switched off and charging.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I also have this, noticed the first evening i used the phone...you can notice this during the screen wake delay, or when in a call if you cover then uncover the proximity sensor...don't know if it's a defect but sure it bugs me, i know many won't notice it and will say they don't have this...i will add that if u look carefully to the screen dimmed at lowest brightness in a low light (buy not dark) environment, like early morning, you'll see some "interferences" behind the image, also the darker/yellower left half screen is still visible in these conditions
These things shouldn't be there in a 500€ phone
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Thanks for the feedback already.
@elmerendeiro: I have also noticed some 'interference' lines on my phone from time to time. I did a bit of research and it seems when your phone's brightness is set around 25 - 30% it picks up interference from either the wifi or 3g radio. Notch the brightness either above or below this level and you wont see it anymore.
I agree with you when you say we shouldn't be having these problems on such an expensive phone.
It bugs me too - if it wasnt for this i'd have to say it would be an amazing phone
Might give the Samsung service center a call and see if its something they're aware of and if they are replacing screens with this problem?
Do you have such stains? I hear this is normal among AMOLEDs.
welcome to mass produced (aka economically viable) OLEDs...
Some patterning or colour patching is inevitable even from new. Blue or Grey backgrounds tend to show patches up more. Very low brightness shows a greenish cast on the left of the screen too.
It took more than a decade before LCDs could be produced in volume with a very low dead pixel yield.
We have a dozen GS2s at work and they all have minor screen issues. From new. They do get worse or even change position over time (many months) as the pixel level elements shift in luminosity.
Also note that if the phone is warm, the effect lessens.
LenAsh said:
welcome to mass produced (aka economically viable) OLEDs...
Some patterning or colour patching is inevitable even from new. Blue or Grey backgrounds tend to show patches up more. Very low brightness shows a greenish cast on the left of the screen too.
It took more than a decade before LCDs could be produced in volume with a very low dead pixel yield.
We have a dozen GS2s at work and they all have minor screen issues. From new. They do get worse or even change position over time (many months) as the pixel level elements shift in luminosity.
Also note that if the phone is warm, the effect lessens.
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Thank God I don't have dead pixels. At least this patch I got is visible only on dark-gray / medium-light (so-to-say, idk) brown. I'd rather have that than dead pixels .
Actually, if I start Screen Test, the patch is visible on ALL colors. On blue/red/green, it is less visible. On white, it is most visible. Also, when displaying full whites, the color is not homogeneous. Vertical and horizontal lines seem to be present ALL ACROSS the screen. These lines are visible on white, yellow and such colors.
At least I don't have ghosting effect and the whites are actually white, not yellow - as it was on Gingerbread (yeah, software problem, eh?).
So... the patch appeared to have vanished after running the fix (which rapidly ****s four colors) for half an hour, because the screen was a bit warmer... and as it cooled down, the patch has shown its face again. Oh well...
the galaxy note and s2 super amoled screens are prone to burn ins, very common, you need to eliminate risks involved.
Turn off auto brightness, lower the brightness level, shorten the time youre screen stays awake for, and if youre using themes, avid the blue themed ics ones, although they look nice, the blue themes are one of the biggest culprits of the burn in issue and before ya know it youve got a battery image burnt in.
i notice it looks like you have a blue theme or something, my mate had same issue, what can ya do, its a pain and well probably all suffer it, whereas htcs dont have the issue, they just suffer dead pixels a lot, but hey, id soone have slight burn in than dead pixels i guess
graemeg said:
the galaxy note and s2 super amoled screens are prone to burn ins, very common, you need to eliminate risks involved.
Turn off auto brightness, lower the brightness level, shorten the time youre screen stays awake for, and if youre using themes, avid the blue themed ics ones, although they look nice, the blue themes are one of the biggest culprits of the burn in issue and before ya know it youve got a battery image burnt in.
i notice it looks like you have a blue theme or something, my mate had same issue, what can ya do, its a pain and well probably all suffer it, whereas htcs dont have the issue, they just suffer dead pixels a lot, but hey, id soone have slight burn in than dead pixels i guess
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F*** !
MIUI uses white & orange. Are those colors dangerous, too?
I mean... what colors should I avoid the most? Besides blue - I get it, it's bad (again, F***).
Anything that turns the RGB elements hard on (!). So high brightness only and white is worst as this is RGB full on, then pure red, pure blue, pure green. Cyan, yellow and magenta are less risky. In theory.
In practice and the real world, just keep the brightness down a little and you'll get years out of it. And save battery - the screen is THE major power consumer...
LenAsh said:
Anything that turns the RGB elements hard on (!). So high brightness only and white is worst as this is RGB full on, then pure red, pure blue, pure green. Cyan, yellow and magenta are less risky. In theory.
In practice and the real world, just keep the brightness down a little and you'll get years out of it. And save battery - the screen is THE major power consumer...
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+1 absolutely right, follow these simple rules and all should be good.
White requires all three elements (RGB), right? Blue = B. Which one should I stick to...? My logics tell me blue, but I hear AMOLED's blue color is so pure because of a compound from algae (rofl) and it wears off more quickly (if any of that makes sense).
Cyan, magenta, yellow... Yeah, I don't have that on AOKP, lol. And neither would I want a yellow theme. Magenta would be nice, though.
RGB... hell, those are the primary colors. How about we use black, with polarised glasses? That'd be a good deal, since I wear glasses, lol.
Seriously, guys, what do YOU do to make sure the screen doesn't get damaged over time? Don't tell me you're using a yellow-black theme. And setting the screen brightness to 50% or more is required outdoors, so...
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I just went to a showroom today. Seen the Galaxy Nexus there. It's on, with the brightness set to maximum, 12 hours a day, and it's been like that ever since they put it there - more than 3 months. Seeing anything strange here?
well, as a rule i dont have wallpapers that have bright vibrant colours, i find it annoying and painful on the eyes, and if you have shortcuts on the homescreen it gets to looking messy, so i stick with dark colours, to be honest most of my wallpapers are black or almost black and my brightness is set at around 20%, and i dont struggle to see it outside in sunlight or anything, but this is just my prefernce, im sure everyone has different tastes, i think you should just enjoy your phone and use it how you wish, but try to avoid having it too bright, it should be ok.
graemeg said:
well, as a rule i dont have wallpapers that have bright vibrant colours, i find it annoying and painful on the eyes, and if you have shortcuts on the homescreen it gets to looking messy, so i stick with dark colours, to be honest most of my wallpapers are black or almost black and my brightness is set at around 20%, and i dont struggle to see it outside in sunlight or anything, but this is just my prefernce, im sure everyone has different tastes, i think you should just enjoy your phone and use it how you wish, but try to avoid having it too bright, it should be ok.
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I'll stick to the stock AOKP theme (blue, that is); but I will be careful not to raise the brightness above the point of 50%. And even if I do, I guess setting it to the maximum point for a few minutes (when the sunlight is very strong) wouldn't hurt...
Oh and mind archiving your black and dark wallpapers and sending them over to me? Please (I'm always happy to pile up such wallpapers)
I was auditioning the Note at the AT&T store in anticipation of its arrival on T-mobile. I was looking at a white one and everything seemed OK but just for grins I turned on a black Note also on display. The same display on the black set appeared much brighter. I thought the white model must be defective but when I went to a different display I discovered the same difference and again at a third display (it's a large store). The black phone appeared significantly brighter when displaying white screens in all three cases. I know that putting a black border around the screen of my projection TV created an illusion of brightness so dramatic it took a light meter to convince me that it was just a matter of perception and wonder if the same illusion is responsible for the phones apparent difference. Just the same, perception is everything. I use my screens (phone or TV) with my eyes not with a light meter. The review of the white phone on Engadget mentions light bleeding through the white bezel around the four buttons on the frame. Thanks to my projector TV experience I know even a moderate increase in ambient light will cause a dramatic shift in perceived screen brightness so I wonder if the white frame allows ambient light to enter the phone and wash out the screen as well. If light leaks out, as Engadget reported, why not in as well? The store had bright LED lighting above the displays.
Even though the difference was appreciable in 3 of 3 displays in the AT&T store, the sample is not large enough to be conclusive so I thought I would ask if others had noticed the same either in the store or when comparing the displays of friends with different phone colors. I thought I wanted white but will be going with the black based only on this experience.
i have both white/black note and didn't notice any difference in screen brightness or quality. the only thing is the bleeding around the buttons on white note. I know sometimes manufactures will use different suppliers which will cause some screens to look different but i haven't heard that on the note.
**some notes do have blobs and lines like the t989
Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear from someone with both. Hard to believe the tiny bezel around the phone could create such a difference in perception. Perhaps the white ones at the store are all from the same batch with weak lights. I guess I will just have to look closely at the phone when available from T-Mobile. The galaxy 3S looks pretty tempting also but I like the idea of the s-pen and the extra half inch of real estate.
Hello,
Im Using Amoled Smartphones since the Galaxy (i7500). They all were always showing at 100% Brightness for Black parts of a picture a true Black like the Display is OFF.
If you put the Brightness to 100% and go to an complete Dark Room and open an Black Picture you see some Gray/Yellow Tint on the Screen. You can compare this good by locking the phone to see the Screen OFF and than unlock it to view the Black Picture again. You should see a huge difference. Hope to hear from your experiences.
I've seen that already on the S1 when abusing it a a nightstand clock.
Best guess I've heard is that the (AMO)LED screen leaks some luminosity to other pixels in the background which is then visible as a very faint glow.
However I rather believe that the AMOLED are not truely off but rather get some leak voltage and thus have a very-very-very faint glow (like one photon per second xD )
That would explain the black spots most people seem to mind on AMOLED when on minimum brightness with a black screen; they are truely off or without insufficient leak voltagage (LED's requie a minimum voltage to work).
AMOLED production is somewhat complicated (very thin layer of silver as a power source and a control-layer) so I wouldn't be surprised if the above is true.
Nothing is perfect, especially not a rather new technology.
What else did you expect from a backlit display.
jbadboy2007 said:
What else did you expect from a backlit display.
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It's not backlit is the point.
Correct me if im wrong here but amoled is, by design, not backlit.
Sent from my LG-P920 using xda premium
Yeah so I was wondering why it does this little/ hard noticeable yellow/gray tint on a dark room...
There is no Backlight... Unfortunely i Sold my Galaxy S2 so I cant compare it.. But im Sure it wasnt like this
I have this on my gsiii and also on the Gnote... I think is due to the pentile screen
I had this on my Fascinate but realized it wasn't a big issue. Definitely more noticeable on my Gnex but it also has more pixels so that could be why you see more light. I wouldn't call it a problem because the majority of the time it's absolutely unnoticeable. Each pixel has so have some sort of voltage to be ready to react to changes. Turning off/on completely each time light is needed might waste battery.
P.S. I'm noob at displays but that's my theory.
Zacisblack said:
I had this on my Fascinate but realized it wasn't a big issue. Definitely more noticeable on my Gnex but it also has more pixels so that could be why you see more light. I wouldn't call it a problem because the majority of the time it's absolutely unnoticeable. Each pixel has so have some sort of voltage to be ready to react to changes. Turning off/on completely each time light is needed might waste battery.
P.S. I'm noob at displays but that's my theory.
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I was curious about this issue as well. It's my understanding that OLEDs do not produce any light in their inactive state.
Regarding your theory, I wonder if it's similar to plasma displays. Even though plasmas are capable of true black (they do not use a backlight) The individual plasma cells have better response times if they aren't fully discharged on blacks. So they have a faint glow that comes from the low power they are using to keep the pixel charged up and ready to go when a color change is needed.
This actually costs a little power though, rather than saving it. So if thats what they are doing, it is for screen quality reasons so that movies and other things look better.
Did some Googling and I couldn't find much information, but there is talk of delivering pre-charge voltage to the OLED pixels to improve response times. So it could be that they are indeed similar to plasma displays in that respect: Capable of true black, but the benefits of not using true black are too good to pass up.
Are you SURE the picture is actually true black? By that i mean pure 100% black in an uncompressed image? If not then you cant expect the phone to display true black. A JPEG of black may not be enough.
My screen it totally off when displaying true black.
I can confirm the screen showing a faint glow on S3 with a true black screen.
Use Firefox with Fullscreen extension (Chrome and the default browser don't seem to have fullscreen mode yet) and go to http://d4f.pf-control.de/black.html
That's rendered on the phone so we can expect it to be the blackest black an app can produce, however in a (very) dark room you'll see a very faint glow coming from the screen and you'll be able to see the black spots (truely black) that people keep complaining about.
The theory about it being a precharge voltage does indeed sound plausible since LED's have a certain reaction time which unfortunately cannot be compensated by e.g. Overdrive as is used in LCD screens.
Note that the S3's "black" is still far better than any LCD.
No mine is still jet black, no light at all.
Go to a COMPLETELY dark room and make sure the screen is actually turned on when on the website (not timed out).
Then take a long-exposure photograph of your phone (still make sure the screen is turned ON!).
I don't have a long exposure camera, but the room is completely dark and my eyes have adjusted, there is no light.
All sgs3 ( as sgs2) screens emit a very week glow on a black pictures ( with the screen on )
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
It would seem to me that the 'ink spots' many have are not overly dark spots at all, they are what the screen should be. My screen emits no visible light when displaying a true black image, at least nothing my eyes can see, even at the edge of my vision field where light cell are most sensitive. My screen is on maximum brightness.
My screen has no patches, no streaks, no spots, no pink or excessively blue tint. I guess i have a screen thats as near to perfect as they get.
yes there is very faint glow indeed making the screen a bit greyish instead of pitch black
Excuse me if I am being naive but where is real life use would this ever be a negative impact?
jfenton57 said:
Excuse me if I am being naive but where is real life use would this ever be a negative impact?
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no negative impact, but still raises a question "why so?"
jfenton57 said:
Excuse me if I am being naive but where is real life use would this ever be a negative impact?
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I don't think anyone is trying to paint it as an issue that needs to be resolved. It's more of an odd technical mystery rather than a real problem. The blacks are still extremely deep on an AMOLED, just like with Plasma it puts LCD to shame in that department.
Hello, I own a i9100 and I have some burn-ins at the top of the screen that replicate some buttons of a browser or something, and some burn-ins at the bottom as well. I have read that leaving overnight an app that's constantly switching colours, with full brightness, could help a bit on that. I also read that leaving a blank screen (white image) on the same conditions (overnight, full brightness) would help as well. My question is, how true these both things are? I don't want to end with a bigger problem than the one I currently have. The burn-ins are most viewable at Blue, Red, and Black screen colors.(like if I put a background with one of those colors on it)
Never had any of these on my S2,but from my experience with the galaxy s plus,these tricks won't work.None will to be honest.It's permanent.This shows how immature amoled technology is.Learn to live with it or replace the screen if that bothers you much.
what a sign you got there...
Lucky you. Mine is not THAT noticeable if you're using it normally, but as soon as you open something with a plain color on it, the burn in shows itself on all its glory. So right now you can't tell if leaving the white image all the night or the thing switching colors will damage my screen more?
mwehehe
Well,back then when I tried every method you described above on my i9001,I didn't noticed any improvement nor any further damage.Even after running those for 10h+.So I assume it's safe.Can't say the same for the S2 though,have no problems with it.