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iPod touch An uneven backlight...

M

MayaTlab

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 12, 2007
320
302
"Dear Macrumorists",

Please accept my excuses for my hesitant English :)

I am wondering if there is something wrong with my iPod touch. It's a week 43 exempt of any negative black issue. It has been built in the factory C7.

However, I found out recently that the backlight is rather uneven, something that I did not find out before. It is easily noticable when I rotate the itouch in "landscape mode" : the side of the screen which is near the home button is much lighter than the other side. In fact, the 80 % of the screen situated in the middle are evenly backlighted, but the two extreme sides are lighter or darker (in a pretty visible way). What is strange is that it is hardly noticable on a black background, but easily noticable on a white one. Do(es) your itouch(s) present the same problem or should I ask for a repair (I currently live in NYC) ?

Thank you for your suggestions :)
 
Ubuntu

Ubuntu

macrumors 68020
Jul 3, 2005
2,140
474
UK/US
My iPod appears fine. Can you provide a photo of the problem, if it shows up?

And your english is very good. :)
 
S

solyd

macrumors regular
Oct 15, 2007
181
0
MayaTlab said:
"Dear Macrumorists",

Please accept my excuses for my hesitant English :)

I am wondering if there is something wrong with my iPod touch. It's a week 43 exempt of any negative black issue. It has been built in the factory C7.

However, I found out recently that the backlight is rather uneven, something that I did not find out before. It is easily noticable when I rotate the itouch in "landscape mode" : the side of the screen which is near the home button is much lighter than the other side. In fact, the 80 % of the screen situated in the middle are evenly backlighted, but the two extreme sides are lighter or darker (in a pretty visible way). What is strange is that it is hardly noticable on a black background, but easily noticable on a white one. Do(es) your itouch(s) present the same problem or should I ask for a repair (I currently live in NYC) ?

Thank you for your suggestions :)
Click to expand...

I say if it's really noticeable, take it back. You paid a lot for it, you deserve a device with none to little minor flaws. I'm considering whether or not I should take mine back; I don't have the same problem as you, but my backlight flickers when it's on really low brightness.
 
M

MayaTlab

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 12, 2007
320
302
Here is a link directing toward a web album. As you can see, one side is always brighter than the other, but only by a small margin. It is disturbing though, as most websites use a white background :

http://picasaweb.google.fr/thiebault.labeille/PhotographsIPodTouch

Oh, and mine flickers too when set up to low brightness, but it doesn't bother me so much, since I went trough 4 flickering macBook and, exasperated, bought a Thinkpad - flickering too.
 
M

MayaTlab

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 12, 2007
320
302
Finally I went today to the Apple store on 14th street to change my iPod with another one.

The policy of Apple, in this case, is to change it with a refurbished iPod, so I got a week 45, which appeared, at first sight, perfect.

However, this unfortunate week 45 will be returned : the screen lacks contrast (blacks are non-existent) and colors are not saturated enough, exactly like the early iPods touch which presented the negative blacks and which were "corrected" by the firmware 1.1.1. In fact, this firmware just lowers the contrast to avoid the negative effect.

I suppose they still have some old screens that they try to sell through the refurbishing system. This is far from being wise since I just changed a problem for another one.

I wonder if I will ask them a really brand new one or a refund.
 
M

MayaTlab

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 12, 2007
320
302
A short feedback of my trip to the Apple store 14th street :

The genius quickly understood the problem, and I showed him that all of his weeks 45 in the store had the same problem. So he gave me a week 43, the only other alternative he had at that time. Unfortunately, all of his weeks 43 had the uneven backlight problem. He explained me that I had to choose between two problems finally. So I decided to take the worst of them (week 45) and to try to exchange it in two or three weeks.

I also went to the Apple store in Soho to check their weeks 45 and 43. They had only weeks 43, all of them with the backlight issue.

By the way, I've seen that Apple is hiring a reliabilty engineer for multi touch screens. I wonder if they had one before.
 
M

MayaTlab

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 12, 2007
320
302
Hi, this is me again.

I have been waiting for the last month before asking one more time for an exchange in the hope that Apple may have solved the problem.

Well, my supposed "brand new" iPod I got today, which is in fact a refurbished item, still has the blacks problem, and its build quality is terrible. this is a week 52.

And this is another return.

(I'm beginning to be fed up with Apple, I went through four MacBook Pro, then four MacBook in three months due to build quality concerns, and now these four iPods touch? Arggggggh! Why do they create insanly great softwares and put them into terribly built devices?)
 
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