Apple Retail's New Machines for Calibrating Replacement iPhone 5 Displays

I'm glad Apple is finally doing this. Too many people were abusing the device replacements.

It's a Wayback machine! From Peabody and Sherman...

I know a lot of people prefer to have the entire device replaced, but I think it is great if they can just replace the part that is broken. If your phone is working fine except for a cracked screen then there is no reason to replace the entire device.

Having worked in three Apple Retail Stores, and subbed in a total of seven or eight, I have NO idea how a machine like that will fit in the majority of stores. Aside from the flagship stores, BoH (Back of House) is extremely crowded. At one point during the fall rush, non-invasive Genius Bar repairs had to be performed in the already-packed employee break area.

EDIT: Hahaha, I now realize that my scale on this thing was WAY off. Oh boy.

My tired brain saw it like this:

I can see the complaint threads now! "The Genius Bar scratched my iPhone's chamfered edge when replacing my iPhone display!"

This "calibration" thing is a sham. Its not something that is adjusted. The display either works or it doesn't.

Have heard reports of many of these machines arriving broken or are breaking down easily. Good luck, Apple.

Maybe they can hire us guys that fix their phones already to fix their machines that are supposed to fix their phones.

[idealism]About time that society as a whole got the idea that there is actually a limited amount of resources to go around and if we all wanna have our piece, this should be the norm for everything we buy. Repair not discard, that is.
[/idealism]

B-Roll said:

This "calibration" thing is a sham. Its not something that is adjusted. The display either works or it doesn't.

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So you've used one. Must have if you know the machine is 'a sham'

So which store was it exactly

Who's the real genius

Now we know who sent out those EPRs claiming it is now a teen fad to smash the glass into creative distress patterns. Apple needed to cost-justify this stupid looking machine so they have to create demand for it.

charlituna said:

So you've used one. Must have if you know the machine is 'a sham'

So which store was it exactly

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I didn't say the machine is a sham. The machine replaces the display, yes. But there is no actually calibrating anything. The LCD/digitizer is already made. It either works or it doesn't. The whole "needing to be calibrated" thing is just to make the customer feel like it is the only way to do it correctly.

B-Roll said:

This "calibration" thing is a sham. Its not something that is adjusted. The display either works or it doesn't.

Have heard reports of many of these machines arriving broken or are breaking down easily. Good luck, Apple.

Maybe they can hire us guys that fix their phones already to fix their machines that are supposed to fix their phones.

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I'm interested to hear what you believe Apple's motivation would be to send non-necessary "sham" equipment out to their stores.

My friend who works there told me that the equipment runs several graphics tests on the display in conjunction with a real calibration app that pairs the display to the phone. It also tests things like the proximity sensor and ambient light sensor before it goes back to the customer.

If $149(from what I've read) is a competitive price and Apple wants to pay for equipment to ensure the best possible repair how is that a "sham", since by definition a sham is not in the customer's best interest? Where are they wronging people?

Kirsten Hollerd said:

I'm interested to hear what you believe Apple's motivation would be to send non-necessary "sham" equipment out to their stores.

My friend who works there told me that the equipment runs several graphics tests on the display in conjunction with a real calibration app that pairs the display to the phone. It also tests things like the proximity sensor and ambient light sensor before it goes back to the customer.

If $149 is a (from what I've read) is a competitive price and Apple wants to pay for equipment to ensure the best possible repair how is that a "sham", since by definition a sham is not in the customer's best interest? Where are they wronging people?

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They aren't necessarily wronging anyone. Its just an unnecessary term. I explained a little bit more in a different post above yours.

The touchscreen and LCD are already assembled at a factory overseas. The "calibration" isn't an adjustable thing. Basically what the machine is doing is a "quality assurance" test but on the subject of calibration it does not do anything since you can't adjust how the touch screen works and where it touches after the fact that its already been manufactured.

Its no different than you getting your phone back and you go to type an R and your phone types a T. That's just defective and no "calibrating" will fix that.

And I also never said its non-necessary equipment. The machine isn't just a "calibrating" machine. It is listed as one of its features. Hope that clear it up a bit.

Is that a time machine?, I mean a real one.....

B-Roll said:

They aren't necessarily wronging anyone. Its just an unnecessary term. I explained a little bit more in a different post above yours.

The touchscreen and LCD are already assembled at a factory overseas. The "calibration" isn't an adjustable thing. Basically what the machine is doing is a "quality assurance" test but on the subject of calibration it does not do anything since you can't adjust how the touch screen works and where it touches after the fact that its already been manufactured.

Its no different than you getting your phone back and you go to type an R and your phone types a T. That's just defective and no "calibrating" will fix that.

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That makes sense. I'm wondering now if that's officially what Apple is calling it or if the Geniuses are just saying that?

I'll check with my friend, I'm almost sure he said something about calibrating the display with the logic board or something, because his team replaced a display that worked but the calibration failed, revealing deeper damage to the phone. Who knows...

Kirsten Hollerd said:

That makes sense. I'm wondering now if that's officially what Apple is calling it or if the Geniuses are just saying that?

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In the memo that I saw, the word calibration was used. To me it just seems like a fancy word to use to throw at customers. :]

B-Roll said:

I didn't say the machine is a sham. The machine replaces the display, yes. But there is no actually calibrating anything. The LCD/digitizer is already made. It either works or it doesn't. The whole "needing to be calibrated" thing is just to make the customer feel like it is the only way to do it correctly.

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And as I said, if you haven't used one you don't KNOW what it is doing. Just what some site is claiming it does. Just like they are saying that Apple has started doing these display replacements when I know for a fact that that's not true. I have had three done on company phones dating back to two months ago.

Also do you really think that Apple would spend money on a machine that no customers sees to fake them out.

charlituna said:

And as I said, if you haven't used one you don't KNOW what it is doing. Just what some site is claiming it does. Just like they are saying that Apple has started doing these display replacements when I know for a fact that that's not true. I have had three done on company phones dating back to two months ago.

Also do you really think that Apple would spend money on a machine that no customers sees to fake them out.

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I just explained what the machine actually does. And it is true, this just went into effect this week. The misconception here is that the title is calling it a calibrating machine. It is not a calibrating machine. It replaces the display. The "calibration" is just one step in the machines process.

And no I haven't used one, ya got me there but I've got a bit of knowledge on the situation. My forum post broke the original story. I'm famous duh! Haha ;]

B-Roll said:

I just explained what the machine actually does.

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No, you didn't. You 'explained' what you, without any real knowledge, claim it does NOT do. Not what it does

And it is true, this just went into effect this week.

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If by 'this' you mean replacing displays, not it didn't. As I said, I had it done as much as two months ago. Shattered screens so I know they replaced it not just fiddled with something and left the same one on trying to fool me.

[quote
And no I haven't used one, ya got me there but I've got a bit of knowledge on the situation. [/QUOTE]

An attempt to lay the claim that you worked for an Apple Store. I say worked because something tells me that you won't for much longer given that photos of back room areas are not likely to be on Apple's 'okay to do' list.

In the UK Apple Stores, I wouldn't be surprised if Doctor Who stepped out of one of these.

ijohn.8.80 said:

[idealism]About time that society as a whole got the idea that there is actually a limited amount of resources to go around and if we all wanna have our piece, this should be the norm for everything we buy. Repair not discard, that is.
[/idealism]

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This. And it's not even idealism. It's common sense.

charlituna said:

No, you didn't. You 'explained' what you, without any real knowledge, claim it does NOT do. Not what it does



If by 'this' you mean replacing displays, not it didn't. As I said, I had it done as much as two months ago. Shattered screens so I know they replaced it not just fiddled with something and left the same one on trying to fool me.

And no I haven't used one, ya got me there but I've got a bit of knowledge on the situation.

Click to expand...

An attempt to lay the claim that you worked for an Apple Store. I say worked because something tells me that you won't for much longer given that photos of back room areas are not likely to be on Apple's 'okay to do' list.

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I explained the whole "calibration" thing pretty clearly to another user above. I don't know how else I can convey it.

Not making assumptions on you but it also helps to have a little bit of knowledge on how these displays are manufactured and how they actually work. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I'm not trying to start an argument or argue, I'm just giving my knowledge on the subject. If I were unsure, I'd say so. Cheers.

B-Roll said:

I didn't say the machine is a sham. The machine replaces the display, yes. But there is no actually calibrating anything. The LCD/digitizer is already made. It either works or it doesn't. The whole "needing to be calibrated" thing is just to make the customer feel like it is the only way to do it correctly.

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All displays have variability in how they represent colors. You calibrate individual displays by using special hardware and software to create a custom color profile that can then be used by the OS to correctly map colors so that what's output to an individual screen looks correct to the viewer. Photographers, designers, and other folks who care about spot on color reproduction have been calibrating their desktop and laptop displays by using special hardware to generate these color profiles for years.

I have no insight that this is what Apple's doing here, but when I hear the word "calibrate" in the context of displays, this is what instantly comes to mind. I would not be surprised to hear that this new device has a step in the process where it generates a custom color profile specific to the new display. If that is happening, then yes, they would be calibrating the new displays.

B-Roll said:

This "calibration" thing is a sham. Its not something that is adjusted. The display either works or it doesn't.

Have heard reports of many of these machines arriving broken or are breaking down easily. Good luck, Apple.

Maybe they can hire us guys that fix their phones already to fix their machines that are supposed to fix their phones.

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You are a sham sir.

Couple of things for the intelligent readers: a tech does the actual display replacement, unscrews the old display pops it up disconnects some cabling and does it in reverse with a new display.
-now the machine(s) come into play, the one on the left calibrates (YES calibrates) the multitouch and runs through some test patterns, the one if the right calibrates proximity/ambient sensors.
- when you calibrate something you also test it to make sure the calibration was successful., so these machines test the display and it will pass or fail, if it fails you run it through again.

-the multitouch sensitvy and such are adjustable... Especially by the company that makes the phone

B-Roll said:

The machine replaces the display, yes.

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I find that hard to believe. What is your source for this?