iPad: I believe the iPad 4 has a serious display flaw.

[prism]

Originally Posted by D.T.

Tried your instructions above several times (even made sure I eventually paused on roughly the frame you showed above).

Nothing. The paused video stays absolutely static, waited several seconds, back to home, nothing. No brightness shifts, no distorted icons[?]

Same here, and I got ride of the progress bar as per instructions. Nothing!

[D.T.]

Yeah, I think I followed everything exactly like you documented. Tried a few times, I'll try a few more times later too.

Not doubting you, just trying to help and see if I can recreate it! FWIW, I'm on 6.0.1

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by D.T.

Yeah, I think I followed everything exactly like you documented. Tried a few times, I'll try a few more times later too.

Not doubting you, just trying to help and see if I can recreate it! FWIW, I'm on 6.0.1

No no this is good information.

I was on 6.0.1 on the first two iPads, and I've no idea what the store models were.

It's possibly a bad batch, but I got my first iPads from one store, and the third one and store demos were done in a different store. (University Village, Seattle Apple Store, and Bellevue Apple Store - where I did the demos).

I wish I could see one that works! I can tell you that! Anyone in Seattle want to show me?

And you've no need to doubt me. I posted videos on the previous page.

[Deasnutz]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

If you're watching the trailer normally, you won't see the issue. You want to follow my directions exactly. Again, I picked this trailer at random because it has dark scenes you can PAUSE on. The issue is the backlight fluctuation in long, dark scenes. If you watch the trailer as a whole, you won't see the issue.

----------



I made sure that was off. In any case, this is not an auto-brightness behavior.

Dimming/brightness/backlight adjustment are all software processing. My led tv has varying levels of it too. It's called "micro dimming"

[Sodner]

Man Apple has more OCD customers than anyone.


I swear when I watch a movie on my iPad and close my eyes everything goes black. I've replicated it at the Apple store as well. I have an appointment tomorrow to show a genius. Wish me luck.

[sensorian]

Oh good, another 'If I stand on my head, wearing a dark blue t-shirt whilst eating a banana, the sky looks a bit weird' thread.

I predict 378 threads with much wailing and gnashing of teeth and several thousand Apple store employees sorting through stock cupboards to find the exact batch of screens that do not have this earth shattering flaw that can be produced by stopping a certain clip at a certain point.

I was hoping something like this might come along.

[EthanNixon]

Ok, so if I buy an iPad 4 I should not watch the Batman trailer and pause it at exactly 13 seconds for whatever reason, then immediately go to my home screen to see a slight distortion in the colors of my icons. All of this happens in two seconds, and it's fixed.

I am sure millions of people have encountered this same issue!!!!!!

not

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by EthanNixon

Ok, so if I buy an iPad 4 I should not watch the Batman trailer and pause it at exactly 13 seconds for whatever reason, then immediately go to my home screen to see a slight distortion in the colors of my icons. All of this happens in two seconds, and it's fixed.

I am sure millions of people have encountered this same issue!!!!!!

not

I suggest you read the first post before replying in future.

[CandyNJ66]

I actually did see what you mean by the maps icon. It is undefined for a second and then the maps icon is sharper and you see all the lines. I could only duplicate it twice.

Odd. No uneven backlighting at all for me and I tried video apps as well.

As long as the backlight is normal for me, I'm not going to worry about the icon thing too much. Too bad it is affecting yours very badly.

I'm on 6.0.0

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by CandyNJ66

I actually did see what you mean by the maps icon. It is undefined for a second and then the maps icon is sharper and you see all the lines. I could only duplicate it twice.

Odd. No uneven backlighting at all for me and I tried video apps as well.

As long as the backlight is normal for me, I'm not going to worry about the icon thing too much. Too bad it is affecting yours very badly.

I'm on 6.0.0

If you see it, you have the issue. Just wait till you watch a movie with any dark scenes. For me the worst thing was watching the last 5 minutes of episode 1 of season 1 of "Justified." Just... awful.

[l0gikb0mb]

This looks awful when it's done, the "omgar its apple fan ocd" is not valid in this situation. I had the same brightness fluctuations while watching TDKR trailer and it looked silly, not something that should be in an almost $600 device which is basically only a screen.

I also paused at 13 seconds, went to home screen, and saw the weird colors as described. It took a few tries to get it, but there definitely is a problem with the screen, this issue isn't as big as the brightness fluctuations.

As long as it's software, I don't see a problem here, but if it's hardware (since people on the same iOS aren't experiencing it apparently), then it's pretty bad.

[johndoejohndoes]

Just checked mine and it didn't have it. I did all the test the way you showed. Sorry you have to deal with that. I'd just return it if I was you and get another one.

[SnowLeopard2008]

Wait, why is this a serious display flaw? Is it something that affects how you watch movies? Unless you constantly switch between home scree and movie, it's not really an issue. What I don't understand is why this is a "serious" display "flaw". It's not like the screen having some tint to it or uneven backlighting...

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by SnowLeopard2008

Wait, why is this a serious display flaw? Is it something that affects how you watch movies? Unless you constantly switch between home scree and movie, it's not really an issue. What I don't understand is why this is a "serious" display "flaw". It's not like the screen having some tint to it or uneven backlighting...

Please read the first post.

To everyone, PLEASE read the first post before responding.

[SnowLeopard2008]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

Please read the first post.

To everyone, PLEASE read the first post before responding.

I read your post. I watched both your videos. The videos only show part of your claims. Please post a video of the backlight going crazy and being a distraction. As for your claim about the messed up icons, it's a software issue.

[Noisemaker]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

Ok I just replicated the issue on 5 iPads in the Apple Store. I returned my iPad 4 to the store. I'll upload a video shortly of the issue.

As far as I'm concerned this affects every iPad 4. Even the staff couldn't believe it.

I tried it on an iPad 2 here and could not replicate it.

As far as I'm concerned, you're 100% wrong, and you're making an asinine blanket statement.

Mine is fine. I can't recreate the claimed issue.

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by SnowLeopard2008

I read your post. I watched both your videos. The videos only show part of your claims. Please post a video of the backlight going crazy and being a distraction. As for your claim about the messed up icons, it's a software issue.

I no longer have an iPad 4 in my possession. It was much easier to show you the icons "fixing themselves" than show you a black backlight changing, especially since my iPhone 5 just compensates and changes its aperture so videos wouldn't really work to display this.

So you can take my findings for what they are. I stand 100% by my statement that this affects all iPad 4s.

I mean, look at this:

Originally Posted by CandyNJ66

Mine is perfectly fine too

Originally Posted by CandyNJ66

No icons on mine distort at all. Tried the trailer again, normal on my iPad 4

Originally Posted by CandyNJ66

I actually did see what you mean by the maps icon. It is undefined for a second and then the maps icon is sharper and you see all the lines. I could only duplicate it twice.

Odd. No uneven backlighting at all for me and I tried video apps as well.

As long as the backlight is normal for me, I'm not going to worry about the icon thing too much. Too bad it is affecting yours very badly.

I'm on 6.0.0

^ ^ ^ Talk about going from one extreme to the other, right?

So either it happens or it doesn't. Again, maybe there's a HUGE bad batch out there. I can only tell you my findings using almost double-digit number of iPads!

My beliefs are as follows: All iPad 4 devices are affected by this. You don't have to agree, and hey - maybe you're not sensitive to a bouncing backlight during dark scenes in movies.

I'm interested in hearing other findings.

[Fry-man22]

I believe the OP moving around is affecting the ambient light sensor. If you turn off auto brightness adjust (or stop leaning over the damn thing and swaying around in a bright room) then I would wager the condition is resolved.

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by D.T.

Odd Auto-brightness behavior? (I don't use it BTW...)

Originally Posted by WilliamG

I made sure that was off. In any case, this is not an auto-brightness behavior.

See above.

Originally Posted by Fry-man22

I believe the OP moving around is affecting the ambient light sensor. If you turn off auto brightness adjust (or stop leaning over the damn thing and swaying around in a bright room) then I would wager the condition is resolved.

[s15119]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

I agree. I think this affects every single iPad 4. I've now tested a total of EIGHT iPad 4 devices (five in the store, and my three), and all have the same issue.

Hoe can you think it affects everyone? You've heard from a half dozen people who it doesn't affect.

[theautopilot]

I don't have my ipad 4 yet, but the icons thing sounds perfectly normal. You see things like this with PC's - basically the graphics driver switches modes for different tasks (movies, 3d games etc). When you drop back to the home screen the GFX chip is just redrawing the icons in the correct resolution. I might be wrong, but this is what you describe sounds like.

As for the backlight, what you are describing sounds like a phenomenon known as 'floating blacks'. It can be observed in many TV's and is better/worse in some TV's. Can be annoying in cheap TV's but can usually be rectified with a software update, depending on the cause.

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by domrevans

I don't have my ipad 4 yet, but the icons thing sounds perfectly normal. You see things like this with PC's - basically the graphics driver switches modes for different tasks (movies, 3d games etc). When you drop back to the home screen the GFX chip is just redrawing the icons in the correct resolution. I might be wrong, but this is what you describe sounds like.

As for the backlight, what you are describing sounds like a phenomenon known as 'floating blacks'. It can be observed in many TV's and is better/worse I some TV's. Can be annoying is cheap TV's but can usually be rectified with a software update, depending on the cause.

To your first paragraph, I know what you're talking about, but that's not what this is. It's a byproduct of the floating blacks. What is happening isn't just a backlight adjustment in movies, it's a contrast adjustment. Then, if you happen to close the app during those contrast bump, you're left staring at a homepage of icons with contrast out of whack until it fades back to normal.

Again, that the icons look messed up for a few seconds is far from a big issue. It's notable, sure, but not worth crying over. What is far more frustrating (fatally so, in my book) is that the floating blacks are all too aggressive. Once again, for those who didn't read my first post fully - the fact that I used this trailer and the use of the PAUSE button on one particular shot is just a quick and easy way for anyone with Internet to test this phenomenon.

For the rest of us, just watching a movie with a dark scene will result in the floating-blacks issue every few seconds.

So, once again, the home-screen distortion is just a BYPRODUCT of the movie-watching issue. The movie-watching problem is the thing I'm concerned with.

I spoke to a senior advisor at Apple, and he's seen/understands exactly what I'm talking about, so hopefully iOS 6.0.2 addresses it.

[CandyNJ66]

Originally Posted by domrevans

I don't have my ipad 4 yet, but the icons thing sounds perfectly normal. You see things like this with PC's - basically the graphics driver switches modes for different tasks (movies, 3d games etc). When you drop back to the home screen the GFX chip is just redrawing the icons in the correct resolution. I might be wrong, but this is what you describe sounds like.

As for the backlight, what you are describing sounds like a phenomenon known as 'floating blacks'. It can be observed in many TV's and is better/worse in some TV's. Can be annoying in cheap TV's but can usually be rectified with a software update, depending on the cause.

I actually remember a tech site mentioning the redraw when the iPad 3 came out I believe. That does sound logical. It doesn't bother me since as I said, 1080p videos look stellar when watching in the dark

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by CandyNJ66

I actually remember a tech site mentioning the redraw when the iPad 3 came out I believe. That does sound logical. It doesn't bother me since as I said, 1080p videos look stellar when watching in the dark

The iPad 3 and iPad 2 do not have this issue, though, so...

[TheWheelMan]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

How many would be acceptable to you for me to sample? 100? Well, 100 out of more than a million isn't really a good sample, either.

All I have is what I have. And yes, I still believe this affects all iPad 4 devices. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

The problem is that we have ONE person claiming to see this on every iPad he tested, while pretty much everyone else says they don't see it at all. Who is one supposed to believe in that case?