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onionperson654

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2007
216
1
While there seems to be a majority of iPod touch buyers experiencing the "problem," some people appear to have escaped (maybe they just escaped from reality?). One poster on Apple's website http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5350828#5350828 exchanged his and got a noticably better model in return.

If this is the case, it may be the most high profile of the issues with Chinese Quality Control that are going through the news, and hopefully Apple will fix it. In the mean time, I would suggest:

1.) DON'T GET IN ENGRAVED. Sorry for the caps (I'm not an all caps poster), but I feel like the new iPod touch models are not ones that you want to forfeit your ability to return.

2.) Keep in mind the return policy of wherever you buy it. If I am correct, Apple requires a restocking fee, Best Buy is 30 days returning, Costco is 90, etc.

3.) Someone (perhaps with an iphone and bad ipod touch) should determine a reliable test method. This could include a.) software b.) A website with certain colors or c.) A downloaded picture. This would let people test their ipods to see if they were worth keeping or returning. While there obviously is a problem, for those without iphones it may be hard to tell if one is imagining the problem or over/underemphasizing it. I, for one, will probably be both so impressed at its other features and understanding that many screens have issues with dark and angles that I won't be able to make a completly accurate judgment, especially if there is a range of quality and not just good/bad.
 

s57

macrumors member
Jan 9, 2007
40
1
Yes AAC player is a widely used term these days, SIKE,(the iPod, im not sure if you are familiar with it, but it plays BOTH AAC and MP3 along with a variety of other formats) but as for the 50% profit, yes they could still keep the same hardware as the iPhone (except for the phone) and make a 40%-50% profit like their other products. And I am pretty sure that the screen on the iPod touch is NOT a $100 cheaper than the one on the iPhone.

I have an iPod, and, yes, I am aware that it plays mp3s - whatever.

I am also not saying that the screen is $100 less - that would be the sum of all parts, which should make a difference (i.e., probably generallly slower processing, since it doesn't have to handle as many things as once as an iPhone).

What I am saying is that, unless they had an insanely large profit margin on the original iPhones, either they're not makin' much money on the Touch or it's a lot cheaper to produce than the iPhone, for which they're getting a revenue stream from AT&T, which they're not getting for the Touch.
 

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,932
42
Los Angeles, CA
Okay, I played around with a Touch and an iPod at an Apple store (they were sold out so I couldn't buy.)

I think I noticed a difference between the 2. The Touch seemed okay, but I could notice the problem with the blacks if viewing angle wasn't right. On the iPhone, I didn't have the problem at all.

However, the lighting in the Apple Store makes it hard to evaluate because of the glare and reflections. If I was at home watching in low lighting at night, I'm actually not sure if the problem would be less noticeable or more. It may be that at the right angle, the picture looks perfect. But I was trying to adjust the screen so there wouldn't be too many reflections, and it was hard to tell.

I'll still probably buy one, and as long as it's reasonable I'm not going to obsess over it, it's not a life-changing thing. And if it really bad, I figure I'll be able to exchange it at the store in a couple of weeks, when the smoke has cleared on this. We may not be able to return it for free, but we'll have a 1-year warranty.

I thought briefly about the Classic or even an iPhone, but I really like the bigger screen for movies, and don't want to pay for iPhone service plan. So I'm not really going to be happy with another model, and I already sold my old iPod in advance of this. So I hope all's well will end well with this issue. Everything else about the Touch was great- I love the thin body, and the black metal edge is very nice IMO. If only they had just used the same exact screen (or had no problems with bad batches or whatever), it would be perfect for my needs.
 

onionperson654

macrumors regular
Aug 26, 2007
216
1
I'll still probably buy one, and as long as it's reasonable I'm not going to obsess over it, it's not a life-changing thing. And if it really bad, I figure I'll be able to exchange it at the store in a couple of weeks, when the smoke has cleared on this. We may not be able to return it for free, but we'll have a 1-year warranty.

Probably the best piece of wisdom I've heard about this issue. I figure I'm in a similar boat, and all technical notes aside, there's alot to be said for madmaxmedia's approach.
 

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,932
42
Los Angeles, CA
Yeah, at one point after reading all these threads, I figured if the screen is a little bit less than optimal, who cares? It's still preferable than a 5.5 or 6G for me. And if it's really bad, then it will get taken care of.

I did just check the Apple support board, one of the more active posters who had posted pics of his crappy screen got a replacement that was much better (he was happy with it, end of story.)

Everything else about the unit is just really nice. I mean I was on the fence about the HD/flash thing, but 16GB seems like a lot of space when you see just how thin these units really are. I more or less give Apple the benefit of the doubt on that one.
 

Quickdood

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2007
147
0
Yeah, at one point after reading all these threads, I figured if the screen is a little bit less than optimal, who cares? It's still preferable than a 5.5 or 6G for me. And if it's really bad, then it will get taken care of.

I did just check the Apple support board, one of the more active posters who had posted pics of his crappy screen got a replacement that was much better (he was happy with it, end of story.)

Everything else about the unit is just really nice. I mean I was on the fence about the HD/flash thing, but 16GB seems like a lot of space when you see just how thin these units really are. I more or less give Apple the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Everyone just buy the Touches with the display defect! Some one needs to get them off the shelves so I can get in on a new shipment without the defect :)
 

bluush

macrumors 6502
Apr 20, 2007
336
455
Everyone just buy the Touches with the display defect! Some one needs to get them off the shelves so I can get in on a new shipment without the defect :)

If the Touch is defective, then the Macbook is very defective. I own both and can attest to that. My opinion is that what is happening right now is what happens anytime a new Apple produce is released: someone finds something that isn't 100% perfect and blows it into a huge thing that eventually blows over in a couple weeks. The video on the Touch is better than the video on a Macbook. Now I may have gotten a Touch that wasn't part of a supposed "bad batch", so I can only attest to mine - but I paid 399 dollars today on my lunchbreak for a 16gb touch and it's now 4:54 am (Pacific Time) and I'm still up enjoying the crap out of this amazing thing. For the year 2007 (and probably 2008), the iPod Touch is as good as technology gets, in my honest opinion.
 

caMi

macrumors regular
Sep 13, 2007
166
0
For the year 2007 (and probably 2008), the iPod Touch is as good as technology gets, in my honest opinion.

+1

It is an absolute amazing piece of technology! And I can't believe I only paid $300 for it.
 

tjm337

macrumors newbie
May 16, 2006
13
0
Did restoring ipod touch help???

Hey all,

I had a similar problem with the black colors. I went to restore the ipod touch to return it to Best Buy and the blacks looked better. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part. Anyone have any thoughts???

Cheers
T
 

awmazz

macrumors 65816
Jul 4, 2007
1,100
0
Hey all,

I had a similar problem with the black colors. I went to restore the ipod touch to return it to Best Buy and the blacks looked better. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part. Anyone have any thoughts???

Cheers
T

Interesting to see if just a restore will solve the video issue.
 

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
I wonder if the iPods were in cold weather recently. I know the cold can severely affect screen performance. So maybe you need to let your iPod warm up? I dunno, I'm just thinking here. From the looks of the few videos on the net, the blacks look perfectly black to me. Does anyone have an iPod Touch and an iPod 5G to compare them both? I am happy with my 5G screen so if the iPod touch's screen is better than that, I will be happy.

Another question, do you HAVE to view it at an angle for the colors to be correct? Or is it the angles that make the colors look strange?
 

jmpage2

macrumors 68040
Sep 14, 2007
3,223
548
Hey all,

I had a similar problem with the black colors. I went to restore the ipod touch to return it to Best Buy and the blacks looked better. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part. Anyone have any thoughts???

Cheers
T

Wishful thinking. This is a problem in the display itself, software has nothing to do with this.
 

Evangelion

macrumors 68040
Jan 10, 2005
3,374
147
the more i read these comments, the more it seems to me that there is a batch of bad touches out there. maybe we could start a database of manufacturing-dates and serial-numbers and try to find a connection there?
 

davidjearly

macrumors 68020
Sep 21, 2006
2,264
371
Glasgow, Scotland
Wishful thinking. This is a problem in the display itself, software has nothing to do with this.

Says who? Whilst I doubt the software update has done anything to improve the issue in this case as it is the same version that ships on the iPod, it is VERY plausible that the display issue could be sorted in the future by a software update. We won't know until V1.1 of the iPod touch software though.

David
 

iShak

macrumors 6502
Dec 26, 2006
320
0
Says who? Whilst I doubt the software update has done anything to improve the issue in this case as it is the same version that ships on the iPod, it is VERY plausible that the display issue could be sorted in the future by a software update. We won't know until V1.1 of the iPod touch software though.

David

I doubt it, hue correction and saturation problems can be fixed via software update pretty easily but in this case I think cheaper LCD's have been used with bad contrast ratio and smaller viewing angles OR the factory got a bad batch of LCD's .. (really big bad batch apparently)
 

davidjearly

macrumors 68020
Sep 21, 2006
2,264
371
Glasgow, Scotland
I doubt it, hue correction and saturation problems can be fixed via software update pretty easily but in this case I think cheaper LCD's have been used with bad contrast ratio and smaller viewing angles OR the factory got a bad batch of LCD's .. (really big bad batch apparently)

Yes, which was my original point. You and the other person 'think' that it is a hardware issue. It remains however to be entirely possible that it could be a software issue which could be updated in the future.

We won't know until more of these are sold in a month or so from different batches and are in more people's hands.
 

iShak

macrumors 6502
Dec 26, 2006
320
0
Yes, which was my original point. You and the other person 'think' that it is a hardware issue. It remains however to be entirely possible that it could be a software issue which could be updated in the future.

We won't know until more of these are sold in a month or so from different batches and are in more people's hands.

I think: cheaper LCD's have been used.
I am sure: its a hardware problem.
 

milszils

macrumors member
Sep 5, 2007
55
0
If you want to check it for black colours then just use the home screen - which is a default black screen. if it is not doing it there then it is more likely a software problem which i am sure will be corrected in a matter of time.
 

cavemonkey50

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2007
312
27
Allentown, PA
Alright, this is going to sound crazy, so I'm prepared to be called a crazy freak. I took my touch with me out driving, listening to music along the way. During this time my touch was in the cupholder exposed to direct sunlight (it's a bright day out). When I got home, my screen looked a million times better. The gradient test I've been using went from having about 8 bars inverted to now around 2. While the problem is still present, the screen has definitely improved.

I'm starting to believe that the screen needs to be broken in. Perhaps those of us with problems have touches which were just made days ago. Those with perfect screen or near perfect screen were manufactured a couple of weeks ago and have had time to sit.

It will be interesting seeing if my screen improves during the week. I have to wait until later in the week to exchange it anyway, since my Apple Store is an hour drive away. Maybe I'll be lucky and I won't have to make the trip again or Apple will push out an update or something.
 

plasticmoz

macrumors regular
Sep 15, 2007
114
17
Picked mine up from Best Buy -- Screen is fine but get this -- hissing occurs only using my Shure 210s, no hissing with Apple headphones, Sennheiser 595s and an old pair of Sony cans.

Wierd as hell. Aside from a few stuck pixels no major issues so I am keeping this.
 

matticus008

macrumors 68040
Jan 16, 2005
3,330
1
Bay Area, CA
Alright, this is going to sound crazy, so I'm prepared to be called a crazy freak. [...]
I'm starting to believe that the screen needs to be broken in.
Entirely possible. My iPhone did a flickering/rainbow bars thing when playing video for the first day or two. I considered scheduling a Genius bar appointment, but as soon as I did, the problem went away.
 

madmaxmedia

macrumors 68030
Dec 17, 2003
2,932
42
Los Angeles, CA
Okay, I got a 16GB Touch at a Best Buy store. Here are my impressions-

1. Audio quality is fine, I hear no hiss thru Vibe Moda Remix earbuds. I haven't done detailed listening or comparisons, but so far so good there.

2. I do have the negative blacks effect. If I view directly at the screen, I definitely see the effect and its annoying. If I tilt it a bit, it's not so bad. But then if you tilt too far, the overall screen colors start to fade.

This is very borderline for me. Not because its SOOOO bad, but because this thing cost $400 and I want the image quality to be very good. It's just annoying to experience, like you're always tilting the screen back and forth trying to get the perfect viewing angle...but it's never perfect.

Cavemonkey mentioned that break-in might help, I am going to just let this thing sit and play video for awhile, then come back.

If it does not improve, I don't know. I was considering the Archos 605 because I already have a Shuffle for music, and the bigger screen of the Archos seemed attractive (especially if it doesn't have this issue!) The Archos is cheaper as well (the 30GB is under $300.) It's not pocketable, but again my Shuffle would be for that.

Final Note- No matter what I do, I am very glad I waited for Best Buy to stock it, so I have the option of a hassle-free refund with no restocking fee...
 

jmpage2

macrumors 68040
Sep 14, 2007
3,223
548
Does anyone else think that it's funny that the people who are having the issue have taken pains to post example photos, etc, but noone who claims they have a 'good one' have done something similar?

I would love to see a photo of some movie video or darker photographs on a screen that supposedly does not have the issue.
 
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