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2 identical iPads, 2 different screens? wtf? UPDATE: this ones a dud

5

55test55

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 16, 2009
459
3
So i set up my moms iPad last night (which i chose because it had worse light leak than the one i chose :D), and fast forward to today when I wanted to set mine up. I immediately noticed something was off. Pictures confirm this, and she notices it too. Here are three images (left: her iPad, right: my iPad):

photo2.jpg


100% brightness, white screen

photo3.jpg


100% brightness, apple.com homepage

photo4.jpg


50% brightness, apple.com homepage

Does anyone see the difference? It's more dramatic in real life. It looks so much darker and more washed out...way less vibrant. In addition, there's like...a slight pink hue when you look at my screen at angles. I really don't feel like playing the return game, but her iPad is an absolute pleasure to use and mine looks like crap relatively speaking. Sorry for the crappy images lol. Thoughts? Thanks...

UPDATE:

Pics showing the awful red tint, the (minor, rather good actually) backlight bleed, and this mystery problem of the LEDs actually showing:

photo1.jpg


photo1_1.jpg


photo3-1.jpg


photo5.jpg


I'm just gonna go to the apple store. I honestly can't get a defect free apple product. arghhhhhhh
 
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Looks like there might be a slight issue with yours on the bottom and top right side? :confused: Other than that I really can't tell by the pics.
 
master-ceo said:
Looks like there might be a slight issue with yours on the bottom and top right side? :confused: Other than that I really can't tell by the pics.
Click to expand...

The backlight bleed on the right one is actually much better than the left one lol. Its just so much less...vibrant.
 
I see the red hue, and I know how annoying it is, because I have the same issue, except mine only takes up the top right quarter of the screen.

I'm finding that there are several others on this forum who have posted pictures that are nearly identical to my problem. I hope it is not that common of a problem. Or it could be that most other people just don't notice the red hue. But I do a lot of web and graphic design, and I can easily distinguish the change in color. It is especially apparent when you are using the on-screen keyboard, because it looks as if one half of the keyboard is a different shade of grey (more pink, of course) than the other half.

I also noticed if I am in a dark room, and I look at the iPad from a certain angle (looking at its top right corner, where the red hue is), nearly the entire screen appears an ugly red/salmon color.

Apple is sending me a replacement. I really hope it doesn't have the same issue. I would feel like a dick replacing these over and over, but I feel somewhat justified, because I notice it and it is actually an issue that I do not find acceptable. The people who are complaining about their screens being yellow make me mad; I'd much rather have a screen that was uniformly yellow, rather than one that is different tints in different parts of the screen. They are actually lucky.
 
Is there a way of telling which parts are in the device? I didnt think we'd see this variance in the launch batches.
 
I had 2 64GB Wifi + 4G black models, and the screens were noticeably different. One had what appeared to be a much nicer contrast ratio, deeper blacks, and not quite as warm. Luckily that was the one I was keeping, so I'm very content.


I took some pictures of then side by side, maybe I'll post them in a bit.
 
Purely basing on the the images, I see a red tinge on both devices the one on the right being so obvious that is covering about half of the screen, while the device on the left has it on its left side probably covering only 1/6th of the screen but has a noticeable greenish tinge on its right, either way both devices are not acceptable for me.. Are these issues common with launch day ipads?

MacAttacka said:
Is there a way of telling which parts are in the device? I didnt think we'd see this variance in the launch batches.
Click to expand...

Provided you know what to look for, there will be telltale signs on who made the screen, since we have 3 makers two will always be inferior, true story.
 
Thanks all. I'd really not rather go to the store to do the exchange because i'm not sure if i'll have to continually exchange and thus feel embarrassed (even though, as you guys point out, i'm not crazy and it's justified) and its also just a complete cluster**** at the apple store here (there are only 1 or 2 in the entire state).

Is it difficult to get a replacement by calling the 800 number?
 
55test55 said:
Is it difficult to get a replacement by calling the 800 number?
Click to expand...

When I called I explained the issue and I said "This does not look normal to me." The guy I was talking to agreed and said I could take it to the Apple Store or he could arrange a repair/replacement.

The normal repair method was for me to send it back, and then after they receive it they would repair it and ship it back. I really didn't want to do that, so the other option was an "Express Replacement," which requires AppleCare. I wanted the AppleCare+ anyway, so I bought that on the phone and he was able to set up the replacement pretty easily. They also required to put another hold on my credit card for the cost of the iPad until they receive the defective one, which I'll ship out after I get the replacement.

If there's an Apple Store close to you, it might be easier to just go there. But I went the phone-route because right now there is some heavy construction on the way to the Apple Store I like to go to, and the drive is too much out of the way.
 
55test55 said:
Thanks all. I'd really not rather go to the store to do the exchange because i'm not sure if i'll have to continually exchange and thus feel embarrassed (even though, as you guys point out, i'm not crazy and it's justified) and its also just a complete cluster**** at the apple store here (there are only 1 or 2 in the entire state).

Is it difficult to get a replacement by calling the 800 number?
Click to expand...

I dont understand how you could feel embarrassed for exchanging a defective product.
 
Ah damnit, so you can only exchange over the phone if you buy Applecare? Isn't it included for a year?
 
55test55 said:
Ah damnit, so you can only exchange over the phone if you buy Applecare? Isn't it included for a year?
Click to expand...

You can still exchange, but you have to ship yours back to them before they will send you another. And they said 3-5 day turn-around. Technically, "AppleCare" is not included for a year, but you do get the one-year limited warranty. But I guess there are other benefits to the actual AppleCare...

With AppleCare they let you wait until you receive a replacement before you ship your defective one to them.
 
Jason S. said:
You can still exchange, but you have to ship yours back to them before they will send you another. And they said 3-5 day turn-around. Technically, "AppleCare" is not included for a year, but you do get the one-year limited warranty. But I guess there are other benefits to the actual AppleCare...

With AppleCare they let you wait until you receive a replacement before you ship your defective one to them.
Click to expand...

You can walk into an Apple store and they usually exchange it right there. At least that's what happened when I exchanged my iPad 2 due to a backlight issue last year.
 
I thought Samsung was the sole supplier for these panels because LG and Sharp failed to pass quality control checkpoints during the build process. That would be kind of ironic if that's true.
 
Looks fine, just be happy with it.

LCD allways have backlight bleeding, nothing you can do about it.
 
Haziza said:
Looks fine, just be happy with it.

LCD allways have backlight bleeding, nothing you can do about it.
Click to expand...


What qualifies you to make this statement? I have at least a dozen LCD-equipped products around my house and none of them have backlight bleed, even at full brightness. Even my blackberry playbook - a device that's been the butt of many jokes over the last year, has a perfect screen with no light bleed.
 
Yesterday, I went to the Apple Store to exchange a 64 GB AT&T LTE iPad for a Verizon one because the AT&T LTE connection was noticeably crappy around the suburbs where I live, to the point where it was basically a slightly better HSPA+ connection (this was tested on my brother-in-law's grandfathered Unlimited SIM).

Anyway, immediately when I opened the new one at home I went "Holy ****", a more impressed "Holy ****" than the one uttered when I opened the first one on Friday. What was immediately apparent to me was the incredibly better contrast ratio on this new panel, plus slightly deeper saturation levels versus the old "new iPad" I had had (say that 5 times fast!) Seeing the Youtube logo in app on the new iPad was a dramatic sensation.

I'd say dollars to donuts this new panel I got is sourced from Samsung, because I had a similar (but losing) experience with my Macbook Air. When I purchased a second Air for my wife, setting it up for her, I immediately noticed how saturated and less fuzzy her panel was compared to mine. I looked things up in System Settings, and confirmed from an Anandtech article that her panel was sourced from Samsung, and mine from LG. ( I didn't bother getting going for an exchange there because I had gotten a great deal for mine refurbished from Amazon, and additionally lucked with the most important component of the Air experience, being fortunate to nab a Samsung SSD.)

Doubtless the same thing is going on with the iPad 3s. (It's between LG and Samsung, right?) Anyway, I'm very content in my exchange, and I'd suggest getting a Samsung panel if you can finagle it.
 
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