I have some mild OCD, took me a while to convince myself I wasn't just seeing things.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Air screen defect?
- Thread starter xenaki
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
I have some mild OCD, took me a while to convince myself I wasn't just seeing things.
I think defects drastically alter your trust in the company and its products.
My first Apple product was a MacBook which I still have and which still performs really well. It was also problem free out of the box. Next was an iPhone 3GS and later a 4S which were also perfect out of the box.
Problems started with my iPad 3. The first one had about 6 dead pixels which I noticed while reading and the second one also had dead pixels and exposed LED. They were both returned and the 3rd one was just fine but the other 2 made me aware of the defects. Inevitably, when you get another product of the same line, you automatically go and check if there are any of the problems you've experienced in the past.
Yup....
I have a friend who is quite an accomplished pianist. He bought a new baby grand piano a few years ago, and he and his wife had a Christmas party/piano debut concert at their house. It was a fantastic performance, and the piano sounded wonderful. My wife and I were the last to leave, and I'm also an amateur musician. My friend told me the piano was giving him fits, because one of the keys was producing a strange overtone. His wife sighed, and walked into another room while he struck the key repeatedly. I have a very good ear, but it took at least five minutes for me to hear the overtone, and then he played a passage using that key. It was easily heard, even among several other notes in a chord, and began making me crazy....LOL! He paid over $15,000 for the piano, and had the company send out tech after tech trying to fix it. The first few couldn't hear it, and the next couple heard it, but couldn't fix it. The company sent an out of state tech, and she fixed it in minutes. The whole process took over two months, and he refused to play that piano until it was perfect. Fortunately for him, he had another.
I have a friend who is quite an accomplished pianist. He bought a new baby grand piano a few years ago, and he and his wife had a Christmas party/piano debut concert at their house. It was a fantastic performance, and the piano sounded wonderful. My wife and I were the last to leave, and I'm also an amateur musician. My friend told me the piano was giving him fits, because one of the keys was producing a strange overtone. His wife sighed, and walked into another room while he struck the key repeatedly. I have a very good ear, but it took at least five minutes for me to hear the overtone, and then he played a passage using that key. It was easily heard, even among several other notes in a chord, and began making me crazy....LOL! He paid over $15,000 for the piano, and had the company send out tech after tech trying to fix it. The first few couldn't hear it, and the next couple heard it, but couldn't fix it. The company sent an out of state tech, and she fixed it in minutes.
The whole process took over two months, and he refused to play that piano until it was perfect. Fortunately for him, he had another.
FFS. Just found 2 bits of dust under the glass on my air that deffo weren't there earlier today.
Just can't decide whether to return it or not, device is fantastic, size, weight everything - screen is mildly yellow on the left side and I bounce between accepting it and getting annoyed about it!
It's almost a case of now you see it, now you don't!
It's almost a case of now you see it, now you don't!
Just can't decide whether to return it or not, device is fantastic, size, weight everything - screen is mildly yellow on the left side and I bounce between accepting it and getting annoyed about it!
It's almost a case of now you see it, now you don't!
I, too, always endeavour to accept minor issues but, in the end, I always end up exchanging it with the hope of something better.
Let's face it, this device is essentially 99% display...why settle?
True, I am unable to get to an Apple store though so it would be via Apple online as I bought it through them. I have no idea how this process works. May call them I guess.
Pics?!?Just can't decide whether to return it or not, device is fantastic, size, weight everything - screen is mildly yellow on the left side and I bounce between accepting it and getting annoyed about it!
It's almost a case of now you see it, now you don't!
Well I returned my launch day Air due to a nasty yellow to pink shift, left to right. I had purchased it at the Apple store.
I succumbed to trying another, against my better judgement. This time I bought one at Best Buy. I wish I could say I got lucky.
It doesn't display an overly pink side, so I suppose that's an improvement. But the shift is now yellow to bluish. The yellow is on the left.
Here's a little gif I made, courtesy Photoshop's auto align feature. This is 2 photos, one in normal orientation with the home button at the bottom, the other with the ipad rotated 180 degrees. The home button is fake; I added it for positional reference.
The colors photograph more intensely than they appear in real life. It doesn't look as bad in reality, but it is still quite noticeable. The purple you see is more blue in actuality.
No adjustments were made to brightness, contrast or saturation.
I succumbed to trying another, against my better judgement. This time I bought one at Best Buy. I wish I could say I got lucky.
It doesn't display an overly pink side, so I suppose that's an improvement. But the shift is now yellow to bluish. The yellow is on the left.
Here's a little gif I made, courtesy Photoshop's auto align feature. This is 2 photos, one in normal orientation with the home button at the bottom, the other with the ipad rotated 180 degrees. The home button is fake; I added it for positional reference.
The colors photograph more intensely than they appear in real life. It doesn't look as bad in reality, but it is still quite noticeable. The purple you see is more blue in actuality.
No adjustments were made to brightness, contrast or saturation.
because it's a crappy handheld iPhone picture, not a studio photo with a locked down tripod and fixed exposure? and maybe there's falloff in the backlight in that corner...
You haven't played the Apple lottery in a while have you? It can end up wasting a lot of your time and cause outright madness.
I've had my iphone 5 swapped out 5 times due to various issues (screen, camera, dings etc). I know exactly what you mean. But if you really want a product that you're happy with, you'd take the effort to find one. Of course not to abuse our right as a customer, but I think the screen issue is a legit problem faced by many including myself.
----------
That looks something like mine, although I do have a darker strip along the left edge. Does yours have that too? May be difficult to show in an image, let alone a GIF. Still very informative, thanks!
What are you asking exactly? Do you think previous iPads did not have problems with uneven tints/illumination? I seriously don't understand your question.
I have two iPad Airs at home right now, both are warmer on the left side of the screen. One is slightly warmer overall, which I like, because it's more accurate and the cooler one can look somewhat reddish, depending on the ambient light.
I'll have a third one here tomorrow and will definitely keep one because I need it. And while I'm (again) irritated that it's obviously not possible to deliver uniform screens, it's not as much if an issue for me as it was on the iPad 3 and 4 because it's much less pronounced.
Personally, I think there is nothing as an perfect retina screen out there. I haven't seen one on the iPad 3, I haven't seen one on the iPad 4 and I haven't seen one on the Air (yet
). And I've seen a lot of iPad screens in the last few years. There are screens which are affected more and there are screens that are affected less, but they're all not perfect yet. Maybe next year or the year after that...
I'm on my 2nd iPad Air and have initiated a return for my 3rd. The first one I purchased at Best Buy and noticed almost immediately a darker area on the top of the screen in the landscape position with the home button on the left.
I returned it to BB and ordered one directly from Apple in hopes that it would be better but it's exactly the same. The dark area is really noticeable in the mail application or anything that produces a white background.
I'm praying the third one is better.
I returned it to BB and ordered one directly from Apple in hopes that it would be better but it's exactly the same. The dark area is really noticeable in the mail application or anything that produces a white background.
I'm praying the third one is better.
This is what I had in all of the units I tried until I finally gave up and just asked for a refund. Of course the guy that processed my refund in the Apple store said "well, screens may take a while to burn in" and I said I left if overnight with a fully white picture at maximum brightness. *awkward silence* "oh I actually meant a couple of weeks, a month..." "well, I don't want to be stuck with it in case it doesn't burn in, so just refund me please". On top of the tinting, the last one also had vertical interlacing/interference. Just "gorgeous". A beautiful immersive screen...
Done with iPad, these iPads belong in a clowns closet with such variations of colors. I am done period, when will this issue ever be fixed....the whole device is based on its screen, I just don't get it.
This is like putting a ferraris engine in a smart car!
----------
Pretty bird
This is like putting a ferraris engine in a smart car!
----------
Pretty bird
I don't know. Having bought it at best buy, I have until after the new year to return it. I'm going to see if it still drives me crazy in a couple of weeks. It's nowhere near as bad as my first one, and there are times when I forget about it, but there are times when all I do is stare at the discoloration.
How easy is it to spot screen issues whilst in the Apple Store? I need to return mine due to dust under the screen and a loose power switch. I have no discolouration or backlight bleed at all currently so want to ensure the replacement doesn't either.
- Status