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Backlight bleeding
- Thread starter i eversaw
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Well I gave mine a week to see if the issue would go away, and of course it doesn't going back to Best Buy tomorrow. More then likely they have none so I'll just be doing a return as I don't feel like dealing with them and waiting for a replacement after the 14 day return window.
You don't have to deal with best buy, the apple store will service your 1 year warranty regardless of where you bought it. If yours is bad enough to want to return then it'll be worse than the demo and they will replace it
I've got my appointment with a genius tomorrow to look at the white dot I have on my screen. Here's hoping for a good one.
Got my White 64GB ATT in yesterday. I made an all black photo and put it on the ipad. I have about 6 areas of light bleeding. The way I look at it - it's my way of returning it if I determine I dislike it. I have not sold my iPad 1 for this reason... I wasn't sure if the iPad 2 would be worth another $1000. I love it though - but IMO when I spend over 1K on a product, I EXPECT and DEMAND it to be flawless.
What are some of the other issues I should look for? I already checked the corners and back for dents/scratches. I just thought of dead pixels so I'm going to go look at that now. Anything else outstanding that you all might have thought of and I might have missed?
What are some of the other issues I should look for? I already checked the corners and back for dents/scratches. I just thought of dead pixels so I'm going to go look at that now. Anything else outstanding that you all might have thought of and I might have missed?
Just got back from my genius bar appointment. He saw the bleeding right away and brought out a replacement. He said this was the first iPad 2 he had to exchange ever, and I believed him... However when he turned on the replacement iPad it was even worse (just like a lot of peoples experiences here) He didn't have any more ipads to just keep opening boxes and try to find one that didn't have the problem, so I took the replacement iPad for now and as soon as they have more in stock they'll call me and I'll try again.
But once again, either this is a widespread problem, or we are some of the most unlucky iPad buyers in the world....
But once again, either this is a widespread problem, or we are some of the most unlucky iPad buyers in the world....
Am I missing something here... Why would you take the replacement one if it was worse?
Wow! This is almost the same experience I had. I ordered my iPad on March 11th online. I got in on the 3-5 day shipping window. I got my iPad on March 16th and was pretty disappointed almost immediately. I had waited in line on the 11th to pick up a 32gb for my son from a local Best Buy and so I'd already been playing with the iPad and was definitely looking forward to getting my own.
As soon as I powered it on and saw the mostly black screen with the "connect to iTunes" message, I instantly noticed the glaring flashlight to the right of the home button. I hadn't noticed that on my son's iPad when I set his up. The bleed was so glaringly evident that I googled the terms "backlight bleed" and found, much to my dismay, this forum as well as other reputable sites with information pointing to this anomaly. This prompted me to examine my son's. I inspected his panel. I saw where he had backlight bleed to a very slight degree on his, but it was only evident with black/dark content (black bars for widescreen viewing) and in a dark room. In other words, his level of bleed and the conditions required to see it were acceptable. Also, I might mention that the screen on my iPad seemed to suffer from an overall dingy yellowish tint. Again, I compared my screen to my son's screen and his had a more definite whitish/blue hue and mine was more yellowish. This yellow tint did not diminish during the days of heavy usage.
I expect a certain amount of bleed from an LCD panel - it's the nature of the beast, but mine was unacceptable. I decided to give the iPad a few days to "cure" during which time I turned the brightness all the way to 100% and played movies non-stop on it. I did notice the level of severity of the lights along the side of the screen diminish as well as the main offender, the flashlight to the right of the home button. If my iPad only had the slight bleed from the sides, I would have been happy with it because those weren't visible with normal conditions.
I called Apple Care on March 17th and spoke with a specialist about my iPad. My nearest Apple Store is about 2.5 hrs away, so I knew I would need to work out a replacement on the phone. I wasn't driving 5 hrs. round trip just to come home empty handed due to the "closest" Apple Store being out of stock! Anyhow, the Apple Care Specialist said they would be able to ship me out a replacement iPad without any problems. All I had to do was ship mine to them and then they'd send me out a new one. I didn't want to do that for fear of getting one similar to some pictured in this thread. I asked about an Advance Replacement wherein they could put a hold on my credit card and ship out a replacement and then drop the hold on the card once they received my old iPad. I was told that wouldn't be a problem as long as I was enrolled in the Apple Care Protection Program. I wasn't, but given the issues I'd already experienced, I didn't think buying the it was a bad idea.
I asked whether this would be a refurbished unit or a new unit. I was told that this would be a new unit as there weren't any refurbs out there yet due to the product being so new. I made sure I was going to receive a new unit. I was expecting a new retail box when my new iPad was delivered. I also asked about estimated time for the replacement to reach my doorstep. I was told "tomorrow". That was pretty amazing. Sure enough. My new unit arrived today. I did, however, have some trepidation when I saw it was a non-descript brown box that simply contained a well protected new iPad.
A couple of observations. This iPad shipped from Middletown, PA and my original one came from China. This was an overnight delivery. I was completely impressed with the speed of delivery! The iPad was covered in the plastic wrapper just like one it was replacing that came out of the retail box. As soon as I powered this iPad up, I knew I'd done the right thing. It was noticeably better than my original iPad. Don't get me wrong, there is still light bleeding from around the bezel, but this particular unit did not have the flashlight or really any noticeable bleeding coming from the right of the home button. That was a huge relief. There was some light bleeding coming from the sides, but that's it. Also, with regards to the yellow tint issue, this new replacement iPad has a very bright white screen. No yellow tinge! That was another huge relief. I will take pictures of both my original iPad and my new iPad side by side to show the difference between the two with regards to this issue. I also checked both my original and my replacement for stuck/dead pixels. Neither unit had any dead pixels.
My recommendation would be for anyone with light bleed at an unacceptable level to get a replacement. If you are expecting a perfectly inky black screen, your expectations are not realistic, but you should be able to find an iPad that won't be so obvious with screen bleeding that it is distracting! Now I can finally start to enjoy my iPad 2! I'm much happier with the less severe light bleeding and I'm really happy to be rid of the yellow screen!
GTFO
No way?!?
Yeah honestly. It's reason enough to never shop in a Verizon store.
Well - I did find a dead pixel.
Yup. I actually wasn't looking for it - I just thought it was a spec of dust... But when it wouldn't come off I knew it was a dead one. Damn!
So yesterday I get the call from my Apple store that they have a replacement. I grabbed my 32 wifi and brought it up. The manager looked at me like I was crazy so I asked him to take it in the back and look. At that point he said he saw the bleed. Anyway the people at this store are very nice. It's a pleasure doing business with a place like this.
First of all the lights in the store are so bright there's no telling what's going on with a screen. It's the same thing for any type of tv buying. What you see is not what you get when you get home. So I took a look at the new screen and did my best to see any bleeding. I saw none under my normal settings so I was happy. My first iPad 2 you could see a finger of light no matter the brightness setting and for me that was completely unacceptable. When I got home under normal lighting I did the brightness test and sure enough it's present. To me this is ok since at around 50% brightness I can't see it. But . . . I wanted to test out my way of diminishing this problem again.
If anybody wants to play along please do and let me know if this helps.
Take your iPad 2 ( I think this has a better shot on screens that are moderately bleeding and not the type that looks like spotlights at a movie premiere. ) and shut off the auto lock. Find a white image on line and save it. Open it up in the photo viewer and fill the screen with all white. Plug her in and let her sit for the day or overnight. I did this with my first unit and it seemed to help for all but the worst bleed but also reduced it quite a bit. I did this with the new replacement last night and I checked it out this morning and I see a big improvement. The screen at full brightness shows a much smoother screen and just the usual LCD cloudiness this plasma guy can't stand but can live with.
Let me know if it works or I'm just a nutcase.
First of all the lights in the store are so bright there's no telling what's going on with a screen. It's the same thing for any type of tv buying. What you see is not what you get when you get home. So I took a look at the new screen and did my best to see any bleeding. I saw none under my normal settings so I was happy. My first iPad 2 you could see a finger of light no matter the brightness setting and for me that was completely unacceptable. When I got home under normal lighting I did the brightness test and sure enough it's present. To me this is ok since at around 50% brightness I can't see it. But . . . I wanted to test out my way of diminishing this problem again.
If anybody wants to play along please do and let me know if this helps.
Take your iPad 2 ( I think this has a better shot on screens that are moderately bleeding and not the type that looks like spotlights at a movie premiere. ) and shut off the auto lock. Find a white image on line and save it. Open it up in the photo viewer and fill the screen with all white. Plug her in and let her sit for the day or overnight. I did this with my first unit and it seemed to help for all but the worst bleed but also reduced it quite a bit. I did this with the new replacement last night and I checked it out this morning and I see a big improvement. The screen at full brightness shows a much smoother screen and just the usual LCD cloudiness this plasma guy can't stand but can live with.
Let me know if it works or I'm just a nutcase.
Yaikes this is really putting me off from upgrading from my iPad. I went trough 3 27" iMacs before I got an acceptable one without screen issues. I hate having to do the whole thing over again with an iPad. Seems like Apple can't launch a product these days without some sort of engineering issue.?
Once supply is up I will have to buy one in a store instead of online so I can try it out first hand.
Once supply is up I will have to buy one in a store instead of online so I can try it out first hand.
Ok - after reading this thread I thought I'd check my iPad 2 although I wasn't noticing anything. Here is the picture at 100% brightness taken in a dark room with my iPhone 4. Thoughts? From some of the other pictures, I don't think I really have a problem but you all are more expert than I am.
Attachments
There's some yellow / orange in the top-right and top-left, and a lighter colour in the bottom left. However, if you cannot see this normally, with the brightness turned all the way up, in a dark room, with a black or white image on the iPad - then don't return it - it's near enough perfect.
Just got back from the genius. I told him that there was backlight bleeding, and he put it under the table and saw it right away. Then, to my surprise he came out with a completely sealed box and gave it to me. The funny thing is, I actually bought the iPad at best buy... The new iPad is definitely better, and only has 1 minor bleed near the home button that's barely noticeable. I'll post a picture when I can, but overall I'm pretty happy.
Because that will only advertise the problem more to the masses of people who don't have a clue about it, and Apple are hoping never find out about it.
Best thing for them is just to pretend it does not exist. It's only when major websites and media latch onto something. Like a phone that can't make phone calls, will they even think about any public action.
Their problem is, it's probably a fundamental design flaw that cannot be fixed now. Production lines and methods of manufacture and locked in stone now, you can't just change something when making items on this scale. Unlike a small company that could say change a mould, or redesign a case tolerance mid run. It's all done now, and fixed.
All they can do is things like other companies do, add some sticky tape, or put a bit of sticky foam inside onto something. Not that it's relevant in this case, but you can't change massive production lines just like that.
All we can hope is, enough iPad2's are returned for it to cause Apple enough grief in time and money that they make it a priority to design out this fault for iPad3 which they are of course designing now as we speak.
Probably because in at least half the cases of this problem existing, the person would never notice it if they're not reading boards like these obsessively and lock themselves in a dark room to check for it. Why tell people to check for a defect so minor they never would have noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out?
When I did that, I saw a bit of a bleed from one spot. If I hadn't done that, I would be blissfully unaware that my iPad is horribly defective. Unless this turns out to be a problem that gets progressively worse over time, there is no way it will ever have an impact on my use of the device.
I have to eat my words a bit. I was in the camp of 'deal with it, it's not a big problem' but two things have changed.
A) some of the shots here are atrocious, no way I would accept it.
B) for the first time, I found it annoying last night, and comparatively mine bleeds only a bit.
A) some of the shots here are atrocious, no way I would accept it.
B) for the first time, I found it annoying last night, and comparatively mine bleeds only a bit.
One thing........
This issue is going to devalue the 2nd hand value of your iPad2 models.
Whilst you may not be considering this yet, I can see, in perhaps a years time, potential buyers wanting to know how bad the backlight bleed is before deciding to buy your iPad form you, and good models being far more attractive to future buyers.
In the same way, trying to sell a monitor you have had for a while with dead pixels will mean you probably have to ask a lower price as people won't want it, unless the price compensates for it's fault.
This issue is going to devalue the 2nd hand value of your iPad2 models.
Whilst you may not be considering this yet, I can see, in perhaps a years time, potential buyers wanting to know how bad the backlight bleed is before deciding to buy your iPad form you, and good models being far more attractive to future buyers.
In the same way, trying to sell a monitor you have had for a while with dead pixels will mean you probably have to ask a lower price as people won't want it, unless the price compensates for it's fault.
I seldom sell things like this anyway. I'm not an annual upgrader. I use it for news apps, net browsing, e-mail, taking notes etc. so I don't need the latest model.
By the time I upgrade gadgets its often 2-4 years down the road so they're largely worthless anyway. So I end up giving them to a friend or family member, donating them to a place like Goodwill or just recycling them if the battery is dead and not user replaceable etc.
Plus with with, the issue is so non-noticeable on most units in normal lighting and screen settings that it should affect 2nd hand sale anyway as most people aren't on forums like this and wouldn't know to test for minor light bleed in the dark before buying a used one anyway.
By the time I upgrade gadgets its often 2-4 years down the road so they're largely worthless anyway. So I end up giving them to a friend or family member, donating them to a place like Goodwill or just recycling them if the battery is dead and not user replaceable etc.
Plus with with, the issue is so non-noticeable on most units in normal lighting and screen settings that it should affect 2nd hand sale anyway as most people aren't on forums like this and wouldn't know to test for minor light bleed in the dark before buying a used one anyway.