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iPod touch Bought 2 64GB iPod touch devices... returned both. My story.

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
So, after Steve's announcement, I immediately ordered a 64GB iPod touch. Then, when I got home, I canceled my iPhone 3G service to use a Motorola Razor go-phone.

Then, on Sept. 14th, I got my iPod touch. I used it for a few minutes and realized that it has the interlace/scan line problem (here, here, here, here, here) on the screen. Also, the home button was raised up above the glass surface a little bit and it left a sharp edge if you ran your finger across it. I figured... perhaps I got unlucky. So 2 days later, I went to Best Buy and picked up a brand new iPod touch 64GB again.... now I'm out $800. I figured... if the one from Best Buy is good, I'll just send the first one back to Apple. Turns out, the one from Best Buy was actually worse than the first one, but the home button was much better. I thought... perhaps I'll just live with this one. So I sent the first one back to Apple for a refund.

Anyways... I used the Best Buy one for a couple of days and realized that I couldn't stand looking at that ugly screen. My iPhone 3G has a perfect screen (no scan lines or interlacing effect), so I took the go-phone sim out of my Razor and stuffed it in my iPhone 3G. Come to find out, it works perfectly. Then I called AT&T and got unlimited texts and now I didn't really have a need for an iPod touch anymore, so I brought it back to Best Buy.

While I was at Best Buy returning my 2nd iPod touch, I decided what I *really* wanted. What I was trying to get was a decently fast portable computer. Then it HIT me. I need a full blown notebook computer! That's what was missing to bridge the large gap between full blown Mac Pro desktop and an iPhone.

So anyways, while I was at Best Buy, I bought a $1200 13" MacBook Pro. When I got it home, I was excited to set it up, but the excitement ended when I realized that the screen wasn't as good as I was expecting. The screen displayed a weird dithering/meshing pattern if you moved anything around on the screen. Threads about it here and here. My brother has the previous generation 13" MacBook and his screen looks really good, so I convinced him to trade with me. There are only subtle differences between the two and since I have a Mac Pro, I wasn't all that worried about the extra features of the 'Pro. I'm only missing Firewire, SD card slot, 7 hour battery, illuminated keyboard and 260Mhz.

So the point of this story is this: I thought I wanted an iPod touch, but I really wanted an unrestricted portable computer. Now my digital life is complete. For the extra space, I've got a 120GB iPod classic that I bought last year.

I can't stand display issues. I work in the graphic design field and I'm very picky about screen quality. Coming from a perfect iPhone, to a less than perfect iPod touch screen was too hard for me to handle.

Now I have: Perfect iPhone 3G (2.2.1 of course), perfect Mac Pro (with Apple Cinema Display), perfect iPod classic and perfect 13" Unibody MacBook.

The point of this thread is: Until Apple can be consistent with their mobile display quality, I don't know if I'm going to buy another iPhone for a long time. I returned my iPhone 3GS 3 times until I eventually gave up and returned it for good. It took me 4 tries to get this iPhone 3G and I bought 2 iPod touch 3rd gens and that was enough for me.

Am I too picky? Yes I am. I'm an Apple customer. As far as I know, there isn't any other computer company out there with customers as picky as Apple users. I believe Apple made me this way by over-delivering quality in the past.... now it's almost like all of that is going down the tubes.... so yeah, I'm going to keep returning their products until I get something I'm happy with.
 
fluidedge said:
Sounds like you have more money than sense.
Click to expand...

What exactly is that supposed to mean? The iPod touch would have made me happy if the screen looked like my iPhone 3G screen. Sadly, getting a screen like the one on my iPhone 3G is very hard to do... it seems like they're rare... especially when you browse the Apple Store and see how almost all iPhones and iPod touch's show this issue. Why isn't the quality control like it used to be?
 
who buys an $400 ipod, decides oh i'll buy another just to see if it's any better (?) and then on a whim buys a $1200 laptop just because they fancied one and then swap that with a macbook worth MUCH less becuase they prefer the screen.

Also buying a 3GS phone without selling the 3G first!

What do you use all your apple stuff for? Playing minesweeper?

Thinly veiled "look how much apple stuff i can afford" thread imo.
 
gilkisson said:
Is it only electronics, or do you apply your rule of perfection to other items or aspects of life? I'm just curious if you have returned several cars, microwaves, refrigerators, boats, or whatnot.

Or is it only Apple items which are subjected to the perfection test?
Click to expand...

Well, it's only Apple products for me. Like I said... my eyes are really sensitive to lines and interlacing artifacts on LCD screens. I don't even like interlacing on my TV. The tiny scan lines hurt my eyes somewhat and are distracting to me from looking at the actual content on the screen.

My first gen iPod touch screen was perfect... no lines. My first iPhone screen was really good (it had a slight negative black issue, but only in certain conditions) and then my iPhone 3G had noticeable scan lines all over it, so I returned it, got one with other problems, returned that... got another one with more problems... returned that and then I got my perfect iPhone 3G (or at least perfect to me).

So due to my past Apple gadget buying history, I've gotten used to perfect screens (or perfect to me) and when I got my 64GB iPod touch, I was disappointed. You gotta understand how I would feel after having 3 other perfect handhelds.

fluidedge said:
who buys an $400 ipod, decides oh i'll buy another just to see if it's any better (?) and then on a whim buys a $1200 laptop just because they fancied one and then swap that with a macbook worth MUCH less becuase they prefer the screen.

Also buying a 3GS phone without selling the 3G first!

What do you use all your apple stuff for? Playing minesweeper?

Thinly veiled "look how much apple stuff i can afford" thread imo.
Click to expand...

To your first question: A person like me.

To your second question: I'm never giving up this perfect iPhone 3G

To your third question: Nope.

To your last statement: I've returned a lot of the stuff I bought, so it didn't make much difference. Plus, all the money I'm saving by not having a $100 iPhone plan every month means I *can* afford to buy a MacBook. Also, a better screen has more value to me than FireWire, SD card slot (which I can't use because I have an older DSLR) and illuminated keyboard (which is actually the first feature I turned off because I don't look at the keys to type anyway). My brother wanted an SD card slot and backlit keyboard, so it worked out for both of us. In my eyes... what I did was a good thing.
 
TheSpaz said:
Am I too picky? Yes I am. I'm an Apple customer. As far as I know, there isn't any other computer company out there with customers as picky as Apple users. I believe Apple made me this way by over-delivering quality in the past.... now it's almost like all of that is going down the tubes.... so yeah, I'm going to keep returning their products until I get something I'm happy with.
Click to expand...

Man, the staff in these stores must just cringe when they see you walk in.:rolleyes:
 
Oh man how could I have seen this coming?!

Well, return them both and buy a Zune. And last you said you worked for a printer. Your job changes as often as you return electronics my friend.

Edit: So spaz, you're done buying Apple iPhones and Touches? The boards will be a boring place.
 
jessica. said:
Oh man how could I have seen this coming?!

Well, return them both and buy a Zune. And last you said you worked for a printer. Your job changes as often as you return electronics my friend.

Edit: So spaz, you're done buying Apple iPhones and Touches? The boards will be a boring place.
Click to expand...

Ewwww... Zune? No thanks. I do work for a printer... in the GRAPHICS department. I work at a label printing company and I use a PowerMac G5 all day. It's quite a nice job actually.

Redline13 said:
Perfection is an illusion. Look closely enough and you'll find a flaw in anything.
Click to expand...

That's so true, but there's a difference between absolutely perfect and what I deem perfect enough for my tastes. My iPhone 3G isn't technically perfect, but it's the best one I've seen out of all the iPhone 3Gs I've seen (friends, store, etc). If I look closely, I can see cracks in my iPhone 3G, but it started out perfect, so that's all that mattered to me at the time. I caused the cracks, so they don't bother me.
 
TheSpaz said:
Well, it's only Apple products for me. Like I said... my eyes are really sensitive to lines and interlacing artifacts on LCD screens. I don't even like interlacing on my TV. The tiny scan lines hurt my eyes somewhat and are distracting to me from looking at the actual content on the screen.
Click to expand...

I can understand wanting to get what you paid for... but...

You can really see scan lines on TV sets? You can detect them enough that they distract you? That's fairly amazing... I don't know the physiology, but there must be a certain limit beyond which the human eye cannot physically tell the difference. Do you have exceptional vision, i.e. better than 20/20?

What kind of TV? I like my 50" Vizio LCD, I like it a lot. I cannot imagine, after reading your adventures of iPods and iPhones and whatnot, you putting up with less than a perfect TV... so which one did you end up with, and how many tries did it take before you got the "perfect" one?
 
gilkisson said:
I can understand wanting to get what you paid for... but...

You can really see scan lines on TV sets? You can detect them enough that they distract you? That's fairly amazing... I don't know the physiology, but there must be a certain limit beyond which the human eye cannot physically tell the difference. Do you have exceptional vision, i.e. better than 20/20?

What kind of TV? I like my 50" Vizio LCD, I like it a lot. I cannot imagine, after reading your adventures of iPods and iPhones and whatnot, you putting up with less than a perfect TV... so which one did you end up with, and how many tries did it take before you got the "perfect" one?
Click to expand...

TVs aren't nearly the same as mobile screens. With an iPod or iPhone screen, they need to reduce the refresh rate to lower the wattage and get better battery life. However, on a TV they don't have to worry about battery power obviously. The interlace lines I'm talking about are like something on a DVD that isn't progressive scan (ie 480i). You can definitely see interlaced lines in fast movement on an LCD TV. Blu-ray is progressive scan and most DVDs are progressive scan so I really don't see the problem very much, but some DVDs do not de-interlace properly.

So I think it's more of a DVD player or Blu-ray player or DVD problem rather than a TV problem. My Samsung 40" TV doesn't have scan lines like the iPod touch. It's just an effect caused by certain DVDs/DVD players. See here

This is what interlacing looks like from a source that isn't de-interlaced.
Weaving.jpg
 
TheSpaz said:
TVs aren't nearly the same as mobile screens. With an iPod or iPhone screen, they need to reduce the refresh rate to lower the wattage and get better battery life. However, on a TV they don't have to worry about battery power obviously. The interlace lines I'm talking about are like something on a DVD that isn't progressive scan (ie 480i). You can definitely see interlaced lines in fast movement on an LCD TV. Blu-ray is progressive scan and most DVDs are progressive scan so I really don't see the problem very much, but some DVDs do not de-interlace properly.

So I think it's more of a DVD player or Blu-ray player or DVD problem rather than a TV problem. My Samsung 40" TV doesn't have scan lines like the iPod touch. It's just an effect caused by certain DVDs/DVD players. See here
Click to expand...

I hear ya... it's just that, well, I have 3 iphones and two iPods in my house, I've seen a lot of other devices, and I just can't see the interlacing. I can't detect it, never have. I guess I'm not as sensitive.

In fact, I've never heard of anyone who is.
 
gilkisson said:
I hear ya... it's just that, well, I have 3 iphones and two iPods in my house, I've seen a lot of other devices, and I just can't see the interlacing. I can't detect it, never have. I guess I'm not as sensitive.

In fact, I've never heard of anyone who is.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but if you go back and see my first post, I've posted about 4 links to other people noticing the scan lines on the iPhone or iPod touch. I think one of them is my thread, but other people in the thread notice it too.

Also, it's obviously not affecting ALL iPhones, but out of all my friends and most of the iPhones at the Apple Store... they all show the scan lines, but fortunately, I have an iPhone 3G without the problem. THAT is why I'm never selling this thing. Hah.

Edit: If any of your devices have the problem you'll notice it more if you look at a solid color and move the iPhone around slightly while looking at the solid color and it will start to appear like it has horizontal lines all through it. It's also more visible at higher screen brightnesses (like when outside).
 
TheSpaz said:
so I took the go-phone sim out of my Razor and stuffed it in my iPhone 3G. Come to find out, it works perfectly.
.
Click to expand...

wow!:eek::eek::eek::eek:

what a story!

anyways, as u see from above ^^^^ u took out ur motorola razor SIM card and stuffed it into ur iphone 3G right..?

does that mean ur iphone is like a go-phone? like an unlock iphone for example.????:rolleyes::confused:
 
TheSpaz said:
The point of this thread is: Until Apple can be consistent with their mobile display quality, I don't know if I'm going to buy another iPhone for a long time
Click to expand...

A ten paragraph essay, complete with detailed descriptions of your expensive purchases, to alert the Macrumors community that you aren't sure you're going to buy another iPhone for a while?

OK, you're not too self-involved.
 
illibball087 said:
ocd much? what do you do if you drop something? sell it asap?
Click to expand...

Actually… it doesn't bother me very much when I break my own things. I have scratches and cracks in my iPhone 3G case and screen, but I still love it. It was flawless when I got it, so it's great. Just as long as I don't put 3.0 or 3.1 on it, I think I'll be all set.

I loving my new MacBook too!
 
Well, if you have more than enough money to buy the products all at once, go for it :]
I say, some people are just angry at your purchases at once :p
If you're spending $400 on something...you're more than picky. ;]
 
At least the journey reached an end to where you are happy!

Products are made for the majority, not the minority.
 
i'm quite fussy about screen quality. And what i have noticed is that you only really notice it when you have a direct comparison sitting next to it. I upgraded from a 24" imac to a 20" imac recently and the screen quality on my new 20" was inferior to my old imacs. It was almost a deal breaker, but i subsequently sold the 24" imac and when it was gone my screen issues were no longer an issue.
 
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