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Colour Banding 6/6+

frozentoast

frozentoast

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 19, 2007
301
99
banding.png


I've noticed a lot of colour banding (wiki) while navigating iOS 8 on the iPhone 6 Plus. Notification Centre, Weather and the lock screen keypad seem to be the worst offenders. With the default wallpaper you can actually follow a ghostly outline of the keypad while slowly sliding to return. This screenshot cross section looks much less harsh on a 27" iMac, which begs the question: is this just me, or something affecting everyone and completely normal?

To test for yourself, set the default wallpaper and lookout for topographic–like formations in dark and blurred areas.
 
I am not sure exactly what are you talking about? Its the original wallpaper blurred on the background, its not ghosting, unless i am missing something.

A few morons were complaining about how there was a weird design behind the restore screen, which was actually the wallpaper blurred.
 
munakib said:
I am not sure exactly what are you talking about? Its the original wallpaper blurred on the background, its not ghosting, unless i am missing something.
Click to expand...
Colour banding occurs when gradients are broken up instead of one seamless transition. It's hard to discern on most modern displays but it's very noticeable on this 6 Plus at least.

munakib said:
A few morons were complaining about how there was a weird design behind the restore screen, which was actually the wallpaper blurred.
Click to expand...
Yes that is silly indeed, though completely separate from what I'm discussing.
 
Frozentoast said:
Colour banding occurs when gradients are broken up instead of one seamless transition. It's hard to discern on most modern displays but it's very noticeable on this 6 Plus at least.


Yes that is silly indeed, though completely separate from what I'm discussing.
Click to expand...

I agree on the color banding, I notice it on my mba and also on pro's too, but based on my years of graphics design experience its nothing to be really concerned about on the phone. The colors/images are looking fantastic on my iP6+, you gotta be really obsessive to be bothered by it (even worse than me, if that is even possible).
 
banding-levels.png


Levels have been adjusted to more accurately reflect what I'm seeing in real life on the 6 Plus. Here you are able to clearly see squared–off interface elements paired with banding. With brightness set at 100% can anyone recreate this? You may have to look very closely.
 
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So this effect takes place when gloss blur effect is used (only during iOS's layering technique), how is that impacting your daily usage?

Okay, download the original wallpaper and add gloss blur effect to it then copy it back to the phone and use it as the wallpaper, can you see the same bands? It would be a better way to re-create the effect.
 
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munakib said:
So this effect takes place when gloss blur effect is used (only during iOS's layering technique), how is that impacting your daily usage?
Click to expand...
Well that's exactly what I'm trying to find out, whether this is very obvious on others devices too. Cosmetic or visual anomalies rarely affect daily use no, but this isn't a binary yes/no experience — Apple notoriously really sweats these details. Thank you for your replies, but I'm going to wait for more helpful insight and also check a few devices in store for comparison.
 
Frozentoast said:
Image

Levels have been adjusted to more accurately reflect what I'm seeing in real life on the 6 Plus. Here you are able to clearly see squared–off interface elements paired with banding. With brightness set at 100% can anyone recreate this? You may have to look very closely.
Click to expand...

So basically, it's a non-issue
 
I know this thread is a few months old, but it's the same on my phone too.

I stumbled across your post while searching about this same issue, which is happening on my 27" iMac running OS X Yosemite. The Notification Center and login screen on my Mac shows the same banding.

I just recently noticed it, and it's a pretty big issue in terms of UID. It could probably be fixed or at least minimized by dithering.
 
I think at the end of that day, that image is just an image and is subject to scaling artifacts. The plus uses a 3x rendering and then scales that down to the display 1080 res. This means this pixel to display point ends up being like 1.5 or something that is not even. In the situation with the wallpaper the math does not get you a smooth gradient.

On thin lines, the plus pixels at so small the effect does not matter as much. You can probably watch 1 px lines in some view grids "crawl" or "blink" as you scroll the view. This is a similar situation.

That's just what I think.
 
saber45 said:
Cease - to stop
Seize - to take

You can pluralize either with the addition of an s.

Have a lovely day.
Click to expand...


You can also have something seize, like a piston, stapler, etc. It means it gets jammed, stuck. Stops functioning.

Have a lovely day!
 
I have to wonder how people have so much free time to worry about things like this. I must be doing things wrong as I hardly have enough time in the day to get the important things done.:eek:
 
I can see what you're talking about. Take it in to the genius bar and report back asap.
 
Hey all,
Reporting the same screen banding issue on my brand new A1549 model. It is so disappointing to see such a poor implementation of graphics on a device like this. I'm coming from an iPad mini retina + LG G3 setup, wanted to move to a full iOS ecosystem, so naturally the iPhone 6 it was.

I find the phone to be a package of many many compromises. Screen banding is VERY apparent, and I'm shocked people here are dismissing it like its nothing. I can forgive the low-res screen (coming from a 2k screen after all I know what I was buying) and the absolutely silly quirks of iOS on the iPhone, but this screen banding is just like looking at a CRT in 1997 running on 256 colors while your good buddy has a 16 bit capable setup.

Moreover, my screen seems to be delaminating, and my battery goes kaput in less than a regular workday. And how come I get such inconsistent behaviour while I get a call?And why do I get a 2 second delay between swiping right to pick up a call and actually being able to hear the other party...I'm just venting.

I love my iPad mini retina and will be sad to see it go when they phase it out, but I'm shaken as I abandoned the excellent hardware and software, not to mention superb functionality of my android device to get a seamless experience at such a high cost, and I don't know if I can ever recommend the iPhone anymore.
 
I have noticed color banding on my 4s but I was under the impression that was the limitation of the device. If iOS were to blur to the extent where color banding was not noticeable I'm pretty sure these post would be complaining about performance, as bad as it is now. A mobile CPU is blurring wallpaper on the fly which isn't easy at all.
 
Frozentoast said:
Image

I've noticed a lot of colour banding (wiki) while navigating iOS 8 on the iPhone 6 Plus. Notification Centre, Weather and the lock screen keypad seem to be the worst offenders. With the default wallpaper you can actually follow a ghostly outline of the keypad while slowly sliding to return. This screenshot cross section looks much less harsh on a 27" iMac, which begs the question: is this just me, or something affecting everyone and completely normal?

To test for yourself, set the default wallpaper and lookout for topographic–like formations in dark and blurred areas.
Click to expand...

I noticed this since the first time I used iOS 7 and Yosemite. I generally ignore it though.
 
Everybody calm down. It simply is how iOS blurs the wallpaper. There is Nothing wrong with your devices. Pretty much, the only fixes are to 1. Turn your brightness down (the banding is more difficult to see when the screen is dark) or 2. Ignore it.

It's even on my iPad mini retina. Just zoom into this image very closely and you will see it, especially if the brightness of your screen is high. It's almost like a topographic map of shading/colors, if you still can't see it.
 

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