I don't think there is a perfect iPad out there and if there is (well, or at least extremely close to perfect) the odds of getting one of those are close to zero and this pursue is not worth the time invested.
I've gone through three iPads, and I've happened to have all of them at home at the same time for quite a few days. Right now, I still have two of those, and I'm deciding which one to pick. Neither of them is perfect, but I'm fed up with this crap to be honest, and, again, to be honest, I think that part of the fault is mine.
The first one looked ok at first, it got light bleeding but I was ok with that. After reading this damn forum, I started noticing yellow blotches / uneven backlight, mostly on the top left corner. I think it was negligible, but you know how these things are, once you see it...
I kept wasting more and more time reading through the forum and trying to decide what to do. After a lot of stress I called apple to arrange an exchange. At the same time I purchased another one just to have more to pick from (yeah, that's stupid). I got them the following week, and of course as soon as I got home I started comparing them from different angles, lights, brightness, etc. Again, a ****ing waste of time.
The first one I opened looked much more whiter than the original one. It looked evenly lit (it's not) the bleeding was still there but it was better overall. I was happy.
The second one, surprisingly enough, looked even whiter, I'd say the whites are just perfect and the screen was really nice (basically like the previous one, but slightly whiter).
After further inspection, this is what I found:
-original-
Bleeding
Uneven backlight, quite noticeable.
Slightly yellowish screen (it doesn't look like that unless you have something else to compare with though)
Light leaks - the top part of the screen looked separated from the bezel
Bad viewing angles
-first replacement-
Superficial scratch on the back, not annoying anyway, but there it is.
Light bleeding
Again, uneven tints. The left part of the screen is yellower (slightly). This is what annoys me the most.
Thin speck of dust behind the screen, but pretty close to the edge.
-second replacement-
Bleeding. The same as the first replacement, but stronger. It could be annoying on this one, or at least it was more likely to be.
The aluminum wasnt properly glued to the screen on a spot, it looks kind of like a scratch on the bezel, don't know how to explain it, but even though it's a minor problem it's hard to ignore because it's in the front part of the device, and direct light is reflected on that spot, if there is any. Cosmetic issues annoy me as well.
Tiny particles of dust behind the screen, maybe four or five, smaller than a pixel. Most of them are not noticeable with the screen on, however, I was particularly worried about the amount of these. Maybe this one is prone to get dust for some reason.
Tiny dent on the back. Not annoying, but well, it's an imperfection.
Uneven tint, this time at the top part of the device. Not sure if it's more or less noticeable than on the first replacement. At least it's not half of the screen though...
Conclusion.
Three out of three have some kind of unevenness throughout the screen.
Three out of three have bleeding at some level.
Two out of three have some kind of cosmetic issues (dust, scratches, whatever).
All of them have different color temperatures.
I'm done with this. I sent the first one back to apple, it was the worst one (yet still a pleasure to use I must say, if you ignore the problems).
I think I'm keeping the first replacement and sending back the second one. Basically because of the cosmetic issues on the second. The screen might be better, but it's got some dust here and there and more severe bleeding. I wish the first one hadn't uneven tint, I think I would call it almost perfect iPad, but this is what I got. I think I can still call it Pretty good iPad, given the things I've seen.
The thing is that I think all of the iPads will have a subset of these problems. This is not only based on these three, it's based of thousand of comments I've read on this forum as well. All of these issues are equally common, and I think that unevenness is the most common one. At the top, at the right part, at the bottom, more noticeable, less noticeable, whatever, but it's there.
My intention is not to blame apple. I think that they could have done a much better job with the quality control, but I think as well that lots of us are just too obsessive with this stuff. Problems should just come out, we shouldnt look for them. This is what the iPad is guys, a Product for the masses manufactured in china, you can either take it or just leave it. You can try with one of two exchanges if you want to compare, but seriously, don't look for problems. If the iPad looks just fine take it and enjoy it, that's what it's for. Don't waste your time and stress yourself over this, pursuing perfection on one of these products (or any other for that matter) is just that, a waste of time.
