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iPod touch iPod Touch Screen Quality Sucks vs. iPhone

s57 said:
The iPhone was $300 more (for the same amount of memory) before they lowered the price point. They were probably making a good margin on that, but now they probably rely mostly on the revenue sharing with AT&T to make money with the iPhone. Since the iPod is still $100 cheaper, and they don't get any revenue sharing, I can't imagine that they use identical hardware in both (minus the BT, cell phone, and camera, which I doubt would run them $300) otherwise they'd losing money on the Touch.

Ergo: The Touch probably uses inferior hardware, which might explain why it's slower and why the screen might not be as nice (or it's just buggy software, of course...)
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apple is not a company that thinks, yes, lets make our best mp3 player yet out of sh*tty hardware to save $5. come on, iPods only make up 50% of our total revenue
 
OrangeCuse44 said:
who's watching video on an angle with a touch anyway? if youre holding it, im sure no ones gunna think, "gee i could watch this straight on, but just for fun ill turn it so im watching on an angle to impair the black colors of my cinematic experience."
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OK so what about when people say they are experiencing this. Taken from Apple support fourm.

My iPod Touch seems to display all black scenes and movies and pictures with an almost negative black effect, so it looks like I am staring at the LCD from a bad angle, when in fact I am staring at it dead on.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1131324
 
dan-o-mac said:
OK so what about when people say they are experiencing this. Taken from Apple support fourm.

My iPod Touch seems to display all black scenes and movies and pictures with an almost negative black effect, so it looks like I am staring at the LCD from a bad angle, when in fact I am staring at it dead on.
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It seems like some (hopefully most) iPods are absolutely fine when viewed straight on. But some obviously have problematic screens.

At this point, I would guess this is a QC issue, not an inherent problem with the Touch. So hopefully it was a bad batch (made Friday afternoon, the factory workers were all drunk or something.)
 
madmaxmedia said:
It seems like some (hopefully most) iPods are absolutely fine when viewed straight on. But some obviously have problematic screens.

At this point, I would guess this is a QC issue, not an inherent problem with the Touch. So hopefully it was a bad batch (made Friday afternoon, the factory workers were all drunk or something.)
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lol @ drunk factory workers. I hope it's just a bad batch. I was going to pick one up this week, but I think I'll wait till the dust settles.
 
I tried to watch video on it again and it still was horrible. So I just returned it tonight after 1 day of ownership. Had to eat the 10% restocking fee $40. Ouch.
 
Rendition said:
I tried to watch video on it again and it still was horrible. So I just returned it tonight after 1 day of ownership. Had to eat the 10% restocking fee $40. Ouch.
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That is is messed up, and if the swear filter wasn't on I would use a stronger word, you shouldn't have to pay a restocking fee for their defective product! Pure BS!
 
parrotheadmjb said:
apple is not a company that thinks, yes, lets make our best mp3 player yet out of sh*tty hardware to save $5. come on, iPods only make up 50% of our total revenue
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A) eating the profit margin on 50% of the revenue is out of the question, so clearly the Touch must be cheaper to produce than the iPhone, by quite a bit. I'm not talking about 5$ savings - the difference is probably more like $100 or more.

B) I am not saying sh**tty hardware (though some of the screens seem to be well described by that attribute), but just less high end.

C) The best mp3 player? I thought it was AAC, and the iPod classic is probably the best player at that.
 
Quickdood said:
That is is messed up, and if the swear filter wasn't on I would use a stronger word, you shouldn't have to pay a restocking fee for their defective product! Pure BS!
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It's not defective, per se. They didn't advertise a specific range of viewing angles.

I definitely see the issue the OP is talking about, but viewing the iPod at a very slight tilt (as I generally do) seems to get rid of it. It just seems that the screen has a very narrow horizontal (or vertical, if you're watching video) viewing angle.

Definitely a shame, and probably a problem, but not one big enough for me to return the thing. A class action lawsuit'll pop up eventually, and I'll be in on that. :D
 
I am posting this from my new Touch. My screen looks fine so far I did increase the brightness and it looks great. Thus far no noticable hissing either. Wi-fi seems too work well too.
 
gloss said:
It's not defective, per se. They didn't advertise a specific range of viewing angles.
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It's not an issue of viewing angles so much as color shift.

The display is still viewable, just in false color. Viewing angles are essentially meaningless on modern LCDs--they're almost universally in excess of 170 degrees (180 degrees is not the maximum--it can never be achieved). A viewing angle is just the cone in which the image definition persists (not the colors).

Even if they had advertised specific viewing angles, it wouldn't have any consequence with regard to the appearance of blacks and other dark colors.
 
matticus008 said:
It's not an issue of viewing angles so much as color shift.

The display is still viewable, just in false color. Viewing angles are essentially meaningless on modern LCDs--they're almost universally in excess of 170 degrees (180 degrees is not the maximum--it can never be achieved). A viewing angle is just the cone in which the image definition persists (not the colors).

Even if they had advertised specific viewing angles, it wouldn't have any consequence with regard to the appearance of blacks and other dark colors.
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That is why I almost think this could be fixed with a firmware update. Apple could adjust the settings and fix the display.
 
matticus008 said:
It's not an issue of viewing angles so much as color shift.

The display is still viewable, just in false color. Viewing angles are essentially meaningless on modern LCDs--they're almost universally in excess of 170 degrees (180 degrees is not the maximum--it can never be achieved). A viewing angle is just the cone in which the image definition persists (not the colors).

Even if they had advertised specific viewing angles, it wouldn't have any consequence with regard to the appearance of blacks and other dark colors.
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I tend to agree, I'm just saying that it may not technically qualify as 'defective' because I don't know that they declared that it should behave otherwise.

It is, however, annoying, and if they cobble together a replacement program I'll be first in line.

edit: I finally ran across a really dark scene to test it with, and it is quite bad. At the viewing angle that's normally perfect, I get a very noticable negative effect, which gets worse as I tilt the Touch toward me and begins to subside as I tilt it away from me, although then the color gets all wonky.

Very disappointing. If I wasn't going to be gone the rest of the weekend I'd take it back and complain.
 
I purchased an iPhone and returned it a week later due to issues I had with the lack push mail support and no LED notifications. I was however very impressed with the screen on the iPhone. It produced blacks like a plamsa and the clarity was awesome. I can not say the same for my iPod Touch. It is nice, but it seems like the screen is the quality of a ****** LCD. Considering it is an iPod and how small it is, I got over it really quick :)


Cal
 
gloss said:
I tend to agree, I'm just saying that it may not technically qualify as 'defective' because I don't know that they declared that it should behave otherwise.
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Oh, I agree with your assessment. I was simply clarifying the issue on the off chance that someone uncovered some viewing angle specification and dragged it into this thread to rebut your claim.
 
I was at the Apple Store and the Touches there looked great. They had a music video with dark scenes that looked just fine.

Sound like a large batch of bad screens...

Too many product refreshes at the same time!
 
gloss said:
I tend to agree, I'm just saying that it may not technically qualify as 'defective' because I don't know that they declared that it should behave otherwise.

It is, however, annoying, and if they cobble together a replacement program I'll be first in line.

edit: I finally ran across a really dark scene to test it with, and it is quite bad. At the viewing angle that's normally perfect, I get a very noticable negative effect, which gets worse as I tilt the Touch toward me and begins to subside as I tilt it away from me, although then the color gets all wonky.

Very disappointing. If I wasn't going to be gone the rest of the weekend I'd take it back and complain.
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Yeah, reading the Apple forums, it definitely sounds like a bad batch - some folks report their screens are fine and iPhone-quality. Others say Geniuses clearly see the problem and replace it. Nobody should have to live with this, or pay a restocking fee.
 
s57 said:
A) eating the profit margin on 50% of the revenue is out of the question, so clearly the Touch must be cheaper to produce than the iPhone, by quite a bit. I'm not talking about 5$ savings - the difference is probably more like $100 or more.

B) I am not saying sh**tty hardware (though some of the screens seem to be well described by that attribute), but just less high end.

C) The best mp3 player? I thought it was AAC, and the iPod classic is probably the best player at that.
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Yes AAC player is a widely used term these days, SIKE,(the iPod, im not sure if you are familiar with it, but it plays BOTH AAC and MP3 along with a variety of other formats) but as for the 50% profit, yes they could still keep the same hardware as the iPhone (except for the phone) and make a 40%-50% profit like their other products. And I am pretty sure that the screen on the iPod touch is NOT a $100 cheaper than the one on the iPhone.
 
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