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Just returned my iPad 3

r-sparks

r-sparks

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 1, 2006
255
0
England
I just returned my iPad 3 to the Apple Store. The reason? A pinkish/rosy white balance, very noticeable in strong natural light but admittedly much less obvious in artificial lighting and/or dark rooms.

This was the second iPad 3 I've had. The first had an even worse tint, and I returned it almost immediately.

I know some of you are itching to hit that Reply button and throw insults my way. Don't bother. I know that I'm fussy. I'm not obsessive, though, and did try to live with the problem for the 14 day period. I just couldn't. When I removed the Smart Cover and saw the pinkish white squares into which I had to type my lock code... It drove me mad.

I've been using TFT screens since they were first introduced -- back when a 15in panel cost thousands of dollars. As a journalist I used to review them for magazines. The problem was always that whites are very stark white, if not blueish. Think about when you first used a flat panel screen -- it was really noticeable compared to a CRT.

There's a theory our eyes are now trained to see blueish white as pure white, thanks to colour profiles on domestic TVs. This might be true, but I promise you with my hand on my heart that my iPad had a genuine pinkish/rosy white balance. I could spot it, but then I'm an expert. Most people aren't.

I got a refund, and now I'm waiting a month or two. I will get one eventually (I'm commissioned to write a book about them, so I have to!). The one I get might be the same, or better. My plan is to buy five of them on my credit card, then choose the best one out of them, before returning the other four for a refund. This is a crazy thing to do but I can't see how I have much choice.
 
You will get a lot of down votes for posting this, aside from getting a lot of 'OCD" labeling and hateful posts. But Im glad that you know what quality to expect from a device and should not settle for anything less.
 
EarlZ said:
You will get a lot of down votes for posting this, aside from getting a lot of 'OCD" labeling and hateful posts. But Im glad that you know what quality to expect from a device and should not settle for anything less.
Click to expand...

I live in the UK. Converting to dollars, a 32GB Wifi iPad costs $766. This is because of taxes.

So yeah! Damn right I'm fussy!

One thing I should had added to my original post is that, in every single other regard, the new iPad is exceptional. Tints aside, the screen is brilliant. Viewing high-res photos can be a breath-taking experience. The only black mark I'd give it is the time taken to charge. It's far too long for a consumer device, and really has to be done overnight. Apple has to figure out a new way of charging in half the time if they insist on such large batteries.
 
Lol at buying 5 at a time

And I like my flat panel tv to look warm mainly because it's my spot to watch movies however even the whites don't look yellow.

But as far as iPhones iPads computer monitors etc. they should be a whitish blue IMO
 
iapplelove said:
Lol at buying 5 at a time
Click to expand...

To be honest, although it abuses Apple's return policies, I think this is a very sensible thing to do if you have space on your credit card. Just ensure you get them back to the store in good time ;)

From other postings I've read here by people who are obsessive about the tint issue, and have bought/returned many iPad 3s, about 1 in 10 iPads at the moment are pure untinted white. So, buying five of them means I'm unlikely to find a good one right now.
 
The anti-Apple guerilla marketing in discussion forums never ends. What does Android pay per click. I wonder.

BJ
 
Incidentally, when I returned it to the Apple Store, a Genius was called over and asked if I wanted to exchange for a new unit. I told him my plan was to wait a month before buying another, but crucially he claimed never to have heard of ANY tint issues with the new iPad 3...

:rolleyes:

I mean, doesn't this guy even read MacRumor's forums?!?!
 
EarlZ said:
You will get a lot of down votes for posting this, aside from getting a lot of 'OCD" labeling and hateful posts. But Im glad that you know what quality to expect from a device and should not settle for anything less.
Click to expand...

From posts I've read, I don't think people vote down people just because they return due to color that is obviously off; they do so either because either they claim b/c their iPad was off there must be a systematic defect in most iPads or that everyone else claiming they have a good screen is merely willing to accept garbage.

The iPad is not inexpensive, but in a way that a BMW > Chevrolet. But it seems a lot of people barking about screen quality are looking for Rolls Royce quality at a BMW price. (BMW owns Rolls BTW so it's not about the company). But the cost to produce a flawless component of impeccable quality, as is what Rolls orders is exponentially more expensive than the cost to produce a nearly flawless, "lower quality" material that goes into a BMW.

The same is true of Apple. It makes great products like BMW, but not Rolls. There will be flaws - even large batches, but Apple always makes good on those units that make it into the wild as long as the consumer doesn't expect 100% flawless. That's not going to happen in a mass produced consumer good. That is when people get voted down from what I'v read.
 
r-sparks said:
Incidentally, when I returned it to the Apple Store, a Genius was called over and asked if I wanted to exchange for a new unit. I told him my plan was to wait a month before buying another, but crucially he claimed never to have heard of ANY tint issues with the new iPad 3...

:rolleyes:

I mean, doesn't this guy even read MacRumor's forums?!?!
Click to expand...

Given the current factual data on screen tinting, it's entirely possible some Geniuses haven't seen that many returns.
 
I have to side with OP on this one. My screen appear pinkish in certain conditions.

But, unlike OP, I'm enjoying the hell out of mine right now in a dark room. Beautiful screen.
 
r-sparks said:
I know that I'm fussy. I'm not obsessive, though, and did try to live with the problem for the 14 day period. I just couldn't.

My plan is to buy five of them on my credit card, then choose the best one out of them, before returning the other four for a refund. This is a crazy thing to do but I can't see how I have much choice.
Click to expand...

You sound normal to me!:eek:

I am glad you are not "obsessive":p
 
Chupa Chupa said:
From posts I've read, I don't think people vote down people just because they return due to color that is obviously off; they do so either because either they claim b/c their iPad was off there must be a systematic defect in most iPads or that everyone else claiming they have a good screen is merely willing to accept garbage.

The iPad is not inexpensive, but in a way that a BMW > Chevrolet. But it seems a lot of people barking about screen quality are looking for Rolls Royce quality at a BMW price. (BMW owns Rolls BTW so it's not about the company). But the cost to produce a flawless component of impeccable quality, as is what Rolls orders is exponentially more expensive than the cost to produce a nearly flawless, "lower quality" material that goes into a BMW.

The same is true of Apple. It makes great products like BMW, but not Rolls. There will be flaws - even large batches, but Apple always makes good on those units that make it into the wild as long as the consumer doesn't expect 100% flawless. That's not going to happen in a mass produced consumer good. That is when people get voted down from what I'v read.
Click to expand...

I've seen a lot of posts down voted just because the user has a screen issue, worse off the pictures attached shows how horrible it is.

I understand your analogy but also keep in mind that this time around, Apple is marketing the device mainly for its screen, unless the tints, discolorations and all the jazz is part of the specification, ever consumer is entitled to get the perfect screen he or she so desires. Again, taking note that Apple is now marketing the screen as its major feature.

Sure there is no product that is 100% flawless when mass produced, tell that to the self claimed "majority" saying that they have a 100% perfect and no screen-issues-what-so ever, because of their claims people are also expecting to get a perfect screen, they are the ones who are doing more 'damage' than those with screen issues.
 
My iPad, my desktop PC, my mobile phone, my work laptop and my personal laptop, all have slightly different screens and tints and the whites look different on all of them... My two expensive Dell monitors even have different tints, the only way to make them match is through calibration... i dont think any two screens are the same, although granted some are better than others... so people trying to match the colours on their iPad with their iPhone or their iPad 2, is like me trying to match my Work laptop to my desktop and then to my personal laptop... never gonna happen is it... especially when Apple use a range of suppliers across all their products...
 
I understand returning it. What I dont understand is the point of posting here about it...
 
Chupa Chupa said:
The iPad is not inexpensive,
Click to expand...

Maybe not in the US, but in other countries we get tax added. In the UK, for example, 20% is added to each purchase.

Chupa Chupa said:
Apple makes great products like BMW, but not Rolls. There will be flaws - even large batches, but Apple always makes good on those units that make it into the wild as long as the consumer doesn't expect 100% flawless. That's not going to happen in a mass produced consumer good. That is when people get voted down from what I'v read.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. At least Apple has the customer care to ensure that people are always happy unless they're truly, quantifiably unreasonable.

Although I agree with everything you say, I think there is a problem with the iPad 3 screens. The quality bar has been set a notch too low, and the tinting is clearly an issue for a minority. Apple should be saying "If it's a problem for you, it's a problem for us". Indeed, they may be doing this right now. I did notice, however, that when accepting my return, the Apple Store employee made no written note of what the problem was. I assume each return is evaluated by an engineer before being fixed or offered for resale. So it's appears to be hard for customer issues to be fed back to Apple, short of people taking the time to write to them.

----------
G77 said:
I understand returning it. What I dont understand is the point of posting here about it...
Click to expand...

Because it's a community where we share knowledge and experience.
 
Oblivion3333 said:
My iPad, my desktop PC, my mobile phone, my work laptop and my personal laptop, all have slightly different screens and tints and the whites look different on all of them... ... so people trying to match the colours on their iPad with their iPhone or their iPad 2, is... never gonna happen is it...
Click to expand...

True, but I wasn't comparing devices. As mentioned I tried to train my eyes for 14 days to get used to the iPad's rosy pink white balance. I couldn't. Others can't either.

There are some people here with crazy expectations (i.e. those who take iPads into a dark room and look at them askew to spot slight problems) but I'm not one of them.
 
Do you think something will significantly change in 1 month? I'm not meaning to sound sarcastic thats an honest question....Just wondering how you think it might be different a few weeks from now.
 
patricem said:
Do you think something will significantly change in 1 month? I'm not meaning to sound sarcastic thats an honest question....Just wondering how you think it might be different a few weeks from now.
Click to expand...

I suspect the launch period saw lots of iPads being produced at break-neck speeds in the Chinese factories, and quality checking might have been trimmed down to the knuckle. Additionally, Retina displays of this size are a brand new technology that is still being perfected.

So yes, I'm hedging a bet that things might improve. But as mentioned earlier, in a month's time I'm fully prepared/expecting to get an iPad with a similar issue.
 
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I'd return it if mine had a rosy color on the screen. However, I swear the color balance on mine is perfect -- or as good as my eyes can perceive.

It's not that I don't believe that people occasionally get defective iPads -- every factory has defects that get past QC. I'm just skeptical when people claim they've gone through 5, 10 or even 15 iPads in a row and they claim *all* have defects.

Frankly, if someone has gone through 15 iPads in a row (brand new, retail boxed) and they still can't find a perfect one than they are either lying or have a mental disorder. If all the iPads at a particular Apple store had a particular screen defect -- it would make the local news. There would be lines of people making returns and the company would be bending over to make a statement or apology. This isn't the case.

Nevertheless, there doesn't seem to be many of these unstable types in the general population -- only here on macrumors. Luckily, Apple needs plenty of units for warranty replacements (for real issues) and so far there is a balance.

Again, I believe that iPads with rosy screens and severe overheating issues exist -- just not the entire supply. It's simply irrational to believe so.
 
EarlZ said:
You will get a lot of down votes for posting this, aside from getting a lot of 'OCD" labeling and hateful posts. But Im glad that you know what quality to expect from a device and should not settle for anything less.
Click to expand...

I know what to expect from a device that cost $499.
 
I understand that the person returned his..and I'm sure his reasons are sound. But why post it here? So I will question mine? It's grandstanding at best...and of no use to other readers....
 
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