When was your iPhone 4 manufactured?

Hi all,
I wanted to make a small contribution to this thread and also have it serve as a warning of sorts for those who are picky like me.

Long story short, I've switched my new iPhone for retail exchanges 7 times already for a myriad of reasons. The underlining reason was the screen being yellow/green hue/tinted but as more were open, other issues were tacked on (loose home button, major scratches out of the box, severe LCD bleeding from the top). I had given up at this point but decided to try one more time after watching the giants win the world series and I finally got a winner.

My warning: For those of you in the bay area(or otherwise probably), watch out for the 78-86 factory build in the week 43/44 period. They all use an inferior LCD panel. It's ridiculously apparent. Make sure you check your phone with the floor samples before leaving... NOT ONE phone at each of the 4 stores in the bay area have a yellow screen as a demo unit(thats more than 40 "clear phones"). Make sure you state this fact if you happen to open one with a yellow screen. The screen brightness / colors are so off on these inferior panels that it borders on false advertising when you compare the two phones together side by side.


Tell tale signs of a bad screen (all the yellow ones have these issues, I'm sure of it):

1.) White looks yellow, blue looks green no matter what you are looking at. You can use other iphones to compare blue stuff like the appstore icon or just grab your macbook and load the same images. I suggest using the wallpaper that looks like a shore wave (blue) to compare. I also suggest using http://www.theipadguide.com/content/ipad-dead-pixel-test-how/7171269 to save the color images and compare.

2.) All bad screens have blotchy light bleeding when you look at the top of the screen from the bottom up at a tilted back angle. What I mean is you will see a wave of light bleeds. The good screens on the floor samples and in the hands of luckier users do NOT have any light bleed whatsoever. Use the white screen or even the settings menu, tilt the phone backwards, and look at the seem of the top part of the LCD. You can't miss it if you have it... and once you see it, you can't unsee it. You'll notice your top bar displaying uneven colors due to the light bleeding through in wave form.

3.) All bad screens have uneven coloring, most likely due to the severe light bleeding mentioned above. You can instantly notice it if you take your phone and go to the settings->brightness menu. Since there are no buttons/bars to distract you, you can see the striped background and clearly see the color difference from top to bottom (bottom right usually being really yellow/dark).

I finally got a phone that resembles the floor sample (and other friend's phones who purchased at launch). The "good" screens seem a bit more red in general, but the luminance is much higher and light bleed on the edges is nonexistent. The interesting thing is... you can see a good panel vs a bad panel before you even turn on the phone. The panels just have a different hue even when OFF! Anyway... happy hunting and hope none of you have or get yellow screens... and if you do, don't settle for it. Make no mistake, the yellow ones ARE inferior... If all the yellow ones didn't exhibit light bleeding and uneven screen lighting, I would just say it's panel variance. That simply isn't the case though...

Edit: the winning phone is a 7U factory week 42 purchased from palo alto.
 
I bought mine yesterday. It is a 16GB manufactured in week 43 so it is only a week old, wow.

perfect screen, no light bleed, colour seems ideal.
 
DCfilms said:
Thanks.

Need more replies, but so far it looks possible that pre-week 38 is bad / post week 38 is good!!!

@rawCpoppa, you're obviously welcome to give your opinion here, but i'm not sure why you replied-it to me, since i didn't ask if it was possible. It's a hypothetical and just a guide as to whether it's yet safe to buy one without chancing the reception problem.

I'm basing said guide upon owner feedback on the phone they own, not upon sweeping statements regarding what the 'incorruptible' telecoms industry tell us is gospel in their honest-to-god working practices.
Click to expand...

I don't think so dude.

Let me tell you. My iPhone 4 is from week 37 according to the serial. It came with 4.1.

Every single iPhone 4, you can say, "suffers" from the so called "death grip".

Does mine suffer from the death grip? Yes and NO.

Now, let me say, my phone has 0 issues. Yes, proximity sensor, screen, microphones, everything is perfect.

As to the ANtenna, it works like this:

My living room: There is something that interferes with the reception in this room with EVERY SINGLE CELL PHONE, no matter what cell phone you are holding, $20 dollar Nokia, doesn't matter, if you get a call or you will call someone you need to get out of that room and go to another room.

In this room, I can cover the line on the left bottom side and kill the receptio.

Now, I move to my bedroom. This room has no issues. I hold it again. Nothing happens, Maybe 2 bard drop. I can do that with my Blackberry.

No in the bathroom or the computer room.

Actually, I am at work now. Let me do it now hang on...


i have 5 bars. holding


4 bars now.

still 4

....

still holding with death grip and it stays at 4.

....


i am at 2 minutes now.. 3 bars.

i am typing with my right hand.

back to 4 bars again.

Ok. I am going to stop now because I have to go home in 5 minutes.

As you can see, it doesn't happen here, but it does in my living room where I have horrible reception.

So, is it something that affects me in everyday life? NO never.

Can I recreate the issue in my living room? Yes I can.

Does it affect me when I am browsing there? NO never. Why?

I did what Steve Jobs said. I just hold it a little bit differently. I rest the bottom part on the meaty part of my palm. I have no issues.

It is really not a big deal at all.

Hope that helped.
 
dabomb665m said:
Hi all,
I wanted to make a small contribution to this thread and also have it serve as a warning of sorts for those who are picky like me.

Long story short, I've switched my new iPhone for retail exchanges 7 times already for a myriad of reasons. The underlining reason was the screen being yellow/green hue/tinted but as more were open, other issues were tacked on (loose home button, major scratches out of the box, severe LCD bleeding from the top). I had given up at this point but decided to try one more time after watching the giants win the world series and I finally got a winner.

My warning: For those of you in the bay area(or otherwise probably), watch out for the 78-86 factory build in the week 43/44 period. They all use an inferior LCD panel. It's ridiculously apparent. Make sure you check your phone with the floor samples before leaving... NOT ONE phone at each of the 4 stores in the bay area have a yellow screen as a demo unit(thats more than 40 "clear phones"). Make sure you state this fact if you happen to open one with a yellow screen. The screen brightness / colors are so off on these inferior panels that it borders on false advertising when you compare the two phones together side by side.


Tell tale signs of a bad screen (all the yellow ones have these issues, I'm sure of it):

1.) White looks yellow, blue looks green no matter what you are looking at. You can use other iphones to compare blue stuff like the appstore icon or just grab your macbook and load the same images. I suggest using the wallpaper that looks like a shore wave (blue) to compare. I also suggest using http://www.theipadguide.com/content/ipad-dead-pixel-test-how/7171269 to save the color images and compare.

2.) All bad screens have blotchy light bleeding when you look at the top of the screen from the bottom up at a tilted back angle. What I mean is you will see a wave of light bleeds. The good screens on the floor samples and in the hands of luckier users do NOT have any light bleed whatsoever. Use the white screen or even the settings menu, tilt the phone backwards, and look at the seem of the top part of the LCD. You can't miss it if you have it... and once you see it, you can't unsee it. You'll notice your top bar displaying uneven colors due to the light bleeding through in wave form.

3.) All bad screens have uneven coloring, most likely due to the severe light bleeding mentioned above. You can instantly notice it if you take your phone and go to the settings->brightness menu. Since there are no buttons/bars to distract you, you can see the striped background and clearly see the color difference from top to bottom (bottom right usually being really yellow/dark).

I finally got a phone that resembles the floor sample (and other friend's phones who purchased at launch). The "good" screens seem a bit more red in general, but the luminance is much higher and light bleed on the edges is nonexistent. The interesting thing is... you can see a good panel vs a bad panel before you even turn on the phone. The panels just have a different hue even when OFF! Anyway... happy hunting and hope none of you have or get yellow screens... and if you do, don't settle for it. Make no mistake, the yellow ones ARE inferior... If all the yellow ones didn't exhibit light bleeding and uneven screen lighting, I would just say it's panel variance. That simply isn't the case though...

Edit: the winning phone is a 7U factory week 42 purchased from palo alto.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up. I just purchase a iPhone 4 yesterday and my screen is very yellow, has server light bleeding, and has scratches right out the box. I will be exchanging mine this week.
 
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ajarnfalang said:
I don't think so dude.
It is really not a big deal at all.

Hope that helped.
Click to expand...

Well, thanks, 'dude'.

No help at all really, since it's an isolated case. But i'm glad you think these whole iphone4 issues are no big deal - good stuff!

But if it's all the same, i'll carry on reading this thread for a while before making my mind up about iphone vs. buying android. I'd like to use my pricey smartphone without having to worry about death-grips etc.

Cheers
 
Ok, so I bought a new iPhone 4 today at the Apple store here in Vegas. I originally had a 80041 phone from Best Buy, but was having some issues so I took it back a week ago. Today I go into the Apple store to buy it there thinking I'll be getting the newest and best and I get a 88028 phone, new/sealed in box. And it has iOS 4.1 on it. WTF?? How is that possible if this is a week 28 phone and 4.1 didn't come out till Sept? Did I really get a new phone that is over three months old? The screen looks ok and it's actually the first one I've seen that has all of its buttons tight. The power, volume, and home button don't wiggle at all. Only thing I've noticed is that there is one super small, tiny speck of dust under the front glass to the left of the home button. There is also no light leakage at all (the 80041 had some). So did I get a new phone that had just been sitting there for that long?? Seems odd to me. Any thoughts??
 
Vegaspilot said:
Ok, so I bought a new iPhone 4 today at the Apple store here in Vegas. I originally had a 80041 phone from Best Buy, but was having some issues so I took it back a week ago. Today I go into the Apple store to buy it there thinking I'll be getting the newest and best and I get a 88028 phone, new/sealed in box. And it has iOS 4.1 on it. WTF?? How is that possible if this is a week 28 phone and 4.1 didn't come out till Sept? Did I really get a new phone that is over three months old? The screen looks ok and it's actually the first one I've seen that has all of its buttons tight. The power, volume, and home button don't wiggle at all. Only thing I've noticed is that there is one super small, tiny speck of dust under the front glass to the left of the home button. There is also no light leakage at all (the 80041 had some). So did I get a new phone that had just been sitting there for that long?? Seems odd to me. Any thoughts??
Click to expand...

That's funny you mention that today... because I experienced the same thing. I picked up a 7T031 that had 4.1 in it. The only explanation I have for that would be they opened it... updated it... and resealed it due to the security flaw in the PDF that comex used in one of his jailbreaks.
 
dabomb665m said:
That's funny you mention that today... because I experienced the same thing. I picked up a 7T031 that had 4.1 in it. The only explanation I have for that would be they opened it... updated it... and resealed it due to the security flaw in the PDF that comex used in one of his jailbreaks.
Click to expand...

That could be possible, but I'd hope they wouldn't do that. If the phone is actually a week 28, I'm a little annoyed I got one that could have been sitting there so long. I guess it's not that big a deal, it's just I specifically waited till after Sept 30th to buy and may have gotten a week 28 now.
 
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The main thing I'm trying to figure out why I'd have a week 28 phone with 4.1, unless it was sent back to Apple and then sent out again and sold as new. Which would annoy me pretty good.
 
Well I called and spoke to Apple Care and after some digging they did confirm it was built July 11th, but wasn't shipped to the store until Oct 27th. She assured me it was a brand new, never opened or activated phone. I suppose thats what happened, I just don't see how it could sit there for that long when other stores are getting week 42-43 phones now. Not quite sure what to think about it.
 
DCfilms said:
Well, thanks, 'dude'.

No help at all really, since it's an isolated case. But i'm glad you think these whole iphone4 issues are no big deal - good stuff!

But if it's all the same, i'll carry on reading this thread for a while before making my mind up about iphone vs. buying android. I'd like to use my pricey smartphone without having to worry about death-grips etc.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Don't be such an *******.

Since you are not an iPhone user I am trying to explain to you the so called "death grip" issue, that it is really not an issue as stated by Apple.

Apple has already said, and many others, that the issue is linked to areas of bad reception and I was trying to tell you that I can confirm this.

I also told you that all other phones do the same thing in that location. Everywhere else, the phone doesn't do it.

Every phone has its quirks. For example, CNET took the Nexus One to an area of bad reception and they could kill it by holding it with a "death grip" just as they could kill the iPhone 4.

I don't think this "death grip" should be a factor. It is really not an issue.

If you're really that worried about it, go test one out.

If you don't like it or don't trust it, then get an Android.

You have 30 days to return the phone if you don't like it.

I think you won't get much from asking people when their phones were made and whether or not they have issues. Go test it out for yourself and quit being such a *****.

Oh yes, and I just got done telling you that there are NO issues with the phone.

You can go to any forum for any device and find horror story after horror story.

Fact is, the iPhone 4 sold over 14 million units in 4 months. The vast majority of us have 0 issues. Including me.

You've come to the wrong place to get a sense for the iPhone 4. 99% of happy iPhone 4 users are not here posting. The people on here are a minority who are having some kind of issue with the device. I have an ASUS laptop. When I go to the ASUS forums I see thread after thread of issues and horror stories from their ASUS. Me? My ASUS is the best laptop I have ever owned. Very happy, 0 issues.

Why am I here then? I came to Macrumors to post about my purchase and how happy I am with the phone, to help people like you, who are hearing all kinds of stories so you get a sense of a regular person who just walked in to a store and got an iPhone 4.

Also, has it ever occurred to you that not everyone that posts in forums is telling the truth? It may be that many people on here really don't even have an iPhone and they are just bullcrapping.

Anybody can come in here and say: "Yes man, I just bought an iPhone 4, week 32 and it SUCKS! I turned it on and a little bear running a bicycle appeared on the screen. WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU APPLE!".

Just trying to give you an honest review of the phone.

But now that I think of it, if you are here asking all this, then you should just go get an HTC or a Motorola and hope they update your phone when Google updates android. If you get an update at all that is.
 
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ajarnfalang said:
Don't be such an *******.

....Go test it out for yourself and quit being such a *****.
Click to expand...

Wow, so i'm an ******;) x2....

If can't take it, don't dish it out, pal - try not starting you're next unsolicited reply with "I don't think so, dude".

I guess you're one of those guys that get arsey in forums cos they're scared ******** elsewhere, so go ahead and call me an ***** as much as you like and i'll see it as my charity donation to the mentally impaired this Xmas.

BTW folk, pls chip in if anyone else thought his original reply to me wasn't patronizing and preachy - i love the abuse.
 
I just got back from the Apple store where I exchanged a presumably refurbed one. The serial started with 5K and it was built in like week 26 or something. This brand new one I have is 85044, so I assume week 44. I don't notice any problems with it yet, and none of the screen problems like the poster a few posts up did. it looks perfectly fine to me. Apple had this shipped brand new to the store, and gave me the entire white box. I told them I didn't want another refurb model, and they delivered! :cool:

Edit: Oh I just looked it up. Week 44 is last week!!
 
Finally upgraded.

Can't believe I waited so long. Upgraded from 3G to 4. First, I can't believe how fast the apps open. Clearly worth the price alone.

The process, however, was not without a little hassle.

First phone 32gig (week 29; factory 86) clearly had a yellow tint compared to all those in the store. Apple store 1 would not admit it, however. Waited a week to see if it would go away, but then went to a "kinder, gentler" Apple store. Lined all their phones up on the same page and then asked them to look at it. All agreed it was yellow. First replaced with a refurbished with exactly the same color cast. They were nice enough to then go back for another, this time (since I had only bought the phone a week prior) decided to open a new box. Surprisingly, this was a week 25 (factory 86 again). This one was really nice--slightly lower overall output at max, but I never use at max anyway. No overall cast.


So now I can say:
Week: 25
Antenna: Sure, it drops if I put my finger on the famous spot.
Color: Neutral
 
Got my 32gb iphone 4 last night and it was manufactured week 45.... Went through 2 week 41's and they had a yellow screen. Has anyone confirmed that they fixed the antenna issue? Also if the lcd is indeed inferior???

Thanks!!!
 
DCfilms said:
Wow, so i'm an ******;) x2....

If can't take it, don't dish it out, pal - try not starting you're next unsolicited reply with "I don't think so, dude".

I guess you're one of those guys that get arsey in forums cos they're scared ******** elsewhere, so go ahead and call me an ***** as much as you like and i'll see it as my charity donation to the mentally impaired this Xmas.

BTW folk, pls chip in if anyone else thought his original reply to me wasn't patronizing and preachy - i love the abuse.
Click to expand...

Is there an Apple store near you?
 
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