MT4G Bad Display vs Good Display, Which do you have? Don't wait get a good one today!

Well there has been a lot of interesting things taking place in regards to the MT4G display quality, or contrast and colors. There seems to be good evidence of some devices being shipped with a more rich color and better contrast display and with better viewing from angles. The majority of the ones shipped have the less than perfect display which has less contrast and the colors, white are washed out and blacks are not true dark blacks. And the inferior display has trouble with viewing angles not being clear and has a washed out look, the launcher bar is gray instead of black etc.

This has been discussed here on XDA in this thread starting at post 32
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=838379&page=4 , and on the MT4G T-Mobile Official forums at
http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/myTouch-4G/quot-Inferior-quot-display-vs-quot-superior-quot-pictures/td-p/592439

I would like to thank everyone who has helped bring this issue forward and to help substantiate it. A big thanks to btbuck1, DADDYDC650, spitacular1, for getting this ball rolling. Thanks for your support and I know everyone who has received there better display device thanks us for bringing this to everyone's attention, including T-Mobile and HTC. I know at least some of the CSR's and employees have seen the thread in the official T-Mobile MT4G forum. So hopefully positive steps are in the works to correct things.


Here is a Video I shot of my new device with a good display compared to my wifes with a bad display. The video is not perfect as I'm a amateur and no tripod.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXMu-5KWA6s


Here is a picture which shows the differences with the top pictures showing the washed out less contrast display and the bottom pictures showing the better clear higher contrast display with good viewing at all angles.




It is unclear if these different devices have actual hardware differences or if there is some change in the software which is making the differences. HTC has made a response to a user that it had something to do with a coating on the LCD and they were aware of the problem. This has not been confirmed as of yet.

EDIT: There seems to be one thing in common and that is the LCD version LCD-SO-C2 is the good screen. Some developers have said it is a SONY LCD. And the bad one is the LCD-SH-C2 is said to be from SHARP. I repeat I personally have no proof but well respected dev have mentioned this in their findings. So you be the judge. (2 different screens and 2 different LCD model numbers) makes some logical sense.

EDIT: There are a couple of ways to get the LCD information to know for sure which type of display you have. If you are rooted with Eng hboot you should be able to see the system info in hboot to view the LCD versions.

Second method for stock non rooted devices is to install Terminal emulator from the market. Restart your phone and immediately open the Terminal emulator and type "dmesg" without quotes. You will see a lot of data. Just scroll all the way back to the top and look around line 14-15 and you will see a line that ends with Panel Type=1 or Panel Type=2
Panel type 1 is the bad screen and Panel type 2 is the good screen.

Here is a picture of what to look for:



Thanks to shlongwoodian for his posting it and you can find the original post here: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=10263805&postcount=88

EDIT: I have opened a new poll with multiple choice voting and with more options. Please visit this thread to get a better idea of where the good and bad screens are coming from etc.
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=895427

Please vote in this poll and tell which display you have and what color you have?

IF THIS THREAD HAS HELPED YOU PRESS THE THANKS BUTTON!

Well this is not true if you have the device on your desk in front of you you are looking at an angle and the colors are washed out. Plus the overall contrast of whites and blacks on the good display are better.

To some people it will not mater, but to some it will.

I spoke to David at tmonews this is what he had to say:
"I did post about it in Twitter and I pinged T-Mobile and they said that they were unaware of the problem affecting a large number of users. Unfortunately one forum thread didn't constitute enough of a problem with them to warrant anything public, such as a recall. I've been working with HTC and T-Mobile over the last few days, minus the holiday time to try and get some responses but unfortunately I'm coming up short. I do have a post written and planned but I was hoping to get a response first.

Look for something this week!"

And further:

"I'd say the probability of a recall is somewhere in the negative. T-Mobile didn't recall the hinge on the G2, if anything they would move forward with fixed devices and replace for those who call in and complain. It's likely though that the general buyer will never notice a problem"\

So in essence, keep hounding them about this!

Okay, so here's my quest for the "good screen"... (not that anyone really cares)

Originally had the G2.. returned exchanged for mytouch4g (via retentions). This was maybe a week or two after the mytouch4g was released. My original was a made in taiwan with clearly a washed out screen. Before my remorse period was up, I returned it with intentions of waiting for the nexus s. After the nexus s was officially announced (and deemed a bust..might I add), I went ahead and ordered another mytouch4g. This time, I was aware of the washed out screens, thanks to this thread.. and eagerly awaited and hoped for a good screen.

I received my newly ordered, mytouch4g in the mail last friday. Opened it up and it appeared to be the washed out screen. This one was made in china, however.. which had me a bit confused. I wasnt about to settle, so I called up customer service and asked for a replacement. They sent another and I received it tuesday morning. So at this point, I had two mytouches on hand and was able to compare. The second one they sent me DID have the "good screen". And as others have mentioned, it's a night and day difference. I was happy with the new one...that was until I noticed a little chip in the metal bezel around the screen... and this one had some squeaking/creaking below the buttons.. oh, and not to much the ffc which was severely off center. So I immediately called up customer service and told them about the chip and the squeaks. They agreed to send me yet another one...

Finally, I received a third mytouch4g in the mail. This time, they got it to me overnight, wednesday morning (props to tmobile for their amazing customer service). I opened it up and thank goodness, it was another good screen. And to my surprise, the rest of this phone was almost perfect (no creaks, and the ffc is almost perfectly centered!). Well, so at this point I had 3 mytouch4g's on hand. So with my good, near perfect one, I took some pictures of the other two to compare the good and the bad. Hope you enjoy.

p.s. I know no one asked for my life story.... sorry.


Good on the left, bad on the right on exact same settings (both made in china)



Side by side (good one closer)



Side by side (bad one closer)



Lastly, a few other observations. The two good ones came with a sandisk class4 microsd card while the bad one came with a samsung microsd card. Also, I noticed that the good and the bad also had slightly different batteries. Very difficult to tell, but the bad one came with a battery with more of a lip on the bottom. If I had some photoshopping skills, I would have pshopped a nice bright yellow circle around the bottom edge of the battery on the right.



Well, that is all. Sorry for the long post, but I hope it helps some people that are still unsure.

Lakeshow423 said:

I didint even think about checkin until I saw your posted pics I have read about it but never knew what to look for! I am a happy camper though... Black model w/ superior screen! Thanks for the informative post!

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