[HOWTO] Reproduce screen issue (updated 3x results of detailed testing) some phones

Search This thread

cheema

Senior Member
Sep 20, 2009
223
49
Portland, OR
Update
Feedback from many users of Samsung Galaxy S II phones appears to suggest that the display calibration problem is prevalent mostly in Qualcom based units. These include models from:

1. T-Mobile USA
2. AT&T Skyrocket
3. Telus Canada
4. Rogers Canada

The Exynos based Samsung Galaxy S II phones are known to be calibrated considerably better. These include models from:

1. Sprint
2. AT&T (non-Skyrocket model)
3. International version
End update

Many people are complaining about the quality of their T-Mobile SGSII displays. I noticed the problems myself and decided to perform some detailed testing.

Here is how you can reproduce the simple test:

  1. Download the blobs.jpg to your phone. A copy of blobs.jpg is attached here. Or simply point the browser on your phone to: http://cheema.com/blobs.jpg Tap and hold the dark gray rectangle and then select "Save image" from the menu. Note that it is not entirely black. It is dark grey. Testing with a black screen gives you false hope that your display is good.
  2. Turn off automatic brightness and dial down the brightness all the way to make it as dark as possible. Go to Home->Settings->Display->Brightness.
  3. Open up the "Gallery" application and locate the blobs.jpg in the download folder and view it in a mostly dark room.

At this point you'll probably see a greenish display with vertical lines and dots all over. If you see this you have what some of us call a bad/non-calibrated display. Based on the data I have seen so far, I think that all T-Mobile Galaxy S II owners suffer from this. Most people believe they have a good display because they do not have a the equivalent Sprint phone to compare with.

Results of detailed testing of T-Mobile SGSII screen

I performed the detailed tests with a total of 4 units. 2 from T-Mobile and 2 from Sprint. I set all phones to identical brightness level (lowest) and proceeded to run a few screen tests.

1. Blobs test

For this test I used Gallery application to display the blobs.jpg file attached here. [Click the pictures to see the full size versions]



I slowed the camera shutter down good bit so that I could see details that are not be visible to the naked eye. One thing was pretty clear, the Sprint phones (#1 and #3) had imperfections too. Lines and blobs. This made me think that perhaps all Super Amoled displays have them. However the reason nobody sees them on Sprint phones is because their displays are properly calibrated with correct contrast, saturation and color temperature values.

This is pretty close to what you see with a naked eye:



2. Reading test

For this test, I simply loaded up a web page that I was reading earlier and found difficult to read on T-Mobile SGSII. http://alexzambelli.com/blog/2009/02/10/smooth-streaming-architecture/



This was the deal breaker for me. Click on the image above for the full size and the compare the last 2 phones. This problem cannot be fixed by cranking up brightness. As that brightens up the text too. And you want the text to stay black and sharp for good contrast.

3. Picture test

For this test, I grabbed a picture from Flickr and displayed it on all phones.



For this test, you probably should look at the larger shot, before drawing any conclusions. The smaller picture simply does not show enough detail.

While none of the phones in the picture test show entirely correct colors, the Sprint phones do a commendable job. "T-Mobile 2", goes off the deep end and shows the tree to be mostly green, when in reality it is mostly yellow.

4. Front camera test

For this test, all 4 phones were switched to front camera and the camera settings were reset to default. I then put the phones down on a table and took a picture with my Canon 60D. By now I was not expecting any miracles and I did not get any.



T-Mobile units continued to show that they were not loved by their creators. On a side note, I am beginning to think that the T-Mobile units may also have something wrong with the front cameras. I'll have to set aside some time to perform detailed front camera testing for comparison with the Sprint phone.

Conclusion

In an earlier post I stated my belief that all T-Mobile SGSII phones have screen problems that do not exist in the Sprint version. These tests with additional units back up that belief. There is no good way to explain the consistent bad performance of T-Mobile phones when compared to the Sprint phones. While we do find the lines and blobs present in the Sprint phones too, their presence is inconsequential. Proper calibration of the display masks these lines and blobs. The T-Mobile phones unfortunately suffer from incorrect display calibration. Some are much worse than the others. Many will continue to claim that their T-Mobile phones do not suffer from the same problems as the two units I tested here. While statements like "My phone looks OK to me" are well and good for the individual user, they are not scientific. I invite any skeptic to find a Sprint SGS2 and put their T-Mobile unit next to it and run these tests. And then come back and show us the results. I would genuinely be surprised and happy if any T-Mobile SGSII phone out there behaves differently from the ones I tested.

I do not know if the incorrect calibration can be fixed with a software update. I hope that it can be. It would certainly save an otherwise awesome phone.

I would be open to trying a different test with all 4 of these phones and compare output. Let me know if you have a specific test in mind. In the meantime, I will probably run a few more tests and will update this post with new data, as it comes in. I will also be happy to update this post, once anybody finds solid evidence of a single T-Mobile SGSII phone with a good display.

My hope with this post is that we raise awareness of the issue so that people building and shipping these phones wake up and fix the problem. If we continue to pretend that the problem does not exist, then it most certainly will not get fixed.

FYI: article on engadget http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/08/t-mobile-galaxy-s-ii-screen-issues-have-some-seeing-poorly-rend/
 

Attachments

  • blobs.jpg
    blobs.jpg
    800 bytes · Views: 23,794
Last edited:

barondebxl

Senior Member
Jul 8, 2011
7,857
2,028
San Diego, CA
You're right man I never noticed but I see what you're saying. When you pull the notification bar down its not really black it is grey. Same thing in the browser when you hit the menu button, the menu that appears has a grey background color instead of pitch black.
 

barondebxl

Senior Member
Jul 8, 2011
7,857
2,028
San Diego, CA
But then again I just downloaded a plain black wallpaper ( hate to say this but like the iPhone 2 g black background) and its pitch black!!! So I guess it's a minor software issue ( or not?) I don't know.
 

cheema

Senior Member
Sep 20, 2009
223
49
Portland, OR
You're right man I never noticed but I see what you're saying. When you pull the notification bar down its not really black it is grey. Same thing in the browser when you hit the menu button, the menu that appears has a grey background color instead of pitch black.

I am not sure I follow. The pulled-down notification area is not really supposed to be black. It is grey. However I do see lines in it, in a dark room, if I turn the display brightness all the way. Something I do not see on the Sprint units.
 

sn0warmy

Senior Member
Jul 26, 2010
3,392
1,642
Boulder, CO
I love this. People will find ANYTHING to complain about, even if the phone is perfectly designed.

This phone has the clearest & most vibrant screen of any phone I have ever had. It crushes all other phones I have ever owned and makes my coworkers iPhone 4 and 4s screen look sub-par.

You can complain all you want but what do you expect to happen? T-Mobile sure as hell is not going to do anything. And getting it replaced with another one clearly isn't going to make a difference. Unless you plan on switching to Sprint (terrible idea) then I suggest you forget about it and move on to care about things that actually matter.
 

android4sunny

Senior Member
Oct 19, 2011
126
15
I posted the earlier thread, comparing a T-Mobile Galaxy S II with the Sprint equivalent here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1320163

I posted a couple of pictures comparing the screen performance. There was a bunch of confusion from people who said that their phones do not look like that. I suspect that they haven't really tested their phones the correct way. Here is what you have to do:

  1. Download the blobs.jpg to your phone. Note that it is not entirely black. It is dark grey. Looking at a black screen tells you nothing. A copy of blobs.jpg is attached here. Or simply point browser the browser on your phone to: http://cheema.com/blobs.jpg Tap and hold the dark gray rectangle and then select "Save image" from the menu.
  2. Go to Home->Settings->Display->Brightness. Turn off automatic brightness and dial down the brightness all the way to make it as dark as possible.
  3. Open up the "Gallery" application and locate the blobs.jpg in the download folder and view it in a mostly dark room.

At this point you'll probably see a greenish display with ugly lines and dots all over. If you see this you have what some of us call a bad display. Based on the data I have seen so far, I think that all T-Mobile Galaxy S II owners suffers from this. Most people believe they have a good display because they do not have a the equivalent Sprint phone to compare with. If they did, they would notice the following:

  1. T-Mobile units have bad contrast. This is specifically bad if you are reading a lot of text. On T-Mobile units, the white backgrounds appear to have a blue tint to them. For most websites and apps, this works OK. But for some that do not use a plain white background, it makes readability much worse.
  2. Colors in pictures are washed out. See my previous post, linked above, for an example.

I am not planning to return the phone at this time as I do not believe there are any T-Mobile GSII phones out there with good displays. I'll suffer through the bad display with the hope that Samsung fixes this issue with a software update. It is very likely that they messed up color/contrast/saturation settings that can be fixed in software. I also think that Sprint units have these lines and dots too. However we do not see them because Sprint displays are setup correctly.

Note: The attached photo shows T-Mobile GSII on the left and the Sprint version on the right. Both are running Gallery software showing the same exact image: blobs.jpg (attached).



I tested this out....downloaded that image and set brightness to 0 and opened the image in a dark room....i can see it was not pure black or a little shade but no dots or visible lines. I'm not sure if it should display completely dark colour but it's not bad for me.
 

fatboy547

Senior Member
Jul 16, 2010
508
84
followed the steps. I do not have this problem. Guess i'm one of the lucky ones

Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
 
  • Like
Reactions: romny19

cheema

Senior Member
Sep 20, 2009
223
49
Portland, OR
But then again I just downloaded a plain black wallpaper ( hate to say this but like the iPhone 2 g black background) and its pitch black!!! So I guess it's a minor software issue ( or not?) I don't know.

Did you read and follow step 1 in my original post? It specifically says that blob.png is not black.

If you do not follow the steps, you are very likely to not see the problem.
 

ap77

Senior Member
Dec 1, 2010
128
7
I fulled the OP's instructions and got the same (poor) results that he did. Note to others trying this: you have to do it in a dark room, otherwise you won't see it.

Very strange that Sprint's panel, at least, looks way better.
 

Aaron636r

Senior Member
Mar 4, 2010
358
42
Southern California
I have the issue as well. And im all about dark colors on my phone and notice it often. However, oh well...its not enough to return it. Love the phone and I know im usually over picky.
 

dorksturhh

Senior Member
Jun 22, 2011
190
39
West Covina
I love this. People will find ANYTHING to complain about, even if the phone is perfectly designed.

This phone has the clearest & most vibrant screen of any phone I have ever had. It crushes all other phones I have ever owned and makes my coworkers iPhone 4 and 4s screen look sub-par.

You can complain all you want but what do you expect to happen? T-Mobile sure as hell is not going to do anything. And getting it replaced with another one clearly isn't going to make a difference. Unless you plan on switching to Sprint (terrible idea) then I suggest you forget about it and move on to care about things that actually matter.

Well the thing is its not perfectly designed, the gs2 is advertized with amoled which should be crisp and sexy and if every has that blurry screen problem then they have the right to bring it up. Better to speak than to be a lil b*tch and keep quiet :p speaking up brings awareness and therefore hopefully a fix for the phone

Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
 
  • Like
Reactions: blestsol

cheema

Senior Member
Sep 20, 2009
223
49
Portland, OR
Then why even worry about it?

Most people cannot, but unfortunately I can. All the time. Specially when reading text on some websites. I read a lot of documentation on my phone.

As you can see in the attachment in the original post, the Sprint version does not suffer from the poor screen. My hope is to raise awareness of the issue and have Samsung fix the problem quickly.
 

Jjday7

Senior Member
Dec 1, 2007
1,256
86
Are people reporting this to anyone? Tmobile, samsung?

I was just thinking. Could this be why we never got the same screen contrast app like the sprint verison and at&t version have?? That might have made it even more visible.
 
Last edited:

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 21
    Update
    Feedback from many users of Samsung Galaxy S II phones appears to suggest that the display calibration problem is prevalent mostly in Qualcom based units. These include models from:

    1. T-Mobile USA
    2. AT&T Skyrocket
    3. Telus Canada
    4. Rogers Canada

    The Exynos based Samsung Galaxy S II phones are known to be calibrated considerably better. These include models from:

    1. Sprint
    2. AT&T (non-Skyrocket model)
    3. International version
    End update

    Many people are complaining about the quality of their T-Mobile SGSII displays. I noticed the problems myself and decided to perform some detailed testing.

    Here is how you can reproduce the simple test:

    1. Download the blobs.jpg to your phone. A copy of blobs.jpg is attached here. Or simply point the browser on your phone to: http://cheema.com/blobs.jpg Tap and hold the dark gray rectangle and then select "Save image" from the menu. Note that it is not entirely black. It is dark grey. Testing with a black screen gives you false hope that your display is good.
    2. Turn off automatic brightness and dial down the brightness all the way to make it as dark as possible. Go to Home->Settings->Display->Brightness.
    3. Open up the "Gallery" application and locate the blobs.jpg in the download folder and view it in a mostly dark room.

    At this point you'll probably see a greenish display with vertical lines and dots all over. If you see this you have what some of us call a bad/non-calibrated display. Based on the data I have seen so far, I think that all T-Mobile Galaxy S II owners suffer from this. Most people believe they have a good display because they do not have a the equivalent Sprint phone to compare with.

    Results of detailed testing of T-Mobile SGSII screen

    I performed the detailed tests with a total of 4 units. 2 from T-Mobile and 2 from Sprint. I set all phones to identical brightness level (lowest) and proceeded to run a few screen tests.

    1. Blobs test

    For this test I used Gallery application to display the blobs.jpg file attached here. [Click the pictures to see the full size versions]



    I slowed the camera shutter down good bit so that I could see details that are not be visible to the naked eye. One thing was pretty clear, the Sprint phones (#1 and #3) had imperfections too. Lines and blobs. This made me think that perhaps all Super Amoled displays have them. However the reason nobody sees them on Sprint phones is because their displays are properly calibrated with correct contrast, saturation and color temperature values.

    This is pretty close to what you see with a naked eye:



    2. Reading test

    For this test, I simply loaded up a web page that I was reading earlier and found difficult to read on T-Mobile SGSII. http://alexzambelli.com/blog/2009/02/10/smooth-streaming-architecture/



    This was the deal breaker for me. Click on the image above for the full size and the compare the last 2 phones. This problem cannot be fixed by cranking up brightness. As that brightens up the text too. And you want the text to stay black and sharp for good contrast.

    3. Picture test

    For this test, I grabbed a picture from Flickr and displayed it on all phones.



    For this test, you probably should look at the larger shot, before drawing any conclusions. The smaller picture simply does not show enough detail.

    While none of the phones in the picture test show entirely correct colors, the Sprint phones do a commendable job. "T-Mobile 2", goes off the deep end and shows the tree to be mostly green, when in reality it is mostly yellow.

    4. Front camera test

    For this test, all 4 phones were switched to front camera and the camera settings were reset to default. I then put the phones down on a table and took a picture with my Canon 60D. By now I was not expecting any miracles and I did not get any.



    T-Mobile units continued to show that they were not loved by their creators. On a side note, I am beginning to think that the T-Mobile units may also have something wrong with the front cameras. I'll have to set aside some time to perform detailed front camera testing for comparison with the Sprint phone.

    Conclusion

    In an earlier post I stated my belief that all T-Mobile SGSII phones have screen problems that do not exist in the Sprint version. These tests with additional units back up that belief. There is no good way to explain the consistent bad performance of T-Mobile phones when compared to the Sprint phones. While we do find the lines and blobs present in the Sprint phones too, their presence is inconsequential. Proper calibration of the display masks these lines and blobs. The T-Mobile phones unfortunately suffer from incorrect display calibration. Some are much worse than the others. Many will continue to claim that their T-Mobile phones do not suffer from the same problems as the two units I tested here. While statements like "My phone looks OK to me" are well and good for the individual user, they are not scientific. I invite any skeptic to find a Sprint SGS2 and put their T-Mobile unit next to it and run these tests. And then come back and show us the results. I would genuinely be surprised and happy if any T-Mobile SGSII phone out there behaves differently from the ones I tested.

    I do not know if the incorrect calibration can be fixed with a software update. I hope that it can be. It would certainly save an otherwise awesome phone.

    I would be open to trying a different test with all 4 of these phones and compare output. Let me know if you have a specific test in mind. In the meantime, I will probably run a few more tests and will update this post with new data, as it comes in. I will also be happy to update this post, once anybody finds solid evidence of a single T-Mobile SGSII phone with a good display.

    My hope with this post is that we raise awareness of the issue so that people building and shipping these phones wake up and fix the problem. If we continue to pretend that the problem does not exist, then it most certainly will not get fixed.

    FYI: article on engadget http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/08/t-mobile-galaxy-s-ii-screen-issues-have-some-seeing-poorly-rend/
    6
    @cheema thanks for the great analysis, and hi everyone!

    And well... such a mess!
    No doubt Screen color work & profile has been really botched by the team who ported Galaxy S II Super AMOLED + driver to the Qualcomm platform.

    Not the first time BTW. DROID Charge and Infuse 4G screen are a sloppy work as well (mostly fixed with my R&D work)

    Note: I assume blobs are a limitation of the manufacturing process.
    5
    Okay, I linked the thread and described the issue to my contacts @Samsung US and Korea.
    3
    I love this. People will find ANYTHING to complain about, even if the phone is perfectly designed.

    This phone has the clearest & most vibrant screen of any phone I have ever had. It crushes all other phones I have ever owned and makes my coworkers iPhone 4 and 4s screen look sub-par.

    You can complain all you want but what do you expect to happen? T-Mobile sure as hell is not going to do anything. And getting it replaced with another one clearly isn't going to make a difference. Unless you plan on switching to Sprint (terrible idea) then I suggest you forget about it and move on to care about things that actually matter.
    3
    ...I remember a time not too long ago when XDA-developers was a place where real, objective work was done...

    The original post is about the most real and objective work on the topic of T-Mobile SGSII screen. If you know of any other similarly researched piece of information on this topic here in this forum or elsewhere, please point it out to us so that we can know what you are talking about.

    It would also be very interesting to see anybody come up with something more solid than "My phone looks OK to me" to discount the original post. While such statements are well and good for the individual, they are not scientific.