Another example. Phone interface which I forgot about. Where the number would display, banding.Bands of green, red, washed out grey...
The Nexus One's Dirty Display Secret
- Thread starter bfspider
- Start date
@erikikaz
Yes guess I'll be going through the repair process again. The guy at HTC was very sympathetic and told me to call back any time after 7am to speak with a supervisor to see about a replacement being sent out because of my situation.
So I just called and was told actually supervisors don't get in until after 10am...
*sigh*
Yes guess I'll be going through the repair process again. The guy at HTC was very sympathetic and told me to call back any time after 7am to speak with a supervisor to see about a replacement being sent out because of my situation.
So I just called and was told actually supervisors don't get in until after 10am...
*sigh*
Okay, so if it's a hardware screen issue, how are you getting these "screenshots"? I'd think a screenshot would be completely independent of the screen hardware itself, ie: say the screen is broken, a screenshot would of course be fine.
i just tried it too and i literally have zero banding, its clear and sharp as ever.
My grass live wallpaper has NO banding, but A Online Radio DOES have banding.
Well it's very confusing I don't know what to do. When I look at the screenshots from my computer yes the banding is barely noticeable if not still slightly there...
But then if there are posts like RogerPodacter's - who say there is zero banding with a clear, sharp image then surely I do have a defective screen right?
Anyway the repair process has been set up. I wish they would just send me out a new device but they refused because I live in Canada even though I complained to a supervisor.
I spent a lot of money on this phone, I sold my iPhones, I was told initially by HTC to wait for a software update even though it was a hardware problem, I already sent it in once for a repair. Based on all this they should send me out a new phone. But I guess I should be thankful they are going to look at it again...
Another example, very bad banding in the graph area...
The screen is beautiful but it does get annoying to see this problem in so many images... Must be a defective screen??
The screen is beautiful but it does get annoying to see this problem in so many images... Must be a defective screen??
Attachments
Tried to see those images myself on my N1.
They look NOTHING like what they're showing. They look awesome without the gradient stepping.
The test is bullsh*t.
They look NOTHING like what they're showing. They look awesome without the gradient stepping.
The test is bullsh*t.
I have the same banding in the graph area. don't remember seeing this on my phone before I got a replacement.
looks like I'm gonna have to lean towards getting a repair as well...
I feel for ya bro...
I've put up with it for months but it's starting to piss me off. Especially knowing that apparently other people see crisp, dark, beautiful images when I see over-saturated smudging and banding.
I mean how long can one ignore it? Why did the folks at HTC not see this during testing and fix it? If everyone had the problem and they released a software update quickly that would be one thing...
What pisses me off is there is no gaurantee that even after the repair it will come back right - it didnt for me the first time or for you apparently
That most recent screen shot you posted is what I was calling minor banding. You criticize it a lot and I agree that it isn't perfect, but the first couple of screenshots that you posted were downright horrible in comparison. I've never seen anything on my screen that matches what you posted with your first couple of screen shots, but I have seen the minor banding in what you posted in this recent screen shot.
This may be the 16-bit issue that displaymate originally discovered. It's not a limitation of the phone hardware as they incorrectly suggested in their review, but many of the apps that use OpenGL try to conserve display memory by storing their images in a 16-bit OpenGL texture. This live wallpaper may be doing that.
I got a repair because I had a faulty antenna. got it back and still faulty antenna.I feel for ya bro...
I've put up with it for months but it's starting to piss me off. Especially knowing that apparently other people see crisp, dark, beautiful images when I see over-saturated smudging and banding.
I mean how long can one ignore it? Why did the folks at HTC not see this during testing and fix it? If everyone had the problem and they released a software update quickly that would be one thing...
What pisses me off is there is no gaurantee that even after the repair it will come back right - it didnt for me the first time or for you apparently
got a replacement and noticed it was gone but now my screen display is sketchy.
might as well take advantage of warranty while I still have it.
A couple of thoughts on why some people see it more than others...
- I can hardly see any banding at all on the grass wallpaper during full daylight and I only saw very minimal banding at night. It seems worse during the twilight hours. People who aren't seeing banding - try during dawn dusk and evening hours and see if you see minor banding during those times.
- It may be affected by screen brightness. When you find it - try adjusting brightness to see if it becomes more or less noticeable.
- Look at the screen closely. When I'm wearing my contacts I can't get close enough to the phone to see the banding in many circumstances and so it wouldn't be a fair test for me to judge it then. When I'm wearing my glasses I can barely see the banding (they give me slightly better near sight) at about a foot, and I can see it very well if I remove the glasses and look at it just a few inches away. The dithering on the phone dialer, for instance, I can only see if I get right up to it - maybe an inch away. I never noticed that banding before until I looked at your screen shot and then I can only reproduce it on my phone if I look really really close.
- I'm pretty sure what I'm seeing on my phone with the grass wallpaper is the result of using a 16-bit source image or a 16-bit texture to hold it. I don't see how that can be a display hardware issue. I don't have a good explanation for why some people see nothing other than the following couple of observations:
- Your first couple of screen shots were really really awful. I have never seen anything that bad on my phone display ever. Your later screen shots are similar to what I've seen from time to time when applications use 16-bit images. Perhaps the people who aren't seeing the banding are only looking out for the really bad banding your first couple of screen shots showed and aren't really reporting the minor dithering of the later shots or aren't looking closely enough to find it?
- A combination of brightness level, some variation in screens (we've already identified that some AMOLEDs have a purple tinge and others do not), how closely they looked, and how sensitive they are to seeing the banding. I know at work I can sit side by side looking at a test image with some of my coworkers and some will see a problem and others won't see it until you point directly at it, so there is some variation in the human factor as well.
In any case, if the problems you are seeing on your display show up in the screen captures, then I can say that categorically a replacement will not fix the problem. The problem is in what pixels the software is telling the display to show, not in how the display is showing them. Though there may be enough variation in hardware to make it easier or harder to see on some phones - the fact is that the banding was present in the raw pixels and so a new display cannot make it go away completely. It would be better to complain to Google about the quality of the gradients and textures in their apps (dialer, weather widget, and wallpapers). Here are a couple of issues already submitted you can read and vote for:
Banding in radial gradients:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=767
Low res images in gallery app:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6587
While you are there you can search for similar issues using the search box...
- I can hardly see any banding at all on the grass wallpaper during full daylight and I only saw very minimal banding at night. It seems worse during the twilight hours. People who aren't seeing banding - try during dawn dusk and evening hours and see if you see minor banding during those times.
- It may be affected by screen brightness. When you find it - try adjusting brightness to see if it becomes more or less noticeable.
- Look at the screen closely. When I'm wearing my contacts I can't get close enough to the phone to see the banding in many circumstances and so it wouldn't be a fair test for me to judge it then. When I'm wearing my glasses I can barely see the banding (they give me slightly better near sight) at about a foot, and I can see it very well if I remove the glasses and look at it just a few inches away. The dithering on the phone dialer, for instance, I can only see if I get right up to it - maybe an inch away. I never noticed that banding before until I looked at your screen shot and then I can only reproduce it on my phone if I look really really close.
- I'm pretty sure what I'm seeing on my phone with the grass wallpaper is the result of using a 16-bit source image or a 16-bit texture to hold it. I don't see how that can be a display hardware issue. I don't have a good explanation for why some people see nothing other than the following couple of observations:
- Your first couple of screen shots were really really awful. I have never seen anything that bad on my phone display ever. Your later screen shots are similar to what I've seen from time to time when applications use 16-bit images. Perhaps the people who aren't seeing the banding are only looking out for the really bad banding your first couple of screen shots showed and aren't really reporting the minor dithering of the later shots or aren't looking closely enough to find it?
- A combination of brightness level, some variation in screens (we've already identified that some AMOLEDs have a purple tinge and others do not), how closely they looked, and how sensitive they are to seeing the banding. I know at work I can sit side by side looking at a test image with some of my coworkers and some will see a problem and others won't see it until you point directly at it, so there is some variation in the human factor as well.
In any case, if the problems you are seeing on your display show up in the screen captures, then I can say that categorically a replacement will not fix the problem. The problem is in what pixels the software is telling the display to show, not in how the display is showing them. Though there may be enough variation in hardware to make it easier or harder to see on some phones - the fact is that the banding was present in the raw pixels and so a new display cannot make it go away completely. It would be better to complain to Google about the quality of the gradients and textures in their apps (dialer, weather widget, and wallpapers). Here are a couple of issues already submitted you can read and vote for:
Banding in radial gradients:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=767
Low res images in gallery app:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6587
While you are there you can search for similar issues using the search box...
No no, I think you misunderstood my question. How are you capturing the "screen captures" of a hardware problem? They look like you're capturing them in software, either a screenshot app or some other method to do it on your PC or such.
The only way to represent banding on the screen itself would be a picture from a camera, and unless you're very good at it, I don't think your "screenshots" are from a camera. How are you capturing them?
i dont understand how these phones can be different. i'm literally looking closely and have zero banding, its not even a little. so then i started experimenting setting different pics from my gallery as wallpapers, and they all look literally perfect, no weird banding whatsoever. i just dont get it
still looks awesome
Okay, i viewed the Mars sunset picture on my N1, and did not see the same effects that have been stated in the article. The only time i have thought something looks a little odd in terms of image rendering & gradient banding, was the Calendar & Power Control widgets on the home screens. BUT, it's only in the the first second after sliding left or right, before it properly renders. Kind of difficult to explain.
Okay, i viewed the Mars sunset picture on my N1, and did not see the same effects that have been stated in the article. The only time i have thought something looks a little odd in terms of image rendering & gradient banding, was the Calendar & Power Control widgets on the home screens. BUT, it's only in the the first second after sliding left or right, before it properly renders. Kind of difficult to explain.
Last edited:
@khaytsus: I'm using the 'ShootMe' app...
@flarbear:
I really appreciate your detailed information. But I'm still not sure what to do...
I get the impression you consider it mild banding. To me it is not mild. I definitely don't have to look closely or strain to see it. It's so obvious. Adjusting the brightness does not help.
I accepted that it was a new kind of display and most things displayed beautifully. But then I decided to try the grass live wallpaper. I like how it transitions from day to night but it just looked really obviously messed up. I searched online - though there is lots of info on the N1 screen banding, saturation issues etc, there is nothing about the horrible look of the grass live wallpaper. Only a few positive remarks about it. I think a blogger wrote how she loved her N1 grass live wallpaper and how it gradually changed to night. And people have indicated on this thread that there is no banding at all. So how can I not send it back for repair? I mean no one in their right mind would not notice or say it looked fine if they saw what I'm seeing!
Last night during sunset I took some more screen shots. It looks even worse on my screen. But like you say if a repair won't fix it what should I do? And what about the guy I spoke with from htc - he assured me a repair would result in my screen being the way it was supposed to be - that the display issues have been corrected...?
@flarbear:
I really appreciate your detailed information. But I'm still not sure what to do...
I get the impression you consider it mild banding. To me it is not mild. I definitely don't have to look closely or strain to see it. It's so obvious. Adjusting the brightness does not help.
I accepted that it was a new kind of display and most things displayed beautifully. But then I decided to try the grass live wallpaper. I like how it transitions from day to night but it just looked really obviously messed up. I searched online - though there is lots of info on the N1 screen banding, saturation issues etc, there is nothing about the horrible look of the grass live wallpaper. Only a few positive remarks about it. I think a blogger wrote how she loved her N1 grass live wallpaper and how it gradually changed to night. And people have indicated on this thread that there is no banding at all. So how can I not send it back for repair? I mean no one in their right mind would not notice or say it looked fine if they saw what I'm seeing!
Last night during sunset I took some more screen shots. It looks even worse on my screen. But like you say if a repair won't fix it what should I do? And what about the guy I spoke with from htc - he assured me a repair would result in my screen being the way it was supposed to be - that the display issues have been corrected...?
Again these don't look so bad when viewed on a computer monitor but you can see there is something there... imagine how bad it must look on my phone. It doesn't even look like a digital image it almost looks like a cartoon, drawing or painting...??
Attachments
Last edited:
Our Apps
Get our official app!
The best way to access XDA on your phone
Nav Gestures
Add swipe gestures to any Android
One Handed Mode
Eases uses one hand with your phone