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Google Hardware

Google Might Need To Recall the Pixel 2 XL Because of Defective Screens (mashable.com) 71

Posted by msmash from the up-next dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: You might want to hold off on buying a Pixel 2 XL until Google addresses its screen issues. Now that Google's new flagship Android phone is officially out and in people's hands, reports have come out that call into question the quality of its display. Pixel 2 XL owners took to social media to voice their complaints about discoloration and screen burn-in. The first issue Pixel 2 XL owners started noticing was the screen's inconsistent color temperature, most noticeable when viewing anything with a white background. From a dead-on vantage point, the screen has a warm color temperature. But shift your position off-angle just a bit, and you'll notice the color temperature changes to a bluish tint. Mashable has confirmed the color shifting on our Pixel 2 XL review unit. While there are some real advantages to OLED displays over traditional LCDs -- they're thinner, more power efficient, brighter, and display more vibrant colors and deeper blacks -- they're also prone to defects like screen burn-in. Even Samsung, the world's largest manufacturer of OLED displays, hasn't figured out how to perfect them. The Super AMOLED displays used in its Galaxy S8 and Note 8 phones are rated as the brightest screens for mobile devices by DisplayMate's Dr. Raymond Soneira, but they're still susceptible to burn-in. To prevent burn-in from the screen's virtual home button, Samsung's programmed it to move by a few pixels every few seconds. It's not a perfect solution, but it does the trick.
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Google Might Need To Recall the Pixel 2 XL Because of Defective Screens More

Google Might Need To Recall the Pixel 2 XL Because of Defective Screens

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  • Apple is looking at mitigation techniques as well: https://9to5mac.com/2017/09/11... [9to5mac.com]

  • So I reached out to Google last week, to make sure that I could return the Pixel 2 XL for a full refund should I not be satisfied with the screen. They confirmed (via live chat) that there is a 15-day 'buyers regret' window for a full refund, so I am trusting them on that. My phone should arrive later this week, and I am hoping that the issues people have raised are overblown... but if not, I'll send it right back and get something else instead.

    I really want to like it, though, because aside from the screen quality the specs are as close to my ideal setup as anything else that exists right now:

    - OLED (I prefer Samsung's AMOLED, personally, but I absolutely hate normal LCD / IPS panels on phones because of my need for perfectly black backgrounds when reading at low light levels)

    - 6" screen (I'd settle for 5.5 in a pinch, but I watch a lot of videos and find a large screen very pleasant)

    - 4GB RAM (more would be fine too)

    - Dual front-facing speakers (again, related to watching a lot of video content without headphones)

    - Stock (or near-stock) Android

    - Good cameras

    - Support for Sprint (my carrier)

    - Good battery life

    It is missing wireless charging, which I would like, but I can live without it. I also don't care about the missing headphone jack, which a lot of people are upset over, since the only headphones I bother to use are Bluetooth (and I rarely use them anyway).

    • On my old nexus 4, I can set the backlight level quite low (turn off the auto backlight mode) so that it works well in the dark. I'm not sure you need the great dynamic range of OLED for reading in the dark.

      • I haven't owned a normal LCD phone in... gosh, almost a decade now? But my wife has had them up until her current Galaxy S7, and on her previous phones with the same app (Kindle) and brightness at minimum it was glaringly unpleasant to read with the lights off. I could give it a shot again, I suppose :)

    • So basically what you want is the iPhone X, but with Android...

      Just get an iPhone dude.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ionized ( 170001 )

        yeah he should definitely pay an extra $150 for a smaller screen with a notch cut out of it. excellent idea!

      • I abhor Apple as a company, and will never own any of their products. Its a philosophical difference, mostly stemming from their approach to computer hardware and software. They do make good quality hardware, including phones, and for those who like Apple (or don't care about one company vs another) I think the iPhones can be great options.

        And I know that there is plenty to dislike about Google these days as well. That is a bit unfortunate, that they haven't really stuck with their Do No Evil motto (a good

    • Maybe people don't realize this, but many of the new features that people demand are experimental. That's why this "problem" exists. There is no perfect display. So the manufacturers are trying new things, getting the features they are asked for with technology that is both available in large quantities and without putting the cost out of reach with consumers. OLEDs are definitely in the experimental phase, sure they've been around awhile but the technology keeps changing and being tweaked.

      • Of course tech keeps getting tweaked and advanced, but I've own 4 OLED phones now (Samsung Moment, Galaxy Nexus, Moto X, Nexus 6) over 8 years. None of them had burn-in issues that I ever saw / experienced, and they all had decent off-angle color accuracy as well (far better than LCD screens of the same time periods). It seems that the issue with the 2 XL is that the screen is made by LG, who have far less experience and engineering in the OLED phone market compared to Samsung. Maybe they went with a LG scr

        • It seems that the issue with the 2 XL is that the screen is made by LG, who have far less experience and engineering in the OLED phone market compared to Samsung.

          Except, the new LG V30's screen has none of the problems reported on the Pixel 2 XL. Oops.

          • Um, the V30 reviews are actually what got me worried about the 2 XL before people started posting hands-on info about it. The V30 certainly seems to have the same off-angle blue tint, and also a lot of reports of blotchy colors (which have *not* shown up in any reviews I have seen of the 2 XL, thankfully). Here are some quotes:

            "You may be wondering why I have left discussion of the LG V30’s display for last. Well, that’s because I wanted you to understand the essential strengths and weaknesses o

            • Um, the V30 reviews are actually what got me worried about the 2 XL before people started posting hands-on info about it. The V30 certainly seems to have the same off-angle blue tint, and also a lot of reports of blotchy colors (which have *not* shown up in any reviews I have seen of the 2 XL, thankfully)

              Obviously there are a lot of reviews by folks of various qualifications. Consider it or not, it's up to you.
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

              I've heard a few times the display on the V30 was not good, but nothing saying it has the same problems exactly as the 2XL.

              I am even more worried about burn-in showing up just days or weeks into usage

              Then cancel / abort your order. They *all* have the burn in (or "ghosting", or whatever is the right technical term). I have a 2XL, and everything you hear in reviews and media is true. Trust me it hurts bad to admit that after spending $927.

              • Interesting - thank you for sharing that video! I couldn't make out what he said he was seeing on the 2 XL, but I don't doubt him. However, it looks to me like the same grey image at 100% brightness on the 2 XL is a LOT lighter / brighter looking than it is on the V30. Compare at about 2 minutes in (for the 2 XL) versus 4:15 for the V30 and you will see what I mean.

                In my own tests (just today) with my Nexus 6, I cannot see burn-in on black or dark grey images, but as things get closer to light grey or white

    • AMOLED has burn ins. It is part of the technology and Samsung cheats by dithering and pixel shifting so you will get fuzzy haze. IPS is superior in many ways in monitors even if the darks are a little bright. Viewing angles and being visible in sunlight are a must

      • I've own 4 OLED phones now (Samsung Moment, Galaxy Nexus, Moto X, Nexus 6) over 8 years. None of them had burn-in issues that I ever saw / experienced, and they all had decent off-angle color accuracy as well (better than LCD phone screens of the same time periods).

        I have heard that Samsung uses pixel shifting on some of their newer phones, but if they did that on any of the models I have owned I never noticed. If the 2 XL's screen is anywhere near the quality of the ones I've had on other phones, I will be

    • This whole thing might be caused by live display with adaptive brightness turned on, which is part of android display settings.

      I suggest look around in the settings after you get the phone.

      • My Pixel 2 XL yesterday, and turning that off was one of the first things I did :)

        I've got a lot of thoughts about this phone, having read so much ahead of time and now having hands-on experience. If it just had the same quality of screen as the other Android phones I've owned (all Samsung-built AMOLED in the last 8 years) then I'd be very happy, despite some other oddities about the size and aspect ratio. But man, the screen... I just don't know yet. Very glad to have 15 days to decide.

  • And this is all the more reason not to be. Yes, they display "more vibrant colours", in that they have trouble displaying white properly; I always find the feel of OLED phones akin to that I get from looking at coloured LED christmas lights. The colours degrade at different rates, too, so the longer you own your phone, the more off balance they get. They're also harder to read outside even if really bright inside.

    I know that there will be others who prefer OLED phones who disagree. But this is just my exp

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      All the more reason to offer a calibration function within stock android. Like, hold your phone with the screen facing a mirror, show a testcard, snap a picture, process and apply the new colour profile to restore white balance. ZERO reason why that couldn't be implemented, instead of the 'Google knows best' approach.

      • I agree that Android should offer that function, but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of blue diode degradation.

    • Meantime, nobody is complaining about the smaller Pixel 2, made by HTC with AMOLED screen by Samsung.

      Small screen OLED is only hard for LG.

      http://mashable.com/2017/10/23... [mashable.com]

  • OLED still sucks.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by thsths ( 31372 )

      Actually, OLED is great. It has better colours, better contrast, and better efficiency with mostly dark images.

      The article to me sounds very much like a non-story: changes in contrast and colour balance depending on viewing angle are pretty common - even my 4k screen has that.

      The only real concern with OLED is burn it. I had not seen any, but there are reports.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Khyber ( 864651 )

        There are plenty of other concerns with OLED. The RGB elements degrade at different rates, so your color shift gets worse over time, and calibration tools can't fix physical pixel degradation. The actual viewing angle is generally worse than a comparable S-IPS LCD. Color gamut is nice at first but then that OLED degradation starts kicking you in the ass and that goes away pretty rapidly. CRTs have better longevity.

    • Meantime, nobody is complaining about the smaller Pixel 2, made by HTC with AMOLED screen by Samsung.

      Small screen OLED is only hard for LG.
      http://mashable.com/2017/10/23... [mashable.com]

  • "To prevent burn-in from the screen's virtual home button, Samsung's programmed it to move by a few pixels every few seconds. It's not a perfect solution, but it does the trick."

    You know what else would "do the trick"? A physical home button.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • You know what else would "do the trick"? A physical home button.

      Yes, excellent solution to the problem. While we are at, let's add a mechanical brightness slider, and a mechanical ringtone picker, and a mechanical keypad for entering a passcode.

  • Not OLED but I have one of those LG 4k monitors and I can see the ghost image of the application windows for minutes on my solid black background. The task bar could be burnt in by now. Too afraid to check.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Not OLED but I have one of those LG 4k monitors and I can see the ghost image of the application windows for minutes on my solid black background.

      There is burn-in (which is permanent), and image retention, which disappears (eventually). The first (especially when it happens in a few weeks) would be considered a defect. The second happens with almost all technologies (to some degree), and the importance depends on the use cases.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by EvilSS ( 557649 )

      Not OLED but I have one of those LG 4k monitors and I can see the ghost image of the application windows for minutes on my solid black background. The task bar could be burnt in by now. Too afraid to check.

      Just get a pixel exerciser and run it for a few hours. LCD based displays can start to show signs of image retention due to the liquid crystals becoming resistant to changing state over time if they are left in the same state for extended (like months) periods. It's rarely permanent however.

  • I'm still using a fairly old Samsung Note 3 now which uses an OLED display and it doesn't show any obvious signs of screen burn-in whatsoever. So not all OLED displays are that horrible. I think if you really abuse it or the quality of the screen was bad to begin with it probably won't work right.

    • Put it side by side with a brand-new device, you WILL notice it is slightly yellowed.

    • The article is talking about burn-in after 7 days of usage. This isn't so much a technology issue as it is LG having absolutely horrid OLED panels.

      • LG only manufactures it. It is a google phone otherwise. That's like blaming Samsung for the IPhone. FYI LG makes excellent screens. I own a monitor and TV by them. AMOLED has burn ins.

        Samsung cheats by moving the pixels around and doing dithering and flickering

        • LG only manufactures it. It is a google phone otherwise. That's like blaming Samsung for the IPhone.

          You're right. Read TFA for links to examples of similar complaints with other LG phones. For YOUR information, LG may make excellent screens overall but they are have an incredible amount of lemon panels coming off their production line. You should touch wood now that you have some of their better quality products. Certainly Apple didn't when they had to repair and change suppliers for a large set of MacBook Pros with LG panels. Apple didn't when they had to halt production of their 5K display due to QC iss

        • LG only manufactures it.

          So they only design and build it completely then?

          What are you suggesting that the problems are due to how it's mounted or connected to the display processor?

  • Pro Tip (Score:3)

    by sootman ( 158191 ) on Monday October 23, 2017 @02:39PM (#55419367) Homepage Journal

    > You might want to hold off on buying a Pixel 2 XL
    > until Google addresses its screen issues.

    "You might want to hold off on buying rev 1 hardware, ever, unless you have a really serious need."

    FTFY.

    Seriously. Give it a fucking month or two. You won't die.

  • These phones will not get recalled, what a load of crap. Do they seriously thing that Google would put a screen in a phone without evaluating it first, and then decide to recall it because users are dissatisfied? These screens are operating as expected. That off-axis blue shift off is a trait of the panel they chose and they knew about this well before release.

    I understand the issues with the screen (and it would concern me as a buyer) parameters. Should they have put a better screen in the Pixel 2XL - yes

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