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Nintendo Switch Owners Complain About Dead Pixels, Nintendo Says They're 'Normal' (theguardian.com)
Nintendo says the dead or stuck pixels Switch owners are complaining about are "normal" and not defects. "New Switch players have taken to online discussion boards, including a 2,000-comment strong Reddit post, to complain of screen issues distracting play, unbecoming of a $300 handheld gaming machine," reports The Guardian. From the report: In a support document entitled "There are black or bright dots on the Nintendo Switch screen that do not go away, or there are dark or light patches on the screen," Nintendo said: "Small numbers of stuck or dead pixels are a characteristic of LCD screens. These are normal and should not be considered a defect." Customers wishing to swap their Switch consoles with defective screens will get no support from Nintendo. A similar issue happened with the Nintendo DS at launch in the U.S., but the Japanese gaming company eventually relented after complaints from buyers, begrudgingly offering replacements under warranty. Nintendo also warned users that using the Switch near an aquarium or within a meter of another wireless device, including laptops, wireless headsets, wireless printers, microwaves, cordless phones or even USB-3.0 compatible devices "such as hard drives, thumb drives, LAN adapters, etc," might cause the Joy-Con controllers to disconnect from the Switch.
...that Nintendo doesn't have to accept the lowest bid if it doesn't think a good job will be done, right? The buck stops with Nintendo, not the factory they contracted construction out to. The factory will happily take whatever quality control measures Nintendo deems necessary, so long as they're paid enough.
Sounds like Nintendo's buying up all those panels that didn't pass muster for other companies' standards. Pretty cheap of them, considering the price of the unit.
I haven't seen a dead pixel on a screen in years. I can't believe Nintendo would stoop so low to essentially buying up rejects to save a couple bucks per unit.
I didn't plan to buy one anyhow, but this is proof positive that Nintendo still has the sense of entitlement leading them to say "you'll take what we give you, and you'll like it". Getting rid of region locks might have been seen as a step to hand some control back to the customer, but refusing to accept that dead pixels are defects and have been considered such for at least ten years now is an admission that they either can't do better, or are honey badgers about what the customer actually thinks. Unreliable connections are defects too, even Apple wasn't able to get away with the "you're holding it wrong" defense for very long.
If they can't do better for technical reasons... well I'm not buying that. They can do better, because other device manufacturers are doing better. If they can't afford to do better, then they really should get out of the hardware market.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Nintendo really should pay more attention to these sorts of things, as this can be what makes or breaks a device. I was strongly considering getting one, but between these stories, the untransferable/unbackup-able save data, and all that on top of them repeating their inability to grasp how people use online play (Really, friend codes? AGAIN? You can't just let us use handles like everywhere else on the civilized internet?), I'm shifting more to the mindset of "maybe let's wait and see if the version 2.0 is any better."
The defects you seem to think exist are a normally engineered design to enhance our users experience. Besides, we don't have sufficient inventory to supply the current demand. As soon as our supply is greater than our customer demand, we may consider some type of compensation. Please keep complaining and we'll contract you in 6 months or so (if you're loud enough).
Thanks and enjoy your experience!
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Because if the Switch was a stunning 4K (710 PPI for a 6.2" screen), people wouldn't complain much because the pixel are too tiny to be noticeable if they die.
But at 720P (237 PPI), that's a whole different world. It's comparable to the first Samsung Galaxy S with 233 PPI. Even the new iPhone 7 is not "that" far ahead with 326 ppi (well, the Galaxy S7 have over 500 PPI).
Elok
...but maybe the customers are just holding it wrong?
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
This is nothing new. Every manufacturer has a note about the number and/or type of acceptable dead/bright pixels on an LCD though they vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. In some cases, a display can have dozens of dead pixels as long as they aren't clustered together, where others will allow several dead pixels but no bright pixels.
This is nothing new and has been Nintendo's policy ever since the Gameboy Advance was released. But, if you're nice when you call support, you may be able to get it replaced, or of course, you could just swap the unit at the store. The same goes for any other LCD you buy.
0x68ADA2CC
... on an older screen or one that has been abused. On a new device? Not so much. The only reason that anyone's going to take Nintendo's explanation lying down is because trying to stand up to Nintendo on this point is going to take a ton of perseverance, time, and probably money with no assurance that it's actually going to work out.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It's to be expected that for the first batch, QA standards aren't too stringent, as they need numbers, numbers, numbers, to get 3rd party buy-in. Early PSPs had some stuck pixels, but later ones were fine. None of my VITAs have stuck/dead pixels.
I was planning to wait for the Mario Bundle, I'm guessing with a Mario-Red and Luigi-Green joycon, as here in Canada the Switch debuts at $400 and there's not even a pack-in game included. Yeah, that's $400 CAD and it also proves that a low CAD vs USD might be 'good for the economy' but it's bad for consumers (e.g. you and me). Hopefully by that that time the Canadian Dollar regained some of its value.
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
I did repair work at Nintendo when the original gameboy came out. All day long people would show up to get screen issues fixed and many of the came right back without even leaving the parking lot before it went bad again.Being an early adopter of Nintendo gear has never been a good idea.
I remember WAY back in the early 2000's when LCD flat panels first started getting cheap enough for the average consumer (I bought my first as a 17" for $300 back around 2001) it was common for there to be at least 1 dead pixel - and they generally wouldn't consider it a warranty item unless there were more than 10 or more than 2 within a few cm of each other.
That is pretty much of thing of the past now though. In the last ~7 years I can't recall having a single display with a dead pixel, and in today's age I certainly would return a display (or device) that had one.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Here's Dells dead pixel policy for 2017. So basically Dell will ignore 5 dead dark pixels before you can get a replacement.
Flat panel monitors with Premium Panel Guarantee (HD+ (1600 x 900) and above LCD resolutions):
1 or more 6 or more
Bright = 1 or more
Dark = 6 or more
Dell monitors (D Series) 6 or more 9 or more Combination of bright and dark = 9 or more
All other Dell flat panel monitors 6 or more 6 or more Combination of bright and dark = 6 or more
Dell Laptop LCD screen with standard panel (HD (1366 x 768) or below resolutions):
Dell Inspiron laptops 3 or more 6 or more Combination of bright and dark = 6 or more
Dell Laptop LCD screen with Premium Panel Guarantee (HD+ (1600 x 900) and above LCD resolutions): :
Just FYI to any Australians buying Switches with dead pixels and Nintendo refusing to replace them - let the ACCC know. 'Dead pixels' aren't excluded from basic consumer guarantees and the seller is required to replace the device within the normal warranty period - even if it's just 1 dead/stuck pixel. (Look up the ACCC vs MSY case for precedent, and others)
Do you know how many CRT monitors have dead pixels? The answer is none, because consumers would not stand for that. Plus, there were about 40+ previous years of manufacturing improvements that helped eliminate manufacturing errors of the phosphors in CRTs. So you can either complain (which is what the switch owners are doing), or wait until manufacturing technology matures.
Nintendo has it half right
Dead pixels ARE normal.... Fortunately, so is the replacing of affected devices under warranty.
No, It's COURAGE!
I guess I'll wait to see how this plays out first. I'm not paying over $500 for a dodgy screen.
Just pay them with a check having a dead digit in the bank account number.
Table-ized A.I.
Made in Japan .... at our facilities in China.
WELL KNOWN FACT: Nintendo consoles are built by Foxconn.
No, no the pixels are not dead, they're just resting. Remarkable pixels on the Nintendo Switch. Beautiful plumage!
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Isn't a fairer point:
People now know about this potential defect and they can use that in their purchase or don't purchase decision?
It's turtles all the way down.
Some of it is, but some of it is just Nintendo. As far back as the NES you couldn't use it in the same house as a PC or you'd run the risk of having Mario jump into the nearest pit. It took a bit of looking around to figure out that he was suicidal in response to a keyboard that was on the downstairs computer.
Are you sure these people didn't accidentally write into Apple? Remember the death grip? And the touch of death (screen) and the bending and the flaming adapters and the...you get the idea.
In Australia this is classed as a defect which is defined as "something that would have caused you not to buy the product if you knew beforehand".
The other option is to go in store and ask that they open and test multiple Switches until you find one free of dead pixels.
In the end it's courtesy of all the internet whiners who immediately start shouting "overpriced" whenever a manufacturer uses higher quality parts. Nice things cost money, often in a non-linear way.
Hey Nintendo? You know what else is normal? Lost sales from well deserved bad press.
I don't know if you have worked professionally with QA in any sense? You quickly realise that "poor quality" is also "quality" - QA is mostly a checkboxing exercise: somebody, somewhere gives you a list of criteria a product must meet, and you check the product against the list. If the list says that 50% failed pixels is OK for a pass, then you will pass any screen with more than 50% working pixels, even if you feel it is a piece of worthless junk, 'cause it aint your decision. And the "somebody, somewhere" sits in Nintendo, Japan - it is entirely irrelevant where their manufacturer happens to be - if they had been in the US, the quality would still have been shite, because that is what their customer requires.
About 5 years ago I bought a laptop from NewEgg that had a single dead pixel. When I called their customer service, the guy on the phone was more outraged than I was and cross shipped me a replacement right away. His exact words were: "If it were me, I would be upset. You shouldn't have to deal with that."
It must be great to be an early adopter. That frisson of excitement coming from paying top dollar to be some company's beta tester.
Made in Japan .... at our facilities in China.
Just like the iPhone, then.
No sig today...
Yep, this is just the same old story of damage control. We've seen it a thousand times before.
Some self-important boss thinks he can bullshit his way out of it. The total product recall follows a week later (after the Streisand Effect kicks in).
No sig today...
When I pay my money for your product, you deliver what you promise. Else it is a scam.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
After pulling stuff like that repeatedly? Is that a trick question?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
... I guess sort of like bad sectors are a characteristic of disk drives ...
Each hard drive has bad sectors detected during the QA testing and permanently stored in drives primary defects list (PLIST) table. The visible reallocations that start from 0 and reported by S.M.A.R.T are grown defects list (GLIST), not existing during the manufacturing. So yes, bad sectors are sort of a characteristic of disk drives.
Sounds like a profound "SKIP THE FUCK OUT OF IT!" to me.
Seriously, what kind of product (OF ANY SORT) says "don't use this anywhere near anything else or it may stop functioning"?
Time for Nintendo to go back to the drawing board and design a real product. These flaky $300 kiddie efforts are just a waste of everyone's time and money.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Made in Japan .... at our facilities in China.
Just like the iPhone, then.
The best bit on the xbox, in the battery compartment on the pad and back of the console it says "hello from seattle" about half an inch from where it says "made in china"
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
... I guess sort of like bad sectors are a characteristic of disk drives ...
Each hard drive has bad sectors detected during the QA testing and permanently stored in drives primary defects list (PLIST) table. The visible reallocations that start from 0 and reported by S.M.A.R.T are grown defects list (GLIST), not existing during the manufacturing. So yes, bad sectors are sort of a characteristic of disk drives.
But in that sense they get hidden and the user is never aware rather than them going "nah, you can't save that properly, bad sector innit, that's just how they work now pay up and fuck off"
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
... ready to get my first Nintendo device ever.
Guess it's skip or wait for a few hardware refreshes then.
I apologize for the lack of a signature.
But does it come with de-oxygenated copper conductors and special gold-plated connectors to reduce analog noise on the control signals?
Maybe in 1992 scince back then color LCDs were very hard and expensive to manufacture, but there is no excuse for this today. If some no name phone manufacturer in China can constantly produce phones without this problem, so can Nintendo.
Yes, Nintendo can't fail, it can only be failed. It's the internet's fault.
"If the dead pixels do indeed detract from game play, return the device as unfit for prescribed purpose under the uniform commercial code (USA) NOTE: I am NOT a lawyer."
You don't have to be a lawyer to know about the uniform commercial code. Look at me; I AM a lawyer who formally studied the UCC in law school before practicing commercial law and I have no clue anymore as to what the UCC says. Something about commerce I think.
lol I suppose you can read it that way. If they had used more expensive parts and raised the price I'm pretty sure it would fail. But since they didn't now everybody's accusing them of being cheap. As if they could magically use better parts and still sell it at the same price.
Dear Value User,
You defective product is to be normal; no worry, all Switch(r) unit have this feature and no charge extra. Thank for inqury.
Mr Chan Xio
Shen Zen Mfg Co, Guangxi, China
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
502 Lotus Blossom Rd #62
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
If you find that you have received a device lacking the requisite number of dead pixels, please return it to the point of purchase for a full refund.
Thank you,
Nintendo Customer Satisfaction Department
Have gnu, will travel.
I don't know about your country, in mine we have something called "reasonable expectations" towards a product. You can't disable that by weasel wording your contract. If you sell me a table that collapses the moment I put something on it, I can return it. Even if you put somewhere in the fine print that this is the kind of table you can't put stuff on. Because it's reasonable to expect a table to be able to sustain a certain amount of weight put onto it.
The question is now whether it's reasonable in 2017 that flat screens have working pixels...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
All my pixels are dead. Literally nothing to see here.
my word. I expect the finest quality from a product in it's first batch. It's like they have murphy's law backwards and hardware gets less good and more expensive as time goes on.
Just another second banana
"You're holding it wrong".
No dead pixels aren't normal, they're a sign of poor quality screens.
And peeps are already fixing the screwy left controller. The right controller has a proper antenna, the left one has a PCB printed antenna with a metal box next to it. Solder a wire on and the problem is solved.
Poor design, lack of testing and claiming that crap screens are normal. Sure, I'll run out and buy one right away...
They could also just do what the other console manufacturers do and subsidize the hardware. Seems to work for Sony.
Seems like an opportunity for a class action lawsuit for selling defective merchandise and not fixing it. The statement that dead or defective pixels is just part of displays is laughable. I played my original GameBoy a few weeks back, and every pixel still works 30 years on...
If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like