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Samsung Will Fix the Galaxy S8 Red Tint Issue With a Software Update (xda-developers.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the coming-soon dept.

When the Galaxy S8 and S8+ first launched, several users reported a red tint to the displays. But then a few days passed and more reports emerged about the issue being widespread, especially in South Korea where many owners are facing this issue. According to XDA Developers, Samsung is aware of the issue and will be issuing a software update to fix it. From the report: Some thought this was just the nature of OLED technology. Because it's organic, it is expected to have some sort of variance from one device to another. We've seen this time and time again on Samsung devices, and others which are using AMOLED panels that were sourced from Samsung. This is generally not a widespread issue though and most of the time the difference is rather small. For whatever reason though, this doesn't seem to be the case with the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8+. This new OTA update to fix the red tint issue is said to be coming next week at the end of April, and Samsung assures their customers that there isn't a problem with the phone itself.

31 comments

  1. Software update? by fredrated · · Score: 3, Funny

    They are going to change the color of the software?

    1. Re:Software update? by BeauHD · · Score: 1

      Via the software. Currently, Galaxy S8 owners can manually adjust the tint of the display in the settings, but that is not an ideal solution. I assume Samsung's software update will recalibrate the display settings to make the "default" mode have less of a red tint.

    2. Re:Software update? by n2505d · · Score: 1

      Cut the chatter Red 2

    3. Re:Software update? by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 1

      I wonder if this is part of the "reduce blue light at night" idea that somehow had a runaway...
      http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

      Note: Check Blue Blocking Devs for color blindness.

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    4. Re:Software update? by Solandri · · Score: 1

      Unlike LCDs which use a backlight with a fixed white point, OLEDs produce red, green, and blue on demand. So the "white point" is just however much red, green, and blue the software commands the screen to display when trying to show the color white.

  2. I was looking forward to S8 by imidan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've been using an S4 for a couple years, and I was looking forward to possibly upgrading to the S8. But it seems like a bit of a shitshow. The fingerprint scanner is in a weird place, apparently as a last-minute change because they couldn't get it working on the touchscreen. The software assistant doesn't work in English. This wouldn't be that big a deal to me because I probably wouldn't use it anyway, but the hardware button for activating it is not re-programmable, so it's a complete waste at the moment. Obviously, no removable battery. And now the screen is red. At least it has a headphone jack, I guess?

    Meh. I guess my current phone is good enough.

    1. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Judging by the S5, I can move my finger easily to where the scanner would be.
      The software assistant doesn't have voice commands in English yet, but it's coming later this spring. The rest of the assistant is already active.
      The screen does what many devices do and adjusts it's color for whats on screen and what your environment is. In some environments, a white screen is currently getting too much of a red tint.

      All these issues are severely overblown.

    2. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least it doesn't explode. Amirite?

    3. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by imidan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, but c'mon. This is supposed to be Samsung's flagship phone and it's following on the heels of a phone that was so bad that it routinely caught on fire. It'd inspire more confidence if they were releasing this one without a bunch of problems, even if they do seem to be minor. It doesn't seem to be quite finished, which makes me wonder what corners they've cut other than the ones we can see so far.

    4. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      You don't know what you're talking about as usual. It was the Note that had the battery issue. The regular S7 worked perfectly fine.

    5. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by imidan · · Score: 1

      The Note 7 was released in August 2016. The S7 was released in March 2016. The S8, therefore, follows on the heels of the phone they released that routinely caught on fire. The Note 7 immediately precedes the S8 by chronology, though not by name. This is not something that I thought needed to be spelled out in the context of a site dedicated to tech news.

    6. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get S7 edge instead. The battery is amazing... With full day's use goes down to 70%... In comparison, I was draining S3 to 10-15%

      The real killer is the fast charge mode: 10-20 mins, and you are topped up, or just plug it in for longer every few days. But do keep in mind that regular chargers/USB ports will take 6-8 hours at 500 mA to charge you up! USB3 ports are faster, about 3 hours.

      Fingerprint reader is also in the right place and you won't dirty the camera lens like with S8. Judging by my experience using pulse/O2 sensor on S7, that just isn't the right place for the fingerprint reader that you use many times a day.

      The rest is pretty much the same: identical screen and camera, similar CPU speed and RAM options. But half the price of S8 by now.

    7. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by FrankHaynes · · Score: 1

      With full day's use it goes down to 70% ...with your particular combination of apps, usage patterns, proximity to cell sites throughout the day, reliance on WiFi, etc.

      Talk about a small sample size!

      --
      slashdot: A failed experiment.
    8. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i don't notice a red tint in my s8 (silver), it seems pretty nice to me, i upgraded from a s5...

    9. Re: I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My S8 is perfect in every way. I like the cool red feature. Fuck you Apple fanbois. Try to catch up.

    10. Re: I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should get your eyes calibrated

    11. Re: I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have no social (media) life.

      And no friends ... and everybody hates you so they don't call unnecessarily.

      That's why your batt is sustainable. My S8 is usually out of batt by mid afternoon.

    12. Re: I was looking forward to S8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No idea about S8, but s7 Edge does last surprisingly long. Even playing YouTube/Netflix non-stop wouldn't drain the battery "by afternoon" (6 hours).
      Did they really cut the battery so much in S8? Or are you thinking iPhone S8? (no idea if that's a thing, but my colleague says she has iPhone S8, lol). I hear iPhones are more powerful than Android, but the users are always using these attached to a charger/bat case.

      The only way I can think of draining Samsung S7E at the speed you describe is using VR/3D apps intensively (Google Cardboard?).

    13. Re:I was looking forward to S8 by BronsCon · · Score: 1

      That's because it only affects a handful of phones in South Korea. My S8+ has a little less red than my S7 Edge, though it does have a perfect half-circle dead spot on the right side (a defect, for sure, and my replacement phone arrives on Monday). Every mass-produced device is going to have some defects; apparently the screens used in the batches of phones sold in South Korea (which were produced first as they were to be sold first) had the red tint issue, and the batch of screens they had in stock when my phone was made had black-spot issues (which aren't unheard of on "edge" models).

      It happens. And it's really only a problem when the manufacturer doesn't offer the end user a fix. I'd like to point to Nintendo as an example of where it's a problem; yet people will defend Nintendo to the death when they deny the existence of any issues (though there clearly are many) while lambasting Samsung for having issue that they actually acknowledge and fix. In my opinion, though Samsung has more issues than Nintendo, Nintendo users have more problems than Samsung users, because Nintendo users are stuck with the issues Nintendo won't fix.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  3. Utter twaddle by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because it's organic, it is expected to have some sort of variance from one device to another.

    Are they breeding them instead of manufacturing them? Or is there perhaps some inherent unpredictability in carbon chemistry that I'm not aware of and that the brewing, pharmaceutical & petroleum industries have found a way to overcome?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Utter twaddle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, "organic" as in "organic chemistry" doesn't mean "was bred without the use of non-naturally-derived pesticides"

  4. Don't they test their products before shipping? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does Samsung even test their products before shipping? Hell, does ANYBODY anymore?

    I feel like consumers have become the largest pool of unpaid product validation test engineers ever assembled.

    1. Re:Don't they test their products before shipping? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Why test? The last version was mostly fine. If something's wrong with this version we'll hem and haw, issue a placebo patch in 2 months that will trick half of the people. Half of the people who aren't fooled will get used to it or stop bitching. For the remaining people who complain, we'll just trot out the occasional lie about how we're still working on it. Then it's time for the next version, and maybe we'll fix it there, maybe we won't. Either way, we'll claim that it's been fixed and that the new version is the best ever. People will buy it.

  5. Does it make calls?? by FrankHaynes · · Score: 1

    They claim it has HD voice, but I wonder if it's usable on any of the major carriers.

    How is the radio in it? Does it drop calls frequently?

    Is the touch screen responsive? Does it false? Does it take a particular gesture to get it to work properly?

    Basically, they're worried to death over a red tint on the display, but you never see discussion of whether it performs its basic function as, you know, a phone.

    --
    slashdot: A failed experiment.
    1. Re: Does it make calls?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG HD voice! I can see the details of your voice so clearly! OMG!

    2. Re:Does it make calls?? by adolf · · Score: 1

      If there were something negative to write about its performance as a communications device, someone would write about it.

      See also: "You're holding it wrong."

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
  6. The issue explained... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is actually spilt blood from s7 engineers.

  7. nice, they will fix a software problem with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nice, they will fix a software problem with a software update.

  8. Nothing to fix here. by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

    The red tint is actually fire smoldering behind the display...be ready for another fireworks show!

  9. That will make it really explosive by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    Well, coming from Samsung, it already is really explosive.

  10. S8 red tint issue updates by Daleonis · · Score: 1

    Many relevant news on this issue you'll find here... http://mobilenewsflash.com/sea...