Slashdot Mirror
Google Might Need To Recall the Pixel 2 XL Because of Defective Screens (mashable.com)
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.
All the cool recalled phones spontaneously burst into flame. Just sayin'. It's something to shoot for.
...Missing a 3.5mm audio jack.
Apple is looking at mitigation techniques as well: https://9to5mac.com/2017/09/11...
Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
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).
William George
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 experience with the two.
I'll BUILD someone to replace you. Some kind of gamma-powered monster, with a heart as black as coal!
OLED still sucks.
#DeleteFacebook
...if they had used a Super Retina Display.
"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.
#DeleteChrome
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.
Haha, you wish, recall will not happen. The Nexus 5 had a defective microphone, which made it useless as a phone, but Google refused to fix the issue or give refund. Fuck you Google, I'm never going to buy anything from you again.
If Sprint is your carrier, you should be looking at the Essential phone, especially after the price drop. It's far superior to anything Google or Apple has to offer. But hey, do what you want. I learned a long time ago never to trust people with two first names.
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'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.
So basically what you want is the iPhone X, but with Android...
Just get an iPhone dude.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So far everything I've seen makese this seem like an non-issue. I'd love to see some examples that show this as really being a problem where it actually affects what you do.
yeah he should definitely pay an extra $150 for a smaller screen with a notch cut out of it. excellent idea!
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.
> 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.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
The iPhone X runs stock android? I'm in! Or were you just ignoring that requirement...
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
http://saveie6.com/
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.
I had my pixel 2 XL purchase refunded fully by google last night/early this morning according to my credit card statement.
I'm not quite sure whats going on. No email from them relating to this subject. Maybe they will charge the charge the card again when it ships? idk.
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 definitely at the the price point they are hitting. But they chose what they chose and that's that.
This was probably a supply issue - with Samsung and Apple buying every AMOLED screen that can be made, they had no choice but to go with an inferior LG panel.
I was really excited about the Essential when I first heard of it, but it has a normal (non-OLED) screen. That is a no-go for me, as I spend 30+ minutes every night reading in the dark just before bed. The difference between a backlight that is trying to be blocked by LCD versus a pure black with only the text lighting up at all is huge. I would be willing to live with the lack of stereo front speakers and the weird camera cut-out on the screen if the screen type itself was right, as the other specs are all fantastic and I like their philosophy / approach.
Maybe... maybe if the 2 XL doesn't work out, I'll go look at an Essential in person. Who knows - perhaps the backlight can go dim enough for me to be okay with it? Would be hard to tell for sure in a brightly lit store, though :/
William George
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 :)
William George
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 ideal, if one could achieve it). Maybe someday I will loathe them as much as Apple, but for now I am strictly an Android user. I'm also pretty heavily invested in the app ecosystem, making a move to a different OS more expensive as well (buying all the apps over again).
William George
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 screen because LG was making the rest of the phone? Or maybe Samsung couldn't provide the size and resolution they wanted, at the right quantity / price? I don't know for sure, but whatever the reason it seems to be biting Google that they didn't go with the best OLED screen manufacturer. I *hope* to be proven wrong when mine comes in (on the 26th - I am both excited and worried) but the raft of bad press is definitely not a good sign.
William George
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 just fine... but the raft of bad press is not a good sign.
William George
A recall would be pretty extreme, and unlikely, I agree (though I would love to be mistaken!)
I am going to give a shot to using the 2 XL for a few days, though, and will see how the screen's shortcomings impact my usage. If I am not bothered, I'll stick with it. if it does start to get to me, it will be headed back for a refund.
William George
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 of this phone before I told you the ultimate deal-breaker for me. The OLED screen of the V30 is just bad. There’s no dodging this issue, and there’s no making excuses for it. This isn’t a good display, and if your phone doesn’t have a good display it might as well be a Nokia 5110.
Areas of the same color on the V30 appear blotchy: when I open up a Google Keep note, I don’t get a flat white canvas as I should, but instead I see streaks of gray, looking as if there’s an inconsistent backlight. This being an OLED display, there’s no backlight to speak of, so it’s just poor brightness uniformity across those light-emitting diodes. The same unhappy effect is even more pronounced with darker grays and colors like navy blue, and it’s amplified by the V30’s apparent inability to render color gradations smoothly. Gradients appear grainy and I see unpleasant color banding, exactly the same issues that Ars Technica encountered with a preproduction V30 device last month." (https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/16/16457544/lg-v30-review-design)
"The OLED panel on my pre-production unit still has the same issues as the LG G Flex. In low brightness in a dark room, the screen is grainy and has "dirty" looking horizontal banding all over it. The light level is also woefully uneven, with hotspots blazing out of the left and right corners." (https://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2017/09/lg-v30-hands-on-display-quality/)
When I started reading reviews of the 2 XL I was at first relieved, as the blotchiness issues do *not* appear to be happening in the Pixel. The color calibration I am less worried about too: true to life colors instead of over saturated will be different than my past phones, but not a deal breaker. But I am worried about how it will look when viewing from off-center (if I am watching something with my kids, and have the phone positioned so that we can all see the screen but none of us are viewing it from perfectly in front). I am even more worried about burn-in showing up just days or weeks into usage, though, since I plan to keep my next phone for at least 2 years, and ideally 3 or more.
William George
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?...
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 (or just plain brighter) it starts to become visible. I wonder if the V30 is calibrated to be darker, even on max brightness? Or if the color settings they use (which are clearly different from Google's) make it less visible?
I'm going to have to think hard about this. My 2 XL has already shipped, so at this point there is no reason not to open it and try it out for myself... but without knowing how bad the burn-in could get over the course of 2-3 years... I'll have to really ponder whether it is worth the risk. Thank you for your input!
William George
When all of the other criteria are soundly met, and the only difference is Android support - I cannot think why someone would not simply use the device that works better for what they want to do.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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.
William George