I just got my iPhone 3G S today and noticed that it has a distinctly yellowish tint to the screen. Doesn't matter what app I am using, and I've tried adjusting the brightness with no success.
Janthea, take a look at your iPhone's serial number. The 4th and 5th digit will represent the week in which your phone was built. Both my wife and I have week 23's and we had a 50% success rate with acceptable quality screens.
To be perfectly honest, I don't think the week build really matters with regard to quality. I feel it's much more a matter of which facility it was built at. Somewhere, somehow, certain factories got a bad batch of screens IMO.
How to tell which factory a given iPhone was built at, by looking at the serial number, is still something I have yet to find.
I had to exchange one that was super dark, ugly and yellow. My new one is brighter, a very soft milky warm white. My wife & I both have 32gb black week 26 phones, both model #MB717LL. Her screen is bright white, almost pinkish and blinding with very vivid colors and sharp lines. Mine only looks yellow in direct comparison to hers but it's more pleasant on the eyes (like it’s using clear type or something) & I might just stick with it, since I don't notice the yellow during normal everyday usage & it's nowhere near as bad as my old one.
I had to go through 4 phones! 1st one had scratches under the glass, 2nd phone's sleep/power button wouldn't work, 3rd one was **** stained and 4th one is acceptable to me.
My wife's phone is similar if not cooler than the one on the left. The yellow one that I returned was worse than the one in the middle. My new one looks like the one on the right:
Currently on my 3rd 3GS and each one has been different in terms of its yellow colouring. Two week 22 phones with the first being nicotine yellow-intense and the second week 22 being nicotine-yellow-intense + battery problems. The third unit (week 26) that I currently have is nicotine-yellow-lite with auto-dimming on and 'passable' with auto-dimming off set to mid-level range or above.
In terms of the pictures you linked two above I would still say mine is in the middle with auto-dimming on but and with auto-dimming off not quite cream white as the 3rd picture.. so between the two. I would still prefer a better screen as it becomes really noticeably yellow decreasing brightness.
Shame there is such difference between units. It would be more than acceptable if everyone had the same levels.. but to vary widely so much is not right.
Does anyone know for sure (or IF) or can anyone confirm that Apple has staff who might see this and who will care enough to report it back to Apple. If you're reading Apple, or one of your more intelligent staff, PLEASE take this matter seriously and don't pass it off as something that will just "sort itself out"....
I have the very noticeable yellowish tint also. Mine is from week 26 and it seems to be the same problem as previous posters noted. It also looks all washed out compared to my old 3G. (Both are on the exact same brightness with auto-brightness disabled of course)
Both defects (yellow tint, and washed out colors) are VERY VERY noticeable and it is completely unacceptable. (and don't even try to give us any BS about "thats how its supposed to be..." because its not. Period.
Luckily my bud at the apple store swapped it out for one that was a bit less yellow, and now its at least usable. (...but it still looks terrible compared to the good 'ol 3G.)
PLEASE APPLE! FIX THIS SCREEN DISCOLORATION PROBLEM!
My advice to others is to go to your local Apple Store and swap it out for an acceptable iPhone 3GS. Raise **** but be polite about it.
this is really noticeable if you change the viewing angle vertically with a 3g in your other hand. definitely urine yellow when not at 0% angle on all whites.
I have swapped out my phone about 5 times each one has been yellow so far. The one I have now is not as yellow but has a very very very dim screen my brother and girlfriend have 3g s phones and theirs is perfectly white. I compare mine to theirs and their brightness at half is equal to mine about 75% bright. I will be exchanging again some time this week. Most of the phones I've had have been week 27 which appears to be a horrible batch.
my week 27 is fine the screen is perfect, i went to 2 diff apple stores this week just happen to be in the malls and the displays had some yellowing there too.
I also have a week 27 black 16GB 3GS. I don't see the yellow tint, but it does seem very BLUE compared to my previous 3G, and also to my wifes current 3G which I purchased at the same time as the 3GS. The colors also seem very dull and flat, and the brightness is not nearly as bright as the 3G at 100% I can live with the blue but the lack of contrast and pop in photos and the OS graphics make things look terrible. Off to the Apple store this weekend to see if I can find a screen with contrast and a decent color temp.
How many of you are restoring backups from previous 3G phones? I wonder if that is carrying some settings over from the 3G that os causing the yellow tint for everyone...
Frankly I think Apples QC has gone downhill the past couple of years due to their tremendous growth. Totally unacceptable.
One thing to bear in mind for those who have kept an "acceptable" unit:
The issue with the screen yellowness and other assorted QC issues is MOST likely to be a hardware fault. Gamma can be modified in software, but I very much doubt that yellowness/unevenness can. That's the main reason I've returned mine now and am waiting. If you've kept a phone that's "good enough" then be clear that any remaining issues probably WON'T be sorted out by firmware updates.
Interestingly, the only thing that makes this situation livable for Apple is quite a few people now who are settling for "good enough" even when comparing their screens to a 3G with proof right there that there is a problem with their "acceptable" 3GS. The more people accept "just about good enough", the LESS incentive Apple has to fix this problem or take it seriously. We all have different ideas about what "good enough" is, for sure, but the effect of your decision might be interesting to consider.
I do wonder now if it's worth it to re-sign up for an 18 month contract with O2 after having to wait 1-2 months for this Quality Control mess to (hopefully) get addressed. By the time I re-sign up, if I do, it won't be all that long before the NEXT revision will be released. I mean 9 months IS a long time, but is it TOO long to wait out now for the next version.
Off topic(ish) but I have a SNEAKING suspicion that the next version will include an OLED screen for a few reasons:
1) By then, OLED will be more dependable in terms of longevity (or maybe not - this is Apple after all)
2) OLED will allow Apple to INCREASE battery life which might be essential next time due to an increase in processor speed etc.
3) OLED will also (and I think this might be a bit factor) allow Apple to release a RE-DESIGNED handset which is SLIMMER because of course OLED doesn't need a back-light. The Samsung Jet, an amazingly specified but horribly GUI'd phone uses OLED already.
I, for one, can't wait for a time when screens are a no-brainer in that they will ALWAYS be of a specific standard unless there a GLARING faults. The problem here is the erratic quality issues, which are often subtle and hard to explain/point out.
