iPhone 3G S has yellowish tint

I mean like when I view the iPhone from an angele, specifically right side. If I just look at it from front it's warm but not yellow. but if I view it front left angle the colors are cool much like iPhone 2G.

Out of curiosity, has anyone taken screenshots of their yellow tint?

I just did... Also did it with my wife's phone - which, to the naked eye - has no yellow... But side-by-side screenshots makes the two images look extremely similar.

If the screenshots are similar, would that lead one to believe that the issue is hardware related and not something that an OS tweak can adjust?

Link to a side-by-side image.

http://img20.imageshack.us/i/sbs.jpg/

Message was edited by: kooredaan

kooredaan wrote:
Out of curiosity, has anyone taken screenshots of their yellow tint?

Pic I took of my first excessively yellow, dimmer & polarized screened 3G S (on the left) compared to my wife's perfect 3G S on the right:

!http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b249/honeychub/Yellow3GS-ArialView.jpg!

The excessive yellowness of that, my first 3G S was worse than this pic shows - I could have demonstrated the difference between them better on the settings screen (where there's more white), but I opted for the Brightness adjustment screen to prove that I had both phones set to max brightness and auto brightness turned OFF on both for a true Apples to Apples comparison (no pun intended).

Those pictures don't do the issue justice as they look fine...

Mine have been so uneven and yellow, that as soon as I show the geniuses (at 3 different stores) they all immediately agreed they are out of spec and immediately replaced them. They just don't seem to have many without the issue in my area...

Every 3G S I had an issue with the yellow tint on the bottom of my screen. I was able to get the screen replaced and it looked great (whiter, definitely), but battery life on that unit was bad.

After exchanging it for another, I noticed this one had the yellow tint on the bottom, too. I asked if they can change it with the one I had before, and was told no, I would need to get a replacement display, and to also schedule another appointment tomorrow!

I grudgingly did so, and the replacement display is now ALL yellow. What could I do?

The "trained" Genius are trained to spouted the same old "within spec" crap. It's DEFINITELY not within spec, as it is VERY noticeable.

Apple quality control is nonexistent, and I think people just love them for the software and the interface (which I'm not arguing - I really love the OSes for both their computers and phones). I'm a new MacBook and iPhone owner, and without needing to COMPARE to an older phone or MacBook (and even before hitting the forums and Google), I could TELL there were things wrong with them (keyboard and trackpad button was mushy and uneven feeling).

"Everything is in spec" or "within margin of error" is the "answer" to all my problems.

I can't return my MacBook since it's over 30 days (looking to sell it to wash my hands of Apple now). I have a few days to return the iPhone and cancel my AT&T account without getting locked into the 2 year contract.

Pitty, since I had an iPod Touch before, and I loved it! I'm personally locked into how easy it is to sync my iPod Touch (sold now, which is why I got an iPhone) to get podcasts every morning for my commute to work. However, I'm not a Lemming, and will use my iRiver 20GB MP3 player for this job (as I had in the past).

It's nice to have, but not worth the trouble of sticking with a subpar company who does not and WILL NOT stand by their products.

My reviews on the two Apple products and my experiences with the Geniuses.

iPhone 3G S Black 32GB review:
http://www.epinions.com/review/AppleiPhone_3G_S_Black_32_GB_16_GB_Smartphone/content476039581316

MacBook Early 2009 model (2.0 GHz model)
http://www.epinions.com/review/AppleMacBook_MB881LL_A_Mac_Notebook/content477610872452

I get a lot of readers, and make lots of recommendations to products, and APPLE will not get my support. In fact, quite the opposite. Windows 7 will be out, and Zune HD will be, too! And, here's to hope Microsoft make the Zune HD into a phone as well. 🙂

Competition is good, and I hope this will force Apple to treat their customers better. Those Geniuses are very condescending, and I dread ever going back to aa Apple Store.

Was the yellow tint noticable (on the whole display that is) without comparing to another phone??

Also do they just replace the screen or the whole phone? What's the deal with 30 days? I thought you had a year warranty on the iPhone ) at least in the Uk)

Typig this in landscape mode i can see the left is a bit yellowed than the right.
Considering the fact that the iPhone does not have an AMOLED screen it's only logical to have certain differences when looking at the screen from different angles. That's why I can accept. Having to tilt the screen a bit. Again, mine only has a small extra tint. The top is great, the bottom a bit yellow.

The deal with 30 days is for the people that can't convince the genius of the problem. If the genius says it's out of spec, or if you know it's out of spec, don't accept a paid/30 day trade. You are entitled to a replacement device.

With mine it's mostly the lower left corner, so depending on what I'm doing I'll rotate the phone 🙂
I will get it fixed in a few weeks though!

So you have 30 days to get a replacement device? What happens after the 30 days have expired??

Just a message of hope in amongst the doom & gloom in this thread:

My original iPhone 3GS had a distinctly yellow and dim screen. When I made it back to the Apple Store where I bought it, and presented it to the genius side by side with my girlfriend's 3GS and my prior 3G, he agreed it was overly yellow and exchanged it for a brown box/white sealed replacement.

The replacement had a whiter screen, though I was still disappointed as it didn't have the same vibrancy as my 3G had - the colors seemed washed out. I described it as having a "thin, low-lying fog over it."

However, hearing (mostly from this thread) that less vibrancy was pretty normal for 3GS screens, I accepted it as the best I could do, and hoped I'd grimace less every time I used it. I was in fact slowly starting to get used to it, though it was more a case of "I only have to put up with it for a year, then the OLED screens will come out..."

By sheer coincidence, after a few weeks the replacement 3GS developed another problem: the power button pushed in to become flush with its case, so that it could barely be used to turn the unit on. Another genius bar appointment.

I have to admit I was dreading this, hearing all the doom stories about the iPhone screen "lottery" and being afraid I would be presented with a yellow screen unit that was "within spec," and no longer being able to exchange it.

What I got, though, was the amongst the best screens I have ever seen on an iPhone (and I personally have had four since they came out in 2007, and looked at countless others).

Where the other one was "foggy," this one is crisp and sharp. The pin ****** on the Settings icon are very discernable and the color temperature is pleasing, sightly warmer than my 3G, but not overly so. I'll get used to this 3GS much easier than the previous one.

In fact, I walked around the Apple Store (and it's a big one), choosing random display models, setting the same brightness settings, and grinning because my unit looked better than them all. (It could partly be to do with their fingerprints...)

All in all, I feel karma is back on my side for the endless iPhone evangelism I've put in over the past two years.

I still very much empathize with those not satisfied, however, and wish Apple could find a way to give them a dose of my luck...

And now I'm grinning that the Apple Discussions forum software thinks the holes made by pins is a rude word!

The holes in the Settings icon is what I was referring to. On my previous screen they seemed harder to discern, now they are sharp and I can count them easily.

That "could" be a way of quickly sorting a good screen from a bad one?

If that's full brightness I'd hate to see it at half brightness. That's really bad. My old one looked like the one on the left but since I walked in with box/receipt within 14 days they gave me a new one, without even seeing a genius. My wife told them it looked like someone pi$$ed on my screen & that pretty much made the case. She's better than I am at arguing stuff like this. The first guy said I needed an appointment but we walked over and spoke with someone else. All 4 replacements I've had (scratches under glass, sleep button broken, yellow screen) have all been new in box & I didn't see a genius for any of them. If you're within your 14 days, take it back. Flag someone down walking in the store, and if they say no, ask someone else.

Here in the US, we have a 30 day trial with a new carrier. If we are not satisfied, we can leave without being committed to a contract. AT&T requires a 2 year contract if you purchase the iPhone 3GS at the discounted price. I have 3 days left before that 30 day, according to AT&T.

I'm on the fence now... the screen is all yellow, but it's something I can live with. But I really should have to say "something I can live with", so I'm also debating on just leaving altogether for Sprint and the Palm Pre.

Factory 88 week 27. Yellow screen and it gets more yellow towards the bottom of the screen.

This was a replacement under insurance as my last one was stolen. Previous to that I had returned a few due to things such as.... No reception. Phone resetting itself. Dust under screen. Everytime I've had a new unit (no refurb) and they've all had an issue one way or another. I'm going to post some pics soon. Whatever happens I'm living with it as I cannot be bothered anymore. Apple can't get it right, and if they can.... I haven't seen it in 6 iPhones now. Wasting time, effort, and brain power chasing a perfect phone.

michaelbb wrote:
What I got, though, was the amongst the best screens I have ever seen on an iPhone...

Congrats MichaelBB - what Week run and Factory did that 3G S gem come out of please?

Chubbyasian wrote:
If that's full brightness I'd hate to see it at half brightness. That's really bad.

As Shaun said regarding my original pic, the pictures don't do justice in trying to portray the problem - this is the main reason people don't post pics IMO. Problem with brightness evaluation on a digital camera picture is that the camera adjusts the exposure level (how bright objects are) so that what ends up appearing dim on the pic you see I took is not accurate for how bright the phone really is.

However, the following pic can show the difference between a polarized (dim from an angle) 3G S versus a non-polarized one (my wife's on the right). Problem with this pic is that the camera's exposure compensated and adjusted for the bad (dim) 3G S on the left, making the good proper brightness on the right seem excessive in comparison. The reality is that the right one is proper brightness, the one on the left is 1/2 bright (at an angle):

!http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b249/honeychub/Yellow3GS-SlantView.jpg!

Regarding the original 3G S I had (pictured on the left) which has now been exchanged, that was indeed full brightness and yes, at default (or even 2/3 of max) it was unacceptably dim. As you said, it was really bad (plus it was excessively yellow).

At least the 3G S's I've had which were excessively yellow were evenly distributed. I've never seen a 1/3 bottom of screen being yellow as many others from different parts of the world seem to be repeatedly getting. I've also not heard of many talking about polarized screens which plague about 1/3 of the phones shipped to my area.

Just way too much variation in the quality of these screens - it's disgusting, especially considering Apple seems to be going the route of denying everything with the "its within specifications" B.S.