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.
Sorry in advance if this has already been mentioned.
Do I remember hearing in the Keynote, the 3G S is made with arsenic free glass? Doesn't the use of arsenic have something to do with the tint hue in glass? If so, this may be the reason for the different appearance, 3G vs. 3G S.
I have a black 32g iPhone and it has a slight yellow tint on the bottom half of the screen when in portrait mode. The top half (or left side when in landscape mode) is more blue. I'm not too bothered by this and will keep the phone.
I'm inclined to believe this is a backlight issue.
I have taken my 3GS, which I thought was dimmer/yellowish, and compared it to the 3g. The 3g was brighter/blue-er, but this was only with dimming on and default level.
When I took both phones and turned up the brightness all the way and turned off dimming the 3GS looked brighter/whiter. But as soon as I put on dimming there is a noticable difference with the 3GS being dimmer.
I think this may be "part" of the "magic" to extend battery life, but this is just my experience...
I compared my black 32gb 3GS to a friend's 16gb black 3GS and mine is very yellow or washed out compared to his. His looks likes my old 3G. The colors are vibrant and the blacks are dark. I guess I'm going back to the store.
My iPhone 3GS screen looks just fine. Whites look white, blacks look black. Maybe it's because I don't have anything to compare it to, but this seems like a very trivial complaint. I have read that Apple has intentionally calibrated the screen to be warmer for improved color rendition and readability. If it improves those things, I'm all for it. It's the same reason I use warm white CFL bulbs in my home versus the blue/white "daylight" lamps. The blue/white light is just too harsh.
My screen is very yellow compared to my 2G and doesn't look good in comparison. AT&T basically told me to go pound sand so I contacted Apple and first rep said it should not be like that but the others I spoke to weren't sure. I am sending mine back to Apple not sure what good that will do.
Hi all-
I think some of these concerns may be related to POLARIZATION.
My wife and I both had 3Gs and upgraded to 3GSs at the same time, same store. I immediately noticed that mine was not as bright, more yellowish, and had slightly less saturated colors than my 3G. My wife's new 3GS looked much more like my old 3G (ie better). After mentioning it to an Apple Store employee, and comparing it to a number of display model 3GSs, they swapped my 3GS for a new one, but it had the _same problem_!
On the drive home, wearing my polarized sunglasses, I noticed that my 3GS did not change when rotated. With my previous 3G and even with my wife's 3GS, the fact that the iPhone screen in polarized causes it to look darker when rotated 90 degrees while wearing polarized sunglasses or using a polarizing lens filter. This is proof that my new 3GS's screen is not polarized like my wife's new 3GS is and my old 3G was. A polarized screen, which is also found in the iMac and MacBook Pro, can enhance the color saturation (vibrant colors) and contrast (deep blacks), but
my new 3GS is lacking those qualities.
*If you have similar issues with the look of your screen:*
Use a pair of polarized glasses or a linear polarized lens filter to see if your iPhone is lacking the polarization. Let us know what you find!!
I cant tell you all right now that there is a problem. I got back from the ATT store and the 16GB 3G S on display was like my 3G. Perfect. It's crisp, clear, bright, white. Comparing my own 3G S right next to it, mine looked disgusting. Washed out, yellow, nasty. It is also harder to read. It will be going back.
Here are my experiences with the yellowish tint. Got my 16GB 3G-S on Friday, was upgrading from an Original 8GB. I set the phone as a new device, and manually added everything back. Later that night I noticed the yellowish tint in my contact list ans was ******. So I looked at all of my friends new devices side by side to compare and my was definitely yellow compared to theirs. I then compared to all of the display devices in the Apple Store. Again, mine was yellow and the others were not. So I got a new unit. Opened it, activated it and it was not yellowish. So I was very happy. I then restored the device and bang! it went back to yellow! There has to be a setting in the firmware that can be set.... I want the blue-white back....
Just tried looking at the screen with polarized sunglasses as suggested.
My wife's White iPhone 3G S 32GB which has crisp, great looking colors changed when rotated. On the other hand, my Black iPhone 3G S 32GB that has the yellow tint issue does not change under rotation when looking through polarized glasses.
Does this mean her iPhone has a better quality screen because it is polarized? I am already on my second replacement iPhone 3G S because of the yellow tint and the Apple store where I exchanged it refuses to swap it out again...
I don't know what to do anymore, I love the speed and all the little improvements, but the yellow tint really bothers me...
UPDATE: Both my wife's and my old 3G which have great looking colors change under rotation when viewed through polarized sunglasses.
As I mentioned in my first post only half of my screen is yellow. It looks shaded and washed out. I was trying to convince myself that it wasn't that bad and I could live with it. But why should I? The more I look at it the more unhappy I am. It's going back...
I tried this numerous times. Just tried it again. It's the screen itself. Nothing in the firmware.
When I compared this to the one in the store - the color on this phone was so yellow and washed out in comparison that it was disgusting. I can only describe it as if a smoker has used my phone for years. Nasty is what it is. It's also dim and hard to read.
