3G S polarized screen - or not? (poor color issue)

My wife and I both had 3Gs and upgraded to 3GSs at the same time, same store. I immediately noticed that mine had slightly less saturated colors, blacks were grey, and it was not as bright as my old 3G nor my wife's new 3GS. It also had a noticeable yellow tint. My wife's new 3GS looks much more like my old 3G (bright, richer colors, no yellow tint). 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_ right out of the box!

On the drive home, wearing my polarized sunglasses, I noticed that my 3GS did not darken when rotated. With my previous 3G and even with my wife's 3GS, the fact that the iPhone screen is 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 iPod Touch, iMac and MacBook Pro, enhances the color saturation (vibrant colors) and contrast (deep blacks), but my new 3GS is lacking those qualities. I hope (although it stinks for Apple) that the lack of polarization is a defect causing the inferior image quality and that they will be willing to replace the affected units.

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 me know what you find!!
EVEN BETTER: if anyone has a chance, take your glasses to an Apple Store and check out the display models.

15" MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.7), 2.4GHz Core2 Duo w/4GB RAM & 3G S iPhone 3.0

Posted on Jun 21, 2009 7:06 PM

24 replies

Jul 7, 2009 11:39 AM in response to RyanRB

Hi,

I have just upgraded to the iphone 3Gs after having my first iphone for two weeks. I am still learning to use it. I have been following the posts here to try to assist me. I apologize if I am asking a question that has been discussed to death or already answered. I noticed that outside, even on a cloudy day my screen is hard to read for some apps, like text messages. I have tried the auto brightness and manual settings. My Husband suggested contrast but there is no setting for this. Have others noticed this? Would the skins they sell, either clear or the security type, effect this? Also, I see there is a new download for Safari 4.0. Can anyone confirm what version the 3GS uses? Thanks very much for your comments.

docno

Level 1

15 points

Jul 7, 2009 12:51 PM in response to J-a-x

I just tested my 3GS. When I rotate the phone while wearing polarized sunglasses, it darkens noticeably at about 45 degrees, but when I reach landscape, it appears to be back to full brightness.

My phone is a week 24 model, with a slightly yellowish tinge, but not so much that I really notice it.

docno

Level 1

15 points

Jul 7, 2009 12:53 PM in response to docno

I forgot to mention that I have an antiglare screen protector on my phone. I don't know whether that makes a difference.

Jul 8, 2009 4:57 PM in response to RyanRB

ok so I just got my 3gs (week 27) and in comparing it to my existing 3g I can confirm and refute a few things mentioned earlier in this thread:

-both my 3gs and 3g are polarized to the same extent
-3gs is roughly 10% dimmer, however I feel that auto brightness works differently
-the 3gs feels like it has a higher gamma value

I cannot comment on whether the color is more yellow or not, sometimes it looks that way, other times it just feels like too much gamma.

J-a-x

Level 3

745 points

Jul 8, 2009 5:48 PM in response to wintermutefa

I've tested several 3Gs lately and noticed that all 3Gs aren't polarized the same either. Some 3G iPhones and polarized the same as my current 3GS (they don't dim when rotating with polarized glasses) and others are polarized like my first 3GS (they dim when rotating at about 45 degrees).

Tobarus

Level 1

0 points

Aug 9, 2009 2:14 AM in response to RyanRB

I can't comment on the polarization point of the topic (I'm an airline pilot, and if we wear polarized sunglasses, we wouldn't be able to see outside the windscreen since it's polarized!).

However, I can comment on the color "issue". Comparing my iPhone 3G "S" to my original 2G iPhone (side by side), you can clearly see that the new 3G "S" screen is more yellow than the original iPhone. My 2G model looks much more blue that the "S". In my opinion, the blue color of the older one looks better. It's almost like changing the white balance on a camera. The colors seem more saturated due to the "blue" temperature of the old phone, and the blacks look darker.

However, having said that, the new "S" screen is much brighter overall and can be read more clearly at high viewing angles (not viewed head on). Perhaps Apple did this on purpose?

If you do a quick search, it seems that the "yellowish" tint of the new phone seems normal. Even reviews of the iPhone makes note of the new phones being more "yellow" (and you can also see this in comparison shots). If you go back even further, you can read how the 2G was more blue (or less yellow) than the 3G, and now the 3G "S" is more yellow than the previous model.

On a side note, how do you tell what week your phone build is?

Hope this helps!

smacman

Level 1

50 points

Aug 9, 2009 5:18 AM in response to Tobarus

Tobarus,

To check the week your phone was made, look at the 4th and 5th digits in your serial number. Your right about the yellow screen issue being widespread. What sort of hurts though is knowing that some people lucked out with perfect vivid, non-yellow screens.

Nice to see another airline pilot on here... Happy landings..

Oct 18, 2009 4:13 PM in response to atomic wedgie

OK...(with the newer iPhone 3GS) try holding a circular-polarized filter up to the screen and see if light passes through. If it DOES, try FLIPPING the filter over the other way (this changes the filter polarization from clockwise to counter-clockwise). One way should allow light to pass and the other should block it. I'm thinking that the newer iPhone screens are circularly polarized a certain direction (clockwise/counter-clockwise). Using typical linearly polarized sunglasses will not block the light when you look at the screen while rotating the phone.

Why circularly polarized? It's an anti-reflective technology to reduce glare.
When light (sunlight) enters the screen it is circularly polarized when it passes through. After reflecting off the inside of the screen the polarization is REVERSED (clockwise to counter-clockwise), which cancels with the entering light, helping to reduce glare.
http://www.veritasetvisus.com/VVTP-8,%20Walker.pdf

I don't have a circular polarized filter, so if anyone does and can try this to verify it let me know what you see! (it also might work with those new 3D movie glasses (one eye will show the screen, the other will block the light)

carl wolf

Level 6

14,631 points

Oct 18, 2009 4:58 PM in response to RyanRB

"they swapped my 3GS for a new one, but it had the same problem right out of the box!"

Why didn't you mention THAT to the Apple employee? Why didn't you keep asking for an acceptable replacement unit, while you were at the Apple store?

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3G S polarized screen - or not? (poor color issue)