Significant light leakage, few light botches on sides/corners - defective?
Actually I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, but thought I'd share my experience here. Very disappointing, but certainly completely usable until I can exchange.
Hoping it's one of those strange manufacturing things where it "needs to settle," but I doubt it.
Note that I have an iPad 1 also, and it definitely doesn't have this problem.
Because apparently it is not a technical comment/question/answer (as Rofling mentioned as well). Because stating going to the media falls outside of this it was deleted. Couple of my posts got deleted as well i think the whole of page 38. But what can you do.
I am trying like others to find out what is causing this. Has anyone looked at the iPad 2 teardowns ? I have just seen one on youtube and it gave me a better understanding of the components.
There are a few theories going round that the 'Light Leakage' is caused by uneven pressure coming from the top glass. But Looking at the way the iPad is constructed I don't think this adds up as the top glass seems glued to the main chassis of the iPad and only seems to rest on the LCD between a foam border.
I know others have suggested the screen as the cause and I think this theory is more likely the best. If you think about how an LCD panel is constructed it has an outer rigid frame surrounding it, and because the problems are with light around the edges, this frame is possibly causing uneven pressure and because the panel and frame are a single unit the only way to fix it is replacing the LCD.
Now before anyone jumps at me, accusing me of not helping, this is just my technical theory - nothing else. Because there is no official line from apple yet these threads are all we users have to go on.
I ordered mine on March 19th. It was suppose to ship on April 21st which seems to be a date that many iPads were suppose to ship... the magic date so to speak. I received notice yesterday, April 11th that it had shipped. We shall see if Apple quietly fixed the problem with the new units.
I will report back here when it arrives to see if the new ones really are fixed.
I think the things will change dramatically once the supplier will have been completely switched. Wait for Samsung to manufacture these... Apple has signed a contract with them so I would wait. They are known for making quality products, unlike the Chinese.
goodolcheez wrote:
I think the things will change dramatically once the supplier will have been completely switched. Wait for Samsung to manufacture these... Apple has signed a contract with them so I would wait. They are known for making quality products, unlike the Chinese.
LG makes the screens for the iPad. LG is a South Korea company. Samsung will also make the screen for the iPad. Samsung is also a South Korea company.
Samsung will not make the iPad, only the screen. Samsung will not be the sole provider for screens on the iPad. LG will continue to make screens for the iPad.
SAME PROBLE!! ipad2 2 days old, defected screen, leakage around 3 places, worse place bottom left, annoying !
Going to apple store for return , 1st thing tomorrow!
I have had 3 iPad 2's. All had leakage problems. I was advised by Apple genius to try ordering one online to get a unit without problem. I am scheduled to receive my new iPad 2 at the end of April. Will the light leakage problem be corrected by then, so the one I receive will not have the problem? It ships on April 25th, I receive it on April 30th.
Good luck with that and report back if the "Genius" is right and you get one with no issues by ordering one online.
My iPad2 had a very poor screen, and i have just done a quick google of iMacs as i was thinking of getting one of those, but guess what, they are known for having screen issues as well. Even worse than the iPad as they look like they suffer from actual burning at the top!
Can Apple not even get the basics right? It's a joke... quite glad i haven't been locked into Apple yet...
Like many of you, I followed my iPad 2 from the moment I ordered it at the Apple Online Store (March 12th, in the morning) through the "Prepared for Shipment" and "Shipped" stages, and then via FedEx as it made its way to my house. I had an original ship date of April 11th, but Apple managed to ship mine on the 31st, which was great. It arrived at my house last Tuesday, the 5th. My hope all along was that my late production date (as opposed to the people who ordered on Day 1 and got shipments within the first week or two of release) would help me to avoid any issues with the famous "light leaks" that have been discussed on the various boards.
Well, unfortunately, that was not the case. My new iPad (White 64GB AT&T) had significant light leakage around most of the screen, with several large spots to the right of the home button, and up the right side of the screen. As a result, I could never really get close to a dark or black screen when watching movies, as the screen was always pretty bright, and much brighter in some sections than others. This condition was quite visible in any room with dim lighting (it didn't need to be "dark"), with the iPad brightness at 50%.
On Monday, after really trying to live with it for a few days, I decided that it would probably be best to see if I could get it replaced. Fortunately, I have three different Apple Stores that are all within 45 minutes of my home and work. I made a genius appointment on Monday morning at the store that was closest to where I work.
The first store didn't have any units in stock, but they offered to order one for me, and said that it would likely be in later this week. They also suggested that I could try one of the other stores, via a genius appointment, to see if they had any replacements in stock. Monday night, I made a genius appointment at the second store, and was pleasantly surprised when I arrived to hear that they had a replacement unit (brown box with just the iPad) in stock that matched my unit. The Apple genius was nice enough to take me into a supply room to check out the new device. Unfortunately, while slightly better, this new unit also had a light leak issue that was pretty bad.
After searching around for a while, the genius told me that there were two matching units in retail packaging that had never been opened in the store manager's office. They had apparently been holding both of these back there pretty much since Day 1, in case they had an issue that required an immediate replacement. We opened the first box, took it into the supply room, and saw that the new iPad was much worse than mine. The genius, now discouraged, put that one aside to be sent back as defective. We then opened the second retail box, and quickly saw that this iPad, while not as bad as the first retail unit, had an issue that was very similar to my original iPad. Like the first store, they also offered to order me a new one, and said that they'd call when it came in.
On Tuesday afternoon, the first store told me that they had received a replacement unit, and they scheduled a genius appointment for me to make the swap. I was thrilled that it came in so quickly, and went to the store immediately after work. This store, for some reason, wouldn't let me go into a back room to check out the new unit, but the genius did offer to do it for me, comparing the new device with my original one. After a few minutes, he came back and told me that the new unit was at least as bad as what I had, and he suggested that I now call AppleCare to see if they had a way of getting me a unit without the issue, rather than just ordering another replacement unit through the store.
While driving home from the Apple store Tuesday night, I decided to try the third store (approximately 40 minutes away), just in case they had something better. So, I drove up there, made a genius appointment, and then talked to them about my saga. The genius, after a quick search, told me that they had just received a replacement unit (brown box) that matched my specs. He offered to check it out in the supply room with me (not sure why the first store wouldn't do this, but the other two would), and we quickly discovered that this one was a WINNER! Three sides are completely sealed, and the fourth side only shows very minor light leakage at 100% brightness and no visible light leakage at 50-60% brightness, which is how I use my iPad. I was thrilled to finally have found a good one, and spent last night restoring my settings and files and testing everything out. So.....after lots of searching, I now have a solid unit with no light leak issues, no dead pixels, and no other apparent problems.
When I first started to read some of these posts, I wondered how much the light leakage would really matter at the end of the day. For people with only small amounts of leakage, I'm betting that it won't be a big deal at all. Most of them will probably just end up keeping the iPads that they have. For others like me, who have more significant like leakage, it seems that a replacement is the best approach. As someone who has tried both an iPad with a lot of leakage, and now one with almost none, I can honestly tell you that the difference, particularly when watching movies in dim light, is absolutely amazing. Now my black bars stay black, and the dark scenes in the movies stay dark. It's a much better overall experience!
I am still a HUGE fan and supporter of Apple, and I still believe that they design and build some of the best products on the planet. I have several iPods, an iPhone (I had an iPhone 3GS, and I now use an iPhone 4), and now an iPad, and I love how these devices look and work. I am confident that Apple will find and fix the root cause of the iPad production problems in the not too distant future. In the meantime, for those with significant light leaks (versus the people with only minor issues that you won’t ever see during “real-world” use--those people should just keep what they have), I can tell you from experience that there are some good iPads out there. I am holding one of them now.
