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"Yellow" iPhone screen deliberate, firmware fix? [u]

updated 11:05 pm EDT, Sun July 13, 2008

iPhone 3G screen changed


With users complaining of yellow screens, Apple has confirmed that the screens on the new iPhone 3G are calibrated differently. According to senior Apple representatives, Apple has adjusted screen's color temperature differently to produce warmer, more natural tones. Citing a conversation with Apple's senior director of product marketing, Engadget reports that "the screen's color temperature "has been purposely altered on the new iPhone to produce warmer, more natural tones, sharper images, and deeper blacks." The report says that first-generation iPhone screens "appeared colder and less defined," leading Apple to make some adjustments for the new models. Update: Ars notes that some phones ship with older firmware that causes the screen to have a yellow tint and claims that updating those phones with the newest firmware using the iTunes Restore will help address the yellow tint.

"We have confirmed that updating the firmware from 345 to 347 changes the color calibration to be less yellow. We did this by taking an iPhone purchased at an AT&T store on Friday (5A345), restored and updated its firmware, and compared it to other iPhone 3G models running the 5A345 firmware and 5A347," the publication wrote.



Photo courtesy of Ars Technica


by MacNN Staff

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 iPhone, iPhone 3G

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  1. Will53

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2006

    +6
    07/12, 05:28pm | report spam | Reply |

    Normal

    If you calibrate your monitor to work with graphics and illustrations, you end up with a warmer tone. So this should give more natural colours than if it was more bluish.

  1. whackjob

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2005

    +6
    07/12, 06:27pm | report spam | Reply |

    Very normal

    I can second that. it's a matter of time they'll get used to it.
    But the end result is better for images and any form of graphic.

    Comment buried. Show
  1. Feathers

    Grizzled Veteran

    Joined: Oct 1999

    -25
    07/12, 06:39pm | report spam | Reply |

    rubbish!

    If this was genuinely a feature or improvement, it would have been mentioned somewhere, like at the ADC maybe. The fact that the explanation is coming from a marketing schill makes it doubly unbelievable! Does anybody have a recording of the keynote to see if any of the demoed iPhones were suffering from this jaundice. We already know from a tear-down that the screen/touch-surface is being manufactured differently. Cheaper components, a consequence of the new process but definitely not a new "feature"! Does this explanation sound like it came from a different well known company?

  1. Guest

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 1999

    +5
    07/12, 06:57pm | report spam | (1 reply) Reply |

    Whiners

    Wow, what a bunch of whiners...care for some cheese. If you look at both displays you will notice that the newer iPhone has a more neutral gray. The older Phone has a blue color cast. It is the original that needs to be fixed. The 3G has been corrected.

  1. Guest

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 1999

    +6
    07/12, 07:03pm | report spam | Reply |

    absolutely normal

    My computer monitor is calibrated to D65, which I'm guessing is around where the iPhone screens are now. 9300K which is what most monitors are sold at is atrocious for long term viewing and color accuracy, but it looks brighter. The result is it sells more. Most of you complaining, if you saw a calibrated monitor used for professional graphics would go "its wrong", when truth its you're just so used to wrong you don't know right when you see it. My monitor is so "dim" at only 120 nit. 250 nit is plenty for average lighting to be "bright" and my 120 is perfect for subdued lighting in a darker room used for post production and video work. It's still the brightest thing in the room, and even with the lighting turned up is still plenty bright.

    Comment buried. Show
  1. BelugaShark

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2007

    -11
    07/12, 07:56pm | report spam | Reply |

    enough excuses.

    It's funny how all the posts about "color accuracy" come from printing industry standards where light temperatures are adjusted to somewhere between 55K to 65K to try and match natural sunlight. Natural sunlight is where their printed material are supposed to be viewed for standards sake.

    However, printing is a dying industry and its CMYK gamut is small and flat, that is why those monitors are "adjusted", they are adjusted to match the flat CMYK color-space. Nowadays monitors are able to display a much wider gamut and a much deeper contrast than older monitors due to the lighting technology of LEDs and newer florescence. So saying warmer is better, comes from an old-f*** industry.

    The displays of older iPhones are brighter than the new ones, the bars at the top of the iPhone screens are blue, they are not gray however, the background of the settings screen is gray, and it shows that way. Also if you look at the Settings icon on the old iPhone it is also perfectly gray and has a perfect contrast, the new iPhone has less of that and the screen is redder making the blues look gray and the gray background look red, resulting in a loss of contrast and a good part of the color gamut.

    But unfortunately to some people Apple can never make a mistake, to the it's St.Apple. And if you disagree well, you must be an Apple hater and a Windows troll. I for one, only owned two Windows machines in my life and over six Macs and one Apple II. Yet I still think Apple is beginning to s**** things-up again.

    I'm not saying they're going out of business or that I'm going to stop supporting them, but I don't know how much Apple needs to s****-up before some people get over their zeal.

  1. aristotles

    Grizzled Veteran

    Joined: Jul 2004

    -1
    07/12, 08:42pm | report spam | Reply |

    BelugaShark out of water

    What you are describing is how the UI looks but what everyone else is talking about is how the video and photos will look more natural.

    Go back to Dell or where ever you came from.

  1. hansmickle

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2003

    +1
    07/12, 10:21pm | report spam | Reply |

    Cool or warm...

    is mostly a matter of subjective opinion, even after citing all the specs. Personally, I've always liked the bluish tint to my monitor's whites. To me, it looks so much better than the cheapy yellow tint, which reminds me of dying phosphors. But my subjective opinion springs from a dead technology, so what do I know? Only what I like...

  1. hansmickle

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2003

    -2
    07/12, 10:22pm | report spam | Reply |

    Cool or warm...

    is mostly a matter of subjective opinion, even after citing all the specs. Personally, I've always liked the bluish tint to my monitor's whites. To me, it looks so much better than the cheapy yellow tint, which reminds me of dying phosphors. But my subjective opinion springs from a dead technology, so what do I know? Only what I like...

    Comment buried. Show
  1. dmsimmer

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2005

    -13
    07/13, 03:21pm | report spam | Reply |

    ffffff

    I'm calling bllsht on this situation.

    Cheaper phone. That's all this is. $15 billion is not quite enough.

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