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iPod Touch Showing Severe Black Level Issues  (Source: Image via iLounge)
iPod Touch and Nano owners report serious issues with LCD displays

Few will argue that Apple has over the years had some issues with its first generation products. The latest item to fall victim to the first generation blues is the much-hyped iPod Touch. There are many accounts from iPod touch owners coming in citing some serious issues with the LCD display.

Several accounts and many pictures floating around online from various places such as iLounge and Apple’s own forums show issues with black levels on the iPod touch screen. Black levels are easily noticeably very poor and bleed onto other colors to the point of making images, movies and album art a mess at times.

There is no official word from Apple on the cause of this issue and it remains unclear at this point if the issue with black levels is wide spread or limited to only a few of the iPod touch’s in circulation. 

The Touch isn’t the only new iPod that has owners facing some serious issues. Several owners of the new iPod nano are having an issue with the alignment of the LCD screen. Reports are coming in that the new iPod nano’s have what appears to be a slight tilt to the left so the screen doesn’t align with the case of the iPod nano.

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While people will be quick to attack...
By JasonMick (blog) on 9/17/2007 1:02:54 PM , Rating: 2
I think that Apple deserves a chance to prove itself in this case by improving the hardware/etc and issuing an appropriate response.

Do not misunderstand my remark--I think a first gen problem such as RROD (XBox 360), or the various past iPod hardware glitches are definitely bad things. They are evidence of negligence, and indicate a rushed hw development cycle.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean the flawed product itself is on a whole bad or that the problem can't be fixed. The real test is whether the company addresses its mistake and makes moves to correct it.

Hopefully Apple will pleasantly suprise us on this one.




By ajira99 on 9/17/2007 1:11:19 PM , Rating: 2
Don't count on another iTunes store credit.


RE: While people will be quick to attack...
By helios220 on 9/17/2007 1:28:24 PM , Rating: 3
My question is where are people getting these units that are supposedly defective?

iPod isn't listed as coming out until September 30th, and the new iPod Nanos are not out yet either (that I am aware of).

I'm not trying to stand up for Apple and I'm well aware of the concept of review and dev versions of hardware and software, I'm just sort of curious how there could be droves of complaints coming in for products that aren’t even out yet.


By helios220 on 9/17/2007 1:30:27 PM , Rating: 3
d'oh, correction: I meant to say iPod Touch isn't listed as coming out until September 30th on any of the retail sites that I've checked.


By InsidiousAngel on 9/17/2007 1:34:01 PM , Rating: 2
While the touch isn’t slated till the 28th, the new classics and nano's are out everywhere. I just picked one up from Target last night (and seen them at wally world, best buy, CompUSA, etc.) and haven't had a chance to play with it. I'll look when I get off work and see if it suffers from what people are complaining about.


RE: While people will be quick to attack...
By The0ne on 9/17/2007 3:10:14 PM , Rating: 3
My co-worker (intern) just bought his this weekend at the mall. He purchased the 16gig model and the issue is there. He's trying to contact Apple, to no avail, and the store to see if they can do something about it. The articles and forums are correct about the issue.

Some stores are lucky to have inventory before the date I guess.


By encryptkeeper on 9/18/2007 12:04:21 PM , Rating: 2
He just bought it this weekend? Why not exchange it where it was bought from...


RE: While people will be quick to attack...
By TomZ on 9/17/2007 1:45:30 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
However, that doesn't necessarily mean the flawed product itself is on a whole bad or that the problem can't be fixed. The real test is whether the company addresses its mistake and makes moves to correct it.

Jason, how about this: let's hold Apple (and other companies) to a new standard. I call this standard fix your product before you ship it. That's what a "quality" company would do.

Consumers are becoming too accustomed to crap being released, with promises to fix it later.


RE: While people will be quick to attack...
By xsilver on 9/18/2007 7:21:44 AM , Rating: 2
From their point of view, its all about the numbers.

You're not going to test every product like a chronometre watch. Thats why those watches are $2k minimum.

They accept that they'res a chance that 0.01% or whatever are defective when coming out of the factory. It would cost them X dollars to replace these under warranty, and its cheaper than the Y dollars that it would cost to have more stringent QC.

When the X dollars is less than the Y dollars, thats when they ship the product, otherwise you'd never get it.


By TomZ on 9/18/2007 8:59:33 AM , Rating: 2
The problem "taking a chance" is that it's also a good way to get to a 10% defect rate.


RE: While people will be quick to attack...
By walk2k on 9/17/2007 1:49:07 PM , Rating: 4
Well... I was about to say "cue the Applepologists" but jeez you beat me to it.

Apple ships millions of defective products but we should "give them a break" ... why exactly?

You know if this was Sony or even Microsoft people would be calling for heads to roll but OH no not Apple they can do NO wrong.


By Anh Huynh on 9/17/2007 3:50:28 PM , Rating: 2
We'll give them a break because they'll issue rebates for everything :p.

I'm not being serious by the way.


RE: While people will be quick to attack...
By nace186 on 9/17/2007 2:00:16 PM , Rating: 2
I don't know if you can call this a first gen. In my opinion, I would think the iphone is the first gen, and the Touch is the derivative of it. Therefore it should have been thoroughly tested for this kind of problems.


By afkrotch on 9/17/2007 6:41:45 PM , Rating: 2
I don't care if it's a 1st gen or 8th gen, all products should be thoroughly test for this kind of problem. Quality Assurance office. Every company should have one.


By Polynikes on 9/17/2007 3:49:05 PM , Rating: 2
This and the problems with the iPhone's screen are perfect examples of why I won't touch 1st-gen Apple products. Don't get me wrong, I think the innovation is great, but why on earth would you be a first adopter unless you were filthy stinking rich?


black level
By adam92682 on 9/17/2007 1:31:44 PM , Rating: 2
cant you adjust the brightness/contrast on these?




RE: black level
By walk2k on 9/17/2007 2:06:38 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah I have to say, it looks like someone just cranked the contrast on it and took a picture. That doesn't mean its defective, it just means the picture turns to crap if you crank the contrast/whatever all the way - that's very common with LCD screens.

Now if it looks like that all the time, no matter what you set the brightness to, then ... nevermind.


RE: black level
By Stan11003 on 9/17/2007 2:22:44 PM , Rating: 4
Silly goose, apple doesn't allow us poor slobs to adjust contrast or colors on their hardware.


RE: black level
By plewis00 on 9/17/2007 2:32:25 PM , Rating: 2
You don't normally get contrast adjustment on digitally-controlled TFT panels. Back in the day of passive-matrix displays you did need this setting. Also with analog-linked TFT displays (i.e. PC monitors). But there are very few active-matrix based pieces of kit (which are digitally linked, i.e. laptops, desktops over DVI, phones, MP3 players) with contrast adjustment. There is a brightness adjustment which controls the LED brightness in the LCD for iPods though. That photo does look a bit extreme...

I got an iPod Classic and Nano Video when they came out, they've both been returned now. I found the Classic rebooting extremely frequently and horribly sluggish (especially when using that new UI where the album covers and videos float past). The Nano Video I found was far too quiet. I've gone back to the old Nano 2G until they iron out the issues. I have to say I was quite fond of the Nano 2G's all aluminium casing, it's a lot more robust than that thin polishing steel casing on it now.


Problem
By gramboh on 9/17/2007 3:00:59 PM , Rating: 2
The 'problem' is likely that they used low quality LCD panels in the device.

My roommate has an iPhone and it doesn't seem to suffer from excessive bleeding. They must have used a different/cheaper screen in the new iPods?




RE: Problem
By otispunkmeyer on 9/17/2007 3:29:51 PM , Rating: 2
arent these touches smaller than the iphone? would mean they have to use a different screen

anyway i dont think apple limits itself to 1st gens either, they seem to never get anything just right. the last mac book pro update for example. there were tons of complaints about the LED back lit screens having nasty yellowing on the bottom 3rd of the screen. it seemed to be mainly with the samsung panels.

but there were so many with this bad panel that even a simple exchange couldnt guarantee you an acceptable one.


RE: Problem
By otispunkmeyer on 9/17/2007 3:34:26 PM , Rating: 3
also thermal compound applications on the new macbookpro's looks like a 5 year old autistic chimp did it. at least on the first ones out the door

personally i find there to be no excuse for any of these problems because 1) they do charge a premium over other brands...i pay more therefore i expect more in certain departments and 2) the stuff they are making isnt exactly difficult to make, its nothing new, surely proceedures and techniques already exist to ensure quality on these products is pretty good first time round.

apples products always feel rushed IMO


RE: Problem
By Oregonian2 on 9/19/2007 2:41:38 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
but there were so many with this bad panel that even a simple exchange couldnt guarantee you an acceptable one.


But you want to know something really chilling ? Even if you do get a good one, the next time you send it in to have the battery replaced you may get one back with the screen problem. They don't send YOURS back, they exchange it for a different one, presumably one that someone else had sent in to have the battery replaced earlier.


Cost of bleeding edge
By ChipDude on 9/17/2007 2:20:21 PM , Rating: 1
People so love to criticize apple. Its amazing that their products work and works so well at all. Look at the first generation Nano, iPhone, and now the touch. Apple is a company that really pushes the envelope of integration. Can you imagine what they ask of the suppliers ( chips, boards, battery, case, sensors). Its much easier for others to come out with something after Apple has pushed the envelope. But even then take a look at the zune or any of the other competing products. At this level of system integration how hard do you think that extra few millimeters of case thickness translates into engineering challenges. Everybody trails apple here even when they try and copy.

Of course now that they are viewed as a consumer company more then a company catering to geeks and techno savy the general public is much quicker to complain as there are a few of them whiners out of the tens of millions of people clamouring to be seen with the coolest products

Get over it that is the cost of getting bleeding edge. You don't like it then wait!




RE: Cost of bleeding edge
By MonkeyPaw on 9/17/2007 3:25:07 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Of course now that they are viewed as a consumer company more then a company catering to geeks and techno savy...


What are you talking about? Apple's claim for years has been that you don't need to be a "geek" or "techno savy" to use their products. Maybe in the '80s they catered to geeks, but their hardware's utter lack of upgradability (or even repairability) makes them about as anti-geek as it gets. Apple's claim is that their products simply work and do so reliably (or at least more reliably than a PC eqivalent). iPods are the epitome of consumerism--they are easier to replace than to repair. Apple isn't the only company that does this, but most other companies don't sell the joyous life-changing experience that Apple does, so Apple deserves critism when the "experience" flops.

As for Apple pushing the envelope? That's fine, but they need to do it right considering the premium they charge. Good intentions don't bring success; good planning and execution does.


RE: Cost of bleeding edge
By radializer on 9/17/2007 7:53:16 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
People so love to criticize apple. Its amazing that their products work and works so well at all.


This is a very poor standard to hold any company to - especially one that prides itself on being a "bleeding edge" (in your opinion) provider of consumer electronics.

All companies have a responsibility towards their customers of being able to provide a predefined level of initial quality as well as a reliable operating lifetime. These are standard prerequisites that are usually measured and quantified in the development phase before the product sees the light of day in the open market. Any shortcomings thereafter only reflect poorly on the quality assessments performed during the product development phase.

I am unaware of the percentage of people reporting issues on the iPods so I can't comment on that. I guess there may also be some truth to the statement that Apple's mistakes get more publicity. However, as a similar example with a different company; one need only look at the massive Xbox 360 RROD issue to see a glaring example of Microsoft letting such errors slip through their checks and balances.

Going by your argument, we should not expect any reliable and defect free products out of any of the leading technology providers - or, for that matter, anyone at all.

Hypothetically ... as analogous arguments; would you talk similarly about Boeing's most advanced aircraft and claim that we should be happy that it flies at all? Should we be happy that Pfizer's latest drug works at all and ignore any consequences or side-effects?


Poor product and worse service
By Misty Dingos on 9/17/2007 12:56:51 PM , Rating: 4
So now instead of making a world beating product with a first rate download service Apple has instead decided the business model to go with is. Crappy hardware locked to a single download service that they will eventually charge just to use. Sounds, to me, that they want to be a cable TV company.




That's what idiots exist for:
By thartist on 9/17/2007 4:14:42 PM , Rating: 2
to get their mind hyped and buy first releases of the first generation of a product.
Thanks for beta testing it for the rest of us.

How the f*** could anyone in his sane mind do that... It's also to wonder how Apple can't get it right with screens, even if now they are now touch screens... come on, that speaks of the quality of a company's production. Forget how big it is and how much they spend on marketing. In the case of Apple, iPods are not well known for being too reliable. (and yes, i know that first gens tend to be troublesome in all markets).




RE: That's what idiots exist for:
By Suomynona on 10/5/2007 2:53:13 AM , Rating: 2
Thanks!

I'm one of those idiots that got my mind hyped and bought one of the first releases of the first generation of the product. It works perfectly for me this far.

A lot of iPod Touches have been sold, a few were defective and instead of going to the shop to replace it people blog about it to get their 15 minutes of shame. Someone thought the sky was falling because on one page it said "iPhone" instead of "iPod"...

Perhaps people should get some perspective on things?

Sure Apple and other companies could develop the hardware and software longer. It would of course cost some, since they don't start to get their return of the development costs as soon, so they would have to increase the price.

Apple can of course also increase the Q&A. The price to produce the product increases and they would have to increase the price.


LCD quality vs. cost cutting
By bluebohemian on 9/18/2007 1:54:33 PM , Rating: 2
Apple pushes suppliers incredibly hard on pricing, and now they reap the "reward" for their strategy. Even with the highest margins in the electronics business, they push and push suppliers to give them the lowest prices in the industry, even comparing to the huge TFT consumers like Nokia, Motorola, etc... So now after pushing and pushing on price-price-price of TFT, they are getting what they pay for as suppliers cut corners to try to make any profit on the LCDs, or cut losses. Same for their assembly factory partners... by skipping inspection: time = money, save time = skip inspection => crap shipped to you. These issues are trivial to spot at finished assembly of the products but they are obviously not doing it.




RE: LCD quality vs. cost cutting
By Oregonian2 on 9/18/2007 3:13:43 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe they figure that the amount saved is more than the increased marketing cost required to make up for any sales loss due to actual quality problems?


Broken LCD Screens Sell it
By brettmosleymaui on 9/17/2007 5:42:43 PM , Rating: 1
If your new iPod or iPhone has a broken screen or you just want to get rid of it. Get Great Cash Fast for broken and used iPods and iPhones at www.BuyMyBrokeniPod.com

Eco-friendly, simple, instant web quotes and easy payment/shipping If you have a broken or used iPod Classic, iPod Video, iPod Touch, iPhone or any other iPod consider sending it in to www.BuyMyBrokeniPod.com

http://www.BuyMyBrokeniPod.com




RE: Broken LCD Screens Sell it
By TomZ on 9/18/2007 9:02:55 AM , Rating: 2
Considering this device has been out for about a week, I would guess that no reasonable person is going to want to trash it out and sell it for pennies on the dollar so soon.

F**** opportunist.


hmm
By Hyperlite on 9/17/2007 12:58:30 PM , Rating: 2
deja vu, a la last gen nano eh?




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