iPhone 3GS turns yellower shade of white

Apple fans unwrapping their new iPhone 3GS are being disappointed by an eerie yellow on-screen tint that pushes some handsets beyond usability, though not every complainant has managed to get their handset replaced. The problem is reminiscent of one that plagued the iPhone 3G, and is described by some users as a "warmer" tone …

[Lars]

too much hurry

Every Apple problem seems to be "hurry" related. No time to check even small and obvious problems before shipping. And, well, Apple is not alone, of course. Quality control seems to be a big problem when there is somebody else producing your hardware.

[Anonymous Coward]

Chrottle...

So some get a bit warm round the battery, and other get a bit warm (optically) on the front.

Behold, the fantastic quality control of the fruit company.

Oh well, I'm sure the faithful will just accept that St. Jobs has defined sepia as the new white.

They've only been out for a couple of weeks! I can't wait to find out what goes wrong tomorrow!

[ThomH]

So, about as common as...

... the Pre screen cracking that has been widely reported on the net but not here.

Moral of the story: avoid first version hardware as zealously as you currently avoid pre-service pack software.

[Anonymous Coward]

Deja Vu

There was a similar problem with the iPhone 3G when they launched last year.

[Daniel Bennett]

Warm?

Maybe its heat related!

....

[Anonymous Coward]

not wiped the screen......

....after browsing dodgy porn sites. The users'll go blind as well, but they'll have a strong handshake, at least with one hand.

Mine's the stain covered flasher mac....grrrrr!

[Michael Brown]

@AC 11:28

If you're going to "chortle" then at least spell it right, or is your posting quality control not quite up to scratch?

Apple's quality control is, by any objective measure, pretty bloody excellent. So a handful of people out of the at least half a million who bought a 3GS in the first few days since it was released are having some minor issues, so what? It's perfectly normal and happens to any complex consumer electronics product, especially one that sells in such high numbers as the iPhone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yellow Tribute

Maybe it's a silent & lasting tribute to St. Jobs (liver transplant-Jaundice etc etc) by the makers for his last (perhaps) iconic contribution to the uneducated masses who worship their deity's every nuance.

How befitting!

[northern monkey]

It's already happening...

From the O2 forum:

"I can tell you that the 3G is warmer than the 2G and the 3GS is even warmer "yellower" than the 3G by design, apple claims its easier on the eyes."

Jobs has gone with the ergonomics line, and we should all be greatful that he's trying to save our eyes by inflicting yellow screens on us.

A worrying number of people who've shelled out for their new iphones seem very willing just to wait until they get used to it. These people should be shot to ensure they never reproduce. Ever. If they've already reproduced their children should be rigorously tested to ensure they show none of their parent's sheeple-ness. If they do - shoot them!!

[Paul Naylor]

@ ThomH

Agreed. One would think that 'El Reg' had an anti-Apple bias?? Shirley not...

(Got a 3G, love it, keeping it 'til next year)

[Anonymous Coward]

Lighting

So how long before the apple stores have blue-tinted lights (LEDs anyone) to counteract the yellow screen... problem solved - you can't demonstrate it to the genus in store because the problem is miraculously solved while in store!

[muttley]

Buyer's remorse?

We've heard of it.

[Jonathan 10]

@AC Yellow tribute

Poor QC on the Jesus phone, mocking someone who has had liver transplant? Yes i know its satire but still.

[Annihilator]

@Lighting

"So how long before the apple stores have blue-tinted lights (LEDs anyone) to counteract the yellow screen... problem solved"

Perfect - I can take in my "old" 3G version and get it replaced as it has a blue screen of death error...

[GettinSadda]

Tip for 3GS owners

If you find you have this problem tell the store that if they don't replace it you will take the matter to the small claims court on the grounds that this device is (partly) a digital camera and that it cannot function adequately as such if it does not give accurate colour reproduction on the screen.

Tell them that you will be taking along a photography expert as a witness and they are welcome to do the same, but remind them that in the small claims court they are not able to reclaim costs, even if they win.

[Piloti]

If you are unhappy.....

... take it back and get a refund.

As it is latched and the NOC and the manufacturuer are in cahoots about choice restrictioins, then having both the airtime and the hard ware costs refunded wil nto be an issue.

Then you are free to go out and but a decent 'mobile 'phone!

P.

[Neil 4]

My God!!!

You mean, not EVERY SINGLE phone was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT?

Whatever next???!!!!!! Cars breaking down? Computers crashing?

Fuck me, what is the world coming to.

[Nigel Mellor]

Deja Vu

The iPaq h415x PDAs were imbued with the same problem many years ago. The screen takes on a yellow tinge when viewed at an angle vertically.

[magnetik]

forum pages?

Since when has a count of forum pages been any sort of measure about a problem? Two people could argue for 24 pages while 20 people post short messages on one page.

Apple has sold, what, somewhere over a million of the 3GS phones, so what percentage have had this yellowish screen problem? C'mon Reg, this is lazy journalism.

[Billz]

Duh! How else do you report the beginning of a problem!

@magnetik - I've got a yellow tinted iPhone 3GS and emailed Bill Ray last night to draw his attention to this issue - as I said to him if it wasn't about the iPhone it wouldn't be <at all> newsworthy.

You may be right that this is a minority problem - however if it turns out to be more it would have been embarassing for The Register not to decide to cover it before others.

Looking at the the discussion forums it certainly seems that an appreciable amount of early stock in shops suffers from the problem (people having to swap 3 times before 'finding' a better one). I hope any manufacturing or quality control problems got/get sorted soon so I can get one with a better looking LCD!

[Dustin 1]

QA is non existant

I would not immediately blame Apple directly, as there probably are no real apple manufacturing plants, its all built overseas i believe. Blame cheap labor and low cost manufacturing. Who knows, the manufacturer may have swapped out some speced parts to get more profit. I dont own anything Apple.

[Eugene Goodrich]

Yellow = warm?

Warm like piss, perhaps?

Paris, because... well, not really polite enough to put in print.

[Svein Skogen]

"More pleasing for the eyes"?!?

Ok, this is a concept I simply do not understand how can be excused like that. Actually, those of us who care about colors invest a fair amount of money into display-calibrators and printer-calibrators making sure that our displays and printers match the colorspace we're working within.

"More pleasing to the eyes" simply isn't an excuse for colors that simply are wrong.

Sorry for the iBrainwashed out there, but "more pleasing" isn't correct for "just wrong".

//Svein

[ffrankmccaffery]

@ michael brown and philip taylor

why is it that clowns like you have to defend this money-grubbing company at all costs? where is your self-regard?

[Bel Fegore]

evidence?

got any?

If you had a unpleasantly hot iPhone you would go back to have it replaced, no?

If it burned your face you would go go go to a lawyer wouldn't you?

If it actually had a warning screen you would heed that wouldn't you?

If you were writing for the Register you would just gather any unsubstantiated blog or forum article, wouldn't you?

If you just happened to hate Apple you would just agree with the usualy Register trolling, wouldn't you?

Register to warm iPhone victims "That's OK: your tears say more than real evidence _ever_

could."

[PIB]

Yellow or rose?

Hmm...

Never mind the yellow tint problem; its clear that some apple devotees have a much graver affliction of a permanent, rose tinted variety.

[Fab De Marco]

Not Really QC but after care

It is not really about QC here. No one can make a product and have a 0% failure rate, it can't be done.

The problem is Apple/O2 not accepting the problem. Some people have had a replacement phone whereas some have been told that there is no yellow screen fault and it is a feature of the iphone. It is a customer service cockup. Ordinarily if you have a defective product you will get a "refurbished" phone in its place. As the 3G S is so new. There are no refurbs and new phones will have to be sent out. hence eating into profit margins. (Oh NO).

Simple test. I believe there is a flash light app that simply turns the screen white. Downloiad that and see what your screen is like. Then complain like mad! You should all be within your 14 day cooling off period.

[Sir Sham Cad]

Compared Gen1 iTouch with iPhone 3G

It's true, on the iPhone 3G (that works perfectly with no complaints from the owner) side by side with a 1st Gen iTouch, the white is noticeably different between the two, with the iPhone displaying an off-white, slightly yellower tinge. If they've increased this effect on the 3GS then, yep, a lot of people with good colour perception are going to start to notice this and be distracted by it.

I don't know about you but I don't want to look at my premium consumer electronic device and be distracted by colour display that is off. Especially not one that is designed for video playback!

Sorry, but if this really is a deliberate design strategy, it's a rare fail by the fruity types.

[Anonymous Coward]

Chortle (spelt correctly this time)

Good old Apple... They're so reliable, I knew they wouldn't let me down...

I've just seen the fault for today... GPS!

Hahahahaha

Hohohohohoho

No wonder the 3.1 software is already out in beta, they shipped before 3.0 was finished.

Roll on tomorrow, I can't wait!