Screen flicker

[U2Bono269]

The flicker definitly exists. I was able to recreate it about 60% of the times I tried. It only happens when the screen is really dim. Below 30%. I think it could be software, but there is no way for me to know for sure. I know its a pain at night, but keep your brightness around 35% or more to avoid seeing it until we find a fix.


Auto brightness on or off makes no difference what so ever. It has to do with dim screen. Its easier to spot on a white back ground in a dark room with the brightness super low. And don't think its not happening to your just cux you lower the brightness and don't see it. During my own testing, it sometimes took 5-10 minutes on low brightness before it began to flicker.

That has not been my experience. So far I have found that turning off auto-brightness has eliminated it, including when the screen is dimmed. From what I've seen, it's not when the screen is dim, but when your surroundings are dim. Even when I had auto-brightness on, if I moved closer to a lamp it went right away.

 

[kenyee]

ditto disabling auto-brightness fixed it for me

 

[jschu22]

Another +1 for fixed with auto brightness begin turned off.

 

[Cubfan]

Starting to bug me. Went back to the iPad because of it. What a huge difference. May have to change my signature.


-- Sent from my soon-to-be-replaced iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Paralex]

I just got my nexus 7 yesterday and noticed the same screen flicker. Installed the new update bit to an avail. I did notice that its most noticeable when my WiFi signal is low and I am I a dark room. Although I did try to disable the auto brightness, however that did not help. I got mine from GameStop. Next test is yo yes it in a dark room, with low WiFi signal (further from my router) and have the charger plugged in. Maybe there is something going on with the power drain when WiFi has to work harder.

It happens when I'm in bed in the dark. I turned off auto-brightness and turned up the brightness a little bit. Went away. I'm convinced it's a software issue.

 

[jmartellotta]

I tried turning auto brightness off but that did not work. So I decided to do a factory restore. So far no flickers, or lines or whatever noise you want to call it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[megamitch]

Another +1 for fixed with auto brightness begin turned off.

Autodim-off helps for me but doesn't eliminate it. Doesn't bother me either though. I'm used to it after using the Transformer Prime since January.

 

[Daniel0418]

Autodim-off helps for me but doesn't eliminate it. Doesn't bother me either though. I'm used to it after using the Transformer Prime since January.

Transformer did the same thing?

Auto brightness being off doesn't fix the issue for me at all. I wonder cuts a weird bug with the light sensor since a lot of you re saying being near a lamp helped. I will test this out tonight and report back.

 

[Silken1987]

I've noticed it now and again when browsing and using chrome. It doesn't bother me too much tbh. I turned the brightness up a bit and that seems to have helped. Like others have said, I think this is software based and I'm sure Google will have a fix for it shortly.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[kenyee]

I think I finally figured out the flickering thing even if you have auto-brightness turned off.

If you have a very weak wifi signal and it's downloading, it'll flicker for me. If I'm close to my wifi router, it doesn't flicker, but on the other side of the house, it does. My theory is it pumps out so much power during the wifi transmission that it's causing a power droop to the rest of the tablet (including the screen's backlight)...

 

[WizeGuyDezignz]

I think I finally figured out the flickering thing even if you have auto-brightness turned off.

If you have a very weak wifi signal and it's downloading, it'll flicker for me. If I'm close to my wifi router, it doesn't flicker, but on the other side of the house, it does. My theory is it pumps out so much power during the wifi transmission that it's causing a power droop to the rest of the tablet (including the screen's backlight)...

You are the only person in this thread that nailed it. Everyone, turn wifi off and I bet the flicker goes away. It's not an auto brightness issue at all. It's a wifi/power issue which makes it hard to believe that it can be fixed with a software update.

 

[silenzioklze]

@kenyee I agree with most of what you have said.

Try to do manual brightness , and set it to lowest. Then repeat ur test with low wifi.

U will notice that the screen still flickers. The so its not a question of power drop. Its a question of un regularity in the backlid power

This symptom cannot be seen at backlid 50% or higher.

My method of testing is use file transfer app, then i transfered large file over ftp . That reproduces the symptom 100%

So yes, it looks like a hardware/software combo
I hope this can be fixed by optimizing the software only
Thanks for reading and I hope this information helps

 

[kenyee]

You are the only person in this thread that nailed it. Everyone, turn wifi off and I bet the flicker goes away. It's not an auto brightness issue at all. It's a wifi/power issue which makes it hard to believe that it can be fixed with a software update.

That's because I used to do hardware/firmware in a former life

It's more visible if you're further away from your AP (e.g., barely one bar). I notice it most when scrolling through the Play store really fast so it has to load a crapload of icons.
If you're up close to your AP (full bars), it doesn't need as much power so it doesn't cause a power droop to the backlight.

It's a hardware bug. Some idiot forgot a capacitor or didn't put a big enough one in. You might be able to hack around it in software by slowing the transmit rate down to keep the power surge from the wifi chip down (assuming it's not built into the Tegra), but other than that, it really needs a hardware fix.

FWIW, I ended up trying a second tablet because I thought the flickering might be from UPS drop kicking it and it also has this problem...

So next question...how do we report it to Google/Asus and get it fixed???
I'm going to contact Asus' twitter/facebook pages

 

[silenzioklze]

@kenyee It is not a power drop. The backlid brightness increases when flicker happens. That rules out the power drop for me. But you have your point

 

[igjoe]

That's because I used to do hardware/firmware in a former life

It's more visible if you're further away from your AP (e.g., barely one bar). I notice it most when scrolling through the Play store really fast so it has to load a crapload of icons.
If you're up close to your AP (full bars), it doesn't need as much power so it doesn't cause a power droop to the backlight.

It's a hardware bug. Some idiot forgot a capacitor or didn't put a big enough one in. You might be able to hack around it in software by slowing the transmit rate down to keep the power surge from the wifi chip down (assuming it's not built into the Tegra), but other than that, it really needs a hardware fix.

FWIW, I ended up trying a second tablet because I thought the flickering might be from UPS drop kicking it and it also has this problem...

So next question...how do we report it to Google/Asus and get it fixed???
I'm going to contact Asus' twitter/facebook pages

Let us know what you hear back.

I just returned mine due to flickering and I'm wondering if I should wait for a fix before buying another. I REALLY like the Nexus 7, but I'd rather have a properly working one than deal with the flicker.

 

[kenyee]

I just returned mine due to flickering and I'm wondering if I should wait for a fix before buying another.

To be fair, it doesn't flicker much in normal use once you load up apps. It's just most noticeable when you're initially setting up your tablet because you're browsing a lot more for apps to put on while downloading apps. I don't notice it much when using it now (mostly white backgrounds occasionally).
Still doesn't excuse their QA testing...this kind of problem should have been caught long before it left the factory...I would have caught it

I'm still a bit puzzled about the banding on the system settings screens. I thought it was because it's a 6-bit panel, but I ran a display test app and I don't see banding there. The whites and blacks in the last 10 values are crushed though...they all look white or black. Android sorely needs color profiles..

 

[igjoe]

To be fair, it doesn't flicker much in normal use once you load up apps. It's just most noticeable when you're initially setting up your tablet because you're browsing a lot more for apps to put on while downloading apps. I don't notice it much when using it now (mostly white backgrounds occasionally).
Still doesn't excuse their QA testing...this kind of problem should have been caught long before it left the factory...I would have caught it

I'm still a bit puzzled about the banding on the system settings screens. I thought it was because it's a 6-bit panel, but I ran a display test app and I don't see banding there. The whites and blacks in the last 10 values are crushed though...they all look white or black. Android sorely needs color profiles..

Yeah, you're right, it's not that bad. However, I notice it while watching video and I stream a lot of internet shows. It takes me out of the experience of what I'm watching when my eyes catch the flicker. Some people can live with it, but I guess I'm just too picky, haha.

Anyway, I'll wait until we get at least some sort of confirmation on a fix before I order another tablet.

P.S. The banding in the system settings could be due to a highly-compressed image. I've seen this myself while saving images with gradients for websites.

 

[pete_lockwood]

It's not (only?) WiFi. I turned off my WiFi, fixed brightness and the screen still flickers when scrolling in Chrome.

 

[kenyee]

I notice it while watching video and I stream a lot of internet shows. It takes me out of the experience of what I'm watching when my eyes catch the flicker.

If that's where you're seeing it, I'd agree...just wait until it's fixed...hopefully, they can work around it w/ software w/ slower wifi speeds which will still be faster than your internet. FWIW, I tried streaming the Iron Man anime via Crackle and didn't see flicker, but that has lots of explosions so it probably enhanced the experience ;-)

It's not (only?) WiFi. I turned off my WiFi, fixed brightness and the screen still flickers when scrolling in Chrome.

Pete: unless you're on a site that's downloading stuff in the background, I suspect what you're seeing is called "ghosting". IPS screens (which is what the tablet uses) generally suck for games because the pixels take a long time to transition from white to black...regular LCDs w/ the poorer viewing angles usually don't have this problem. Some IPS screens are worse than others...usually the more expensive, the better colors and less ghosting.
I tried scrolling around in Chrome on a large web page and can confirm it ghosts fairly badly (worse than my desktop monitor which is also IPS and is slow enough)....I'd suggest looking at the Galaxy Tab 7.7...different screen type (SAMOLED+) and should have no ghosting...

 

[igjoe]

If that's where you're seeing it, I'd agree...just wait until it's fixed...hopefully, they can work around it w/ software w/ slower wifi speeds which will still be faster than your internet. FWIW, I tried streaming the Iron Man anime via Crackle and didn't see flicker, but that has lots of explosions so it probably enhanced the experience ;-)

Haha, nice. Yeah, it mostly happens during videos when there's a light of bright/white showing. Just like other apps though the flicker goes away with a higher brightness setting, but I like it in the 25% range at night.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums