Quality Issues with the V30's OLED Display?

[Rumblee1]

Have been looking real hard at the V30, combing through first impression reviews based on pre-production units.

Here's an article by Ron Amadeo about the V30 OLED display having uneven color, weird horizontal banding and uneven light levels (with hot spots) when the screen is set on low brightness in a dark room:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/lg-v30-hands-on-lgs-oled-displays-still-have-quality-issues/

Pre-production unit I know but... I'm a little surprised more people aren't raising this or at least mentioning it.

Photo Credit: Ron Amadeo (from the article)

My v30 screen is fantastic. Every bit as bright and colorful as my S7 edge

 

[Mike Dee]

Glad yours is good. The problem doesn’t just appear on solid colored screens. I first noticed it when viewing white backgrounds with black font on news websites. Horizontal band across screen that was visible when scrolling. Very visible on the banding test using Display Tester app. Also the splotches / mura effect was very obvious when scrolling through news articles. The vertical banding was visible on any light colored solid background, especially gray, which didn’t happen on any Samsung GS 8+ I compared.

The rep I was with at the Verizon store even saw it and waived the restocking fee. He noticed it on the display V30 as well and we also compared side by side to a GS 8+. I didn’t exchange for another one, will wait and see if this gets resolved in later batches of phones.

Verizon Online is 30 days return and no restocking fee right now

 

[MA2GA28]

Definitely not ghosting, the blotches were always visible on any light colored backgrounds. Mura effect. I no longer have a horse in this race, did not exchange for another one. Some phones are worse than others, I probably would never have noticed the issue on the in-store display V30 had I not been aware of the issue on my phone. It was better than mine but still night and day different from in-store Samsung displays.

Samsung has some technology that evens out the LEDs so they are all uniform. Probably something LG could look into with a software update, but who knows.

 

[jakirkla]

I received a T-Mobile V30 today, thank you UPS, and unfortunately, it has serious oled screen issues. I have been using phones with Oled screens almost exclusively for years and this unit has the worst banding and color uniformity I have seen. I am trying to decide if I want to try to get a replacement or just return it and hope that the Pixel 2 XL I have on order turns out better.

 

[magia21]

I received a T-Mobile V30 today, thank you UPS, and unfortunately, it has serious oled screen issues. I have been using phones with Oled screens almost exclusively for years and this unit has the worst banding and color uniformity I have seen. I am trying to decide if I want to try to get a replacement or just return it and hope that the Pixel 2 XL I have on order turns out better.

What you see in the display is it all the time on any screen page like Facebook and YouTube app and your main wallpaper? And at full screen brightness ? or did you do the 10% brightness test with the grey screen in a dark room? Thank you

 

[billykac]

This just shouldn't be happening.
Isn't the V30 display the same panel used on the Pixel 2 XL??

 

[DamianP]

So far I am happy with the display comparing it to the Note 8. Using display tester the colors are darn close, at 50% and 100% brightness. Grey @1% brightness on the V30 does seem to be brighter...but I don't see any light spots or banding in a somewhat dimly daylight lit room.

 

[magia21]

So far I am happy with the display comparing it to the Note 8. Using display tester the colors are darn close, at 50% and 100% brightness. Grey @1% brightness on the V30 does seem to be brighter...but I don't see any light spots or banding in a somewhat dimly daylight lit room.

Cool. Was going to get one Friday at T-Mobile

 

[Skyway]

So far I am happy with the display comparing it to the Note 8. Using display tester the colors are darn close, at 50% and 100% brightness. Grey @1% brightness on the V30 does seem to be brighter...but I don't see any light spots or banding in a somewhat dimly daylight lit room.

Where did you get yours? Verizon, att, etc?

 

[SameeJo]

Received my V30 a few days ago and just noticed this morning the low light banding and white spots. Theres a cluster of 3 spots toward the bottom of my screen and 1 in the middle.

 

[DamianP]

Where did you get yours? Verizon, att, etc?

I got my V30 from the Corp AT&T store.

 

[Skyway]

Just wanted to post this here about my experience with the v30.

I bought my v30 on at&t's website tuesday night and had it delivered yesterday (thursday). As I was setting up the device (several hours into playing with it) I noticed at lower brightness settings, like 30 and below, there seemed to be some color banding on a white or light color background. It was about 2/3 the way down the screen and there were several lines that were a different brightness than the rest of the background. As I was checking this out, I noticed a dead pixel right around the same area. I downloaded several apps to help look for more (couldn't find any) and maybe fix it (didn't work). So I started a chat on att.com and was instructed to ship the phone back with the included shipping label in the box. The agent I spoke to assured me twice that I will not face this issue again, so we will see when I get the replacement V30.

Other than that I absolutely loved the phone, it felt great in the hand, was extremely fast, and the quad dac sounded really good. I have an assortment of iem's so I tested my 50 ohm pinnacle p1's and actually had to turn the volume down. All in all very impressed and can't wait to get my replacement, hopefully they overnight it to me like the first one

 

[No Gods]

What are the chances the pixel display will be better? Since they're the same panel, is it even possible for Google to improve it? Desperately need to know here as my experience with the v30 is being severely tainted by this display. I want even solid colors!

 

[Kendahl Titcomb]

this display is just down right the best display lg has ever put into a phone.. it's beautiful and amazing

 

[jlp0209]

What are the chances the pixel display will be better? Since they're the same panel, is it even possible for Google to improve it? Desperately need to know here as my experience with the v30 is being severely tainted by this display. I want even solid colors!

I stopped by a Verizon store a bit ago and they had the Pixel 2 and XL 2 on display. On the XL 2 there was *slight, slight, slight* vertical banding along the right side of the screen at 20% brightness and lower on a gray screen. And this was visible under bright lights in the store. I did not see any weird horizontal banding, clouding, or dirty screen that I had on my LG V30. So the XL 2 that I saw was much much better than the three V30s I've seen in person, for what that's worth. Just wanted to share.

The Pixel 2 screen was perfect in comparison, no banding whatsoever.

 

[jlp0209]

What are the chances the pixel display will be better? Since they're the same panel, is it even possible for Google to improve it? Desperately need to know here as my experience with the v30 is being severely tainted by this display. I want even solid colors!

I stopped by a Verizon store a bit ago and they had the Pixel 2 and XL 2 on display. On the XL 2 there was *slight, slight, slight* vertical banding along the right side of the screen at 20% brightness and lower on a gray screen. And this was visible under bright lights in the store. I did not see any weird horizontal banding, clouding, or dirty screen that I had on my LG V30. So the XL 2 that I saw was much much better than the three V30s I've seen in person, for what that's worth. Just wanted to share.

The Pixel 2 screen was perfect in comparison, no banding whatsoever.

 

[No Gods]

I stopped by a Verizon store a bit ago and they had the Pixel 2 and XL 2 on display. On the XL 2 there was *slight, slight, slight* vertical banding along the right side of the screen at 20% brightness and lower on a gray screen. And this was visible under bright lights in the store. I did not see any weird horizontal banding, clouding, or dirty screen that I had on my LG V30. So the XL 2 that I saw was much much better than the three V30s I've seen in person, for what that's worth. Just wanted to share.

The Pixel 2 screen was perfect in comparison, no banding whatsoever.

Thank you. I didn't know any were on display yet. I'll have to stop by my store and see if they have it so I can compare. I've got a few days left on my return window and I'm struggling with whether or not to keep it. It's so great in every way, but the splotchy display in low brightness is killing me. I already exchanged it once because my first one had a horizontal band across the display that was visible in even higher brightness. This one has no bands but is very splotchy.

Aside from that, I can return this one that was exchanged once already can't I? Also, if I decided I wanted the pixel could I exchange this and preorder it even thought it was exchanged once since it was for the same phone?

 

[jlp0209]

Thank you. I didn't know any were on display yet. I'll have to stop by my store and see if they have it so I can compare. I've got a few days left on my return window and I'm struggling with whether or not to keep it. It's so great in every way, but the splotchy display in low brightness is killing me. I already exchanged it once because my first one had a horizontal band across the display that was visible in even higher brightness. This one has no bands but is very splotchy.

Aside from that, I can return this one that was exchanged once already can't I? Also, if I decided I wanted the pixel could I exchange this and preorder it even thought it was exchanged once since it was for the same phone?

Not all VZ stores have them on display. They are hot phones, they were being handled and played with non-stop when I was there one person after another. Good to see people excited. Last year with the Pixel mine had a dead pixel and I was told I was allowed 1 exchange. Not sure if this varies by store (it was a corporate VZ store). I would ask to speak with a manager if you go in and try to exchange for the Pixel, it's a legit issue. Just put your phone next to a Samsung and show him/her, those splotches will be visible plain as day! Fyi...not a Samsung shill...just pointing it out since side by side these LG issues are obvious for those who want to show store employees and avoid restocking fees.

 

[chriskwarren]

The Verge has a review and they are not happy with the screen at all.

I am hoping that there is a pattern we can find to help determine which devices will be more likely to have quality screens.

 

[MA2GA28]

Even though I was hesitant before I purchased the phone, in everyday use I don't notice the display issues. Granted, I don't really have hotspots. But I do have some unevenness and banding. And I do notice a couple horizontal bands, in particular. But does that make me hate the phone? No. That's why the review on The Verge is preference, at best. The reviewer literally states that the bad display makes the phone unusable, which is a very liberal stretch of reality.