Galaxy S3 "dirty" black screen

[phorq]

I just got my 16GB White GS3 from Verizon Friday, upgrading from my Fascinate GS1.

I tried googling this but couldn't find anything about it.

I have a Samsung Fascinate and when there's a black image on the screen, the screen effectively looks "off". From what I read, that's a great battery saver because only lit pixels consume energy. I love that feature and found it another selling point for the GS3 if it used the same screen technology.

When I got my GS3, I noticed at night, there's all sorts of "drip" looking things on my screen when it's displaying black. This means that the pixels aren't really off while displaying black, right? And why would it look so "dirty"?

Considering I can't reproduce this in a Verizon store because of the overhead lights, I was wondering if anyone had seen this before with other SuperAMOLED screens. It's ONLY visible in near-black dark rooms.

I use "Gentle Alarm" night mode where it really stands out in the dark room when I use it as an alarm clock, or reading an e-book with white text on black background, and I used "Screen Test" app for these tests. Photos were taken with Canon XSi flat color settings unaltered for brightness or color, not sure why RGB screens looks so off in these photos, they look fine in real life.

I was wondering if anyone had seen this before or could tell me if it's worth fighting Verizon over.

The first 2 are the ones that show the "drips", the rest show that every other situation looks fine. I didn't enhance the photos because I wanted to show the issue without anyone calling photoshop foul.

 

[Bbeelzebub]

To my knowledge, that's a consequence of AMOLED tech.


My Dinc (amoled) looks nearly identical to what you posted and the only time I've ever noticed it was if I was viewing media on it in a dark room and the screen went black at a cut or something.


I think any AMOLED screen will have an effect similar to that, perhaps even worse. What I did was lower the brightness a bit and it's never bothered me since.

 

[joebob2000]

My Fascinate looks pretty much the same way (never bothered photographing it to look for "drips" though). The thing about AMOLED is that "black pixels are off" isn't exactly true. Yes, the pixels themselves do generate the luminance you see and not a backlight (like traditional LCD screens) but the screen itself is actually exactly like a TN LCD screen with one extra layer of carbon doped silicon. The gates that energize the pixels are part of the pixel, and like any transistor there is some leakage when it's energized but not switched on.

Long story short, any AMOLED screen will still leak a little current through and energize pixels, even when they are supposed to be black. The amount of leakage does depend on the quality of the silicon in the screen, so it's possible for results to vary, and (sadly) you might have a "lemon" of a screen in that most others don't have that issue. Only time will tell if this is a common thing to the screens on the S3.

 

[phorq]

The drips were shockingly apparent riding in the back of a car at night, and I see it clearly while using as an alarm clock or reading an e-book at night. Sadly, these times are at least a quarter of the use my phone gets daily... bummer.

joebob2000, I took my fascinate out and looked at a black image on the screen in a dark room and you're absolutely right, there IS a slight glow to it... I had just never noticed it in 2 years of using it! wow. Goes to show how much worse it is on the GS3 that I noticed it on the first night I owned it!

I'll put a ticket in with Verizon and see where it goes. Thanks for the info!

 

[joebob2000]

This would be an interesting poll, is your S3 black screen blacker than your old phone...

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Android Central Forums

 

[wowpaw]

This would be an interesting poll, is your S3 black screen blacker than your old phone...

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Android Central Forums

Thats racist.

 

[grandprixrrt]

Supercurio tweeted a while back about the screen not being as dark as the original galaxy s' and that it had to do with the screen being Pentile

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[parabolee]

Same issue with mine. Did not notice it until I tried to watch a movie in bed at night. Can only see it on very dark scenes.

Was going to get it exchanged but it occurred to me that it may be a side effect of the technology and true for all models. So I searched and found this thread.

So can we confirm it's pretty much the same on all S3's and there is no point in exchanging the device? And nothing we can do to remedy it?

Shame because other than this issue, I really love this phone. Converted from the iPhone 4S instead of the iP5. Guess I can live with it since only effects one very specific usage (night viewing in the dark with anything with a very dark image).

 

[ItsMoo]

Same here. I thought I had "reverse dead pixels" lol.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[jroc]

Same issue with mine. Did not notice it until I tried to watch a movie in bed at night. Can only see it on very dark scenes.

Was going to get it exchanged but it occurred to me that it may be a side effect of the technology and true for all models. So I searched and found this thread.

So can we confirm it's pretty much the same on all S3's and there is no point in exchanging the device? And nothing we can do to remedy it?

Shame because other than this issue, I really love this phone. Converted from the iPhone 4S instead of the iP5. Guess I can live with it since only effects one very specific usage (night viewing in the dark with anything with a very dark image).

Here's the thing:

Like Bbeelzebub posted, its an Amoled thing. I have a RAZR and Maxx HD....and I dont see it at all on my Maxx HD, but see it on my RAZR. Someone just posted they see it on their Maxx HD. My Maxx HD is also blacker, whiter n brighter than my RAZR. You can try to keep exchanging for a better screen....but the chance you take for getting a new phone with a new issue.....I probably wouldnt risk it. FWIW...I have a PS Vita and it looks ....real bad...on that.

PS Vita, G Nex, RAZR's from last year and this year, and so on and so forth .....there are threads about this for just about any phone that has an Amoled screen. Its one of the cons on the pro n con list for Amoled screens.

 

[eric3316]

Anyone thinking about exchanging because of this issue needs to first think how bad it is. Remember it can always be worse on the next one. So if it is not that bad and only in a few spots I say keep it. If it is bad and all over the entire screen, then you can roll your luck and hope for a better one. Bottom line though is most likely everyone will have it, question is how bad it will be.

My GNEX had the issue as well.....If everything else about the device is perfect I would not exchange unless the entire screen is effected. Just think of all the other issues the replacement device can have on top of the black dots.

 

[parabolee]

Mine was REALLY bad. I have PS Vita too and I had to look really hard just to see it on that. Had my GS3 not had the problem I would never have seen it on the Vita.

Luckily mine was through a business account, so they did not hesitate to send me a new one. Just arrived and I checked it, it's almost perfect just a few small spots that are ahrd to see, my other had about 20% of the screen effected!