Same phone screen looks different

[ronin152]

So my original phone I received had a rattle whenever you tapped the back or set it down gently. I took it to verizon and they ordered a "like new" replacement as the new replacements were too far on the backorder. Well receive the replacement and it too has the rattle. So I call verizon back and they said well we will send you a brand new phone for the 2nd time. That is the back story.

I received the new incredible and powered it up and happened to have my old one sitting right by and had powered it up at the same time. I noticed on the white HTC screen that the white on the new phone was slightly off color from the old phone. So after making sure the brightnesses were the same I found that the phones indeed looked different. Just to make sure my eyes weren't playing trick on me I ask friends and brother to tell me if they could spot a difference and everyone said they could tell. I tried comparing the phones at different brightnesses and here is what I found:

lowest brightness on unlock screen:
Original Phone:Screen seems brighter but also seems to almost have a red hue about it. The lock bar with the time looks to be a shade of gray.

New Phone:Screen seems to be darker and the lock bar seems to be more black with a darker gray.

Overall my original phone seems to have a hue or saturation to it and this makes it seem brighter in appearance. Also all the bars like the notification bar look like a shade of lighter gray. However, on the new phone everything seems to be a bit darker and the bars seem to be an actual dark gray or black.

So my questions is what is causing this difference. Does AMOLED fade over time? I have only had the original phone for about 2 months. What do you think is the problem?

 

[Jerzyiroc]

The new Incredible's has a different screen. I could be wrong but I don't think they're AMOLED screens anymore. The reason for the shortages with both the Incredible and the Evo is because of screen shortages. They ended up gonig to another manufacture and thus are now using different screens. I remember reading that the Incredible wasn't going to have an AMOLED screen anymore, but I could be wrong.

 

[ronin152]

Is one "better" than the other? As far as quality and clarity they both seem to be very good it is just that one seems to have a different hue/saturation then the other.

I have been reading the articles about the switch to Sony LED but they have been vague on when and if they are doing it.

 

[PvilleComp]

The new Incredible's has a different screen. I could be wrong but I don't think they're AMOLED screens anymore. The reason for the shortages with both the Incredible and the Evo is because of screen shortages. They ended up gonig to another manufacture and thus are now using different screens. I remember reading that the Incredible wasn't going to have an AMOLED screen anymore, but I could be wrong.

No the screens have not changed. There was talk that they might, but the Eris, EVO and DInc have only AMOLED screens. They will be using SLCD's in the Nexus1 and Desire later this year. Here's a link with an e-mail I recieved from HTC asking specifically id the DInc was shipping with SLCD screens.

http://forum.androidcentral.com/250681-post21.html

Could just be variations in manufacturing or that the duller screen is defective.

 

[ronin152]

Do your guys phones notification bars and all the status bars where the phone and + symbol are look more black and gray or gray and light gray?

 

[Jerzyiroc]

No the screens have not changed. There was talk that they might, but the Eris, EVO and DInc have only AMOLED screens. They will be using SLCD's in the Nexus1 and Desire later this year. Here's a link with an e-mail I recieved from HTC asking specifically id the DInc was shipping with SLCD screens.

http://forum.androidcentral.com/250681-post21.html

Could just be variations in manufacturing or that the duller screen is defective.

Ahhh. I stand corrected. But the Eris and the Evo don't have AMOLED screens. They both have LCD screens.

 

[_JKK_]

That's ridiculous that they replaced your phone for that. It's been discussed before. It is the camera lens, the autofocus. I believe everyone should have it. I do. My brother's phone does.

Either way, what you've found is that the new phone doesn't have an AMOLED screen; instead it has a SLCD screen, manufactured by Sony to help meet the demand for the Incredible. The 'red' tint confirms it for me; early reviews stated that the Incredible (and Nexus One) had a 'red' tint when compared to LCD phones, like the iPhone or the DROID. I wouldn't worry too much; although you might check your hardware version under Settings>About Phone>Hardware (or something similar to that; can't remember off the top of my head).

Decide which phone you want to use, considering that the rattling isn't a problem unless it does it a lot.

Edit:

Acording to what I was reading on XDA, the VZW Official OTA should not wipe out apps or data on the phone. The reason the leak does is because you have to root, flash/reset back to stock, unroot, apply the leaked 720p/radio update, re-root, flash the 2.2 leak. It's the flash back to stock that kills the apps and data. The Real OTA (for lack of a better term) should not do this if you are already stock.

Hmmm, interesting. Why would they say (in regards to the Incredible) that they would be augmenting SLCD with AMOLED? Although it would make some sense that they aren't; the new boot animation continues to say '3.7 AMOLED Screen,' instead of something more generic and applicable to both screens. So maybe you are right, and this new phone has a screen with (a.) a bad batch of AMOLEDs, or (b.) just a newer batch, and the design and manufacturing process has been sped up to accommodate the demand.

 

[ronin152]

So it is a known fact that AMOLED has a red tint?

 

[trock70]

Did you have call issues also? I don't mean like most people report. I got a replacement (refurb) because my original had speaker problems (if you squeeze the screen and battery cover together it's fine). I just want to know if it's my imagination before I swap them out.

 

[howser87]

I don't know if this is pertinent to the conversation, but since it is about screens I figured I would post it anyway.

A friend of mine got an EVO 4G on launch day, he loves his phone and I don't blame him. I loved it too, since I am on Verizon I grabbed an Incredible this past week. First thing we did was a side by side of the phones. His EVO has a really nice picture, no foreseeable problems in hue/saturation. Hold it next to my Incredible and it looks washed out and has a blue/red hue to it depending on the colors on screen. We noticed this almost immediately and it was more evident with different apps. Is this the difference with AMOLED and SLCD? Whatever the difference, I definitely like the screen on my brand new Incredible.