Uneven backlighting

gharkay

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Oct 19, 2012
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I've been using my Droid DNA for almost two weeks now. I was just using Google Currents, which has a lot of white space, and when I rotated the phone into a landscape orientation I suddenly realized that the backlighting is quite uneven. The screen transitions from brighter near the Verizon logo to darker/more gray near the capacitive buttons. It's not linear, though; the "gray zone" seems to start about 1/2 inch away from the edge of the screen located closest to the capacitive buttons and get darker toward the buttons. This is noticeable regardless of brightness setting, though it is more apparent the lower the brightness setting.

I found about 8 stuck or dead pixels near the top of my screen that I've been happy to ignore because they're so tiny that they're totally invisible unless I turn the brightness all the way up and look at something completely white. However, I do a lot of reading on my phone, and I find this uneven backlighting far more annoying to the point where I might want to seek a replacement unit. It would be great to know whether this is a widespread issue or if it could be solved by getting a replacement unit.

So, is anyone else experiencing this issue?
 

y2kirk1028

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Nov 16, 2012
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Don't see any of the issues you mentioned on my phone. I zoomed in on a white area of google.com with different brightness settings. No uneven brightness from end to end.
maybe you can try exchanging the phone.
 

gharkay

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can you take a picture of it...i'm curious to see this

This was a difficult thing to photograph, as you can imagine, because it is a somewhat subtle thing. However, now that I know it's there, it seems really obvious to me. The interesting thing is that I didn't notice it before because I usually use my phone in portrait mode, so the decreasing brightness as I look down the screen fools my eyes into thinking it's not there because it's a smooth transition. And even when I did notice it at first, I assumed it was a gradient applied to the background of whatever app I was using. However, when I put the phone into a landscape orientation, the dimming toward one edge of the screen is far more noticeable. I guess this says something about how our eyes/brains perceive things.

I did ask Verizon for a replacement device, and it should be arriving today. Hopefully it will have a more even backlight. Anyhow, without further ado, here is the image I captured that sort of shows the effect with the left edge of the screen being noticeably darker than the rest (the capacitive buttons are on the left in this photo).
 

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gharkay

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I just opened my replacement phone. The screen seems to have less of the uneven backlighting issue, but the problem is still definitely there. Unfortunately, there's also what appears to be a piece of hair stuck between the LCD and the glass (or maybe a scratch on the LCD itself), so I definitely won't be keeping this replacement. I suppose I'll either get another replacement or just live with the "natural gradient" on the screen of the original DNA.

Edit: Wow, apparently Verizon's policies are not at all well understood by some of their CSRs. The first guy I talked to was all ready to send me a second brand new replacement phone (not a refurb) until I mentioned that I would be out of town soon, at which point he recommended I just go to the store in town to take care of everything. I got to the store and nobody there was able to figure out my situation at all, so when I asked them if I should just go home and call in again they were very happy to say yes. Unfortunately the rep with whom I spoke when I returned home knew the rules better and said I could only have a refurb. So now I will play the game of seeing whether or not the refurb is any better than the original. I sure wish I had just told the first guy to send out brand new phone when he offered.
 
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gharkay

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The replacement should still be a new phone. It takes about 90 days to start seeing true CLNR devices

That's good news! I was wondering how long it would take for there to even be refurbs available given that phone has been out for less than a month.

I suppose that as long as the phone works fine and shows no signs of wear I shouldn't complain too much in any case, but is there a way to tell whether or not the device is refurbished? I would imagine that might show up in the About Phone section of Settings or something if it's not immediately apparent from the packaging material. For a potential future resale of the device that would be good information to have (yeah, I'm one of those people that itches to get a new phone once a year).
 
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