yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] AllGamer:
+1

agree

Nexus S and old Galaxy S1 also had the same problem

SC made his voodoo thing and the app corrected all those issues

it's not the hardware, it's the software that needs to be calibrated

the nature of OLED is that, it's not the same even if they come from the same batch of the production line, as it's Oragnically based there's always a margin of error/adjustments that needs to be made to fine tune the screen
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] iloveandroid16:
I agree how can we contact him ?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Bigjim1488:
I definitely notice a different between my sprint epic touch screen and my tmo screen. I am testing out tmo in hopes of better data speed. I hope a fix comes down for this issue. Also anyone notice some lag on the phone? It could just be me but my epic touch seems smoother.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] tiguy99:
Plus 1...!

I had an SG2 with a perfect screen I returned yesterday due to a drop call issues. Now the new phone has the screen line problem. So upset..

Voodoo Man please make an app for this...my replacement phone has 0 call issues & I'm happy about that just now have to deal with the issue of the lines/blobs etc...

Don't mind waiting for the calibration fix if its going to come out soon. Fingers crossed
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] SAlmighty:
again, supercurio can fix the software only,

hardware cannot be changed, but replaced

these are mostly hardware issues!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] sarni84:
Dude supercurio is the man love his work his voodoo sound is kick ass too makes listening to music so loud and crisp hope he can do something with that too. Dont quote me but i think he said our version is tuff to work on and not sure if he can code it. I too have the screen issue but otger then that phone is perfect the line issue does not bother me cuz i do not see it in normal use but i agree when spending that much money on a phone this issue should be resolved or fixed
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] cheema:
You say this because it came to you in a dream?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] lexcyn:
I did your test on my Telus version and can see the lines during low brightness. The blobs I can only see if I am in a completely black room with just a black image but they are there none the less.

Honestly it kind of bugs me that this is an issue on such an expensive phone, but during normal use I cannot even notice them, just at night or early morning.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] tiguy99:
Had a 9/28 with perfect screen but drop call issues. Exchanged it Friday 11/4

Have a 9/29 with screen issues, and battery stuck at 100% problem from time to time....going to exchange it again tonight...

I wish I paid attention to this thread before I went to Tmobile on Friday. Now that I know about this, I will be checking the new phone for the LCD issue at the store before I take that one home. Thanks O.P for this thread. I hope Samsung corrects this problem soon
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Splaktar:
It is an OLED issue. This phone does not have an LCD.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] ghammer80:
Just pinged supercurio with this issue, here is his reply below.

Original:

Any chance yer doing anything with the SGH-T989. Its got a nasty calibration issue in gray tones and low brightness. Some people thing its hardware, but I'm pretty sure its software since the original Galaxy had this issue, and i think the Nexus S. I'm not sure if its a gamma issue or what.

Reply:

Thanks for the interest.

I don't believe I can do anything without having a device in hands and being able to mess with it directly.

Maybe you can suggest Samsung or somebody to send me one. I have no plans buying one, BTW its not sold in Europe.

And yes BTW it's 100% software.

So he didn't say he COULDN'T do it, just a little tough without a device.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] lookitzjohnny:
I'm willing to donate to supercurio he would be a great dev to have for this device!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
@cheema thanks for the great analysis, and hi everyone!

And well... such a mess!

No doubt Screen color work & profile has been really botched by the team who ported Galaxy S II Super AMOLED + driver to the Qualcomm platform.

Not the first time BTW. DROID Charge and Infuse 4G screen are a sloppy work as well (mostly fixed with my R&D work)

Note: I assume blobs are a limitation of the manufacturing process.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] :
Well goodwork cheema send me a crow and i will gladly eat it. No sarcasm what so ever.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
Okay, I linked the thread and described the issue to my contacts @Samsung US and Korea.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] :
thanks. Great that should start things moving.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] ghammer80:
Thanks supercurio! Hopefully we can get some kind of fix on this.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
Currently reading the source code:

Super AMOLED + controller is the same as Exynos Galaxy S II (LD9040), which is a good news.

It means, except if there has been a really bad hardware mess-up or an unavoidable mind-blowing bad Quallcomm image processing force-applied somewhere that fixing this issue should be possible without additional heavy engineering work.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Splaktar:
Awesome! That is great news! I'm available to test fixes if needed.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] jasnmb:
This is exactly what I'm seeing on my t-mobile version that I just got last week. I believe my build date on the box said ~10/4. I can't see the lines or blobs during normal day use.

Looking forward to hopefully a software fix.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
I tested a few things on IRC #teamwhiskey with Allen and romann who had a rooted TMO Galaxy S II (looking at default screen driver values, changing mDNIe modes) but no luck nor interesting result.

Thanks to both!

I believe thats the best I can do without a device (no mention its quite inefficient to work like that)
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] 513263337:
Oh this is so sad...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] tiguy99:
I love the fact this guy is here! This is why XDA is awesome. I cannot wait to see what Samsung has to say about this.

Keep up the great work & somebody please buy this man a Tmobile GS2 phone to play with so we can have our screen fix
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] ThC23:
So have you guys checked recently if your blobs/black dots are getting worse. I've been with this phone almost two weeks and i think they are getting worse/bigger.

Can it get worse?

Looks like I might do a warranty exchange here soon.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
Note: I received a donation but when I tell "I don't have a device" the goal is not really to ask you to pay for it − especially since I have no idea if I'll get results eventually.

I firmly believe it's manufacturer's role to fix it. And the manufacturer here is Sam.. err no; it doesn't really works like that in the US. Manufacturer is T-Mobile.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] synenergy52:
Curio:

Question... you stated that this is 100% a software fix.. help me to understand.. how would it be a hardware fix if the blotches are in the same spot every time? Wouldn't that suggest the problem is engrained or "burnt" into the screen? I don't see how software could tell blotches in the same part of the screen not to go away.

I was watching a youtube video the other day in my room and when the person's face (i was watching blink 182's "I miss you" remix video) appeared on the screen, the blotches went away. When the face moved away and the dark background appeared, the black blotch appeared. As the face kept moving back and forth, the blotch would appear/dissapear in the same exact spot.

Also:

Your voodoo app, does this work on the t989? can you tell me how/what does this does to make audio better? I was almost ready to buy your app the other day cause my phone when played through my car's sound system doesn't sound too good. you can hear hissing and whining and buzzing. does this help?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
synenergy52 what's named blobs here are hardware. I believe it shows the limits of the current SAMOLED+ manufacturing process, but it's just my guess.

However, display calibration is a matter of color profile values sent to the screen controller hardware by the software.

Software here being Super AMOLED+ Linux Kernel driver and mDNIe settings emulated by the Qualcomm chip.

− exploring alternative gamma modes with romann on IRC #teamwhiskey
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
Sorry Galaxy S II audio hardware doesn't have the required abilities for Voodoo Sound.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] manekineko:
Other than a tear down, is there any way to tell if we have the Wolfson DAC in our phones?

Wolfson's press release regarding their Q3 stated (emphasis added):

Source:

http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/media_c..._plc_third_quarter_results_to_2_october_2011/

It would make sense if they're referring to ours, it's an oddball in the Galaxy S2 family in many ways.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
manekineko Galaxy R is.. Galaxy R.

Tegra2 + WM8994, like Tab 10.1/8.9.

Please stay on topic.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] manekineko:
Hmm, ok, well I don't personally read that sentence as referring to the Galaxy R, there seem to clearly be 4 separate clauses in that sentence ([1]Droid and Epii handsets, [2] a new Galaxy S2 model, [3] the Galaxy R smartphone and [4] various Samsung Galaxy tablets) but I'll drop it if you want.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] princeasi:
What crow is there to be eaten?? His pictures pointed out the lines and blob issues. I've been telling him over and over that more than likely it was hardware and that he needs to look at the manufacturing process first before jumping the gun that it was a defect. He proved nothing lol!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] noah1017:
Yea! Supercurio would be a great asset to every user of her came on board
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] jdlorinser:
Good Job OP, your thread made Engadget!!

http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/08/t-mobile-galaxy-s-ii-screen-issues-have-some-seeing-poorly-rend/
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] amir88:
I just read about this thread on Engadget .. I noticed this problem the day I got my phone (I have the Telus version which is same as T-mobile). I said it might be due to the screen protector that came with the phone maybe and now all of you guys having the same problem.

Any fixes yet ? :(

DO you think we can complain about this problem to T-Mobile/Telus/Samsung and get the phones fix/replace ?? I really want to do this !! I didn't renew my contract to get this screen !!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Trevnerdio:
I too notice these results. First time using it in a dark room: "wow this phone displays horrible blacks" and I tried to Google it and found nothing. Thanks for testing this out! Really hope it gets calibrated somehow soon.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] AllGamer:
well, it all depends if SC can do his magic for this screen as he did for all the other Galaxy S devices
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Scrtcwlvl:
Correct me if I am wrong here, but doesn't the T-Mobile unit have a 1.5 Ghz snapdragon CPU, compared to all others with the Exynos chip? (ignoring the lte or hd units)

That may have something to do with the colour and contrast - but since they were produced on a smaller production line, it could also have affected the screen.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] cheema:
Its great that this issue is getting more exposure. We can only hope that Samsung, like Apple, owns up to the issues with their phone and promises a quick fix.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] rnewton01:
just to wanted to write saying that i recently had and returned a Rogers Samsung Galaxy SII LTE and this was one of the major reasons... screen was pretty bad. Its the same model as the AT&T Skyrocket, so I believe this may be a pretty widespread problem.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] tiguy99:
Return your phone. I just returned my phone today for the 2nd time and now have one with a good screen.

The stores tried to give me a problem with the restocking fee saying I have to pay since I've returned my phone twice but I stuck to my guns especially since it wasn't my fault I had two defective phones.

All is well so far.....knock on wood

I have a October 1 unit. The lines are there if you really look for them like very faint however this model has a purple tinted oled and the color is really rich compared to my last phone. it looks much better
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] DKM119:
I'm planning on getting this phone next week, full retail price, how do you find out the date when the phone was made/release (?) ?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] bobbyphoenix:
The date is plainly marked on the back of the box.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Beowulf_pt:
I have 2 Galaxy S2 (european version) here at home and have had 3 compared side-by-side and they all had different displays.

Mine lacks uniformity and that is visible with certain gray backgrounds. It also has some blobs/stains that are visible with low brightness setting and in the dark, especially if a tool like "ScreenFilter" (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en) is active.

My girlfriend's is better, very uniform, showing no effect of "stains" in low light/filtered, but perhaps pushing too much bit towards blues in general, having poorer clear whites. Yet, it was the one I preferred from the 3.

A friend's unit seemed to have darker illumination on the left side while we were testing the 3 side-by-side. All units were bought almost at the same time.

So it's not only in the US variants,I just think Samsung is pumping out these sAMOLEDs so fast that consistency is lacking and each unit ends up being... well, unique. The same goes for the CCDs and the dreaded pink hue in camera shots. Perhaps the pink hue can be solved with some simple filters, but I don't think the screen issues can be solved as well, each screen appears to be unique (i.e. poor consistency/QC) and the flaws are so diverse (in function and intensity).

In the 3 units I've used, calibration would help in 1 but not the other two.

If I could test 5, 10 or 20 side-by-side I bet very few would have a similar display.

I didn't return mine as the rest was ok and it was almost guaranteed that I'd get a unit with another imperfect panel, just imperfect in some other way. It's probably not worth the effort unless the particular screen oddities in yours nag you so much that it is worth the hassle of trying another unit. Other than that and the camera pink hue, I've had it for about 4 months now and it has been a really great piece of hardware. The screen imperfections are visible sometimes, but in general the display is excellent, the blacks are flat dark and most people will get impressed looking at it under normal usage.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
Quick note, for people who want to know more.

Super AMOLED calibration has always been a tricky business.

From what I understand, during the manufacturing process there's factory calibration data recorded in the screen hardware.

Then when the phone is running, Super AMOLED controller read this data from the screen itself and affect gamma points accordingly.

Why is it so hard to calibrate AMOLED screens?

Compare to LCD panels. For 24 bit panels, you have 256 values to get right (for Red, Green and Blue) Not so hard.

In order to vary brightness, its as easy as changing the backlight power. 1 color calibration profile works in all cases.

However AMOLED panels are light-emitting.

Because of their very high contrast ratio and the large amplitude between 100% and 0% brightness settings (or auto-brightness) each pixel has to cover a min-blowing dynamic range.

This is where it's difficult: with complex gamma conversions involved and not-so -consistent factory calibration data, rendering a perfectly accurate color profile in this outstanding dynamic range is where it is hard.

Is it impossible to get calibration right?

Fortunately no, as other light-emitting technologies (like Plasma TV) demonstrated it was possible to provide a great color calibration.

But it's not easy, and for now Samsung calibration process is maybe not mature enough.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Vashery:
hmmmm

I did some testing because I was curious to see how each color of each pixel reacted to this black picture. I actually installed chainfire on my T-Mobile gs2 and I went into night mode wich correct m if I'm wrong actually turns off the pixels of colossal you chose I turned off all but the red pixels and look at the image in a dark room with the brightness all the way down and the picture looked completely black no lines or visible blobs. Switched the screen to just green pixels and got the same results as the red nice black screen. Switched to blue pixed and the lines and blobs came back!!

I'm not very experienced and its possible that this means nothing but I thought it was interesting to note. I'm gonna try calibration profile to see if I can tweak the blue levels to see if it makes a difference alltogether
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
Following up:

Why this topic about T-Mobile Galaxy S II only?

As demonstrated by the OP, T-Mobile Galaxy S II color profile is different (or at least, have a different result) than the one on International Galaxy S II.

It may be a engineering choice, in order to reduce brightness or improve battery life.

But engineers don't do always the best choice according to customers.

My T-Mobile (or non T-Mobile) Galaxy S II is fine!

As we saw before with Nexus S screen calibration and the 2.3.4 update, and as some people noticed by comparing several samples of the device, there is a large potential variance of color restitution between a device and another.

It's important to take this fact into account because even if most screns look about the same, some are a bit off, and some other are even way-off.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] noah1017:
I agree that some are worse than others, I got my new one today as a warranty replacement. I could tell it was not a refurbish.

It has wayyyy less visible lines.

it is instantly noticable when running a quadrant benchmark on lowest brightness on the planets part
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] albarrios:
1 of the lucky 1's

just tested my unit, it is fine. have had it 2.5 weeks.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Oskiee:
Just tested it and im seeing what youre talking about, but Im wondering why i would care though... The screen looks fantastic otherwise. Ive been using it all day (just bought it today) and im in love with the display... someone please explain to me why this is significant...
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Canesfan:
It's supposed to be even better then what you are currently experiencing.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] cheema:
Thanks for the informative post. It is easy to see how calibrarting Super AMOLED is hard. However what I want to know is how did Samsung manage to screw up the calibration for Qualcom based Galaxy S II units so badly?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] keokia:
I just tested mine using the method stated and mine came out worse.:mad: Don't think I would've even noticed if I wouldn't have read this! Now I can't stop seeing spots and lines!

**Shakes fist**
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] ninja0n3:
I got a Rogers Galaxy S2 (SGH-I727R) and I am experiencing the same problem with the display.

Had I not owned Bell's SGS2, I would probably not have noticed, but it became clearly apparent once I put both phones side by side.

The colors on Bell are much crisper and the blacks blacker, the difference is very visible. Also worth noting that Rogers has a bigger screen.

I won't be returning my device, but I am really hoping for a software fix for this, as it is an annoyance, especially knowing what a calibrated screen looks like.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] indecided:
Did the test; mine has the lines and a couple of horizontal slashes but no dots.

The way I look at it - I get a free "brushed" appearance on all dark colored backgrounds/buttons of the phone, which actually looks interesting with metallic-type colors.

Maybe I'm just consoling myself because I can't return it anymore... but i don't think it is a terrible deal-breaker.. From an otherwise excellent phone (having come from the awful G2x, that is..)
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] amir88:
I will for sure take my phone to the store and demand an exchange for a new one. I really like the phone and if they accept the return, which they have to, and if I get a much better screen, then I'l be happy !! lol
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] cheema:
I think the lines and blobs by themselves would not bother me. Contrast and colors being incorrect bother me more.

Of the 4 tests, the reading test #2 was the deal breaker for me. See the output in the full sized jpeg by clicking on the small image in test #2 and then look at the 2 hones on the right. This problem cannot be fixed by increasing brightness.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Areg8_6:
i think this problem is not only about t-mobile galaxy sII but international versions too!! my phone is international SGSII , when i bought it, the software version was 2.3.3 and in the dark room when the phone brightness was on minimum or automatic i was able to see lines and blobs. i've seen lines and blobs even when i was powering off my phone.

now i'm on official MIUI rom and i tried again with blobs.jpg i can't see the lines and blobs i think my screen is fine now. i can only see a square type something in the middle of my screen but it's not noticeable.

maybe it is software related or can be self-treated by time??
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] VeryLenno:
Guys,

what do you exactly mean by lines?

I have a line in the middle of the screen that is enough evident in the dark with dark backgrounds.

But it's only one straight defined line that goes from the bottom to the upper part of the phone.

Does anyone has the some problem?

Cheers.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] bneate:
I've also got the TELUS version of this phone and have this problem. Anyone tried to have TELUS replace their phone yet?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] ghammer80:
Screen needs to be calibrated to work with the Qualcomm chip, see posts above. It's possible to fix we just have to get the current dev, who fixed the same issue in the original Galaxy and Nexus S, a phone!
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] tiguy99:
DO IT! I exchanged my 2nd GS2 yesterday. Now I have one that's much better.

---------- Post added at 09:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 AM ----------

YES! Get him a phone, a table, a pillow and a bottle of wine :D
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] GermanBrot:
Its not about complaining. Its about wanting more, and the best. Its the people who dont care or complain that would settle for a wakie-talkie.

I want Google Goggles... that is my complaint for today.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] Dranakin:
Hope a solution comes along, I'm having the same screen issues on my Skyrocket (similar hardware to TSGS2).
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
I suggest following what's happening around Engadget article in the next hours :)
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] jasnmb:
Official Samsung fix incoming?
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] supercurio:
A bit early for that, but maybe a Samsung answer (because they listen). Not confirmed yet.
[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989] synenergy52:
Samsung: please listen to us. We need the top Samsung engineers on this ASAP. We need to hear an answer. We are listening.