yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
I got my Galaxy Nexus yesterday and I love it. There's just a couple of things bugging me and wanted to see if anyone else was having the same problems and of course if anyone knew of any solutions.

1- Screen. The resolution is fantastic but i've noticed some banding in flat colours. It's most noticeable in light and mid greys. There is a strip that runs up the middle of the screen that is noticeably lighter that the rest of the display. This goes away on high screen brightness but is really quite hard to ignore at other times.

2- Notification LED. Why is there no native support for customising this in ICS!? Either I've missed it or Google have missed a trick. I got it working with an app from the market but it only worked while the apple was running in the background, if I dismissed the apple from the new task switcher... No more custom notification lights.

Anybody else having these issues?

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Notications solution.

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To get the most out of your multicoloured LED you can use the Lightflow app which is available free from the market, to get this working properly on the Galaxy Nexus enable "Run in Foreground" in the general settings menu.

Thanks to jabok for spotting this setting.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
Sorry to bump but I'd really like the opinion of a few other Galaxy Nexus owners, especially about the screen.

I love this phone but I am considering taking it back because of the banding on the screen, it's not noticeable until there is a flat grey in an app and then it's quite visible as a lighter band up the centre of the screen.

Is this a fault or is it to be expected on sAMOLED screens? I've only had LCD before.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] eksasol:
Does it look anything like this or something different? http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1320942

Either way there are issues with SAMOLED+ screens, there are people with the Galaxy S II and Droid Razr with screen issues too.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] oscillik:
as far as I know, it is a common trait with Super AMOLED screens - had the same issue with my Nexus S, and with my friend's phones that have Super AMOLED screens.

The banding disappears if you have the screen at a higher brightness, so it does seem to be an issue inherent with changing the brightness/colour temp of the screen.

Also, AMOLED screens are susceptible to screen burn, which is why if you leave the screen on some white text on a black background, if you then switch to a screen with mostly grey elements you'll see a ghosted image of that text.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Highland3r:
Seeing similar on my screen but it's not really noticeable unless the phone is on auto brightness or the lowest manual setting.

From reading other threads, sounds like the GSII has a similar problem. Looks like some people have been through a few phones before getting a "band free" unit.

You could try taking it back to a (willing) store for a swap - given the current stock levels you may have a few issues though and you may not get a unit without the banding anyway.

In terms of notification LED, wait a bit for some better third party apps to arrive. Not many (existing) phones use RGB coloured LED's or similar for notifications (Nexus One and Galaxy Nexus are the only two that quickly spring to mind) so it's possible Google didn't add support because of the limited use. ICS is in it's infancy and there's a lot of development to come (both from Google and third party dev's).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
Thanks for your responses!

In some ways it's good to know it's a know issue, and in others it's a bit disappointing.

I've attached an image for you to look at, you think it's worth sending back?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] pukemon:
No.

I invented cyberspace. You're trespassing.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Highland3r:
Personally, I'd just live with it - especially given that there's no guarantee you'd get a better model if you swapped it - hell you could end up with a worse screen!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] mcgon1979:
I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle to send it back. This seems to be an issue to some degree in most SAMOLED screens. You might end up with a worse phone.

I seem to recall that many phone screens have artifacts at very low brightness settings.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Spinstorm:
This is exactly the same problem as I have. On low brightness it is visible but not on normal brightness.

I did have another nexus on order that I was going to compare it with but I decided to get an N9 instead as I don't need 2 nexus phones! I figure I can go try android beam in a phone shop lol

The question about sending it back is a tricky one - it's not visible With normal brightness so how can we be sure the replacement won't have the same problem? We can't.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilbur-force:
yep. i have a vague banding when i look very closely.

solution ? keep my eyes more than 3 inches from the screen.

I hate it when people point out things that you have to look very hard at cos you then notice them forever more :p
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sblantipodi:
can you confirm that with normal brigthness the problem is solved on every screen?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] alsex87:
for the LED customisation get Light Flow from the market, works great for setting different colours for all sorts of things. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilbur-force:
on auto-brightness i can notice it (if i look very hard) on the calendar app.

pump the brightness up to about 85% and go back to the calendar app and i cant see it ... but now my eyes hurt :eek:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sblantipodi:
85% in an unusable brightness for eyes and for battery, so the problem isn't fixable in an easy way. sincerely I

don't want a defective phone and get its defect as a feature.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Daniel_GB:
i had problem like this on my atrix too...( i think most of atrix owners noticed that too )

light grey.........

the only common thing between atrix & GN is Pentile matrix....

i dont know this is the reason...

i just want u to know that you are not alone...:)

by the way , i sold my atrix...;)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilbur-force:
i just picked a random setting to prove/disprove the brightness thing. to be honest i REALLY have to look for these bands on auto-brightness .....

just tried 50% (still too bright in my opinion) and i still cant see banding. nor about 40%.

switched back to auto (which must be only about 20%) and they are there is i get really close and squint.

Seriously .... wouldnt let them worry you ! ;)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sblantipodi:
thank you.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] amczee:
I have just completed a 3hr car trip using Google navigation and noticed the banding on auto resolution with it disappearing on bright vivid colours or dark/blacks. Thinking of asking phones4u to check out others for a possible swap.

When the phone was on charge i didn't notice any status light or none flashing when a txt was received. Should there be?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilbur-force:
definitely seen an LED flashing for notifications. surprising large LED and at the BOTTOM of the phone !
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] andrewpmoore:
That's great to know. I'm the author of lightflow and plan on picking one of these up next week if three will ever budge on contract renewal offers.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
Lightflow doesn't work properly for me. It has to be left open to work and is temperamental at best. Can't wait till you have your Nexus so it can work properly, great little app.

As for the screen, I know some people are saying you have to have the screen set to a very dim setting to notice them but that's not the case for me. I notice it even with the screen up at around 70%. I read somewhere that it might be that the screen hasn't been calibrated properly... does that mean it could be fixed or perhaps improved with a future firmware update?

On a positive note I've had the phone 3 days now and with the screen banding aside it is fantastic. So responsive!!

Think I'm gonna see if I can learn to ignore the screen thing for two more days and if it's still bugging me I will try and get a replacement with a smoother screen.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] appledroid:
Note to OP:

Don't use a task manager/app killer Android can handle apps in the background itself, and if you're talking about the built in task switcher, leave the app open, shouldn't use much battery/RAM.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] OJ in Compton:
It doesn't go away, it's a characteristic of samsung's AMOLED screens. My nexus one(s) have exhibited the problem since day 1.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
This is fine until you restart the phone and forget to launch the app. Then you have no notifications. I was referring to the built in task switcher.

Lightflow is a lovely app. I'd like to see the dev really get it working perfectly on the Galaxy Nexus, running as a background service or whatever it takes.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] juniorbattle:
Hello guys,

I picked up my Nexus today from three and found this topic very interesting. I too have some problems with colours on auto brightness, or lowest setting. This can be seen in in settings. I donno if you've seen it but app drawer's black is totally different to settings black (which looks really greyish). Do you have the same issue?

Also found that my girlfriend's desire s can produce much richer whites (esp. seen in the browser on auto settings).

Finally, with the LED Flash, I saw it blink once during the day. No blinking when charging, no nothing when finished.

Cheers
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] blunden:
That's because the Settings background isn't black but a gradient. In other words: what you see is intended. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
I was about to point this out. Although I don't think this means what he sees is correct, it's the settings screen where my problem is most apparent too. It just seems to hit the right course to make the bar ding most obvious. I think I've made the decision to take mine in and try to get one with less banding (or hopefully none).

Anyone else tried this yet?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rikbrown:
I'm very much considering it. I love the phone but the banding/graineyness of whites at low brightness just feels low quality. I didn't pay £500 for crap whites/greys.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] juniorbattle:
I'm glad it's not only me who's considering it. I think I'm gonna wait some time for Google's software updates. Maybe they're gonna apply some kind of color patch with new updates.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rikbrown:
Think I'm going to go to the 3 Store later and compare with an in-store one. If it's better I'll swap for a new one, otherwise I guess I'll put up with it... as there's no better Android phone out there right now :/

EDIT: assuming 3 let me return/swap it.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] oscillik:
as has already been pointed out by myself and others in this thread, screen banding and discolouration of the screen whilst at low brightness levels (particularly when auto brightness is used)

is a common trait of Super AMOLED screens

. If the screen is used at higher brightness levels, the issue disappears.

Whether you think that is acceptable is a subjective matter, and totally up to you to decide. If you feel that you expect better from a screen and would like to get a refund or exchange, as long as you reside in the UK and bought from a UK retailer / online store, under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 you are entitled by law to have an exchange or full refund. These are what are often referred to colloquially as 'your statutory rights'. These rights preclude any in-store policy.

If you are outside of the UK, I have no idea of the statutory rights you are entitled to, so cannot help you in this regard.

But if you are unhappy with the screen, I do suggest you try taking it back to the retailer, explaining calmly and politely that you have paid a premium price for a premium phone and in your opinion it is not premium quality and that you would like an exchange/refund. If the retailer claims that they cannot comply with such a request, simply inform them of your statutory rights (it helps if you have prepared a print out of the page I have linked to above) and if they are still non-compliant, ask to speak to the manager and re-iterate to them your statutory rights.

Let me make this clear - if a retailer / online store refuses to comply with your statutory rights, they are breaking UK trading law.

I hope this is of some help to those of you who are taking issue with the perceived quality of the screen.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] justabrake:
if it bothers you, Yes why not try at least you could say I tried
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sucker4pa1n:
For curiosity sake, I just used Screen Test (from the market) on my Incredible (AMOLED, thankfully never had issues yet so no LCD!) and noticed slight banding on grey only... lowest brightness possible. Not gonna lie, never noticed til now and don't find it annoying, but your photo looks MUCH more noticeable than mine. My guess would be it'll be a crapshoot though... based on what others have said.

Personally I think I'd go back and talk to them, look at the replacement and if it's the same then keep yours... but UK might work differently than US for stuff like that! Good luck!

Tapatalk Pro Sig. Yep, boring.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] mkouk:
I just received my Galaxy Nexus and when i go to the browser it almost looks grey instead of white on automatic brightness.

I called the support line of Clove and the guy on the phone also tested his and he could see the same colour issue. It almost looks like a newspaper

Once i set the brightness to maximum it goes away. However, in grey menus it is still visible.

Am I the only one? :confused:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] oscillik:
please see the following
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] mkouk:
So your suggestion is to keep the phone?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] HooloovooUK:
If it's a "common trait of Super AMOLED screens" then by definition it is not faulty.

If it's not faulty you can't demand a refund under the sale of goods act.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] mkouk:
I ordered online and i have 7 days to decide due to the distant selling regulations.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] oscillik:
You're right - I thought I remembered seeing mention in the advertising website for the Galaxy Nexus about the 'amazing' screen, it seems that I was mistaken.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jabok:
When I restart my Nexus, Lightflow works without me having to go into it again. It doesn't show up in the task switcher, but it's running if I go into settings/apps/running.

I did choose "Run in Foreground" option - no idea if that had an effect - have a play! :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] HooloovooUK:
But "amazing" is hardly a quantitative measurable value, now is it?

Are you really suggesting someone goes into a shop and demands a refund on a non-faulty phone on the grounds that they "don't consider it to be amazing" and therefore it's faulty or not as-advertised?

Unless the in-store demo phone does not display the same issues (which it undoubtedly will because they are all the same and not faulty) I don't see how it can be grounds for a refund under statuary rights.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] oscillik:
Statutory rights include that the device meet the description. If the description of the phone included proclamations of the displays quality, and if you find the display not to be of quality, then you can easily claim that the advertisement was not right. Especially since most stores (at least here in the UK) do not have demo units available for you to look at before you buy.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Guto ViP:
Guys, so is a good idea buy one Galaxy Nexus?!?! I'm selling my SGS for this motive....
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] KiNG OMaR:
Yes, yes it is.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Guto ViP:
Tnx Omar.

So, i have one friend living in Europe, where he can find and buy one for me? I mean website and store...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
Cheers. I think I tried the run in Foreground option but ill have a another play.

As for the screen, I'm still noticing it, even in the day with the screen on around 70% brightness. I'm not looking for it... It's just apparent. I got mine over the phone with phones for you so I'll not be able to see the replacement before I swap. Gambling time me thinks. ::DD
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
Just so anyone who was having issues with lightflow not working correctly, setting it to run in the foreground does indeed seem to fix this!!

Epic multicoloured notifications... HOOOOOOOOOOO!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rbs_uk:
Unless you live in remote village. Most of the shop now do have demo units and if they don`t, just ask and they will bring one out for you.

---------- Post added at 08:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:09 AM ----------

Handtec, Clove, ebay, just just use google shopping search.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Well if you can find an importer to send it to you directly you'll probably save money. If instead you have a friend buy it in the UK and ship it himself you'll have to take the 20% VAT hit.

You have to pay for shipping either way, might as well save yourself the VAT.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] andrewpmoore:
That's good to know. The "run in foreground" option marks the service so that it's less likley to be killed off by android. I might change it to the default option as I guess that android may have changed a little in ICS. Running in forground doesn't change any battery use from what I understand, it just marks it for preventing killing - services such as the music player use this so your music doesn't get killed off.

New version of the app due in the next couple of days, I'll put the change into that.

I'm hoping to get myself a GN tomorrow.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jabok:
Bit off-topic, but while you're here... ;)

Is it possible to offer a "custom colour" option as well as the named colours? With a colour wheel selector or RBG number boxes or something. Seeing as it's an RGB LED it should be feasible I think. Perhaps you already have this, but as the GN is new it's just not picking it up right? I do notice that when you go to pick a colour it says at the top "No colors found to select on this device" before it goes on to list a bunch of colours!

Also, when cycling through notifications at the fastest setting the colour changes per flash e.g. red then green without going off, then off, then r/g again... etc. On the next setting down it flashes twice for each colour, e.g. red, red, green, green, etc. Would be nice to have the in-between setting of it just flashing once per colour.

Hope you get your Nexus no problem! :D
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Guto ViP:
He will bring the phone to me personally in December. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] case0:
Got mine today. I think I am lucky because my screen seems to be ok. Put it to the lowest brightness and loaded up google.com and can't see any banding. It does look very slightly mottled, not sure of a better word for it, but certainly not to the extent I consider it a problem.

Although, the wallpapers included look like they are not high-res enough for the screen. Is that the case or is it because of the "mottling" due to the SAMOLED screen?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] oscillik:
I had to travel out of my way and buy my handset from Liverpool. The O2 shop I bought mine from didn't have a Galaxy Nexus display unit.

Phones4U, where I had originally intended to buy the phone from, didn't have functional display units, and had only dummies.

Both of these stores, in Liverpool. Hardly a remote village :rolleyes:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jabok:
It's Liverpool - half the indigenous population wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a working phone, a dummy, or a banana... the other half would try and steal it if it was real! :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] oscillik:
ooooh I wonder if there are any Liverpudlians in here who might take offence there! :p
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jabok:
They'd have to be able to read first - don't see that happening any time soon. :D
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] schriss:
Bad side effect of this might be that this notification app will prevent the phone from going to sleep which means more battery drain.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
Yeah it's working well now, though mine doesn't cycle through notifications like somebody has posted here, it just flashes the colour for the most recent notification, how do I get it to cycle? That would be awesome.

I'm from Warrington which is close enough to take offence on their behalf! OI!

Nah it really doesn't, just looked at my battery stats after a day of having it set to run in the foreground and it's looking normal.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jabok:
General Settings, Notification - Battery, Cycle - Medium. This give me two flashes of one notification, then 2 for the next, etc. Would prefer 1 flash per notification type but Cycle - Fast actually makes it change colour while still lit.

Edit: I actually tried this again and Cycle - Fast is now working as I'd like - one flash per colour/notification type! Cool.

Edit 2: Okay, bit more testing and the Cycle - Fast seems to depend on when the notifications are received... the Medium one ALWAYS (for me) does two clean flashes per notification, but the Fast one can result in the light changing while lit, which looks a bit rough with multiple notifications.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
I can't get mine to do that at all! I really can't. I'll try some different settings and try to be patient. It's getting a bit sad texting myself just to test it. :p
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] mcgon1979:
im loving the phone, but i have banding on low light levels. Visible on all but rhe very brightest setting. Doesnt bother me really. I accept its a limitation on the screens. One band is 1/3 from top of screen and about 1cm thick running horizontel across screen. Obvious on light screens like this. I reckon most have some artefacts like this. Its a production limitation especially at low brightness.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] sblantipodi:
this thread is becaming more and more confusing, is the banding an heavy side effect of all nexus?

if not, is there many phones affected by big color banding? A little is normal, also pc monitor has it.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Crin:
It's not colour banding. It's patches/bands of light and dark and general graining in greys in mid to low light. Some people's are fine, but some not.

Have a look at the pictures I posted early on to see what I mean. I'm gonna go into store this weekend and compare to a demo to see if mine is worse than average.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] mcgon1979:
That sums it up for me really. It's very subjective. some people will think its fine, and some people will go nuts if they see any variance in screen brightness across the whole display. Unacceptable etc. I've returned devices before because of 1 dead pixel, so I'd be quite picky, but I think with the light banding I can put up with it. If I exchanged phone I am sure (as is always the case) I'd discover something else about it that I dislike and should of stuck with what I had. :)

BTW, I took My HTC Desire and stuck it on low light (which is not quite as low as GN) and had a look at it on a light coloured screen. It has a definite vertical dark line that I never noticed before. So... I don't think there are many screens out there that have ZERO variance in brightness across the entire screen at lowest light settings. I may be wrong though. and possibly Im just settling because I don't want to send my phone off for a replacement and wait another 2 or 3 weeks. :) :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] dampchimp:
Could you also look into a way where swiping notifications away in the notification tray kills the notification LED? At the moment I either have the option to clear on screen wake or on going into the actual app. I find in ICS, just swiping away notifications is typically how I deal with them.

P.s. I agree with others, banding is noticeable especially on lower brightness, but not really a significant issue for me. Not as noticeable as the S2 and only really visible on gradients, BTW high def video etc. just looks amazing on this display. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jpcarreiro:
I also swipe to dismissing some notifications and I was stumped why the LED wasn't turning off.