yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 7 General] JCSands1109:
Let's see, before Lux, I had screen flicker. After installing Lux, no screen flicker. I personally don't give a rat's left buttock whether it's a hardware, software, or underwear issue. The fact of the matter is that immediately after installing Lux, my flicker disappeared. Coincidence? Maybe so, but frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. I'm over it, will keep my Nexus, and don't require a refund, so why don't YOU get over it?
[Nexus 7 General] kenyee:
No it's not...it was mentioned in this thread already. Will you guys please read the thread before posting stuff that was covered already? :P

And Lux may mask the issue, but it doesn't mean it's a software issue...the symptoms are fairly clearly an assembly or hardware issue...
[Nexus 7 General] jtrosky:
Yeah, sure - I'll read all 46 pages before trying to help! Geez... Excuse me for trying to help!

God forbid I waste 5 seconds of your precious time by repeating something! But then again, you wasted even *more* of your precious time with that stupid reply!
[Nexus 7 General] bushpilotwannabe:
Got my replacement today (now on my third unit). Good news is there's no flicker, even when on the channel where the issue was before. Bad news is this one has the ghosting issue. Some people have said it goes away after a few days, so here's hoping the same holds true for me. If not, it's going back to GameStop and I might just give up on these for a while and try again in a couple of months.

SSN starts with C80, so it's one of the newer ones.

Edit 8/22: I can't replicate the ghosting issue anymore. I guess the screen just needed to be broken in a little bit.
[Nexus 7 General] potentiality:
Can you give the full serial (minus the last 4 numbers). Will give a better idea of when it was made this month.

JCSands1109, not my fault you didn't bother to read the thread before your reply. Don't get mad when I call you out on it. Have fun with your "fixed" tablet. If your original goal before Lux for lower brightness was to have longer battery life by not using the backlight at higher brightness.. Guess what? You just shot yourself. :silly:
[Nexus 7 General] bushpilotwannabe:
Sure. C80KBC13****.
[Nexus 7 General] JCSands1109:
Honestly, whether or not I read the thread is irrelevant. I was simply agreeing with someone that my flicker had stopped after installing Lux. Reread my initial reply. I don't care that it's simply masking the real problem. The fact of the matter is that I no longer have a flicker. Period. I'm having plenty of fun with my non flickering tablet, thank you very much, and my battery life is very good too. If someone shows me that the app actually causes damage, then that's a different story. And not that it's any of your business, but if the screen is too bright, I get severe headaches. THAT was my ultimate goal.
[Nexus 7 General] boneskid1:
just popping back in to see if there is any with no flicker and it appears not,

and no it is not a software issue it is hardware not everyone is experiencing the issues take a look around the site.
[Nexus 7 General] webad_13:
Just got the third device, still in C70 here (UK) - seems to me that the device was on a repair but couldn't really be sure. It had certain ID sticker on the box that I haven't seen earlier.

Now flicker at first appeared not to be present - I had it next to the other device that was flickering. Then after upgrade I tested even more and only sometimes I could see a super mild flicker that I am not really able to replicate at this point. However the old device didn't appear to have flicker at first where now it is very apparent.

Did anyone notice increase in flicker over time?

Btw this one has slightly raised left side, seriously this is getting ridiculous G.
[Nexus 7 General] capntang:
No, not giving up on Android yet. I primarily use Android phones, and that probably won't change in the near future. I also really, really liked Jelly Bean. If the hardware was up to par, I'd be pretty pleased with the Nexus 7.

I also don't think I'm that unlucky. I think I'm just observant/sensitive enough to replicate and see the flicker. I truly believe that most (if not all) Nexus 7 tablets in the retail channel suffer from it, but that quite a few folks simply aren't bothered by it or don't notice it.

Staples has a pretty lenient return policy within 14 days. They'll take it back for any reason, and they never asked me any questions. I simply exchanged the tablets as defective. Both the employees and managers did voice some concern over how many Nexus tablets were being returned ... in general, not just by me.

Go through all that? Staples is a couple of miles from home. I'd swing by there on my way back from work, exchange the tablet, and go on my merry way. It took me all of 10 minutes each time, and with a 14 day return window, it's not like I was stopping by Staples every day. Not a whole lot of trouble to go through to find a tablet that's not defective right out of the box.
[Nexus 7 General] torankusu:
same issue with a C70 batch

Hi all,

well i just bought a 16GB version off of officemax. it came with a dead pixel (no biggie) but i can replicate the issue with the screen but it only seems noticeable in google maps+low brightness+WiFi pulling.

so i'm going to exchange mine anyways for the dead pixel :p hoping i get one without this flickering or brighteness adjustment issue, if there is such a thing as a perfect Nexus 7. besides that i like the N7 very much. i hope this can be fixable with an update if it is software related. thanks, just my 2 cents to this already pile of money.
[Nexus 7 General] GoldenDrago:
I ordered my Nexus 7 on the 20th and received it on the 24th of August, everything seemed functional and fine.

I looked for screen lift, screen separation, dead pixels, over heating and I thought I had a proper device. I assumed this might be due to it being from the newer batches as my serial number is a C80K.

It's been around 2 days since I received it and I have noticed some screen flicker, it is very slight, as if the device is trying to automatically adjust it's brightness, but this setting is off. I don't use Google Maps often, but I went ahead and opened it to test for this flicker and it is a bit more noticeable in that app, on the home screen I notice it slightly as well.

This is my first android and tablet device and I understand it is priced aggressively, but I think we all deserve a fully functioning product at the price.

I ordered it directly from Google Play and I have ordered 15$ worth of accessories from eBay as well. I have 7 days left to get a refund due to Google Play's 15 day refund policy, but I'm unsure if it is worth going in for a refund as I paid 20$ for the initial shipping and a refund for an open box product would add 15% of restocking fee on top of that. The accessories would have no use so it would be another 15$ or so loss there. I sound very cheap in this post, but it kind of hurts to know that I'd be losing around 82$ (CAD) after returning a product that wasn't functioning to it's fullest in the first place!

Any opinions/suggestions on how I should go about dealing with this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
[Nexus 7 General] JCSands1109:
You can always RMA it 10 or 12 times, as others apparently have done, until you either a) get a satisfactory one or b) give up and post your woes on here and say you're going to get an ipad.
[Nexus 7 General] GoldenDrago:
Haha :p doubt I'd go in for the iPad, satisfied with my iPhone and I wanted a change of scenery with the N7. I guess I could go in for the replacements, maybe wait a few months, the screen flicker isn't that big of a deal it doesn't randomly start flickering like one of the videos on YouTube displayed. It's clear at around 15-30% brightness it does flicker, especially in google maps, I'll just keep brightness above or below that margin. The device itself is beautiful and fast, I haven't even unlocked/rooted it yet since I wasn't sure if it displays an obvious "relocked" on the bootloader after relocking. Wouldn't want that showing up when trying to get a replacement!

Thanks for the quick reply!
[Nexus 7 General] sgarrand:
What helped for me.

There is no "re-locked" symbol at startup. One very good reason to root is this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.widgets.big.tegra.prism.toggle

Even though it states it is for the "screen wash out" issue, it resolved my flickering completely. I had the type you mention with low brightness. I was one of those crazies (9 RMAs) but I never considered an iPad of any kind. :)

Scott
[Nexus 7 General] jtrosky:
No need to spend your hard-earned money on that app - all that you need to do to disable the "SmartDimmer" is type this line from a terminal window (as root):

echo "0">/sys/devices/tegradc.0/smartdimmer/enable

Now, this change only remains until you reboot - do some searching if you want to disable it at boot-time...

To re-enable it, echo a "1" to the file instead of a "0".
[Nexus 7 General] sgarrand:
Thank you for the quick tip. The app does reapply at boot, so there's a benefit to it. I used some of the remaining free $25 Play store credit.

Scott
[Nexus 7 General] khaytsus:
Glad it fixed your flicker, but it was coincidence, PRISM has nothing to do with the flicker, only the "wash out".
[Nexus 7 General] sgarrand:
I realize this. It just seems that, when activating the prism feature my N7 would flicker as if this feature was going on and off. I certainly am not an expert but I'm trying to offer help based simply on what has worked for me. Maybe it's an unintended side effect? I'm not sure anyone knows 100% why the flicker happens. I only know this helped me.

Scott
[Nexus 7 General] jtrosky:
For what it's worth, on the TF700, the Prism/Smartdimmer "feature" *does* cause tons of "flicker"! Anytime that you go from a light to a dark screen, the screen will "flicker" for a few secs as it adjusts the backlight level. Disabling Prism on the TF700 completely stops this flickering effect.

What strange is that the side-effects (aka the "flicker" and washout) of the Prism setting on the Nexus 7 aren't nearly as noticeable, but I'm wondering if it does, in fact, cause a slight flickering on the Nexus 7 as well, so maybe this setting *does* stop the flickering...
[Nexus 7 General] Cynnthetic:
The Nexus 7 does the same exact thing. How much you see it depends on what you are doing and what wallpaper you use but it does dynamically react to the contrast of the screen display. I want to root so I can turn it off but I'm being lazy as I'd have to set it up all over again and I have things exactly how I want them. I'll probably wait till the next official N7 software update and if that does not address the issue i'll root.

You do need sensitive eyes to see the effect though.

Edit: I should mention though that the flicker most people here are talking about is not due to Prism.
[Nexus 7 General] sgarrand:
This is a very good point. My first N7 with flicker did it all the time on any brightness and it was terribly obvious. This is more noticeable on low brightness. I guess I should've posted my thoughts in a "low brightness flicker" thread but I didn't see one.

Scott
[Nexus 7 General] jtrosky:
That's what's strange - it is *way* more obvious on the TF700 - everyone notices it right away. On the N7, it's *really* hard to notice (at least in comparison). I still disabled it on the N7 though, which immediately seemed to increase the contrast as well....
[Nexus 7 General] Freshtojeff:
I wouldn't say I have intense flicker like I've seen on some youtube videos, however I am getting some "fluctuating brightness". First experienced it last night while watching a youtube video and thought it could of been the video itself but it wasn't. Tried some other videos and the same problem occurred. The weird part is it won't fluctuate if i set the brightness completely down and it won't fluctuate if it's about 55%+. I seem to only see it if it's set around 20-40% brightness.

Has anyone else encountered this? Its as if auto brightness is on and it's trying to adjust the brightness to suit the area. I've got a couple more days for a return so I want to know if this falls into the same hardware issue everyone else is dealing with?
[Nexus 7 General] jtrosky:
Have you tried disabling the Prism/Smartdimmer feature? I'm really curious if it eliminates the kind of flicker that you are seeing. If rooted, simply go to a terminal shell and type this to disable it:

echo "0">/sys/devices/tegradc.0/smartdimmer/enable

to re-enable it, reboot or do the same command with "1" instead of "0". Please post your results if you try it.
[Nexus 7 General] Freshtojeff:
I suppose I could give that shot, was gonna hold off rooting until my return period was over just so I wouldn't have to go back and forth. If i get time to root today after class I will def post back with my results if not hopefully someone else can jump in.
[Nexus 7 General] Mungulz:
If it's only in videos it definitely seems like the smart dimmer..

Anyway my screen flickers, annoys me more than the lift, I might exchange my N7. I was happy to live with the screen lift as it doesn't effect me, but flickering REALLY bothers me.
[Nexus 7 General] Freshtojeff:
Yeah so far seems to just be during videos under 50% brightness but not at 0. In that case, disabling the prism feature should fix the problem?

I am thinking if I should exchange it but don't want to be stuck with anything worst than just this, it could be worst. Well I've got 7 days to make up my mind.
[Nexus 7 General] wynand32:
I feel exactly the same way. The PRISM effect does bug me sometimes on home screen changes (say from a screen with a bunch of white background widgets to one without any), but not so much that I want to root and have to redo everything. It's my little dream that they'll implement a switch to turn the "feature" on and off. And a guy can dream, can't he?
[Nexus 7 General] Lim Wee Huat:
Just to share.. Mine had a bad flicker when I flashed Trinity's latest on CleanROM.. Re-flashed Motley's and the flickering issue was gone.

Regards...
[Nexus 7 General] jamesst20:
Trinity over clock the GPU, can it be the reason why?
[Nexus 7 General] MRsf27:
I heard this screen flicker was due to low wi-fi signal :confused: I have the same problem ONLY in a low wi-fi zone; so it could be very possible it's due to that. I haven't noticed the screen flickering at any other time
[Nexus 7 General] megamoz:
Contrary to general tendency, mine has less flicker when WiFi signal is weak. When WiFi signal is strong with full bars, flickering is much more noticeable. I know it sounds strange, but that's the behavior it displays. :confused:
[Nexus 7 General] rhirons:
I've had the issue since day 1 and It only happens when wifi is in use. I can read a book/watch stored videos no bother with the brightness set to auto/25% or less. When I'm streaming (netflix, gmaps, youtube) I get the flicker. I've returned it and received a new one and it works perfectly. May have been a bad batch. I would recommend returning it.
[Nexus 7 General] Nascar Dog:
Worked for me. After returning 6 of them I finally got one with no flicker and a nice white screen (no yellow tint) :cool:
[Nexus 7 General] Freshtojeff:
What batch did you guys end up getting? I have a C70 which seems to be having the same issues. Either gonna try the Prism disable or just swap it for a new unit.
[Nexus 7 General] Nascar Dog:
Mines a C70
[Nexus 7 General] GoldenDrago:
I received mine on the 24th of August and it was from the C80 batch, it had flicker so I finally decided to get it replaced yesterday.

Did an advance replacement where they send me a new device and I can decide which one of the two to keep, in case the replacement is in worse condition.

Will post results!
[Nexus 7 General] ppwicho:
ok

I will try this.. could any one jump with me ?:highfive:
[Nexus 7 General] WeepingWombat:
My 3rd unit which is good is a C70 too
[Nexus 7 General] mauiyob:
Is there a way to fix the fliker? And do I need to unroot it if I want to return it?
[Nexus 7 General] masterg0g0:
Read this http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1819596
[Nexus 7 General] kikikaka:
Hi,

I got a C80Kxxx recently. Everything is fine, except it has flickering problem. I read from here it is related to WiFi. Yes, when browsing in Chrome (especially after scrolling ), and watching youtube, under low brightness, this can be observed, although not very serious.

Going through this thread, somebody posted this maybe related to the auto adjustment "feature" (sth like prism...). I tried to load some content in Chrome, I scroll quickly up and down the screen, some flickerings. But the contents are already loaded, seems it is not related to wifi. So I then turn off the WiFi. Scroll in the chrome again, still some minor flickering observed. For my case seems this is not the Wifi causing problem. But of course, Wifi may be also one of the source of problem.
[Nexus 7 General] shovett:
I got my replacement nexus serial starts with c60kb.

This one is fine no flicker or any other problem.
[Nexus 7 General] woshiweili:
Using the app called Lux helped solved the flickering on my C60 N7.
[Nexus 7 General] Tomasu82:
I've noticed the flickering on my tablet off and on for the past little while, as well as an odd tearing like line that appears in the lower quarter of the screen. But I've had it since the first shipment. What are the chances that google will replace it now? And what are the chances that I'll get a tablet with issues that are worse than what I have now?
[Nexus 7 General] rhltechie:
I know most of you keep saying it's not the auto brightness "feature". on my second tab....it's perfectly fine in every way UNTIL i enable to auto brightness. as soon as i do this, it flickers. turn it off, and its fine. i am sold that IS, at least on my tab, the feature just screws with my tab...so i leave it off.
[Nexus 7 General] jtrosky:
It could very well be a faulty light sensor where it's giving bad light readings, causing the brightness to "jump" around, which would thereby look like "flickering".... So like you said, it's probably just easier to not use auto-brightness in your case (although, I've personally found auto-brightness to be useful on the N7, unlike many other Android tablets)...
[Nexus 7 General] kikikaka:
I observed this problem for last few day. I found that this is not related to WIFI (or not simply only related to wifi). I turned off WIFI, then use bluetooth tethering with my mobile to access the internet. It does show the same flickering when loading pages in chrome. It is also possible that the bluetooth causing interference...? Next time I may get a USB Lan to test.
[Nexus 7 General] Cigolorp:
I've had this exact same problem in two different Nexus 7 devices. I bought one and about three days later I noticed the flickering problem. My brightness was either all the way down or most of the way down. It was most noticeable when something light was on the screen (like a browser or the google play store). I took it back (bought it at a B&M because of stuff like this) and exchanged it for another one. Within 30 minutes, the new one was doing the same thing. I returned it that night and haven't bought another one.

I only noticed the issue when the brightness was low, so that much I can verify in my case. The first time I noticed the problem, though, I was about 10 feet from a wireless router. I didn't realize that it was a real problem at the time (thought it might've been strange refreshing by the store), so I didn't verify my wireless strength. After realizing there was a problem and researching what was causing it, I started to pay closer attention to the wireless signal. I tended to notice the flickering in one specific spot in my house (wireless was around two bars and I was on a different level of the house), so it very well could have been related to the signal, like others have confirmed. I'm a little thrown off by the first case, though - no way my signal was low as close as I was.

At this point, I'm pretty disappointed with the quality control on this device. As many electronics as I've bought, I haven't gotten too many lemons over the years. I bought each unit from a different location (increasing the likelihood that they weren't from the same batch), but two tablets with the exact same problem is a huge red flag to me on the quality of the device. I could've probably put up with it, but I didn't pay that kind of money to "put up" with something. I suppose I'll either wait it out or see if I can find another comparable tablet that's better made. I've always respected Asus, but it seems like they might've cut too many corners with this one.
[Nexus 7 General] tristan325:
just noticed this same flicker on my nexus7 for the first time. Only seems to happen when I'm in the Engadget app.
[Nexus 7 General] D0ubl3_X:
Guys try to flash the new Binary Drivers from here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1905961. It fixed flickering in some apps for me.
[Nexus 7 General] Visa Declined:
If my screen flickered all the time it would bother me. It only happens a bit in WiFi though so nbd.
[Nexus 7 General] moby008:
No flicker

I haven't any flicker issues so far actually. Been using the device for weeks now.
[Nexus 7 General] hitmachine16:
First of all sorry for my bad english. I'd had the same issue before updated 4.1.2. But It's gone now. Post if you resolved this problem updating by 4.1.2.
[Nexus 7 General] nolook:
I'm still getting some flicker on white screens after this update...waiting to rma eventually since i also have some minor screen lift too

Sent from my Nexus 7
[Nexus 7 General] ubervince:
My device only showed a slight flicker when the brightness was set to auto, and that only happened in lowlight conditions.
[Nexus 7 General] noobletsausecakebbq:
I had this problem. I put a tiny piece of clear scotch tape on the upper wifi thingy thats on the back cover and it went away.
[Nexus 7 General] jonmorris:
The flickering is just as it was before on 4.1.2.
[Nexus 7 General] baraha:
any news about flicker fix? maybe in 4.2?
[Nexus 7 General] southberm:
Bumping this thread, as my nexus has been plagued with a flickering backlight. For those of you who previously had this issue, did you try to exchange it through Asus? If so, did it come up again?

Most people here think that's it's a software issue and I've heard that a custom ROM will fix it. We shouldn't have to ROM our devices just to get it working properly.
[Nexus 7 General] solgems:
well, I sent my to ASUS and they confirmed the issue being a defect in the LCD module and changed the whole screen.

so sad to say, IT IS a hardware issue and a custom rom won't fix it. at least it didn't for me.
[Nexus 7 General] Purplelinny:
This was good info to share with the Google Play tech support rep just now. He was not sure if it was hardware or software, but confirmed it is a known issue that they are still working on. They are sending me a third device, with the possibility that I will have a good one because, apparently, not every device has this issue... He said they will swap them out over and over if they need to, or I can get a refund within the 15 days of receiving one of the devices. 10 out for 10 to Google for the excellent support.
[Nexus 7 General] adamhlj:
If someone gets the 3G version, I would sure love to know if the problem persists.
[Nexus 7 General] xxx4reggie:
Subscribing to this . I'm having the same issue.

How do we reach out to Google tech support (sorry for the noon question)
[Nexus 7 General] gnustomp:
Never seem to get any problems people have mentioned. And my N7 is _always_ on automatic brightness.
[Nexus 7 General] AndreaCristiano:
Well all I also gave the flicker but mine completely vanishes when I take off auto on the brightness which tells me this isn't a hardware problem its software so exchanging it constantly does nothing but waste time
[Nexus 7 General] rmagruder:
Has ANYONE else seen the random rotation? Where it will rotate to landscape for no particular reason, draw a black screen with the navbar, and then after a few seconds, return to portrait? I get this several times a day. And I'm not rotating a darned thing.