yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I agree with you. Thankfully, screen balance doesn't have any negative impact as far the black concerned at 30% strength. Of course it is not a fix. In case Samsung will not be able to fix the problem, must not just replace the screens on our devices, but give us brand new ones.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
We both know this is not completely true :)

You can fairly easily mask a screens inability to produce certain shadows/colors by using dithering. It can then give the impression that it's showing colors/shadows which it's actually not showing.

Yeah, maybe an authorised repair center acutally has more information about the problem. I've been contacting the official support from Samsungs website, and as I've said they know nothing. We do have an Samsung authorised repair center in my town, I think I will go down to them next week and ask them if they know anything, hopefully they give me the same answer as they gave you :)
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
To be honest, I didn't expect them to give me clear information about the issue, but they did. They also told me to check always for new updates cause it's a matter of time for the fix. Their excact words were ''Samsung is aware of this issue and we have been instructed to inform our costumers to check for updates. The following days an update will be released to fix the problem"
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Galaxo60:
Indeed was a really sad trailer to see in the S9+.

:cowboy:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] tekzonept:
I subscribe that ?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ollieden:
I just watched that trailer my god it was awful I do hope it's true that they are aware of it.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] dr.guru:
Is there really someone here who does'nt have this problem ???

Personally I have used 5 S9+ (exynos versions, manufactured in Vietnam) and ALL of them had the problem. That makes me think that this problem is global and not only few persons are affected.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
Yes every phone has it
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] DemonSoul:
Amazing so much went past and still the same, thank god i asked my money back
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Tell God to send an update.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] DemonSoul:
God cant even fix this phone lel
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Chris_c81:
This.

I gave up a long email conversation with Samsung technical support weeks ago now. I was constantly updating this thread as replies came in from Samsung. But in the end they actually stopped responding to me.

The newcomers to this thread are being told the exact same things I was back in March, we've been promised a fix by support but it's yet to materialise.

I honestly don't believe Samsung will fix this. This will drag on and on until the S10 comes out next year and the S9 will be at the back of everyone's minds by then.

I've given up hope of a fix if I'm totally honest. I just kind of live with it.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
I'm posting here in the hope that people who are active in this thread can also test this out:

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=76460636&postcount=43

It's screen-related too, so I suppose it's not completely off topic. I don't know why no one is posting their results. It's a simple image retention test. As I said, the S7 doesn't have this "issue".
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
Ok, a little update on the coating issue.

Today I went to my service provider to get a third S9+ I then decided to open the box right at the store together with the guy behind the counter and sure enough, it had exactly the same problem. He then suggested we open few more phones to check and every single phone I opened had the dark spot above the speaker grill with coating missing. He also said it's a new batch they received..

Basically, I need to get used to it because I took the phone home regardless the issue. This is a shame on Samsung by doing no quality control whatsoever.

This doesnt affect funcionality ofcourse. Its a small cosmetic thing but still its there and I will never be happy about that. Also it can't be fixed by replacing as you see because all phones are affected.

Its either you live with it or give it up. But after research I still decided to keep it since huawei seems to be worse.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Either way, we all gonna die in the end.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ollieden:
I can't notice anything missing on mine unless I'm looking in the wrong place. I had the phone 1wk early. Only issue I have is the blacks crushing and not displaying blacks to Grays correctly. I only joined this forum regarding this issue as I know joining a forum you find more problems lol
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
At the risk of finding "more problems" hehe, can you please test this?:

https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=76460636&postcount=43
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
I dont have this problem :D
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
Thanks for testing! Can I double check that you ran that specific website test with the black/white pattern?

How long have you had the phone for?

I'm a little bit disappointed at this but I don't actually notice it in real-world use now, since I don't use a plain blue or grey background/wallpaper anymore.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] crossdeath:
I did this test on my S9+, not having such problems you talk about
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
Thanks for testing. How long have you had the phone for?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ollieden:
I haven't suffered any screen burn so far. Just tested note 8 and my s9 plus in a dark room with hacksaw ridge and the note 8 is alot better all the shades of black and gray are seen even could tell the colour of blood on his face. Unlike my s9 which looks green.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] tekzonept:
At this point im convinced that samsung knows about this since they released the phone, they probably thought this could be hidden with an update and maybe that is not that simple. The improve wallpapers updates proves samsung knows about this and that they don't know how to fix it.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] crossdeath:
i bought it on april 25 i think
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
I wasn't referring to "screen burn", but temporary image retention which is only reproducible in specific situations. The "image retention" goes away within about 5-30 seconds, depending on how long the previous image was on the screen for.

---------- Post added at 11:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 AM ----------

Right, so less than a month. I think I only started noticing it after about 6 weeks.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
No I tested real-world usage. Using the AOD example i dont get any image retention whatsoever. Absolutely nothing

New s9+ picked up yesterday
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
If possible, can you please check that image retention test from the website I linked? I also didn't observe any AOD image retention in the first 6-7 weeks, and actually can only reproduce the AOD image retention on specific wallpapers (eg. the default blue or grey ones).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Rushabh65:
I was tinkering around with my phone today and I found that Video Enhancer + Cinema mode completely resolves the black crush for me without screen balance app. I tested it in the dark as well and although there was still some crushing but the video was now vwry much watchable.

Hope this helps
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] YellowS7:
Yes indeed. With enhancer and bios mode it is more watchable.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
What's "Cinema mode"? How would you enable that?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Rushabh65:
It is a screen mode.

Settings - Display - Screen mode - Cinema mode
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
practically it did not help in anything, it is still unpleasant. screen balanced and xda setting is a much better choice. this is again just a very weak trick friend
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
What this test does different from real-world?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Rushabh65:
Xda setting ?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
As follows
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
Just makes the issue more obvious to see. As I said, it's only noticeable in specific settings that you may never come across in real-world.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
Sorry but I call that "looking for problems intentionally"

If you dont see any flaws in real-world use why would u want to find some test to see and test if you have god knows what problems?

I would call things as problems if I would see them with my own eyes by using the device normally. Things like oleophobic coating and black crush. Dont have any other problems with the phone and wont try to find them. :D
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Chris_c81:
Likewise. I don't see the image retention as an everyday issue. It's not one I've noticed in everyday use.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
I've been in contact with both and an engineer over at Samsung Sweden confirmed it was a hardware issue and just told me I had to send it in for repairs (haven't gotten it back yet, but apparently they did change both the screen and battery).

People often forget that Samsung doesn't read XDA, Androidcentral or Reddit and that the only way for them to actually do anything about it is if they know about the issue. The banding issue is a bit bizarre, and when people use the term "black crush" I bet the engineers over at Samsung get confused and don't think it's an issue (black crush is normal for most oled panels, the banding however is not). I just sent them some photo comparisons between my S7 and S9+ at low brightness levels by e-mail, printed them out and included some with the phone as well when I sent it in (a pic is worth a 1000 words), and they just concluded the display needed replacing as it isn't normal and not fixable with a simple software update.

I'm keeping my hopes up the new display is better than the old one.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Galaxo60:
It wouldn't be the first time they don't know what we are talking about, and company policies mostly rely in changing whole parts instead of trying to fix them, because in the long run is cheaper for them and they prefer not to research case by case about what's really happening.

Besides that, this issues with the display don't seem a hardware problem at all, and they have all the symptoms of being software and calibrations issues.

:silly:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Tritan and Screen Balance together?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
Yes
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
It does a good job at reducing black crushing and retain the black levels.

Upon further research, that's how S9 and S9+ are calibrated. Almost all of them.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
somebody helped that pretty much and someone less. you have to try it out
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
What I'm saying is, that 9 out of 10 S9's have black crushing
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
It is a hardware issue on some devices; the black crush is a calibration issue, but the low brightness banding is definitely not due to calibration. As I said I spoke to an engineer about the display issues, and he just said that the pics definitely don't look like they should so he asked me to send it in for evaluation (they wanted to see it first hand as they couldn't replicate the issue on their devices). This wasn't just a regular service rep either.

So if your device looks like this:

You should send it in and get it replaced as this is not something they will be able to fix through software.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Did you get a new device?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Not sure yet, but I think they might have just replaced the screen and battery (getting it tomorrow so I'll know more then). :good: If the new screen also suffers from it I'll send it in again and if that too suffers from the same issues I'm going to sell it and replace it with the regular S9.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Don't bother doing that. It's a misconception that S9 doesn't suffer from black crush. Whatever applies for S9+ is the same for the regular S9. I have the S9 and have this problem. I even checked numerous regular S9's and all of them have black crushing. I have checked it in multiple different stores.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] brockyneo:
Hi guys just got my s9 plus I want to check I don't have the problem what's the best video to use to check and at what brightness ECT

Also has it been declared a hardware issue or software

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
It hasn't been declared anything yet. From the authorised Samsung service they told me that an update is going to be released the following days. It is believed that it is a software-calibration issue. Check out the Infinity war trailer to see if you have black crushing.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Craphead:
The white looks absolutely TERRIBLE with this colour setting. Maybe it does help against black crush however it renders the display unusable otherwise. I do go with screen balance though and I think it does a very good job at minimizing the problem with the blacks and greys while still retaining a pretty good level of black (going with 35% strength).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
From an economic standpoint you should probably not sell it, but return in to Samsung for a full refund. I think you have the right to do that if they try 3 times to repair the phone :)
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] brockyneo:
Thanks I don't seem too see much problem with the trailer is it really noticeable only asking as I'm away for a couple off weeks so I don't want to go past my 14 day return if there is a problem lol

Just trying to replicate to see if it's affecting my device too

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Do you know what to look for?

Do you understand what black crush is?

I am asking to help you further.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] tekzonept:
Try this video, this one looks very bad at a dark place with brightness at 20%

https://youtu.be/5pBEnaBYwFI

Why are always users here trying to convince others that this is a software issue without any solid proof.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
No one tries to convince others. I am talking about facts. Ask whether black crushing is a matter of calibration or defective hardware. Google Pixel 2XL had this problem and solved it via software update. In fact, the problem was way worse on 2XL.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] brockyneo:
If I'm honest no I've just come across this thread and I'm trying to check every common issue to make sure I have a decent model before I go away lol

Thanks for your help
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
As tekzonept told you

Try this video

https://youtu.be/5pBEnaBYwFI
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] brockyneo:
I think I see the problem I'll check on the gf iPhone see if it's the same

---------- Post added at 09:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 PM ----------

Just tested net to a iPhone 8 plus and yes I see the issue on his jacket ECT

Hmmm what to do next have people returned it and got one that doesn't have the issue or is it more common then not

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] tekzonept:
Theres others facts. Someone a posts before said that a Samsung engineer told him this couldn't be fixed with a software update. Like someone said there's probably 2 problems here, black crush and banding. The video i posted, in my galaxy s9+, has a green tone. In some dark images when i zoom in and and move the picture, blacks seem like a liquid. But in some others videos some shadows turn to a unnatural black. Maybe I'm having both issues.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
My phone (S9 regular) shows the excact same thing. Samsung told me that is not a hardware defect and they will not exchange or fix my device. Just told me to wait for an update the following days.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] tekzonept:
I don't mind to wait for a future update. Here in portugal I have contacted Samsung and they didn't know anything about this at least thats what they told me, but a few weeks before I've been in an official repair shop and in there they said Samsung was going to release an update to fix this. Meanwhile one was released only to fix calls and improve wallpaper quality. I'll wait for one more. It's very odd that there were two updates here to fix wallpapers, makes me think that Samsung knows about this almost since the phone was released.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Here in Greece, the authorised Samsung service centre told that they are fully aware of the problem and that I have to wait for a software update. HDR content is perfect though, in any brightness. If I activate Screen Balance while watching HDR, it messes up everything.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
That's what they told me until I got to speak with an actual engineer who said I should send it in and get it fixed. There are two issues here: 1. black crush & 2. banding at lower brightness levels (due to the screen not being able to display shades of gray accurately in the RGB(0,0,0) -> RGB(16,16,16) range). The black crush is an easy fix (could however affect the overall calibration negatively if your screen is already perfect), but the banding is not. I'll report back once I get my phone today. Sucks that we don't have full control over the display calibration ourselves as that would make things a hundred times easier to fix and figure out. I already tried calibrating the screen using X-Rite's own gallery app (doesn't affect mDNIe values though so pretty much useless) to no effect.

What we need is for a dev to expose the mDNIe values to the user and let us configure it ourselves (would require root) unless Samsung magically manages to fix it with a software update (wouldn't explain why some devices don't suffer from the same issue).

Some US users were reporting that it was fixed with the latest firmware (may security patch), so there's that.

My guess is that there's both a hardware and software issue at work here; some displays are just worse than others, and those won't be saved (improved yes, but not fixed) by a software update.

This is definitely not normal:

---------- Post added at 08:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:34 AM ----------

HDR isn't perfect. If you check the videos I uploaded earlier using the exact same content (converted to rec.2020) they look very similar (some slight differences due to color conversion). Unless converting the HDR content to SDR causes the issue to show up, it really isn't a proper way of testing it (you need the same content converted to both color gamuts in order to draw any sort of conclusion whether one is better than the other—which is what I tried to do earlier).

---------- Post added at 09:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:54 AM ----------

Contacted Boeffla on Twitter as he seems to have a lot of experience tweaking the mDNIe values of Samsung's phones: https://wiki.boeffla.de/index.php?title=Kernel_Settings_Reference#MDNIE_settings

I'm not sure if Samsung even allows for per brightness level tweaking (which would indicate that a 'calibration fix' wouldn't solve the issue as the display is already accurate at 50% brightness).

EDIT: He just answered that he hasn't been doing any development for Samsung's phones since the S5 and has no idea how they do it nowadays.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I'll be waiting to inform us if Samsung fixed the problem for you and how.

---------- Post added at 08:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:26 AM ----------

As far as I can tell from the charts you've tested on your device. Your screen seems to have black crush but other problems too.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Yes that's probably why they wanted to check it out for themselves (I'm sadly not the only one experiencing these issues though).

Here are the images if anyone else wants to test out his/her device:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Here are some thoughts about whether is a hardware defect or not.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Wow. I am getting far better results than you. You really can't see red at all???
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Unless there are some actual sources and proof of what he is saying it isn't worth much. Usually there has been just one display profile for the entire brightness range and on the S9+ (and maybe the S9) the changes in brightness affects the overall colors much more than it has before. So unless Samsung plans on doing per brightness level calibration this is not going to be solved (they would have to do it for each display profile as well). Another reason why I doubt they'll be able to fix the banding in software is that switching between display profiles doesn't affect the issue at all, when you can clearly see they are different at higher brightness levels. The only thing they could solve is the black crush by just adjusting the gamma (it's a bit higher than 2.2 at the moment: http://www.displaymate.com/Gamma_43s.html).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] brockyneo:
Sorry to sound stupid but how do I test with the pics I start seeing the Gray around number 8 if that means anything lol

Also I've just been on live chat and they said it's not hardware and there aware of the problem and releasing a fix so I don't know
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
With my naked eyes and full brightness, in the image that you post about rgb I can see the following

Blue: 7 maybe up to 6

Green: 7

Red: 10 for sure. Maybe 9 as well.

Grey: 5 for sure.

---------- Post added at 10:06 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 AM ----------

Two things first. Dark room, full brightness on display.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] brockyneo:
I see Gray at 7

Red at 11

Green at 11

Blue at 8

Not sure what it means lol

---------- Post added at 10:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:14 AM ----------

With the second test picture I see everything at an 8
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Rushabh65:
I checked the above images on my screen.

1st with screen balance off, 80% brightness

R -13

G -8

B -8

Now with screen balance at 25%

R -7

G -6

B -6

Also I'm not getting the green blobs in place of grey at the bottom like toss3 has posted.

Since screen balance helped in my case, it definitely has to be a software issue.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
What matters you use the theme. I enjoy Terpschichora. And the effect is great. Recommend.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
That's it - you don't need to do anything other than loading up the image on your phone and assess it for yourself. Seeing 8 -> is what most S9s are capable of displaying.

Btw. just got my phone back and the new screen is suffering from the same issue. :(
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Chris_c81:
Disappointing, but predictable. I had engineers say both hardware and software in different communications. They wanted me to send mine in for repair but I opted not to, as I just didn't believe a new screen would fix it.