yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I've already have read this thread :)

In this point, as a person who loves technology and technician, I want to say that the manufactures every year are always saying that they have the perfect display, camera etc. to justify the price of their products. Of course, this is not true. Then, when people buy the product and realise that it is not as perfect as advertised, they get disappointed. They make them believe that they buy a flawless device without any limitation. Well, every technology has it pros and cons. Nothing that you are going to hold into your hands will be perfect.

There is not any amount of money that can buy you the ''perfect. If something was perfect, then the manufactured wouldn't have the need to make better phone's etc. I understand everyone that gets upset because a device doesn't meet all of their expectations, but that's technology. Of course, it is another thing to say that a product is not perfect and other to say that it is obviously defective.

In the case of S9 and S9+, the problem can be fixed to some extent through software.

---------- Post added at 11:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:08 AM ----------

And with amoled technology, we can say that they "They don't have the issue at all''. Pure AMOLED will always crushing the blacks to some extent, even with the correct calibration. To fight this problem, Apple decided to lose a very small amount of the true blacks, just for not crushing them. They applied a filter through software to achieve that. I think that Samsung this year went very aggressive for even more deep blacks. It is not absolutely that an amoled shuts of completely it's pixels to produce deep blacks. The pixels are always have a tiny amount of light when black. I witnessed this with every amoled screen that I owned in complete darkness. I think that this year, Samsung tried to keep completely off the pixels, to the point that we see crushed blacks. With a software update, this problem can be adressed.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
The screen I got on my S9+ was significantly worse than the screen on my Sony Z3 Compact which I bought 2.5 years ago for 1/3 the price, that's how bad my screen was. I could see the color banding everywhere. On the home screen, in games, in videos etc.

I think we all can agree that there is no such thing as the perfect phone, but to me it's completely nuts that the screen I had got through the QC. I'm not saying I expected a perfect phone, but the differences between these screens are huge :)

Even if the problem can be fixed to some extent through a software update, how sure are we that Samsung will give it a try? The problem have been known for a while and everytime I contact the support they tell me they don't have any clue about anything.

EDIT:

Of course an AMOLED screen is going to be able to produce true blacks, but on the S9+ I had there was absolutely no contrast depth at the darker range. It was either completely black or light gray, the phone couldn't produce dark grey at all. If you compare that to the iPhone X or the Huawei P20 Pro they are able to produce a wide range of dark colors, from completely black, to very dark grey, to slightly lighter gray etc. And some S9+ can do that too, which can be seen in the previously mentioned link.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Now you are talking about two completely different types of screen technologies. IPS LCD displays are not prone to black crushing. They have other "issues" like not deep and true blacks. On the other hand, AMOLED screens have other limitations, and one of them is black crushing. If an AMOLED is calibrated, then the black crushing should almost invisible to the untrained eye.

But again, don't confuse LCD with AMOLED technology. I've seen even my IPS LCD monitor on my pc crush the blacks after a Windows 10 update. But here is the "easy" part for Samsung, because they have to release a patch to fix the issues on the same hardware. That is not the case with Windows. Every update applies to people that have different hardware configurations. So in this case, yes software update that fixes my problem, can have a negative impact to your system.

Black crushing is not like the last year's red tint. That was a hardware defect, not limitation that again with software, someone could adjust the display to make it look better. Then again, that was a foul from Samsung, they should openly leave the choice for customers to replace their devices with brand new ones cause it was a defect.

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:47 AM ----------

Again, already someone in here said that an update from Samsung fixed his problem with black crushing. I do not have any reason to doubt him. If it's true, then we have good news.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
I am completely aware of the differences between IPS technology and OLED technology. I am also completely aware that the color banding issue and the black crush issue are slightly different issues. What I'm saying is that a screen should be able to have a contrast depth at all brightness levels. If you compare my Z3 compact (IPS screen) to the iPhone X or Huawei P20 Pro (both AMOLED screens) they have a much better display than my Z3 compact in all aspects. Blacks are completely black, they can show really dark grey etc. This was not nearly the case with my S9+. It was either completely black or very light gray, it could not produce any dark greys at all.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I know. That's what I'm dealing with too. But, what you have to say that one S9+ owner in here reports that his problem is fixed with the last update?

In my opinion, the problem will be adressed in Oreo 8.1

---------- Post added at 12:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 PM ----------

And it is not that as a display can't reproduce the multiple shades of grey. It is just not calibrated well. If it really couldn't, even Screen Balance with it's filter wouldn't be able to help.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
It might have fixed it for him. We had another owner who said the ARD4 update fixed it for him, but it didn't fix it for the rest of us. If the new update fixed it for everyone we would have known by now since there are a lot of people with this problem. I personally don't any longer think Samsung will fix this for everyone. Some might get a fix, but some will probably never get fixed. I returned my phone to the retailer a couple of weeks ago and have ordered a new one. If it has the same problem I will return it again and probably buy a iPhone X or Huawei P20 Pro since I've seen a couple of those in the store that don't have the problem. I know not all S9+ have the problem, but right now we don't know how many don't have the problem, how many only have slight issues and how many have huge issues. I think you said before that you could not see the problem in games? For me it was extremely noticeable in games too. I think the displays are of such wide range of quality that it would be too hard to fix it for all screens.

EDIT:

I tried screen balance. It made it slightly better but the screen was still completely horrible to look at :)
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
What do you mean the screen it was horrible to look at. Because it messed with the blacks or you faced additional problems?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
I had both black crush and color banding issues. It was mostly the color banding that bothered me, since it was like the screen could only show a very few amount of colors and greyscales. Everything looked like the left picture here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Colour_banding_example01.png

It was extremely noticeable everywhere. On the home screen, in games, in videos etc. The picture quality was just horrible and nothing I've even seen on any other phone before (including both IPS screens and AMOLED screens, or even really bad TN screens for laptops). It was literally the first thing I thought about when I started the phone. And the problem was still there on all resolutions and all display settings. My screen was worse than most of the screens showed in the androidcentral thread, so I know I got unlucky and got a particularly bad screen.

EDIT:

The problems got less noticeable at 100% brightness, but then it was way to bright for my eyes. At a more reasonable brightness level the color banding was impossible to miss.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
With 30% stregth on Screen Balance, I can retain a very good level of black with a bit of black crushing. On the other hand, banding is an issue that I always had with AMOLED screens. From 2011 till now.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
Sure, you might be right that color banding has been an issue since 2011 on AMOLED screens, but this was on a whole other level. I have friends with S8's, S7's, iPhone X etc (all AMOLED screens), neither of their phones look anywhere near what mine looked like. Like I've said several times now, there's a huge difference in the screen quality when it comes to the S9+. Some don't have the issue at all, some have slight issues and others have huge issues.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ashura6666:
Where did you get the build from?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I think that the best display overall belongs to Iphone X. Very well calibrated.

The fun fact is that worst black crushing on Samsung galaxy S9/S9+ is what the best Google Pixel Xl2 had to offer, before they came up with an update that fixed the issue.

---------- Post added at 01:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:12 PM ----------

Just contacted the best Samsung authorised service here and Greece for aditional information and they confirmed that Samsung is going to release an update to fix the issue. Told that is not a hardware defect.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] th.android:
The important part here is Samsung to officially recognize the issue and provide a solution for it. In the end, it is irrelevant if it's hardware or software related.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
I think most of us can agree that iPhone X has the best display, since it doesn't have these issues. But then again, not all S9/S9+ have the issue either, so those are probably just as good, or maybe even better, than the iPhone X display since they have a higher pixel density :)

So Samsung Greece told you it's a software problem. If I recall it correctly an engineer at Samsung (Finland?) told Toss3 that it's a hardware issue. I've personally been in contact several times with Samsung Sweden and they have no idea if it's a hardware issue or software issue (I mailed them again and I'm expecting an answer tomorrow). I've also been in contact with Samsung US, and they have no idea either. This tells me Samsung has no internal communication and that at best they are just giving out qualified guesses :)

EDIT: And to be honest, I don't really care if it's a hardware issue or software issue. I just want a phone with a screen that doesn't look like ****. If they solve it by using dithering or by replacing the screen or by calibrating the screen doesn't really matter to me, as long as the screen after the fix looks good.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] LiNe1771:
iPhone screens are manufactured by Samsung, do u really think they would give them better screen? And no, isn't best. I used it for a few days and S9+ screen is way better, that's why it's the best or one of the best screen on the world. And who said below that iPhone X has better screen and that's why it's better, lmao, isn't that the reason, good screen tend to have this problem, Google had it too.

Anyway, ARD4 update here and i still have black crush, nice work Samsung, 2 months and still nothing. I can't even watch my serie on my phone cuz the black colors are horrible.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
Yeah we all know the screen on the iPhone X is manufactured by Samsung. We all also know that Apple knows how to calibrate their screens. You say that good screens tend to have this problem. I'm sorry but that's completely stupid. A good screen is color accurate, have high brightness, good viewing angles, have a high color depth and contrast depth, is enjoyable to watch etc etc. You try to say that it's the best screen, but you can't watch a serie on the phone because the black colors are horrible? Obviously it's not a good screen then.. I would rather watch movies on my old Z3 Compact than the S9+ I had, that's how terrible the screen is. If you don't have the black crush or color banding, then sure, it's probably the best phone screen in the world. But if you do have the problem then it's a horrible screen and both the iPhone X and the Huawei P20 Pro have better screens since any person with functioning eyes would rather have one of those if they were to watch movies or play games.. It sounds like you're just trying to justify your purchase.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
One concern that I have is that Screen Balance app may cause burn in while watching movies or videos in general. I am afraid for the black bars, cause now the pixels are always on there.

---------- Post added at 10:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 PM ----------

And what they told from the authorised service in Greece, is that Samsung is aware of this problem and that is making an update specifically for this.

They seemed to be fully aware
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] LiNe1771:
Not trying to justify anything, i don't need to justify. Samsung has better screens that iPhone & Huawei, period.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
That was true until Iphone X came out. Still, I don't like iOS.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
Well I still have the option to go and try a third S9+. The black crush is actually something I can live with at least I think so.. The worst issue was the oleophobic coating for me because I could easily see a black spot on the screen. Seeking it every day and knowing that it's there is the worst thing..
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I don't have this option but I wouldn't do it anyway. Only if Samsung will not do anything to solve the problem, I will ask my money back.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] septum12:
I followed the instructions found here:

https://www.xda-developers.com/install-may-security-update-samsung-galaxy-s9/
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Neo_Sk8eR:
I thought my unit was fine until I watched the black panther trailer side by side with p20 pro...... Yuch.

Banding is just nasty.

Might have to go back to an s8 or something
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] sunny1119:
I have the Normal version s9 and I can confirm that the black crushing issue has been fixed on build ending ARD1 .
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ashura6666:
Nope it hasn't for my S9+ which is also on ARD1
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Nevertheless, the news are encouraging.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Galaxo60:
Honestly, I have never seen a problem like yours with the coating, so I would give another chance. I think you are the only case so far with this problem, so I doubt it happens again.

;)

I installed ARD4 update yesterday in my S9+ and still I notice the black crush and banding in dark scenes.

:(
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
please show where I could see black crush. sample video or demo. I also updated yesterday on ARD4
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ashura6666:
Watch the infinity war trailers and black panther trailer
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Galaxo60:
I always test with the Infinity War trailer, moreover in the final part when Spiderman is speaking with Dr. Strange:

https://youtu.be/QwievZ1Tx-8?t=2m2s

Is really noticeable.

;)
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] th.android:
Companies of this magnitude are not juvenile fanboys with emotional issues about who has the better toy. Samsung delivered a screen according to Apple's specifications and they did a pretty damn good job too. They want to keep their paying client (Apple) happy and X's screen is definitely one of the very few best out there according to many reviews and technical sites. There's no doubt in that.

And no, a "good" screen doesn't "tend to have this problem". But keep saying this to yourself if it makes you feel better when you can't even watch your series on your phone because the black colours are horrible (your own quote in the end). And if it is a good screen like you said, why are you even expecting a fix? Maybe Samsung doesn't ought to fix it then if good screens tend to have this problem...

On point, all these contradictive responses from Samsung Support are not very encouraging. I hope I'm wrong but maybe we end up with the issue being forgotten. It's 2 months and they don't seem to be able to get their heads around it. When we had the red screen problem with S8 last year they released a statement officially recognizing it and confirmed a patch was in the works. This time it's just silence and rumors. No official confirmation about anything.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Well, some users report that the problem is fixed via the ARD4 update. I thing the reason that we don't all of us get the fix yet, is that Samsung testing it to a limited number of phones. It seems that is working. I think we will have to wait until Oreo 8.1.

I contacted the authorised Samsung service again in Greece today and they told me that they are fully aware of this problem and that is going to be fixed through update for sure. They acknowledge the problem and they say that it is not a hardware defect.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Neo_Sk8eR:
UK also says they're aware of it and it'll be a software fix
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ikbenjelly:
Ard4 does not solve the issue... [YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/5pBEnaBYwFI

this scene is absolutely horrible on the s9+ hacksaw ridge

When he wipes the blood from face ....
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Neo_Sk8eR:
Yikes! That's the best video yet to show the problem
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ikbenjelly:
Every other mobile device or monitor i have can play the scene.... some maybe less dark... some maybe less saturated but not like the s9+ where there are strange artefacts or oil like smudges sometimes in shadows or night scenes and even in some normal scenes but the guy wears a dark suit that seems like it has oil smears on it.

Please dont say it is an oled thing... i have not had this problem on my note 4.. s6edge... s7edge... s8+ i watch a lot of videos on my mobile device the main reason being samsung screen give by far the best viewing experience....until s9+
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
It is an OLED thing when is bad calibrated.

---------- Post added at 01:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 PM ----------

Just watched it o my s9. Why did you do that to me. It was horrible.

I think I know how Samsung is going to solve the problem.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ConnyHedgehog:
I've just been in contact with both Samsung Sweden and Samsung US and they both gave me similar answers. According to them this is a very rare problem and they have not had many complaints about it. They also don't seem to know if it's a hardware problem or a software problem and they have no idea if Samsung is going to fix the problem or not.

I know both Kostasl88 and Neo_Sk8eR says that their respective contacts have said that a software update is going to fix it, but to me it seems like the Samsung technicians/engineers are just giving out qualified guesses. Of course I hope I'm wrong here and that a fix will come, but if you're reading this and still have not been in contact with Samsung in your country, please please please contact them because to me it doesn't seem like many people have actually complained to Samsung about this. I mean, there are several threads on several forums with hundreds and hundreds of complaints about the problem and there are several articles written about the problem, but most of the people at Samsung I've been talking to haven't even heard about the problem or they say that I'm literally the only one complaining about the problem...
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] th.android:
Although the issue is OLED "related" (can't exist in a LCD panel) I'd say I was pretty surprised to deal with it on a 2018 device. In the past I used to own a Samsung Omnia 2 which had one of the very first OLED screens (if I'm not mistaken) and this particular issue was non existent. Same thing with the very first Galaxy Note N7000. I watched a lot of videos on that device and didn't see anything like it.

It's rather strange for Samsung to be "calibrating" correctly OLED screens debuted 9 years ago but not doing so in a 2018 flagship...
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
As far as I have seen, both in person and on YouTube, our devices is how the typical S9/S9+ screen looks like. We have to wait. They specifically told me that Samsung gave instructions to them neither to repair nor to replace any phone with this issue, cause it's going to be fixed via update. They send it me through mail also.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] th.android:
Unfortunately the problem in this case is that this is an issue only noticeable by people who watch a lot of videos on their device and in dark conditions too. It's not something that people can pick up and notice in a retail store for example (like the S8 red screen).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Still it can happen. If it was a hardware defect, neither Screen Balance app nor any other app could help. If our screens were lacking the ability to show the correct shadows of grey, then nothing in the world could make them to.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
I think nobody can tell the real answer because what are you contacting is just simple customer support who give generic answers and copy paste problem-solving text. When I wrote to Samsung support in my country and asked if its software or hardware all they said was to reset the device and bring the phone in for repair..

They have no information on this topic. As I said they are bunch or people who's instructed to help with basic things and give generic answers. Everybody in this thread could go and do the same job.

We will never know if they will fix it until they roll out an update regarding the particular issue. Imagine how many people have a S9+ and are not complaining. Thats because they just dont see the problem even if they do notice the pixelated blacks in dark room they dont care as they think its normal. Not everybody is tech advanced to go to xda forums and look out problems then see if their device has it or no.

I think somewhere deep inside samsung software development they know about it and will provide an update that works for all phones.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
Personally I get in contact with the authorised repair center and they told me that they have specific instructions about the issue and how to deal with. I asked them twice and they told me that they are fully aware. They can't lie.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] th.android:
The Screen Balance app comes with a significant cost though and that's why I don't even consider it to be a solution. It turns true blacks into almost dark greys.

Unacceptable compared to the other OLED panels out there (including last year's S8 which had true blacks and no such issues). I just hope Samsung doesn't come up with a similar "fix".

Hardware defect or software bug, Samsung should provide an acceptable solution. Whether this is replacing screens or simply issuing a software update, it doesn't matter. But if the fix means compromises (like black levels), it is not a fix for me.