yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] newbieandroid:
Fake news... nice photoshop skills!
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Huey85:
This. ARD1 with April 1 security patch.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
ARD1?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ssj100:
Yes, he replied above. ARD1. Personally, I don't see much difference - it's probably a "placebo" effect!
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Chris_c81:
I recieved ARD1 OTA yesterday. It's made no difference for me.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Doesn't appear to be affect all S9+s so it could be an issue with the earliest batches of panels or something. Remains to be seen if they can fix it with a software update.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ollieden:
Just been on the phone to Samsung UK. They have no idea regarding the situation they even took over my phone with Samsung tutor and tested bits. All they could advice was take it to a Samsung store to get fixed which I doubt would help.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] BlackBird_666:
No one has a clue about this issue at Samsung! I'd be surprised if I find one Samsung Tech who knows about this...
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] pieces of cake:
Cool story bro.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] salada2k:
Problem persists on ARD1.

It is very troubling that Samsung claim they don't know about it. Sounds like blatant denial to me which, in my personal opinion means a fix may not be possible.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Huey85:
Anyone have videos I can test this problem with?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
please try test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK7ziB3_OXw
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Huey85:
Thanks. Yep issue still there with ARD1 update. The colour blending/banding issue is so noticeable with that video!
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Craphead:
Do you guys also see this when using the phone in a well-lit room or just in more or less dark environment? Because I for one only notice something when I'm using it in a really dark room and only at certain screen brightness levels. Since I don't use my phone in such conditions very often I guess I could tolerate it.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bubac:
tottaly broken picture in dark room, this is shame, just look first 30 sec of this video in dark room ambient

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqAGm4_SjVc&t=3s

almost every video with dark scenes is unwatchable.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] pieces of cake:
Turn up the brightness and life goes on and on and on!
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] antonis29:
does anybody know if samsung is going to fix this crap watching videos in lowlight conditions such as in bedroom at night is impossible we paid 1000€ for this **** ?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] shaggyskunk:
Is this what you guys are talking about - The area in the screen shot in the upper left side? View attachment 4490310

Sent from my SM-G955W ??
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] antonis29:
yes
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] shaggyskunk:
Well if that's the case - This is on my S8+ Oreo 8.0 FYI and NOT my S9+. ?

Sent from my SM-G955W ??
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ollieden:
Really you don't have this mess on your s9plus but it's on your s8plus? I had the s8 plus and loved that phone but upgarded and wish I never now. I'm hoping it's a software fix as the screen balance app helps it alittle.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] shaggyskunk:
Looks like it - Funny thing is though - I never ever noticed it on my S8+ until I watched the video posted here - So much so that I wasn't even sure if the area of the screen I pointed out was not supposed to be like that... ?

Sent from my SM-G955W ??
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] v-b-n:
My s9 plus banding issue has disappeared with the ARD4 update and gained amazing battery stamina !
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ThatGuitarGuy:
Here's a video on the issue of the black crush and smear.

[YOUTUBE]GfBrXa2H8aw[/YOUTUBE]
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Craphead:
Thanks for posting this, this was actually really helpful because of the instructions given for the usage of the screen balance app! I had read about that app before in an article on the topic but the parameters recommended there led to pretty much unusable results as it would turn the deep black of the display into more of a dark grey. With this guy's settings though, the blackcrush really gets a LOT less (even though it's not completely gone) AND the black still stays black in a way that is a lot more tolerable. I'm very happy about this right now and I think this is gonna make the wait for a software fix from Samsung itself a lot easier!

For those of you who don't want to watch the video just to get the instructions for Screen Balance App, here's what you gotta do:

- set the top slider to either "fluorescent" or "fluorescent warm" (personally I think "fluorescent" gives better results)

- set the white balance slider to 30-35% (I'm going with 35 right now)

- set contrast and brightness slider to 100%
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] zee54:
Just had this message from Samsung's UK Support's twitter account:

"We appreciate your patience. Samsung is aware of this symptom which may appear on some S9+ phones, and we've scheduled to release a new Software update to resolve this as soon as possible. Please keep an eye out for any updates to your S9+, we recommend keeping Auto Update turned on, so it installs as soon as it's available. ^JL"
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Yeah that's what they kept telling me, but they just asked me to send my phone in for inspection as they apparently cannot figure out what the issue is. :silly:

---------- Post added at 03:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:10 PM ----------

Again the image people use to prove that the display suffers from "black crush" has issues on the S9/S9+ for some odd reason; I can clearly see more squares on my S7 using that image, but when viewing any other screenshot the S9+ displays much more information than the S7 in darker areas (not the same image, but suffers from the same issue as the one used in the Youtube clip):

I made my own test file here:

Here's a comparison between the S7 and S9+:

So as you can see the S9+ suffers from less black crush than the S7, but it still looks much worse when viewing darker scenes:

This is because the S9+ fails to display all shades of gray at lower brightness levels and goes from complete black (which for the S9+ is RGB(8,8,8)) to light grey (at RGB(9,9,9)), as you can see from the photo of my own RGB comparison. This makes darker scenes look too bright as the S9+ cannot display all shades of gray (could be a hardware issue).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] zee54:
Well that doesn't sound very promising. You should definitely take one for the team and send off your phone to be poked and prodded until they solve the issue for the rest of us :)

Is it just me, or do those pics look green to everyone else too?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
They were taken at very very low light so the whitebalance is way off. It's actually pretty close to gray with the latest update (was green before). :good:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] ashura6666:
May security update black crush fix?

Anybody on the update could please tell us about any improvements on the topic? Thank you
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
So I just updated my S7 to Oreo and the display is much improved: no black crush and no banding what so ever; grayscale is absolutely spot on. It really puts the S9+ to shame now. :eek: How on earth did neither Samsung nor any "reviewers" spot this? It really boggles the mind how awful most Youtubers are at reviewing phones. Not only did they miss the lack of performance improvements over the S8 due to only using Antutu and Geekbench, but completely missed the mark with the display as well. Seriously disappointed with my purchase. Was going to get a replacement S7 (factory new) for 249,90€ to keep me satisfied until the Note 9/S10, but got persuaded to keep my S9+ and now I seriously regret it as the S7 is almost as smooth as fast running Oreo as my S9+ and the display is just perfect.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] crossdeath:
i agree, it's really a shame we have to deal with the display issues... it would kinda be acceptable if the device costs 200-300 euros, but 800+ euros? that's just stupid... samsung is acting quite childish about all this
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Did some new comparisons after updating my S7 to Oreo:

Max brightness:

Min Brighness:

Auto brightness:

Screenshot comparison:

As you can see the S7 actually shows a lot more difference between the shades of gray at the bottom (most noticeable on auto brightness as the S9+ is a lot brighter at min due to the inability of the display to show darker shades of gray).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Ollieden:
I'm hoping it's just software related. The screen balance app does a pretty good job in helping the situation out so fingers crossed it is just software lazyness.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] SwagGoat:
Here's my sample from a picture posted earlier in this thread to test the banding. The issue doesn't seem to be there. Please correct me if I'm wrong. S9+ from Canada.

EDIT: While it isn't obvious on the particular picture, I saw some banding in other videos on youtube, however, turning off video enhancer makes it look exactly like my iPhone X. I noticed the infinity wallpapers are simply bad resolution when applied as the full res pictures downloaded online do not show the banding when applied as wallpapers. I'm a bit confused at this point...
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] kvl19:
The Deadpool 2 trailer is the easiest way to find out. Just watch for the black background during the first 30 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqAGm4_SjVc
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] SwagGoat:
I tested that one and I can see it pretty clearly. However, as I mentioned, turning off video enhancer drastically improved the situation especially in that one example. No denying, there's clearly an issue. I've tested multiple phones I own. The iPhone X shows signs but isn't as obvious as S9+, Nexus 6P shows no sign, Note 7 just as bad as S9+, Pixel 2 XL no issue.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] v_square:
Someone pointed out the issue has been fixed in ARD4 update. Has someone received it yet? I'm still on ARD1.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] SwagGoat:
Hey, would you mind explaining what ARD 1 and 4 are? Really hoping for improvement and I'm interested to learn about it. Thanks!
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Flash701:
Just downloaded it, no change, unfortunately.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] v_square:
They are the build numbers for the Software version.

Settings/About Phone/Software Information
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] v_square:
That's sad. Also I believe you are using the snapdragon variant. How's the battery life holding up?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] SwagGoat:
I see. I had checked that already but mine says ARC1. Wasn't sure, thanks!!
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
ARD4 only fixed the dropped call bug. Hoping to see an improvement in the next update or I'll sell the phone and move on to something that actually works as it is supposed to.

---------- Post added at 11:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:59 PM ----------

Created a new test file that illustrates the issue even more clearly:

You should see three lines of text that say: "THIS SHOULD BE DARK GRAY" and a gray gradient at the bottom.

Looks horrible on my S9+.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
I think I'm gonna buy the Huawei P20 Pro... A second S9+ for me have bad oleophobic coating.. On Monday I will try to return it again and get a third phone but if it also will have that issue I'm going to get my money back... For a phone costing 900 Eur, this is unacceptable.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] SwagGoat:
I can see your picture very clearly on my S9+ at low (30%) brightness and full brightness. Would this mean that my device is not that bad after all?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Could you take a picture? Impossible to say otherwise :)
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] v_square:
Even I can see it. Although in a dark room.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
You see all three lines and a gradient without banding? :confused:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] v_square:
The uppermost line is barely visible. The next 2 are more visible. The gradient bar is visible as well, going from shades of pitch black to light gray.

Also, I'm not even in a pitch dark environment. I don't have something to take a picture right now. Probably I'll post it when I reach back home.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
I'm pretty sure my S9+ is defective as the uppermost line isn't visible at any brightness level for me. The gradient also turns green at lower brightness levels and looks like a giant green blob. Also shared it with another S9+ user on telegram and he had no issues, so I'm convinced I'm suffering from a hardware problem.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] v_square:
Have a look at this. Not taken by a good camera but still every line is visible to me. Plus, no green blob.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Flash701:
I'm using the Exynos variant, the battery life is good enough for a whole day's use. My SoT ranges from 4-6hrs, reading articles, streaming Spotify, the occasional game etc.

My S7 had a terrible battery after a few years so this probably feels better to me than someone who was on an S8, for instance.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] s0nixx:
Look mine. Brightness about ~55%, 30-35% and 100%
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Definitely better than mine, but still too bright compared to the other photo posted showing the same image - there shouldn't be a huge block of light gray at the end. :/
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] MelquiXDA:
Moto Maxx above

Galaxy S9+ below

"Black Crush" present

S9+ ZTO ( from Brazil)
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
can you provide an original image or link? thx
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Chris_c81:
At 30% I can see the three lines of text, but the top one only just. I can see a gradient but I'd argue my greys look more green tinged.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I have the Samsung Galaxy S9 and also have the same problem with the S9+. The funny thing is, that even with low brightness, everything is perfect when playing HDR content. In fact, if I activate Screen Balance and play HDR, then the HDR has black crush sometimes. I'm 100% that this is a software issue. My previews phone was the Samsung galaxy S5 and don't remember having that problem. I am very picky with my phone's, to the point that I regularly checking them with flashlight for any imperfections on their body. Banding, one other hand, was always present in every amoled screen that I owned.

My phone said that it is manufactured 28-3-2018, after the problem has become known. So, even later manufactured phone's, suffer the same. And I repeat, I have the S9, not the S9+.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Definitely not just a software issue as some don't have the issue at all. They could add dithering as Apple did to relieve the "black crush", which isn't even that bad to begin with for an amoled screen. I'll keep you updated.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
And how do you explain that in HDR the problem disappears, even under low brightness?

Others don't have the issue at all, because their screen is better calibrated from the factory, but they are the minority. Every S9 and S9+ that I have inspected, has that issue. Just bad calibration. A hardware defect should apply to every content on the screen. HDR, games etc. I don't have this problem while gaming. If something can be fixed via software update, then it's not a hardware problem. And believe me, updates can cause or fix problems. Recently, a Windows 10 update cause colour reproduction problems on my pc. I had to do some tweaks here and there to fix the issue.

With all that being said, every amoled screen that I owned had problems. Only on my old HTC Desire the screen, which was amoled, didn't have any problem. My Galaxy S Advance had horizontal lines, especially on red and blue. Then, my Samsung Galaxy S5 had the green flickering problem at minimum brightness. I changed th screen under warranty on the S5 and the second screen started flickering again after 4 month. Also, the second screen had a stuck subpixel that never worked on white and green backgrounds, but it was perfectly fine with every other colour.

This year, I decided to upgrade from my S5 go the S7. I wasn't willing to pay 875 euros for S9 or any other mobile phone, but a big surprise was awaiting for me. The screen on the S7, was defective. It had a bunch of pixels that replicated the colours darker than the rest of the screen. I went back to the store here in Athens, and they gave me my money back. My budget was 500 euros. As I was getting ready to buy the Nokia 8, a representative from samsung that was at the store, show that I couldn't decide and came to me with a huge surprise. She told me that if I give my Galaxy S Advance, even with the lines on the screen, Samsung will give me 200 euros and my carrier another 200, so I would be able to buy the S9 for 500 euros. Of course I accepted the offer. I didn't regret it. S9 is a very good device for my 500 euros. No tints like every other amoled screen. Only problem is the ''black crush" issue. In every other aspect, the screen seems to be near perfect, unusual for an AMOLED. The phone is snappy, works perfect. Not facing any other issues for example with charging, battery drain or touch sensitivity. I get almost 7 hours on screen time and the Screen Balance pro doesn't seem to have any effect on the battery life. Only downside with the Screen Balance is that it has an impact with the black, but again, the contrast remains way better than a LCD.

Another solution to the problem is go to Settings>Accessibility>Vision>Colour adjustment>Enable and select Tritan(blue-yellow). That trick seems to reduce the "black crush", not as much as the Screen Balance, but you don't lose any contrast.

Toss3 I respect your opinion and I'll be waiting for you to come back with newer informations about the issue. Samsung Greece is not aware of the problem. I contacted them yesterday, they said they don't know anything and told me to go to an authorised service dealership to inspect the phone
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
How can you be sure it disappears when watching HDR Content? I'll try to recreate the same clip both in 10 bit HDR and 8 bit to see if it has any affect. Samsung told me as much (an actual engineer this time) and the only way to solve it is to get it replaced. I'll test out HDR though and report back (I'll upload the test files to Youtube).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I am sure cause I've tested. No issues with blacks on HDR mode.

---------- Post added at 10:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 AM ----------

Can you still replace the device?

Here in Greece, after 14 days, you can only repair the phone, not replace it with brand new.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Galaxo60:
But you need to remember that any HDR content in this phone increases the brightness, thus the black crush won't be noticeable.

For me, black crush is only noticeable in low brightness and dark scenes areas of the content.

:confused:
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I managed to reduce the brightness in HDR simply by turning the phone vertical. No issues at all in low or high brightness with HDR :D
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Huey85:
Does anyone have a video that has both HDR and non-HDR that I can test my screen with to see if enabling HDR does resolve the black crush?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Now this was a quick comparison video I made. HDR image is a bit lighter (due to color conversion in photoshop), and you can clearly see the HDR video being displayed as HDR in Samsung's own video player, yet I still see the same effect. So HDR does not solve the issue. :(
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
I can't take a photo right now but I did the test and I get different results between HDR and SDR. HDR is displayed perfectly but the SDR has problems with distortions on the letters and the gradient bar.

Quite different results for me.

---------- Post added at 12:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 PM ----------

Even with 20% brightness, I can clearly see all the three lines. On sdr, only the middle and the third.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] madvinegar:
Latest update ARD4, apart from fixing the dropped calls problem, also says that it improves (again) the wallpaper quality. Does anyone know what this is about? Is it another fix for the black crush?

Build Number : G965FXXU1ARD4Android version : Oreo(Android 8.0.0)Release Date : 2018-05-08

· Call stability has been improved.

· The quality of Wallpaper has been improved.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
No it is not. Samsung is yet to release an update for the black crush. They say that they are working on it.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
The distortions is because of rendering settings and doesn't affect the colors themselves. The HDR clip is a bit brighter due to color coversion in photoshop not being able to adjust the colors 100% accurately (don't want to do it manually so this will have to do). The text appears a bit brighter in the video clip, yet the important thing is the grayscale at the bottom -> do you see a noticeable difference between each shade or do they blend together? If the former is true, you don't have an issue, yet if you see the latter you need to send your device in for replacement.

Btw. even if this is a factory calibration issue - how do you imagine they fix it in software without messing up the other, already perfectly calibrated, devices?
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Kostasl88:
They do not blend in neither on HDR nor on SDR. The strange thing is that on SDR, I can distinguish more shades than on the HDR.

Just because is a calibration issue, the update will apply the correct settings. So, the messed up screens will be fixed and the well calibrated will stay the same. Samsung, apart from the good calibration, should also follow Apple's good example and use dithering filter.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Rushabh65:
Can you please share the setting that you use in Screen Balance Pro.

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
Best for my galaxy S9 Plus.

no PRO version required
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
Except that doesn't work at all brightness levels and affects the blacks (no longer deep black, but gray).
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] DeePHydrA:
I have the black crush issue too.Also Have Screen Flickering on HDR Any Update is on the road?I have S9+ Exynos as well.
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] bassgenerator:
I do not mind at all. I do not even have this problem even if I do not use the screen balanced application.

Share a video where I could see the problem you are describing or part of the video. well thank you
[Samsung Galaxy S9+ Questions & Answers] Toss3:
That's great gives me hope my replacement device won't suffer from it. Anything above 4-6% is going to affect the black level (gonna solve all of your black crush issues though if that bothers you). Screen balance isn't recommended as it affects the calibration which is close to perfect out of the box (using the basic screen mode).