Nook Color Dead Pixels

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Bomber18

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 31, 2007
Messages
461
I'm impressed by everything it can do but the quality control for the hardware doesn't seem to be there. I've opened four new nook colors in as many days and every single one of them had atleast a dead pixel.

I'm sure to a lot of people it seems picky but i've had a phone with a dead pixel and it's just something that bothered me every time and my eyes were always drawn to it.

Even with all four units, and hilariously enough the display mode, having these issues I understand it's a matter of cost for rejecting these during production vs a portion of customers that would accept these defects.

The thing that irked me is the managers every single time either looked at me like I was crazy or treated me like I was trying to get away with something. The second manager told me that if I had any further issues i'd have to contact tech support instead of going through the store, i'm sure there's a lot they can do to fix a hardware defect over the phone :rolleyes:. The third manager was telling me that she couldn't see anything wrong after I had pointed out the pixel three times on as many different backgrounds. On the fourth time she said she now saw it and showed it to the cashier saying "smaller than a speck of pepper".

Eventually they got tired of trying new ones and just gave me a refund which i'm fine with. I got the impression that it's a neat little device in the small window I had to play with it but dead pixels drive me crazy on any size screen. Also Barnes and Noble customer support from the manager level could use some work, all of the cashiers were very nice though and seemed like they actually cared.
 
1 pixel? You returned 4 NOOKColors because of 1 single pixel?

Really?

I see you said "atleast a dead pixel" so if there was another reason or reasons, you're welcome to share it/them, but 1 single dead pixel?

/me shakes his head...
 
Joe Average said:
1 pixel? You returned 4 NOOKColors because of 1 single pixel?
Click to expand...

One of them had a dead pixel and yellowish screen tearing.
One of them I opened in the store, immediately found a dead pixel and stopped looking.

Two of them that I had taken home I did look over exhaustively and the only flaw I could find was one dead pixel per device.

I figured this would come off as being nit picky to some people. I buy screens from places only when I know there dead pixel policy upfront. I did a quick search on the nook colors before purchase and found a few stories of dead pixels and easy exchanges in stores which is one of the reasons I bought it.
 
Yah, the yellowish tint thing is well known on some panels (shit happens, I suppose), but... 1 pixel and you gave up on two of them for that reason alone? Amazing... :eek:
 
Joe Average said:
Yah, the yellowish tint thing is well known on some panels (shit happens, I suppose), but... 1 pixel and you gave up on two of them for that reason alone? Amazing... :eek:
Click to expand...

+1


Yeah mmmm QC for LCD screens usually calls them bad at liek 5+ bad pixels. Ive got a PSP that has one right in the Center that displays blue constantly but its forgiveable. Lord knows I have just about a bad time with pixel issues as the next guy but I got over it.
 
While I really hate dead pixels, I have a hard time blaming B&N. Considering its a phenomenal device from a company not really known for making electronic devices, one dead pixel just isn't enough for me to hate on something that could have easily cost $100 more. Looks like you had bad luck or your B&N got a really bad batch. Have you tried another store?
 
Bomo said:
While I really hate dead pixels, I have a hard time blaming B&N. Considering its a phenomenal device from a company not really known for making electronic devices, one dead pixel just isn't enough for me to hate on something that could have easily cost $100 more. Looks like you had bad luck or your B&N got a really bad batch. Have you tried another store?
Click to expand...

I wasn't trying to blame B&N for anything. I really like the whole idea of the nook, the price point, functionality, and epub format to name a few specifics. Just wanted to share my story incase others were interested in the experience.

A bad batch very well could be the case. My gut feeling is that they just have some number x of acceptable dead pixels that they are fine with on screens because customers will accept them like a lot of the above posters.

Nah haven't tried another store, it's not like it was a needed device by any means. I still have a few paper books to go through and by that time they will probably have the next iterations of ereaders out.
 
Yeah, I tried to replace mine because of the flicker-at-reduced-brightness problem.

Both of the ones at the store also had the same flicker. I'm sure it was the whole batch of them. The display models didn't.

That said, someone came up with a refresh rate setting you can tweak via ADB that cleared up 90% of the flicker until the next reboot...so I'm sure it will be fixed via software by B&N eventually, or via custom ROM I can fix it.
 
I'd return one if it had a dead pixel. Otherwise I'd expect it to be discounted somehow.
 
Don't most companies have some sort of fine print saying that "x" number of dead pixels is ok/expected?
 
I would return over a noticeable dead pixel for sure.

I've gone thus far without a dead pixel in any of my LCD products... makes it hard habit to start.
 
mdameron said:
I would return over a noticeable dead pixel for sure.

I've gone thus far without a dead pixel in any of my LCD products... makes it hard habit to start.
Click to expand...

Ditto. It is unacceptable to me to buy a product with and LCD and have even one dead pixel. Specifically if it is a small device and I will be looking at it up close.
 
I think we are well past the point where dead pixels are acceptable. Maybe back in the early 2000s when it was damn near impossible to get a LCD without a single dead pixel (or more!), however now anything with a dead pixel is a defective product to me. This isn't new technology or anything.
 
I spend $300 to import a Nook Color to Canada (no B&N here) and there were no dead pixels. Great unit when rooted!
 
mdameron said:
What do you use it for? How good is it for just casual web browsing?
Click to expand...

It's a fully functional Android tablet that beats the Samsung Galaxy in every spec (brilliant IPS capacitive touch screen). I suspect the low price is because B&N lose money on each one they sell as they intend to profit from book sales (like game consoles sold below cost which make money on games sold).

You can run almost any Android app on it. Mine is only rooted to 2.1 although there are SDcard hacks to run Froyo (2.2) now that bypass the B&N firmware.

The thing is damn powerful Youtube streams better than on my netbook. It can run 3D games. Can emulate every game system up to the Playstation 1 (uses hacked PSP conversions). Great for reading ebooks/comics.

I use the dolphin browser for web surfing to get multitouch zoom. It's not a responsive as a regular computer when surfing from page to page but that might be my 2.1 root as it's improved on 2.2.

7" size is perfect for fitting into your hand and it's light too. Not some stupid giant heavy thing like the ipad.
 
I hate dead pixels. If I paid $250 for a device id keep returning it too. I went through 3 computer monitors before I finally got one with no dead pixels.
 
I don't blame you OP, I hate dead/stuck pixels with a fiery passion.
Call me picky, but it irks me when I shell out wads of money
on something when the product has a notable, visual flaw.
 
I've been loving my Nook Color for about a month and a half. I have it auto-nootered for full Android but preserving the B&N tools. This is seriously an awesome device.

And for the people who are ok with dead pixels- seriously? Apparently you don't mind paying full price for broken stuff.
 
you know they make medications for that. this single pixel defect hunt is a symptom.
 
ocellaris said:
I think we are well past the point where dead pixels are acceptable. Maybe back in the early 2000s when it was damn near impossible to get a LCD without a single dead pixel (or more!), however now anything with a dead pixel is a defective product to me. This isn't new technology or anything.
Click to expand...

Agreed. However cheap, portable IPS displays are fairly new.
 
If I have one and its up near a corner or something I will let it go but middle never.
 
any amount of dead pixel is not acceptable for me. It's a defect and a really poor excuse for manufacturers to say that 4-5 is acceptable. Hey, might as well ship LCD panels with certain acceptable amount of scratches and dents on the bezel.
 
Dead pixels drive me nuts too. Even if they aren't in the center of the monitor, my peripheral vision always picks it up. I have to take them back or it will drive me insane and in some cases I will focus on that one pixel. Like a tiny speck of something on my glasses (water is the worst!). So, I understand completely about sending stuff like that back. Probably a good thing I have never looked at a Nook Color as an e-reader then.
 
I just bought a Nook Color....and I have HoneyComb beta installed on it....but I definitely would have returned it for even one dead pixel. Same with a monitor or a TV. Dead pixels on a devise whose sole purpose is to display pixels? That's nonsense. Don't stand for it.
 
Dead and stuck pixels are a defect. LCD manufacturers have been crying about it cutting into their profits even back when they were busted for price fixing to rake in huge profits. It's no different from scratched or dented appliances. Even though the appliance still works perfectly, it's expected that you'll get a discount or replacement due to the defect. They even have a name for it, "Scratch and Dent Sale".

On a device I'm going to be holding inches from my face, staring at for hours, I'm sure as hell not going to look at some bright colored spot shining at me or a black "speck of dust" that I can't brush away distracting me while I'm reading.
 
Although the nook color is cool, the screen quality just isn't there. I've had two of these, no dead pixels, but both screens are very yellow compared to my computer monitors. It's annoying, but I only use the device for reading so I'm living with it.
 
Have a couple dead pixels on my PC monitor, but I live with it. It's not that big of deal, and I don't want to waste a monitor by not using it; but if I had them on my book reader I'd go fucking nuts,
 
When I first opened my Nook Color, there were smudges right along the bottom of the screen & it made me wonder if it was really a new unit or not.

Then when I powered it on & there was a ton of light bleeding in from that bottom edge...I think whoever assembled it did a crap job and didn't clean up after themselves.

Then, I noticed a dead pixel, which I tried to convince myself didn't matter since it's only a $250 tablet.

Problem was it was dead smack in the middle of the screen & I tend to read a lot of text on white background...but then it drove me crazy and that's all I could see.

Returned it & the new one was flawless. No smudges, no light bleed, no dead pixels. Just pure Android CM7.0.2.
 
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