S24 Display Quality & AOD Missing Options

[Locoblade]

Hi All

I've just got my S24+ today to upgrade my trusty but ageing S10+ having not strayed from Samsung for almost 10 years. Naturally I was hoping it would be an upgrade in all departments but although on the whole it is, there's several annoying and unexpected downgrades that are making me seriously question whether it's actually worth spending quite a bit of money to change.

Firstly, the screen although pin sharp is really washed out. Even in vivid mode the colours are dull and the blacks are significantly more grey than the S10 screen, and even look washed out when put alongside my wife's budget spec A52! I've played around with brightness and colour tone etc but I can't dial it out, and my cousin who's got an S24 Ultra said exactly the same when comparing it against the S22 it's replacing.

Then there's some bizarre features missing from OneUI 6.1, the ones I've noticed so far are specifically in the Always On Display settings.  I use AOD to display as a bedside clock,  with my S10 and also in OneUI 6.0 / Android 14 on the A52 you can rotate the AOD to landscape orientation and control the brightness, you could even do the latter from the AOD lock screen by tapping twice on the clock to access the brightness slider. In OneUI 6.1 unless I'm missing something it seems all that functionality is missing, the brightness of the AOD is linked to the main screen brightness setting which is far too bright for overnight use, and you can't set it to landscape mode which I'd prefer when on it's horizontal night stand next to the bed. Why this functionality would be omitted I have no idea, but it's really annoying! Please someone enlighten me to some hidden menu somewhere that fixes all these issues?! 🙂

[Snixk]

Yes, its not a software issue, never has been. Seems like its all up to luck where your LCD has it to varying degrees or you get lucky and get a good screen. It had nothing to do with samsung wanting a "natural" screen over vividness so of course the update did absolutely nothing for grain. If you can return/exchange it do it, or ask for your local service shop for a new lcd under warranty, which is probably what I am going to do. I'm extremely disappointed in how bad samsung's qc on a 1k+ phone is. If you want more info, or people actually talking about it check the s24 ultra subreddit.
r/GalaxyS24Ultra

[MatthewReiter]

OLED

[Snixk]

Right, thanks for the correction.

[YdoesMyS24UHaveGrain]

They keep telling me its a software issue. But that doesnt sound right.

On my way to an authorized samsung service center now. I'll let you know how it goes

[S23UwasBetter]

They are probably talking about the software update we all had a week ago. That had nothing to do with the grain or banding issue. But at least they acknowledge it's an issue. Previously they were saying it's meant to be that way because "Samsung precisely calibrated .."

[YdoesMyS24UHaveGrain]

Yeah, I had to continually tell them "it is a grain issue that was not resolved by the update" because they automatically assume im talking about the vivid slider.

[YdoesMyS24UHaveGrain]

Well just got back from the center and the man working there told me that he believes it can be fixed with firmware since it seems like most of the devices have the same issues. He told me that I should wait for that email from samsung developers since he would feel bad replacing the screen only to have the same issues but less of a waterproof seal.

I also went to an AT&T to check the display there and the phone seemed to have less grain when compared, either way left the testmyscreen.com website up on the phone.

Edit: the worker at the AT&T also said that she has had 1 person so far come in for the screen issues.

[S23UwasBetter]

Thanks for the update. The service center confirming the issue is a huge step forward. Given how much backlash we get from people with "perfect displays"'on reddit and here from Samsung, I expected the technician to tell you "there's nothing wrong with the display". 

Great news I guess, your eyesight is good, we are not liars or apple fanboys, the phone indeed has an issue. I hope it gets resolved quickly for you. Keep us posted 

[YdoesMyS24UHaveGrain]

Yeah, I truly don't understand the backlash since quality control improvements only help everyone in the long run. Maybe they're just trying to justify their purchase idk. Maybe its just reddit being reddit.

It was great that the worker agreed with me, and also saw the issues. Thanks for the kind words, I'll be sure to update y'all if anything comes up.

[Mic98]

The update patch S926U1UEU1AXB7 didnt do anything. The vividness doesnt really address the issue. It needs a color contrast. Probably needs a new screen as well. This is a huge downgrade. Need to offer people the s23 for replacements.