HTC Touch Pro 2 dead pixel issue
July 9, 2009 by Paul Willen
Filed under Windows Phones
The Touch Pro 2, reviewed on this website a few weeks ago, is the flagship model of HTC windows mobile phones – at least it should be. Last week when I was on vacation, sitting in the dark playing with my new HTC Touch Pro 2 suddenly I noticed a dead pixel. The dark environment and the backlight of the Touch Pro 2 revealed a shiny little annoying pixel that just wouldn’t change color like the pixels around it.
Of course it is really really annoying when you buy an expensive device that should be the top of the line device. But while searching for the internet, I saw quite a few people with dead pixels. On a dutch tech website (http://www.tweakers.net) I saw a user complaining about his dead pixel, he even had to send his HTC Touch Pro2 back.
To make it even worse I read a tip how to find dead pixels. The tip was to change the backlight to 100% and make sure that there is a black background on the Touch Pro 2. The best way to achieve a black background is either rebooting the device (and have a quick look on the bootscreen) or turn the camera on and keep your finger in front of the camera.
As I did this I was rather in shock. The amount of dead pixels unfortunately didn’t stay at 1. Using this technique I found over 6 dead pixels on my Touch Pro 2. I have to admit – the dead pixels are very hard to see, you really need to search them. When using the Touch Pro 2 under normal conditions it is really hard to find the dead pixels, but just the fact that they are there irritates me.
How can it be that the flagship model of a Quality Brand has so much problems with dead pixels. Obviously I’m not the only. There are many more Touch Pro 2 users reporting the dead pixel issue. And then I don’t even count the people who haven’t checked their device or could not see the dead pixels (but actually have them).
Has anyone of you checked their device for dead pixels? Which techniques have you used to try to find them. Please tell us your experiences about this issue in the comments below.
His first mobile phone was a Mitshubishi Galaxy and after that the first Orange SPV running Microsoft Smartphone 2002. After owning a lot of devices he now mainly uses a HTC Touch Pro 2 and an iPhone 3Gs 32GBPaul is employed as an .NET Application Developer with a focus on Sharepoint.
Aren’t dead pixels an issue with all types of screens (phone, monitor, television)? Some of what you say also seems to be a bit of a leap. “So much problems with dead pixels” and “Obviously I’m not the only one” implies this is a huge issue but you quoted yourself and one other poster. Also, have we seen anyone one else do these tests with other phones to see how common it is with similar screens made by other companies? And why is “Quality Brand” capitalized?
I’d say the key is your own words “under normal conditions it is really hard to find the dead pixels”. My guess is they are common and very hard to fine so rarely reported. It’s similar to how any portable electronic will have it’s battery get warm with heavy use but no one really reports or complains until it’s so overly hot that the device nearly fails or becomes discolored (like the latest iPhone).
Matt, Thanks for your reply,
Of course my vision and therefore this article is not quite objective. But I think it’s quite a problem on these devices.
There’s a thread about this on xda-developers too (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=527075&highlight=dead+pixel) and in this poll 20 people have reported problems with dead pixels on their Touch Pro 2.
Whether this is a problem on other devices too isn’t familiar to me. But because I own a TP2 I thought to Google for this problem and found several resources which reported this problem, therefore I wrote this article
noticed 3 myself, just got the phone today and its very annoying, hence did a search and found this page.
I received my first one yesterday, had a few bad pixels, and a wonky 9 key (have to press hard).
Received the replacement today, and it looks like a starfield – but the keys work. Don’t know if I should try a third time or wait until I can get them in the retail store and swap out then.
I have one dead pixel that I know of… It tends to not bother me so much since we traded in our 5 day old BB Storms for these bad boys. All in all I am happy. I’d be completely happy if I could get the new net framework to install…
In the end, we should all thank our lucky stars we not on the Storm.
Actually I just had a dead pixel appear out of no where in the middle of the screen! It’s green (is that normal??) I called VZW and they asked me what a dead pixel was… what a joke. I was then told if I take it to the store they would replace it with NIB except no stores have it in stock.. so we shall see..