Database Develop

How deep are the blacks on the Galaxy Note compared to the S1/S2 ?

No this is not another one of those "I've got a screen issue" thread, For those who still have their Galaxy S1/S2 or even a Samsung Wave, how deep are the blacks on the Galaxy Note compared to them?
I ask this since I no longer have any other SAMOLED device aside from the G-Note and I noticed that the black levels are not very deep, infact they are like LCD's with backlit when you view an all black or watch a movie/picture with a good majority of blacks.
Can anyone be so kind as to test and compare in a dark room showing the phone stock test image found under *#0*# ( dialer ) I've been getting reports from other users that the black levels on the G-Note is not as deep as the S1 or S2, Trying to figure out if this is normal or some really bad gamma issue/hardware limits.
Since there has been a HUGE failure of people reading or understanding what this thread is, it is not a complaint thread its more of an inquiry thread on what you are getting with your screen. Those who dont have a previous SuperAMOLED device you guys cannot contribute anything on this thread since you wont have any basis of comparison so please stop trolling.

Darker than a black steer's tookus on a moonless prairie night.

Anyone else with a meaningful post comparing the S1/S2 vs the Note in black levels?

Like any other OLED technology, there is no backlight, so the blacks should be as black as if the screen were off.
What you might be noticing is fringing, the light leaking out from the neighboring pixels.
It could also be an optical illusion (you are seeing a black object with lighter surroundings it might make the blacks "not seem as dark"), I tested it myself, I got an opaque piece of paper with a small hole in it and placed it against a black part of an image, and compared it with the screen off. It looked the same to me.
I can't compare it with the S1 or S2 since I don't have them, but with as with any other OLED screen, as long as the black parts of the image is truly digitally black, as in that part of the picture is 000000 on the RGB color model, it should be equally black as if that part of the screen were off.

No difference in the black levels when they are properly rendered on the note vs gs2. The software bug though sometimes makes blacks grey so viewing the same video on both screens dark areas look better on the gs2. This will be fixed with an update and as others have said true black=off with oled so black will be black on any oled screen.
In gallery i get true blacks and images look the same on both screens apart from much bigger and sharper on the note. If i make this image a lock screen its sometimes grey with banding on the now instead of true black.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Don't know about black, but the screen it's forkin bright, too bright for day time use even on the lowest setting

The Black arent 100% fully black. If you turn the lights lights of you can see some very very deep grey. It black enough tbh, I am not complaining!

rigurat said:
Like any other OLED technology, there is no backlight, so the blacks should be as black as if the screen were off.
What you might be noticing is fringing, the light leaking out from the neighboring pixels.
It could also be an optical illusion (you are seeing a black object with lighter surroundings it might make the blacks "not seem as dark"), I tested it myself, I got an opaque piece of paper with a small hole in it and placed it against a black part of an image, and compared it with the screen off. It looked the same to me.
I can't compare it with the S1 or S2 since I don't have them, but with as with any other OLED screen, as long as the black parts of the image is truly digitally black, as in that part of the picture is 000000 on the RGB color model, it should be equally black as if that part of the screen were off.
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lol wut?
If you have a phone with a SAMOLED screen go to a black room and bring up the LCD test menu, the black is at 000000 and you will see a faint glow, you can very easily tell if the screen is displaying a black color or if the screen is locked. Why websites say their testing machines report infinite contrast ratio is beyond me.
If you cant tell the difference of the screen displaying black and when the screen is locked ( off ) either you got the most absolute perfect screen or you need to actually check rather theory craft.
martcerv said:
No difference in the black levels when they are properly rendered on the note vs gs2.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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The main point of my question is not about "when rendered properly" just bring up the LCD test menu on your galaxy note and galaxy S2 and check if the note has a higher glow on its black levels. mine is extremely high from what I can remember on the Galaxy S2, infact I can label it an an LCD backlight instead of SAMOLED blacks. But if im in daylight the blacks are pretty good.
sharp910sh said:
The Black arent 100% fully black. If you turn the lights lights of you can see some very very deep grey. It black enough tbh, I am not complaining!
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Its not about complaining, I just wanted to ask for those who have the note and also have the S1/S2 to make a comparison if the black levels are similar.
Im at a loss as to why this feat is extremely hard for the people who replied on the thread so far, I guess I am asking to much.

No one has the S2 and S1 and the galaxy note. why would they? the note is amazing!

Galaxy Note black has more leak than previous Super AMOLED and Super AMOLED Plus screens.
I'll come up with measurements a bit later.

well, Kabayan i have both... i can confirm your finding that S2 does have deeper blacks... last night i viewed the Dota2 trailer video on S2 and Note side by side... @ the beginning of the clip where there are lots of black displayed, its noticeable in my eyes...
I decided to create a pure black wallpaper on photoshop, transfer it to S2 and Note, set both brightness @ max, go to the complete dark room and view the mentioned wallpaper on gallery; its positive that S2's dsplay shows deeper black than Note... Though i have the display tuning app by SUPERCURIO on my S2 which i think we'll also consider...
---------- Post added at 08:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:35 AM ----------
---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 AM ----------
Good to hear from you SUPERCURIO... its always a breath for us having you here... So, can we expect some fix? hehehehhe... More power...

EarlZ said:
lol wut?
If you have a phone with a SAMOLED screen go to a black room and bring up the LCD test menu, the black is at 000000 and you will see a faint glow, you can very easily tell if the screen is displaying a black color or if the screen is locked. Why websites say their testing machines report infinite contrast ratio is beyond me.
If you cant tell the difference of the screen displaying black and when the screen is locked ( off ) either you got the most absolute perfect screen or you need to actually check rather theory craft.
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An OLED display works without a backlight. Thus, it can display deep black levels and can be thinner and lighter than liquid crystal displays (LCDs). In low ambient light conditions such as dark rooms an OLED screen can achieve a higher contrast ratio than an LCD, whether the LCD uses either cold cathode fluorescent lamps or the more recently developed LED backlight. Due to their low thermal conductivity, they typically emit less light per area than inorganic LEDs.
When the display is "showing" black, the "black pixels" are actually inactive. In other words, the black parts of the screen is off.
The black levels on my screen is also 100% black. If i go into a dark room with a 100% black wallpaper, i won't see the screen.

I have an S1, S2 and Note. Showed all 3 at Samsung service centre just to prove the Note's screen was crap. Should be getting it back to day with a new screen. The S1 screen still seems the best in terms of brightness and uniform white.

supercurio said:
Galaxy Note black has more leak than previous Super AMOLED and Super AMOLED Plus screens.
I'll come up with measurements a bit later.
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Yay supercurio. It's good to see you.
It does have more light leak on pure blacks, but coming from an Atrix (LCD) and an S2 (WVGA), I still love this display the most. The resolution is insane.
afadzil21 said:
I have an S1, S2 and Note. Showed all 3 at Samsung service centre just to prove the Note's screen was crap. Should be getting it back to day with a new screen. The S1 screen still seems the best in terms of brightness and uniform white.
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Did you happen to get a photo of it?

I compared both with a clear black test screen from walvisions.com min and max brightness blacks where the same to me. I must have a perfect screen or you have a very bad one.
But like i said in my previous post the blacks when actualy in use watching a dark video are much better in the gs2 for what i think is a software issue as they arent rendered properly and dark areas tend to look more like backlit lcd on the note when viewing videos.
Whites are much brighter on the note with min brightness settings then on the gs1.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

BazookaAce said:
An OLED display works without a backlight. Thus, it can display deep black levels and can be thinner and lighter than liquid crystal displays (LCDs). In low ambient light conditions such as dark rooms an OLED screen can achieve a higher contrast ratio than an LCD, whether the LCD uses either cold cathode fluorescent lamps or the more recently developed LED backlight. Due to their low thermal conductivity, they typically emit less light per area than inorganic LEDs.
When the display is "showing" black, the "black pixels" are actually inactive. In other words, the black parts of the screen is off.
The black levels on my screen is also 100% black. If i go into a dark room with a 100% black wallpaper, i won't see the screen.
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It is not true, you really should try it before just quoting wikipedia or whichever website that quote came from. Even with a perfectly black image you can easily tell there is backlight.

supercurio said:
Galaxy Note black has more leak than previous Super AMOLED and Super AMOLED Plus screens.
I'll come up with measurements a bit later.
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Click to collapse
The first meaningful post which also aims to be objective rather than quoting specs.
jaytana said:
well, Kabayan i have both... i can confirm your finding that S2 does have deeper blacks... last night i viewed the Dota2 trailer video on S2 and Note side by side... @ the beginning of the clip where there are lots of black displayed, its noticeable in my eyes...
I decided to create a pure black wallpaper on photoshop, transfer it to S2 and Note, set both brightness @ max, go to the complete dark room and view the mentioned wallpaper on gallery; its positive that S2's dsplay shows deeper black than Note... Though i have the display tuning app by SUPERCURIO on my S2 which i think we'll also consider...
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Click to collapse
Thank you for confirming, at least someone managed to read through my post and actually perform something.
BazookaAce said:
An OLED display works without a backlight. Thus, it can display deep black levels and can be thinner and lighter than liquid crystal displays (LCDs). In low ambient light conditions such as dark rooms an OLED screen can achieve a higher contrast ratio than an LCD, whether the LCD uses either cold cathode fluorescent lamps or the more recently developed LED backlight. Due to their low thermal conductivity, they typically emit less light per area than inorganic LEDs.
When the display is "showing" black, the "black pixels" are actually inactive. In other words, the black parts of the screen is off.
The black levels on my screen is also 100% black. If i go into a dark room with a 100% black wallpaper, i won't see the screen.
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This shows me what you know and how much visual acuity you have when it comes to things like this, I mean no disrespect or in anyway be offensive to you but I dont believe that its 100% black on your end. But I respect your opinion. Thank you.
afadzil21 said:
I have an S1, S2 and Note. Showed all 3 at Samsung service centre just to prove the Note's screen was crap. Should be getting it back to day with a new screen. The S1 screen still seems the best in terms of brightness and uniform white.
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Very true, the S1 screen was really great.. it really brought the expectation level at an all time high.

There's a lot of variation on the screens we are getting, my Galaxy Note screen has no color variation, banding, dead pixels, and the blacks are real black. In a dark room, displaying a black image, I can't see the limit between screen and plastic bezel. Exactly as with the screen off.
The same with video playback. I recommend to use BBC One Human Planet trailer in HD. It has a lot of colors and transitions to black screens. I see the screen completly back, no difference to the black plastic bezel.
This is a black Galaxy Note, on a black background displaying a mostly black image. Brightness set to maximum.
Now you tell me you can see the limit between SAMOLED screen and plastic bezel

vcespon said:
There's a lot of variation on the screens we are getting, my Galaxy Note screen has no color variation, banding, dead pixels, and the blacks are real black. In a dark room, displaying a black image, I can't see the limit between screen and plastic bezel. Exactly as with the screen off.
The same with video playback. I recommend to use BBC One Human Planet trailer in HD. It has a lot of colors and transitions to black screens. I see the screen completly back, no difference to the black plastic bezel.
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No color variation is plausible, banding is SW issue so nobody is excepted from it unless you can prove it, dead pixels are pretty rare that its a non issue, black levels are lit let yours eyes adjust to the darkness for 3~5mins and you can clearly see a lit black its always been like that since the SGS1 days, your phone is no exception.
Your screen is perfect for you, I respect that and Im very happy for you, wish I had that screen. Cheers!
Response to your added image:
Your image proves nothing since the discussion is about black levels in total darkness while displaying the black image from the LCD test, your picture shows an image displayed making an illusion that the blacks are very deep, I also get the same black levels when im displaying even just a few pixels of white and you have ambient light since I can clearly see the bezel.
Basically we are comparing 2 different things but thank you for trying.

EarlZ said:
black levels are lit let yours eyes adjust to the darkness for 3~5mins and you can clearly see a lit black its always been like that since the SGS1 days, your phone is no exception.
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Seriously who uses a phone like that and whats the point of that test. OLED does show a little light in the dark when you do that but my GS2 and note are pretty much the same, during this test I notice some darker blotches on my gs2 screen. Does that mean its faulty? not to me as Ive never noticed it in real use and thats what the device is for not to sit in the dark for 3 minutes to find some obscure issue to complain about.
There are real screen defects that will occur to some people not matter what device you get, then get it replaced. There are confirmed software issues and these will hopefully be addressed soon enough.
Many more people have no physical issues with their screens then the ones that do but its funny how some people just wont accept that and have to believe every screen is faulty.
Seeing a little light through a screen in total darkness is not a hardware fault, maybe you should turn off your phone as it will save your battery and at the same time the screen will be perfectly dark, I prefer to have my screen on and use it but we all use our devices differently

Pixel 4 XL screen has a yellow tint how are yours?

Received my Pixel 4 XL a few days ago and one thing I noticed straight away was how yellow the screen was compared to my Pixel 3 XL.
Only picture I have is uploaded as my daughter has already taken my old phone.

Have you tried disabling Ambient EQ under display settings?

zetsumeikuro said:
Have you tried disabling Ambient EQ under display settings?
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This setting is already off, should have mentioned this above. My display is even more yellow when enabled.

xxnoelziexx said:
This setting is already off, should have mentioned this above. My display is even more yellow when enabled.
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There's a few things it could be, but I feel Google calibrated it this way at the factory as I too noticed my display is warmer but not yellow. Some do say that the yellow hue could also be the adhesive still fully curing. Although I'm not too sure how relevant that is now a days with the newer optically clear adhesives. This usually will alleviate itself through normal usage within a few days to a week. I'm thinking it's more to do with Google's calibration + the panel lottery and you could of gotten a dud. Custom kernel could probably alleviate the issue when you can adjust kcal and play with RGB. But you might want to start a RMA if the issue doesn't go away as I have seen other reports with people bringing up how yellowish their display looks.

Mine is also very warm. Ambient EQ is off and the brightness is high.
It'll be interesting to see if this plays out as "This is how we intended it." or if it's a manufacturing error.

ShiroEd said:
Mine is also very warm. Ambient EQ is off and the brightness is high.
It'll be interesting to see if this plays out as "This is how we intended it." or if it's a manufacturing error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contacted Google who asked me to check a few options which were already disabled.
Outcome RMA, will check how the new unit looks when delivered.

Same here. It's not a defect, just the way they calibrated it. I actually like it a bit better than the bluish version. That seems to mess with my eyes, whereas this feels very comfortable. Still, it would be nice if they offer us a slider in the future.

I have Ambient EQ on but the short time I had it turned off the colors seemed cool. Closer to a blueish hue.
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using XDA Labs

Mine doesn't have a yellow tint, not even with Ambient EQ on (at least not in the typical environments I use my phone). I really dislike warmer screen tones, so I would have definitely noticed, but mine is leaning more towards the cooler side for sure.

No issues on my white 128 XL. In fact mine looks better than my wife's iPhone 11 pro. her's looks way warmer. I think the display is fantastic on the 4. Best pixel screen yet.

64gb black P4 and I notice a slightly warm almost green tint under 30% brightness. Above 50 it's only slightly warmer than my pixel 3 and at 80+ it's identical

It might have something to do with the refresh rate on the screen. I can notice it shifting between 60Hz and 90Hz. That color shift introduces some yellow from 90 to 60 and removes yellow the opposite way around. You can pick the device to 90Hz in the developer settings, but you're trading off battery life for it.

Yellow here too, off angle it goes white so it's a definite flaw, if it was white straight face on then went yellow off angle this is normal, I'm on my second unit and unfortunately it's worse than my first original, why i hate warm, the people with the same issue as mine will understand, you also lose colour pop when the screen is yellow, simple look at your warm screen look at the colours on text the angle your phone at watch the colours pop better, 100% what people are experiencing is oled manufacturing flaw, I'm still undecided if I'm trying a third but if i do and it's the same or worse again I'm getting a refund until these manufacturers pull their finger out with oled.

Yep, mines super yellow compared to my LG V30, and there's no way to tweak the colors and reduce the red tint.

Its warm but look much better than 3 xl display which has the green tint color.

There's an article on droid - life that says that's the way Google intended the display to be.
https://www.droid-life.com/2019/10/24/pixel-4-lg-display/
There is also a thread over on Android Central with more info and links.

No yellow tint for me, it's quite a cool looking colour. black 64gb model EU.

xxnoelziexx said:
Received my Pixel 4 XL a few days ago and one thing I noticed straight away was how yellow the screen was compared to my Pixel 3 XL.
Only picture I have is uploaded as my daughter has already taken my old phone.
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The 4 XL has a warmer, pink tint. I see more of a blue tint on the 3 XL. I personally prefer cooler tints to warmer or pink ones

bitwiser said:
No issues on my white 128 XL. In fact mine looks better than my wife's iPhone 11 pro. her's looks way warmer. I think the display is fantastic on the 4. Best pixel screen yet.
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Agreed, mine looks awesome to me!

Mine only looks good when the screen brightness is at max. 70% and less, looks terrible. Darker then usual. Yellow/orange. Compared to my Note 10 which is very bright all around. Really want to keep the pixel over the Note but I'm not sure. Have 15 days to decide

Anyone else facing a light yellowish tint on LCD

Anyone else facing a light yellowish tint on LCD on Nokia 7 plus. It is nearly unnoticeable until you place it next to another phone and compare. Phones like Samsung have colour temperature setting for this.

nitish.genext said:
Anyone else facing a light yellowish tint on LCD on Nokia 7 plus. It is nearly unnoticeable until you place it next to another phone and compare. Phones like Samsung have colour temperature setting for this.
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You sure night lighting is turned off?

Yes, our phone has a warmer screen if you compare it with anyother phone, prominently noticeable on white background while comparing

S20 FE Red tint

Just got a new S20 FE, I have a Red or Magenta tint on sections of the screen when looking at an angle on the screen and straight directly looking at the screen. It is only clearly visible on a white screen, pretty noticeable when surfing websites, etc. Hard to capture in photos but I tried my best.
The tint will move as you move the screen, and quite bad at an extreme angle. I checked some FE display units in the Samsung store and they all have this issue, some are better than others though.
the XDA review has the same issue actually: https://www.xda-developers.com/samsung-galaxy-s20-fe-review/
"The viewing angles, though, are disappointing because the display still features visible angular color shifting to blue as well as a rainbow out interference effect at extreme angles. Newer Samsung OLED panels have eliminated the rainbow out interference effect, and also reduced off-axis color shifting by a significant amount. The Galaxy S20+’s viewing angles, for example, are much better because the color shifting is much lower. Strangely, even the cheaper Galaxy M51 (review) doesn’t feature the interference effect issue (that is likely caused by the polarizer)."
Anyone else have this issue?
Thinking about asking for a replacement

spacemanvt said:
Just got a new S20 FE, I seem to have a Red or Magenta tint on sections of the screen when looking at an angle on the screen sometimes straight on.
But only a white screen, pretty noticeable when surfing websites. Its pretty annoying now that I have noticed it... Might need to return it?
Hard to capture in photos but I tried my best. Anyone else have this issue?
I will goto the Samsung store tomorrow and ask the guys there.
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A lot of phones have some sort of tint or rainbowing when viewed at some angle. I know the pixel 2xl had a very noticeable bluish tint on the whole screen when viewed at angle, but yeah you can still check and make sure.

KageBeast said:
A lot of phones have some sort of tint or rainbowing when viewed at some angle. I know the pixel 2xl had a very noticeable bluish tint on the whole screen when viewed at angle, but yeah you can still check and make sure.
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I went and checked out a bunch of FEs at the Samsung Store and all of the phones have some of tinting viewable at angles but mine seems worse than most. Its showing some of the banding straight on, which is annoying. I might get a replacement.
Anyone else having this issue?

General Pink Tint Issue on S21U

Looks the S21 has it's first big issue. Pink hues when looking at it even from a slight angle.
issue discussed at 12:59

I have all three devices. No tinting issues as far as I can see on any of them. Guessing something was wrong with his demo unit.

Okay, that's encouraging. Thanks for your feedback.

i comfirm pink tint issues. i get new one s21 ultra to day and go crazy because of this bloblem. demo device at store have this too. I will return it maybe. so sad. sorry for my bad english.

Could be down to display mode being on Vivid?
Not sure if he's using that or natural?

superleeds27 said:
Could be down to display mode being on Vivid?
Not sure if he's using that or natural?
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i try both on them. pink tint still there.

l0vef0rey0u said:
i try both on them. pink tint still there.
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Only when you look at the screen from an angle, right? No pink tint when you look straight on?

Sharpshooterrr said:
Only when you look at the screen from an angle, right? No pink tint when you look straight on?
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Add to that under what light source if any are you viewing it?
Does it happen on all display frequencies?
View under incandescent, sunlight backlighted or in a dark room.

Sharpshooterrr said:
Only when you look at the screen from an angle, right? No pink tint when you look straight on?
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Yes. Just slightly tilt it and the pink tint appear. S21 and S21 plus no problem. Just S21 ultra, due to it’s 2k 120hz panel i think. No problem with S21 and s21+ Full hd+ panel.

blackhawk said:
Add to that under what light source if any are you viewing it?
Does it happen on all display frequencies?
View under incandescent, sunlight backlighted or in a dark room.
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Click to collapse
Yes. All display mode and frequencies settings. And all invironment. I tried it in, out door and at phone store. Demo devices at store also have same pink tint problem.

l0vef0rey0u said:
Yes. All display mode and frequencies settings. And all invironment. I tried it in, out door and at phone store. Demo devices at store also have same pink tint problem.
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That's bizarre. May be a firmware issue for that variant or just a bad batch.
So much for Samsung QC...
Sounds like the red gamma is off.

Looks to me like a rainbow effect on mine as I can see other colours in the band when i move the phone - its probably just the screen protector IMO

what is the software version on your s21? (settings - about - software info - last 3 baseband)
i have AUA3, and dont have any pink tint...

Pretty sure this is going to be a hardware flaw present in ALL S21 Ultra models and is either due to LTPO display they are using or the Victus glass. Note 20 Ultra has a similar problem where you get dirty whites when compared to Note 20 which has perfect whites.

Software version AUA3 here. Pink tint very noticeable. US version.

Same. I'm really disappointed. Got an Tab S7+, Tab S7, Watch3, and Buds Pro with the S21 Ultra 512GB... came to $1728 after tax and trading in my s20 ultra with combo savings.
Only thing keeping me from sending the S21 Ultra back right now.
zarr112 said:
Software version AUA3 here. Pink tint very noticeable. US version.
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this helped mine

etc6849 said:
Same. I'm really disappointed. Got an Tab S7+, Tab S7, Watch3, and Buds Pro with the S21 Ultra 512GB... came to $1728 after tax and trading in my s20 ultra with combo savings.
Only thing keeping me from sending the S21 Ultra back right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than that, the screen is amazing! I hope a future firmware update resolves the issue.

Got my s21 ultra today and there's a slight pink tint but it doesn't bother me, in fact I find it's much much better than my OnePlus 8pro which is a mess Have a look at the difference... The s21 ultra looks better in real life but the green tint on the 8pro is very visible in the dark. I had two and I sent the first back because of the green tint and the 2nd was exactly the same. I find the ultra display ahead of the 8pro.

Really makes you think about reviewer integrity. I watched 6 reviews before pre-ordering, all of them raved about the camera and display, but never mentioned the color shift off axis.
The S20 Ultra screen is fabulous and noticeably better. Never noticed any color shift. Instantly noticed it on the S21 Ultra.