Updated: Is the backlight supposed to be blue?

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Updated: Is the backlight supposed to be blue?

A new photo has been submitted by the same reader that started us on the blue backlight journey. This new photo shows a direct comparison of a new 30GB and a 15GB iPod. Click “Read more” for photo.

“Here is a comparison picture of my 30GB that I got about four days after its release, and a 15GB that was just shipped a few days ago. Both have the backlight on. It is very obvious that the backlight is white and dim on the left “older” 30GB iPod, and bright and blue on the right newer one [15GB]. Also the screen is MUCH clearer on the newer new iPod (although not in the picture, I took it with my Palm Zire71!).”

In our ongoing saga of “Is it white or is it blue?”, iLounger, Matthew S. emailed us the following:

“There are three photos of a 20GB iPod, using varying white balances. ‘blue1’ is done using the ‘flash’ white balance preset (tungsten 4000K? I didn’t look it up), though without actually using the flash, ‘blue2’ using the ‘automatic’ white balance, and ‘calibrated’ done using calibrated white balance (uses a 50% grey card to set white balance appropriate to the conditions). They were all shot with a Nikon D100 camera. (Click ‘Read more’ for the full report.)”

[blue1]

[blue2]

[calibrated]

“The difference is pretty striking, and you’ll note that even in the manually calibrated version, there is a slight blue tint to the backlight - this is entirely expected as blue is the dominant colour in “white” LEDs. The precise temperature of the LED varies widely between manufacturers (just try out a couple of different white-led flashlights to see).

The screen also appears quite blue to the naked eye when viewed from even a relatively slight angle.

The moral of the story: there are too many factors involved to make a realistic comparison. Viewing angle, LED manufacturer, the camera’s white balance, ambient lighting conditions, and simply people’s varying perception of color. Some iPods probably are blue, but the variations displayed are much more likely to be due to one or two of those reasons than they are to Apple creating a new hardware revision.”

An anonymous iLounger sent us an interesting bit of news about the latest new iPods and LCD backlight. Click here for a photo comparison.

“Yesterday at work (I work at the Apple Store) I had to put out another of the new iPods for demo on the floor (a 15GB). And to my surprise, it was different than every other iPod already out, and different than every one I have seen, including my own 30GB.

The screen was MUCH clearer. It appears to be the promised “new high resolution” screen. I turned the contrast way down and it was still quite visible and clear. And the kicker is that the backlight is BLUE (as promised and as is on the box) and not white. I held the “new” 15GB next to the “old” 15GB and it is quite obvious there is a new, better screen. It is SO much better than the iPods released a few weeks ago. I don’t know if all iPods being shipped have this new screen and backlight but I sure hope so. It is a much better screen.”

Our new 15GB has a white backlight as specified on Apple’s iPod Spec page, but the box and this iPod webpage indicates an iPod has a blue backlight. Is it just Apple’s way of enhancing the advertising photos for advertising’s sake? Or, are the new iPods supposed to have a blue backlight? Does your iPod have a blue backlight? Send us a photo.

Submitted by a reader. Not the same Apple Store iPod as mentioned above. (15GB iPod)

iLounge photo. (15GB iPod)

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Comments

101

bought 2 ipods last week in Atlanta to bring home to sunny England. 1x15 Gb and 1x30 Gb. The 15 Gb that I gave my mate is smaller lighter and has a blue screen, the 30Gb is much more grey or white coloured. Of course its all subjective but the blue screen looks much better. I expected it to be as it looked on the box, but it aint. Yes is is important, because if there had been a choice, for $500 - I wanted to exercise that option (and get my mte the white one!) Has anyone had any joy returning their ipod to a different country citing whatever fault they can make up thats known, to get themselves a different model? Both units assembled in Taiwan. serial no. ends ****96R2NLY.

Posted by jasper on July 8, 2003 at 6:55 AM (PST)

102

So bought my iPod today - and compared with my boyfriend’s iPod purchased 3 weeks ago - my screen is the very deep crisp blue (as in the pictures shown for this discussion) while his background is the more white with blue/grey tint. Per Apple store in SoHo in NYC, there has been an update with the supplier/manufacturer to make the blue brighter. However, the contrast needs some work and because the light is so bright there are small shadows on the left of my screen next to the lightbulbs or whatever is in there. It bothered me at first, but I’m over it and happier with the darker blue screen than the grey one.

Posted by gvcNYC on August 2, 2003 at 4:51 PM (PST)

103

On first day of usage, the contrast setting of my 15GB 3G iPod was good at 50% on the slider.
After the formatting process suggested by PC software on the first sync, the contrast settings changed. Now with the 50% setting the display is very dark. At 0% on the slider the background is still a bit dark and the letters are becoming whiter.
Is this a software problem? How can I fix it? Thank you for you help.

Posted by J. Martins on September 9, 2003 at 1:58 PM (PST)

104

I was just on the phone with an Apple rep and he said, “the apple iPod’s with the bluish tints are defective.” There is something wrong with the contrast of them or the backlight. People often return them because they must turn the contrast down so low to use it. I would still rather have one with more of a bluish tint and wish there was some way to trade in my 30GB for one with the blue tint. The rep (Mike) said that this might be because of the different manufactures of the iPod backlight and the different companies they decide to use. So basically he is it is COMPLETELY RANDOM to get an iPod with a bluish screen there is no way to know if you are going to get one until you unwrap it for the first time.

Posted by Hap on September 22, 2003 at 7:20 PM (PST)

105

Posted by Hap on September 22, 2003 at 7:21 PM (PST)

106

Posted by Hap on September 22, 2003 at 7:22 PM (PST)

107

ordered my iPod today, its a 20GB 3G ipod… should i have not gotten the laser inscription on the back??? woops. But I’ll tell you what color it is when i get it… its been ordered, and I was tracking it and it just left Shanghai, China today… How long do you think that’ll take, Shanghai to Seattle? Oh god, better get my waiting face on.

Posted by jacob on November 12, 2003 at 1:43 PM (PST)

108

Anyone notice on the screens, the power indicator? This is showing that the iPod is not running the most recent version of the software. The most recent version uses a solid bar to show the power. The new software also created a higher res display.

So that could be a part of the reason of the color difference as well

Posted by Matthew on January 8, 2004 at 6:16 AM (PST)

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