iPad 2: The Backlight Bleed

[Photo: Flickr User Gymkata]

A follow-up to something I mentioned briefly on the Tuesday, March 22 edition of "Mac OS Ken," the backlight bleeds on iPad 2.

Listener Jim wrote to me earlier this week saying he bought three iPad 2s on launch day (two online from Apple and one from a local Best Buy). They ALL suffered from, what he calls, backlight bleeding.

He contacted AppleCare and had a replacement 64gb wifi iPad 2 the next day... with the same problem.

“There are lots of areas where the backlighting is bleeding through from under the bezel,” says Jim... “A particularly bad area is to the right of the home button.” He says the replacement iPad is not as bad as the original, but that’s hardly what one’s looking for when one buys a product and certainly isn’t what one expects when a product has to be replaced.

Jim says the problem definitely seems to be some sort of design/production issue, though I’d have to argue against it being a design issue since my 32 gigabyte, wifi iPad 2 doesn’t have the same problem.

Not that it’s not happening... after I mentioned his email yesterday Jim wrote in again, saying he’s been back in touch with AppleCare and told them that the replacement they sent him had the same problem as the original.

AppleCare’s official answer: the glue used for iPad 2 had not had time to dry. The rep told Jim to keep an eye on it and that it should change in 3-5 days... the only problem... March 23 is Jim's fifth day with the machine.

He was kind enough to send me links to stories and discussions online from Cult of Mac, MacRumors, and Apple's own Support Forum. There's also this short piece from Electronista.

If you've had similar problems, please send me an email about them: info@macosken.com. Or call Mac OS Ken: Live - Wednesday nights at 10PM Eastern/7PM Pacific on UStream.tv and tell us all all about it.

Update: So it turns out my iPad 2 does show a bit of the backlight bleed, but I have to work to see it. I generally run my screen at 50% brightness or less. After reading Jim's emails and the Electronista account, I decided to see if I could see such problems myself. So into a dark room I went, boosted my screen's brightness to 100%, opened the Netflix app, and played something letterboxed. Sure enough, I can see the "backlight bleed," though only by taking steps I would not normally take. Additionally, mine did not look anywhere near as bad as the picture above.