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Android noob requires basic help with color issue.

T

TruRook

Lurker
Hi,

I'm a moderate PC geek, but totally new to Android as of this week. My device is a Samsung Galaxy Y Pro GT-B5510, running Gingerbread 2.3.6.

I use it mostly for the purpose of Sat nav for my job as a courier.

After using the device for 2 days (both days with circa 5 hours of Maps/Nav use) I awoke one morning to find the colours seemed distorted, grainy and 'pixelly'. It's hard to explain, and I would attach some images - but my screencaps all show up on the PC without distortion! So to describe the problem instead: It's like the phone has been set to EGA 256 colours! It has a low res screen but it was never this ugly before.

These pixelated dots all around the screen aren't stationary, they come and go.

Note: I have installed no apps other than Google Sky Map which I haven't used and isn't running. So far I've tried a Pixel fixer to no avail, then a factory reset, again making no difference. Curiously, there is no other problem and the phone is working just great, it just looks ugly as sin.

Can anybody help? Desperate to sort this out :o
 
Yes I read similar elsewhere, is there any way to view/modify such settings without rooting the phone? I would have no idea how to root.
 
not sure but it sounds like the phone did it by itself somehow. there used to be an old 'safe mode' that would show up like that if a problem had happened but i haven't seen that mode since 2.1 Eclair

the Galaxy series does have a safe mode and it seems quite easy to hit by accident, and yes, it's harder than **** to get back into normal

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1821557

this is for a Galaxy S but i am sure the steps are the same:

http://www.samsunggalaxysforum.com/samsung-galaxys-general-discussion/how-to-exit-from-safe-mode/
 
No dice sadly, neither the "exit safe mode via button-press upon boot" nor the battery-out method do anything to affect the distortion :(

I'm starting to wonder if it's a defective screen, the weird thing being there are times that the washed-out pixelation doesn't occur (such as on Maps, or YouTube)...(?)

*Lost*
 
it almost wants to suggest a dead screen but i would need a screenshot. i've Googled for you and tons of screen issues pop up about the Galaxy Y but they're all white screen failure modes.

Do you have any issues loading market apps? if you were in Safe Mode you'd have a bit lower resolution, crappy colors (like your computer in safe mode, it would be in 16 color VGA mode) and only the built-in apps would run, but games like Angry Birds would not.

it almost sounds like a theme got inadvertently enabled in the settings. that is why it doesn't affect the apps like Maps and Youtube. whatever happened it only effects the UI itself.
 
Since you haven’t installed much, you might as well try Settings > Privacy > Factory Data Reset, see if you can start over.
 
Ok, I've just installed two games, Tetris and Lemmings. In both cases the apps run, and look crappy. I've also noticed small black horizontal lines,only short lines, appearing for a moment when I change screens.

Here's the screen cap, but it's false, it looks nowhere near this good! This is really how it should look and how the device THINKS it looks.

sc20121021011628.png

sc20121021011628.png
sc20121021011628.png


It looks just like this one that I doctored:
sc20121021011628.png

sc20121021011628.png

sc20121021011628.png


Actually it looks a little worse than that, more kind of jagged.

Appreciate all your help Nick.
 
I'm thinking hardware now too, since I didn't install anything new prior to the DPI changing, also it seems to be getting worse. Still within 14 day warranty so it's going back, which is a shame because other than the screen problem I've fallen in love with the phone and with Gingerbread, I'll certainly be back.
 
Gingerbread is one of my favorites, and i won't use anything else--i assure you it's not a problem with GB, at least from my experience.
 
TruRook said:
I'm thinking hardware now too, since I didn't install anything new prior to the DPI changing, also it seems to be getting worse. Still within 14 day warranty so it's going back, which is a shame because other than the screen problem I've fallen in love with the phone and with Gingerbread, I'll certainly be back.
Click to expand...

Should be a year warranty on a Samsung shouldn't it? - or at least 90 days? Unless you bought it second-hand?
 
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