Apple Retail's New Machines for Calibrating Replacement iPhone 5 Displays
Earlier this week, we noted that Apple had begun in-store repairs of iPhone 5 displays, a $149 procedure that is part of an effort by Apple to revamp its AppleCare and warranty services.
We had been told that Apple had sent new equipment to the stores in order to allow Geniuses to calibrate the replacement displays once they had been installed, and 512 Pixels has now shared a photo of one of those machines installed in the back-of-house area of an Apple retail store.
From what I’ve heard, Apple Stores have been instructed that the iPhone is the “top priority” for the Genius Bar, and this new repair — and crazy machine — surely reflects that. In addition to the program changes, many stores have Geniuses that are dedicated to iPhone repairs for sections of their shifts. In short, Apple is pouring resources in to in-store iPhone repairs.
Apple's standard price for out-of-warranty iPhone 5 repairs is $229, so the new display replacement program may save some customers a bit of money and ensure that they receive their original devices back rather than receiving new units and having to restore backups onto them.
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Top Rated Comments
I'm interested to hear what you believe Apple's motivation would be to send non-necessary "sham" equipment out to their stores.
My friend who works there told me that the equipment runs several graphics tests on the display in conjunction with a real calibration app that pairs the display to the phone. It also tests things like the proximity sensor and ambient light sensor before it goes back to the customer.
If $149(from what I've read) is a competitive price and Apple wants to pay for equipment to ensure the best possible repair how is that a "sham", since by definition a sham is not in the customer's best interest? Where are they wronging people?
EDIT: Hahaha, I now realize that my scale on this thing was WAY off. Oh boy.
My tired brain saw it like this:
I have no insight that this is what Apple's doing here, but when I hear the word "calibrate" in the context of displays, this is what instantly comes to mind. I would not be surprised to hear that this new device has a step in the process where it generates a custom color profile specific to the new display. If that is happening, then yes, they would be calibrating the new displays.
So you've used one. Must have if you know the machine is 'a sham'
So which store was it exactly
Of course you can calibrate the touch screen. :confused:
How does touch screen work? The digitizer detects where your chubby little finger(s) touch the screen, and sending the OS the coordinates. If the digitizer was manufactured and mounted to the glass perfectly, then those coordinates would correspond to the correct location that you touched the screen.
However, if something was not perfect, for example, the digitizer is consistently telling the OS a x-coordinate 5% to the right compared the actual location of the contact, then the OS can compensate for that on the software level.
Calibrations (of the touch screen) could be done by having the machine "touch" the screen at a number of pre-specified locations, and detect where the digitizer "thinks" that the machine has touched, thereby producing a calibration map.
This kind of calibration has been done for decades on various types of touch screen, such as the likes of Wacom tablets.
Now, I don't profess knowledge of the working of this particular machine, but to say "once the touchscreen digitizer is applied to the glass/LCD, that's that" is laughable. Just because the general public cannot access the part of the OS that can report the raw data from the digitizer, and compensate for the difference, does not mean it cannot be done.
[/idealism]