Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 164 posts

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#151

Post by can16358p »

tjoff wrote: post #143
can16358p wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well as a user who never broke an iPad screen I'd prefer this way too. Less reason to steal, especially being in a country where Apple device prices are skyrocketing and theft common, I'd even pay more for this to happen as an insurance.

I sure hope you don't have a bag/case for it and leave it clearly visible so that any passing thieves knows it's an apple-device they should leave be. That people encourage being stripped of rights is just wild. Can't wait to see where this will take us...

Well I don't have a case and I work a lot outsides.

What if someone runs away with it when I'm at the restroom?

Just because you don't need it doesn't mean that there aren't anyone who needs it.

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#152

Post by wkat4242 »

stouset wrote: post #142
wkat4242 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lightning connector has one major flaw: the springs are in the phone side. Over time these wear out which is why its much better to have the phone side have simple static contact surfaces and the spring loaded contacts on the cable side which is much cheaper to replace. USB until C also did this wrong and C fixed that mistake.

I have had at least a dozen Lightning devices and I have never had the springs wear out. I’ve never even heard of this happening. In fact, if those springs are steel and properly designed to prevent unexpected loads, they physically can’t ever wear out.

Springs will always wear out. Every connector has a number of rated insertions. Some are as low as tens of cycles only (like the 12HVPWR connector on GPUs), USB-A has 1500, USB-C 10,000 precisely because of this inversion.

For Lightning it's not known because it's a proprietary standard but it will have a number of mating cycles.

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#153

Post by turquoisevar »

userbinator wrote: post #135
turquoisevar wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anything that proves it’s a calibration issue. The controller on the replacement screen has no calibration whereas the controller from the old screen has been calibrated to the old screen, apparently sufficiently close enough to the necessary calibration of the new screen to not show noticeable issues to most people. The real test would be grabbing two screens with calibrated controllers and switch the controllers…

If it really was about calibration, wouldn't you think Apple would've calibrated the screen at the factory and programmed the controller with the calibration data? The real test would be grabbing two screens with calibrated controllers and switch the controllers out, then compare accuracy after the swap with accuracy before the swap. That's what they showed in the video. The replacement screen was from a different iP…

They've always split calibration between the factory and the Apple Store when it came to replacement parts.

Some of the calibration offsets are device specific, so for a full calibration the unit as a hole needs to be calibrated.

Early on they did calibration in store with machines like these[0], but it caused too many issue.

In part because geniuses, like the one in question, like to draw conclusions based on incomplete data and as a consequence get overconfident in their ability repair and asses.

Where this confidence comes from is beyond me, because most of their work has been relegated to a paint by numbers process using tools that abstract as much as possible away, limiting critical thinking. Ironically, the fuckups caused by this confidence, causes more to be abstracted away limiting the experience and knowledge they build up, and the more this is limited the more confident they get and so this Dunning–Kruger cycle goes on and on.

In any case, in part because of too many issues with these machines Apple has worked to move as much as the calibration process away to the factory, limiting the actions that are necessary in the Apple Store to using a special app nowadays[1].

Whatever the case, both the machines used back in the day and the app currently in use combine local data with remote data.

Information about factory calibration is looked up in a cloud database based on screen ID number, that calibration data is downloaded and combined with calibration data that is collected locally by running a special firmware to run some local calibration tests.

Everything is verified before being finalized and the part is married to the device via serial numbers, storing the relevant calibration data in the relevant sides of the equation (i.e. screen controller and device).

If at any point in the future there's a mismatch, the offsets (i.e. calibration data) is ignored entirely and no offsets are applied at all.

This serves a couple of purposes, but the important ones being the prevention of damage and a way to remind the person observing it (i.e. presumed to be the worker repairing it) that calibration is still necessary and/or has not been completed successfully.

0: https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/3D_Touch_Calibration_Procedure 1: https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/RepairCal

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#154

Post by hyperhopper »

can16358p wrote: post #151
tjoff wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure hope you don't have a bag/case for it and leave it clearly visible so that any passing thieves knows it's an apple-device they should leave be. That people encourage being stripped of rights is just wild. Can't wait to see where this will take us...

Well I don't have a case and I work a lot outsides. What if someone runs away with it when I'm at the restroom? Just because you don't need it doesn't mean that there aren't anyone who needs it.

"needs it"

What is "it"?

A completely false sense of security based in technological religion?

No, nobody needs that.

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#155

Post by Fnoord »

KerrAvon wrote: post #97
Zinu wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? How can the connector in the phone break when it’s just a hole?

USB mini/micro B ports can break off the PC board when they’re not anchored solidly.

This was a flaw on the Nokia N900. Or at least, on some of the devices.

I solved the issue by using TOPK magnetic cables. The magnet would remain in the port (microUSB, lightning, or USB-C, not sure about miniUSB but I got like one device which uses that), and all the cables would work with it. I even leave them connected (the LED does not draw much power and I got solar anyway) which allows me to quickly start or stop charging a device. Which, given I got quite a few, is very useful. Another issue is I keep getting leftover microUSB but need more and more USB-C for which the feature isn't very important (the more USB-C I'd have, the easier it'd be to stop using magnetic cables).

The exception is my MBP as it has a MagSafe (v3, my wife's MBP and my old MBP having v2) but I forgive Apple for that; its very useful and probably where TOPK got their inspiration from.

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#156

Post by menus »

otterley wrote: post #148
menus wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0sWmBNj6Eok A genuine screen from another iPad will cause this issue until you swap the chip from the old screen to the new screen.

Ah, thanks for the link. The story this post is linked to said only aftermarket screens had this issue. I don’t have any inside knowledge but I suspect authorized Apple repair centers have access to a tool they can use to recalibrate the screen after replacement that the mom-and-pop shop doesn’t have.

Apologies for coming off rude. Apple's anti-repair stance is a sensitive topic for me.

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#157

Post by Fnoord »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #24
dataflow wrote: post #2

Note: I slightly edited the title for accuracy. In particular, it appears "third-party replacement screens" doesn't refer to third-party-manufactured screens, but merely replacements performed by third parties using genuine Apple screens. And we simply know that they don't draw straight lines, not that they "can't". More reading: https://www.reddit.com/r/gadgets/comments/15cxwaa/apple_penc...

My god, the narrative. "Apple is doing this just to fuck with users, fuck apple" etc over and over despite zero evidence as to their intention here. One sane person comes up with the more likely explanation: > That implies to me the calibration is unique to each screen and a proper repair has a calibration setup step? And someone just dismisses that perfectly logical explanation completely out of hand, declaring 'all…

> I am so tired of people who interpret Apple's actions purely as anti-consumer fuckery.

But it is because they don't care about it working after a third party repair. They're trying to profit twice: once from sale, once from hardware repair support which is very expensive (lol, 600 EUR to replace a MBP 2014 screen ..) inflates the price and warrants the higher price of a new device.

> Don't get me started on how superior the lightning connector is for daily use - predominantly charging

Depends on the device. You can charge a smartphone wirelessly, too, and you might want to use wired for transferring data. Yes, I know, it is a cloud world but that isn't my choice. And if you want to transfer data via lightning... prepare for the fun experience of 480 mbit/sec called USB2.

> People even have the nerve to complain about Apple "taxing" cable manufacturers and their burdensome certification, ignoring the whole "random USB-C cables will fry your laptop and phone" problem and the fact that the USB alliance charges a license fee on every single product that bears the USB logo.

Indeed, I do, because Apple wants to earn large margins on everything. I also recommend against using random cables, see e.g. O.MG cable.

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#158

Post by Fnoord »

turquoisevar wrote: post #134
djmips wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't even do your homework. The replacement screens are original Apple and 'can' be fixed by moving a microchip from the old screen to the new.

If anything that proves it’s a calibration issue. The controller on the replacement screen has no calibration whereas the controller from the old screen has been calibrated to the old screen, apparently sufficiently close enough to the necessary calibration of the new screen to not show noticeable issues to most people. The real test would be grabbing two screens with calibrated controllers and switch the controllers…

A colorimeter could be used to calibrate a screen's colors, including a TV. I'm not aware of such a device for touchscreens though. The touchscreens I replaced via iFixit were each good enough replacements. But to be fair: I never did drawing on them.

Regarding the issue, I find it pretty simple to address: I believe Apple should allow third party repair shops to achieve such, and if they're unwilling or unable to, they should by law be forced to do it themselves for free, with S&H on them, too.

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#159

Post by Fnoord »

wkat4242 wrote: post #64
KennyBlanken wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very difficult to damage a lightning port by sticking something into it because the contacts are deep inside the port and only the tiniest bit is exposed, enough to mate with the plug, and the male plug has zero moving or bending parts: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8059819/ve... In fact, it's remarkably easy to clean a Lightning port and the common advice is "just stick a toothpick in." The…

The lightning connector has one major flaw: the springs are in the phone side. Over time these wear out which is why its much better to have the phone side have simple static contact surfaces and the spring loaded contacts on the cable side which is much cheaper to replace. USB until C also did this wrong and C fixed that mistake.

Yep, here's a picture describing the issue [1]

[1] https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-often-do-the-lightn...

Re: Apple Pencils don’t draw straight on replaced iPad screens

#160

Post by cybwraith »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #100
cybwraith wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest issue for me and why I stick with ipads is the 4:3(ish) aspect ratio. 16:10/16:9 is a terrible aspect ratio for tablets IMO.

16:9 is a terrible ratio for a computer, but a good one for a movie tablet.

While I understand for many people that may be a positive, I spend very little time watching shows on such a small screen. Thats what my TV is for! A 16:10/16:9 ratio on a tablet makes the balance in the hands quiet bad in portrait mode.
Post reply on HN