> Small numbers (1-3) of stuck or dead pixels are a characteristic of LCD screens. These are normal and should not be considered a defect.
Their product line does not really inspire much faith. I can't say I've bought a device in the past 10 years which has dead pixels on the display. To me, this is a defect, given that I can pick up a device, overwrite Windows with Linux, and have a device without dead pixels.
Check out their philosophy[0]. They aren't exactly a company targeting end user consumers. They want to put affordable hardware in the hands of a community of tinkerers.
Good luck with that. See how long that last, if the current trend continues.
Soon you might have to aquire a certified developerversion to unlock your device to tinker with it.
This warning is present, albeit in much smaller print, on all devices with a screen that you buy. The unofficial apple policy appears to be "repair starting from 1 dead pixel on iphone, 3 on ipad". Samsung has a policy which depends on the screen type: 1 for normal LCD, 3 for Super AMOLED, 4 for WVGA-resolution LCD. Every single manufacturer has this kind of clause, you cannot fault pine64 for this.
Though of course as it is a much smaller venture, you can’t hound a sales rep until they accept to repair it nonetheless.
That warning is designed to scare away 'regular' consumers, so it's doing its job. If the prospect of a couple dead pixels scares someone, they are not the target customer for a PinePhone. It is absolutely not a device for the average consumer.
How do you know if you're the target customer for a PinePhone? You read the 'dead pixels' warning and think 'I don't care... I want a Linux phone'. People who would find a couple dead pixels unacceptable would also likely find the features and functionality of it unacceptable as well. For months it couldn't take pictures or (reliably) make phone calls/text.[1] Now we can take poor quality pictures and have marginal phone functionality and think life is good! It's not that we're nuts (ok, maybe a little ;-) but rather that we accept this a long term process/effort and not something that will be even remotely perfect anytime soon.
[1] Hell, mine will never be able to reliably work with most USB-C chargers due to a hardware bug in the first iteration. Didn't care... I want a Linux phone! (and I'm too cheap to replace the board, I'll wait for a v2 to fix that and other issues)
Their product line does not really inspire much faith. I can't say I've bought a device in the past 10 years which has dead pixels on the display. To me, this is a defect, given that I can pick up a device, overwrite Windows with Linux, and have a device without dead pixels.