Screen Ghosting? Battery Cover Warning?

[shovenose]

I needed a secondary phone for my business and after two fails of "new" HTC One M8s on eBay (I figured it would go well with my primary phone, an HTC 10) I decided to try Samsung. Got me a new in box Samsung Galaxy S5.

Unfortunately, there are already a few things I hate, and the phone does feel really plasticky and cheap. I guess that's why I don't really like Samsung phones. All that said, my biggest two issues that I'm hoping to find a solution for:

Screen ghosting: After just one night of use (well, one night of installing about half a dozen updates in the process from 4.4.2 to 6.0.1) there's already some ghosting in the screen. It's not that annoying, it's just weird on a brand new phone - what can I do to keep it at bay, or is this normal and it won't get worse?

Rear battery cover warning: I've seen the message to make sure the battery cover is tight many times. But it's definitely fastened on there securely, and in a case... I did some research online and this message does not have a sensor, it simply shows up. Any way to disable it?

I absolutely don't want to flash Cyanogen or anything else like that... I must keep the stock T-Mobile ROM to ensure functionality of WiFi calling.

Thank you for any advance.

 

[jlzibell]

If you have turned the phone off, the battery cover notification will come on. It is part of the power up. I've learned after over 2 years of use to just tap the screen and keep going. I do recommend using a good case for the S5. The "plasticy" feel will then go away. As for the "ghosting" I've not seen that, but I'm still on Android 5.

 

[Fox Mulder]

I have a MetroPCS-branded S5, basically the same as the T-Mo. Mine is rooted and I've kept it on 4.4.2, ROM is stock and WiFi calling works just fine. I'm with you on not wanting to lose that, it's the primary reason I've stuck with only Metro phones and although I've always rooted them I've kept the stock ROM's (both for WiFi calling and because CM always seems to be a science project where something doesn't work).
As far as getting rid of the battery cover popup I'm pretty sure that rooting is the only option, I use an XPosed module to deal with both that one and the one for the USB cover and of course XPosed requires root.
I'm not sure what the root availability is with 6.0.1, you can check in the S5 root sub-forum here.
The ghosting on a new phone does seem unusual, do you have the brightness turned all the way up?
Mine has some very faint burn-in from a few things on the home screen, but it's only visible on a white image and easy to miss if you don't know it's there. And that's after a year and a half of use.

 

[shovenose]

If you have turned the phone off, the battery cover notification will come on. It is part of the power up. I've learned after over 2 years of use to just tap the screen and keep going. I do recommend using a good case for the S5. The "plasticy" feel will then go away. As for the "ghosting" I've not seen that, but I'm still on Android 5.

Gotcha - thanks. I am using a case.

I have a MetroPCS-branded S5, basically the same as the T-Mo. Mine is rooted and I've kept it on 4.4.2, ROM is stock and WiFi calling works just fine. I'm with you on not wanting to lose that, it's the primary reason I've stuck with only Metro phones and although I've always rooted them I've kept the stock ROM's (both for WiFi calling and because CM always seems to be a science project where something doesn't work).
As far as getting rid of the battery cover popup I'm pretty sure that rooting is the only option, I use an XPosed module to deal with both that one and the one for the USB cover and of course XPosed requires root.
I'm not sure what the root availability is with 6.0.1, you can check in the S5 root sub-forum here.
The ghosting on a new phone does seem unusual, do you have the brightness turned all the way up?
Mine has some very faint burn-in from a few things on the home screen, but it's only visible on a white image and easy to miss if you don't know it's there. And that's after a year and a half of use.

I do not have the phone on 100% brightness.. it's been on auto this whole time. It's not a great pic but on the left side you can see an imprint where the notification bar is.

 

[mikedt]

That "ghosting" looks like the AMOLED screen definitely has burn-in. I don't think one night of use would have done that. Could be this S5 isn't at new as you thought it was.

I've seen burned AMOLED screens myself with S5 and S6, showroom demonstration phones that have been on continually at full-brightness 24/7 for months on end, showing the same thing. If it was new in the box from a store, it might be an ex-demo one you've got. Screen burn can only be kept at bay or get worse, like if you continue to have a dark notification bar, and the main portion as light colour. Which is what that burn-in looks like it's from. If your S5 is actually supposed to be new from a store, I'd return it and demand a new replacement, as the one you've got is evidently quite used to me. The store didn't tell you it was an ex-demonstrator or refurbished did they?

 

[shovenose]

That "ghosting" looks like the AMOLED screen definitely has burn-in. I don't think one night of use would have done that. Could be this S5 isn't at new as you thought it was.

I've seen burned AMOLED screens myself with S5 and S6, showroom demonstration phones that have been on continually at full-brightness 24/7 for months on end, showing the same thing. If it was new in the box from a store, it might be an ex-demo one you've got. Screen burn can only be kept at bay or get worse, like if you continue to have a dark notification bar, and the main portion as light colour. Which is what that burn-in looks like it's from. If your S5 is actually supposed to be new from a store, I'd return it and demand a new replacement, as the one you've got is evidently quite used to me. The store didn't tell you it was an ex-demonstrator or refurbished did they?

Definitely no mention of it being anything but brand new: http://www.ebay.com/itm/261966973755

I can't return it or send it back now as I've already passed my other secondary phone off to my mother and I use it every day for my business. I will try to get a partial refund from the seller to compensate the price of a refurb phone. Will also try to run one of those apps that cycles display colors for a little while to see what happens.

Here's what I sent the seller:

Spoiler

Hi, this "new" phone is not brand new as described in the listing. The screen has some burn in ( picture: http://i.imgur.com/cs2NLpU.jpg ) from the notifications bar and dock. So, clearly it is a used phone. I would like to avoid sending the phone back as it does work OK and I don't have a back up phone and I use it every day now, but I would like a partial refund to account for the fact that it is a used phone. I can find the same model phone used for about $150 on eBay and I paid $225 to you for the new one. So I would like to get a $75 partial refund. I will still leave you five-star feedback if you can take care of this for me. Thanks!

Literally the third bad phone in a month from two different eBay sellers. I'm definitely going to try to avoid buying phones on eBay in the future.

Another thing, maybe you know, how do I avoid having to press OK after entering PIN on the lock screen? On every other Android device I've been able to enable something that skips the OK button if PIN is correct? Thanks!

 

[mikedt]

OK it's Ebay, so what you actually got, given the apparent AMOLED screen burn, it is second-hand or ex-demonstration. Just be lucky it wasn't a replica or clone Samsung S5.

You can always take the issue up with Ebay of course.
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/Problem.html

 

[shovenose]

OK it's Ebay, so what you actually got, given the apparent AMOLED screen burn, it is second-hand or ex-demonstration. Just be lucky it wasn't a replica or clone Samsung S5.

You can always take the issue up with Ebay of course.
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/Problem.html

I'm pretty sure it's genuine since it's the T-Mobile variant, and not a generic unlocked one