Help Subtle Screen Flicker Issue

[jpav80]

Hi guys,

My Galaxy Nexus has a weird issue that I can't seem to figure out whether it is caused by software or hardware. A portion of my screen seems to flicker when I have certain apps open. They all have a common cause. For instance when I open Chrome and begin to do a search from the top I notice the drop down results will flicker in sync with the cursor. It doesn't appear that the whole screen flickers and it can be subtle. It only seems to be the drop down results which are typically black text on white backgroud that flicker. I don't notice anything similar within all other apps such as the standard messaging app which have blinking cursors. I can also get the same flickering result in my IMDB Movie app while starting a search within the app which will start to display results that faintly flicker. I have never seen it flicker using a screen testing app such as the ones used for detecting dead pixels. I am not sure if this is something has always existed on my phone, but I noticed this about a week ago while still on 4.1.2. I am now on 4.2 and still have the issue. I attempted a factory reset just to see if that would clear it up but it didn't. Has anyone else experienced this or have some insight for the flickering? I wanted to see if anyone has noticed this before I start the whole Samsung tech process! Would flashing the phone with a new stock image do anything different than a factory reset. I have never rooted, unlocked or put custom roms on the phone.

One additional observation I made is that sometimes the flickering will cease within Chrome and it will remain without any issue until I go and start swiping/clearing recent apps. I have also turned off auto brightness and it doesn't resolve the issue.

Thanks,

Jay

 

[Digital Controller]

I have never had this issue, however, i have never really been a fan of Chrome for android. It seems like it could be a hardware issue, however, if you are willing to go the extra mile you could either A. Perform a factory reset to see if this fixes things or B. Root/ROM your device to see if it has something to do with the original ROM...

Otherwise if you do not wish to explore more into it, just call up Samsung support and get the ball rolling.

 

[Tim K]

I don't have that on mine.
Let me ask you, do you ever have your phone set on "autobrightness"? I noticed previously that if I had autobrightness turned on....and then went back to a set level, I would get a brightening and dimming every time I opened a new app/page/window. I'm wondering if this is similar, with it brightening and dimming with each refresh of the auto suggestion....

Its probably not the cause but I thought I'd toss it out there.

If a reset doesn't work then re-flashing the stock ROM won't help either.

 

[jpav80]

Thanks guys for the quick replies. I did turn off auto brightness but it still showed the same behavior. It is pretty minor, but very odd that is does it and it may have been doing it all along and I just never noticed it. I have a GSM based unit but I decided to swing by Verizon since they still had a unit on display and I noticed a similar flicker. Probably a coincidence, but I may still give Samsung a call to see what they can do. I just don't want to have to send a unit back and they may not see it and send it back as is.

 

[Tim K]

Actually turning auto brightness off caused my flicker. I would have to reboot to make it stop.... and not turn auto brightness back on.

 

[jpav80]

So I did some more troubleshooting and I started uninstalling apps to see if I could find an app causing the issue. For some reason if I am running my XDA Forum app and leave it running in the recent apps list then I don't get the flicker within Chrome or other apps that have search with drop down results. As soon as I swipe away the XDA app then the flickering returns. I tried uninstalling the XDA app and the flickering continues. I could try a factory reset and not allow Google to re-install my apps and see if that resolves the issue, but it is very strange overall.