Glance screen too dim to be useful: defective unit or bad software?

[Windows Central Question]

My other Lumias (620, 820 & 1020) show the normal Glance screen that's sufficiently bright to be useful--always have. The Glance screen on my 950 XL worked normally until the 1st update and then no more. Is is a unit defect, software problem or is that the new normal?

 

[pankaj981]

I've seen the glance screen intensity to vary depending on external light. So it really depends on the external lighting conditions you're checking glance screen at.

 

[Wadidiz]

Thanks but I can't read it from one meter in the dim light in my workspace and it is totally invisible outdoors. Never had a problem with all the other Lumias I have owned or now own. I really need to know if this is a defect or not.

 

[pankaj981]

Not sure if it's a defect but it's certainly not normal. I've a Lumia 950 XL myself and it's definitely readable indoors. It could be a software glitch.

 

[Wadidiz]

This "not normal" has persisted through Windows Technical Previews and total phone resets this whole year. Glad to finally get an indication that this is "not normal". Thanks. Windows so-called support has only given me the run-around or hooked me up with hopelessly incompetent "technicians".

 

[pankaj981]

This "not normal" has persisted through Windows Technical Previews and total phone resets this whole year. Glad to finally get an indication that this is "not normal". Thanks. Windows so-called support has only given me the run-around or hooked me up with hopelessly incompetent "technicians".

Can you post a picture of your phone with the Glance screen ON? Just making sure our "not-normal" and "normal" are on the same page.

 

[Wadidiz]

This photo doesn't show clearly how much difference there is between the two. I can "glance" at my 1020 sitting on the wireless charger less than one meter away in my apartment and see the time clearly. I can't do that with my 950 XL. As I said earlier, I have to turn on the lockscreen to see the time when outdoors. Never had to do that with my other Lumias.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

View attachment 126869 This photo doesn't show clearly how much difference there is between the two. I can "glance" at my 1020 sitting on the wireless charger less than one meter away in my apartment and see the time clearly. I can't do that with my 950 XL. As I said earlier, I have to turn on the lockscreen to see the time when outdoors. Never had to do that with my other Lumias.

is there some kind of screen protector over the screen? It isn't covering the light sensor, is it?

 

[pankaj981]

This photo doesn't show clearly how much difference there is between the two. I can "glance" at my 1020 sitting on the wireless charger less than one meter away in my apartment and see the time clearly. I can't do that with my 950 XL. As I said earlier, I have to turn on the lockscreen to see the time when outdoors. Never had to do that with my other Lumias.

Now that I look at both the pics carefully, I do remember having my 1020's Glance screen being brighter than my 950XL. In fact even the 925's Glance screen seemed to be more or less like the 925. Having said that, the 950 XL's glance screen is still readable on my device and it looks the same as yours.

 

[Dakoy]

I have exactly the same problem. It started around the the end of May or early June. It was ok for the first 5 months that I've been using it, but now it's just too dim that I could barely see it even indoors. I'm on the release preview build 10.0.10586.338. Could this be a bug in the build? Or a problem with the glance screen settings app?

 

[Corwin_Amber1]

For those having REALLY dim glance screens: Get it exchanged. It is the only way to have it fixed, IMO. The fact is relative well known (google it, there are many in MS Answers forums). Thery usually send it to Microsoft in Hungary (over here), get the display unit exchanged and all is well. I also got my phone exchanged by my carrier, all is fine since. Mine broke with an update of glance, some months back.

Since then, I have done many hard resets and also WDRTed the phone for other reasons (living in the fast ring and loving it). But Glance would never come back to normal. For me, the only solution was to get it exchanged.

 

[mggm100]

My 1020 Glance screen is considerably brighter than my 950 XL Glance screen also, but I think there is less of a difference between my phones than the phones in the image in an earlier post.

 

[peter leung 10586]

the glance screen worked fine in my 950xl when it was new. forgotten since when it became so dim that I couldn't see it.

 

[Corwin_Amber1]

Peter, that is exactly what I had and what I am talking about. As of current knowledge, only an exchagned display unit or exchanged complete unit will fix it.

 

[anthonyng]

I think it's a windows 10 thing

I pulled out my lumia 920 with 10586.338 and it's just as dim, if not dimmer.

 

[Corwin_Amber1]

I mean really dim. Unable to see, really. Shortly flashing and being bright for a split second and then being too dim to read, probably slightly purple and a little, slightly flickering.

 

[BustyBloke]

This happened to my 950 XL too. I took it in for repairs and they had to replace my screen assembly to fix it. So it is definitely a hardware fault - it is not something that a new software build will remedy.