Do I have a leg to stand on?

Disco_P

Disco_P

Disco_P

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About 18 months ago I (foolishly) bought a Lenovo Tab 4 8 Plus from a popular brick and mortar PC store. I had it replaced under warranty after about 6 months as the screen died completely which was quick and easy.

However it updated to Android 8.1 after the single year of warranty expired upon which the screen started to show some annoying behaviour. Basically it changes brightness depending on how bright the onscreen content is, ie if there is a lot of darkness, it gets darker. If it's really dark (like the punisher intro) it just turns off. It's very very very annoying.

There is no fix apart from downgrading. 8.1 on the tablet is far better than 7.

I was thinking of using the fact the downgrade fixes it proves the fault was there all along and thus be covered under the Consumer Rights Act. But then they could say that they sold the product on Android 7 and thus it only has to work on that OS.

Any thoughts GD?
 
Rroff said:
Have you tried turning adaptive brightness off in 8.1? it is generally pretty buggy.
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It's not adaptive brightness, it's Qualcomm Content Adaptive Backlight which can only be disabled until the screen is locked upon which it reverts to faulty behaviour.
 
Downgrade to 7 then carry on with life?
Buy an iPad next time?
No one in pcworld is going to give a crap what you say or probably understand you, they might refund you to get the lunatic out of the store?
Sell it? Just buy a new one...
 
Could argue that you are following best advice from a security standpoint by keeping it always on the most updated version of andriod.

But if this is currys good luck finding someone who works at that place with any understanding other than sell insurance and earn commission.
 
Tbh I wouldn't mention the version of Android and would just show them the buggy one and say there's clearly a fault and see what they do.
 
iamdjdz said:
Tbh I wouldn't mention the version of Android and would just show them the buggy one and say there's clearly a fault and see what they do.
Click to expand...

Yep, in some cases giving them as little info as possible is best. Just play dumb and say the screen is broken again.

As it's the second time you could try and push for a contribution towards a new product but they'll probably insist on fixing it so you'll still have a dodgy tablet :p
 
xb8browney said:
Just to be clear, it's out of warranty and you want them to fix or replace it?
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Sounds like it's still covered by the Consumer act though. That's usually longer than warranties. I've used it to my advantage and it's predecessor the 'Sales of Goods act' which got my YLOD PS3 fixed when it was a few months out of warranty.
 
touch said:
That doesn't mean you can just return it because you don't like one of it's features.
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How is it turning the screen off when it's in a dim room a 'feature'?!

As I said though, it looks like he can turn it off anyway... surely that's problem solved?
 
touch said:
That doesn't mean you can just return it because you don't like one of it's features.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's a feature I'd like advertised on the box!

Efour said:
Buy an iPad next time?
Click to expand...

This is probably the best advice though. I'm yet to use a tablet as good as my iPad Pro (and my 'New' iPad with Retina.. before it). Only one I've used that has come close is a surface and they cost an arm and a leg! Got a Lenovo Helix sat in a drawer next to me that never gets used and is soon to be ripped apart.
 
AndyCr15 said:
How is it turning the screen off when it's in a dim room a 'feature'?!

As I said though, it looks like he can turn it off anyway... surely that's problem solved?
Click to expand...

The OP said it's a feature called "Qualcomm Content Adaptive Backlight".

(which is different to the "Content Adaptive Brightness" which you told him how to turn off.)
 
Okay, but the feature is it adjusts the backlight based on the screen content, or something along those lines. It's clearly not working if it actually turns the device of. That's a bug or a fault...

**EDIT**
touch said:
The OP said it's a feature called "Qualcomm Content Adaptive Backlight".

(which is different to the "Content Adaptive Brightness" which you told him how to turn off.)
Click to expand...

Well, not from what the article says -

Now, disabling the Adaptive brightness in Oreo or Android Pie (or any Android for that matter) is a rather simple task. But, we want to take this a step further. Firstly, Qualcomm’s CABL (Content Adaptive Backlight) is another thing you should consider disabling. And that isn’t as simple as the Adaptive Backlight.

It basically uses the background of an app to determine the brightness level. And, due to a disparity between the ambient light sensor and Content Adaptive Backlight, the results might come out surprisingly bad.
Click to expand...

Surely that's exactly what OP has? It even says they're turning off Qualcomm’s CABL.
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

The tablet is out of warranty cause I made the mistake thinking it was two years. I am very happy with the tablet apart from the screen issue, it was £150 new and seems to have only gone up in price. I don't want an ipad - can't afford one nor do I like iOS.

The Content Adaptive Backlight 'feature' can only be disabled until screen lock, after that it requires a restart to be disabled again.

Here's the 'feature' in action:
 
Actually under the Sale of Goods Act its a 6 year warranty, but after 6 months its on you to prove the fault was present at the point of sale, under EU legislation its a standard 2 year warranty. Most retailers are unaware of the EU side of things so you may be required to stand your ground.

In the end though the law will win and as it stands right now, you still have 6 months warranty remaining under the EU law.
 
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