Following 'purple haze', iPhone 5 now plagued by 'green glow'

Several flaws have been reported in the iPhone 5 since it started to reach the users. One of the biggest issues with the device was the appearance of a purple haze at the corner of images captured with the camera of the iPhone 5. Now, a green glow has been noticed on the sides of the display in the unlock screen when the handset is started after being in the sleep mode for a long time.

As per a report by The Guardian, “This time a green glow described as a plasma bleed from the edges of the screen is appearing on some of the new handsets. The green light is momentary, and appears on the unlock screen just after the iPhone has been “woken” from a longish sleep.”

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The report adds that this was most likely a hardware issue, not a software one, as it is described as a ‘sort of warming up’ issue. It cannot be documented in a screenshot because of the short amount of time it appears.

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Apple had recently explained the purple haze issue that appears in photos captured by the iPhone 5 camera. It issued a statement, which read:

Symptoms
A purplish or other coloured flare, haze, or spot is imaged from out-of-scene bright light sources during still image or video capture.

Resolution
Most small cameras, including those in every generation of iPhone, may exhibit some form of flare at the edge of the frame when capturing an image with out-of-scene light sources. This can happen when a light source is positioned at an angle (usually just outside the field of view) so that it causes a reflection off the surfaces inside the camera module and onto the camera sensor. Moving the camera slightly to change the position at which the bright light is entering the lens, or shielding the lens with your hand, should minimize or eliminate the effect.

Though the resolution to the problem can be hardly categorised as a fix, we would definitely like to know how this issue was not so visible with the iPhone 4S. This is ‘antennagate’, where Apple is telling users how to use the phone.  It may be a great fact that Apple has opted for a sapphire crystal lens cover, which is thinner and more durable than standard glass. However, according to its release, Apple states that it offers crystal clear images, and this is not the case, unfortunately. 

A recent article by DP Review states, “The most likely cause of the iPhone 5’s purple haze is probably lens flare and internal reflections in the camera lens assembly. All lenses are succeptable to lens flare to some degree, and as you can see from the images at the top of this page, the iPhone 4S isn’t immune either (ditto the iPhone 4 and competitive smartphones from other manufacturers). But in our shooting we’ve found that it’s a little more noticeable on the iPhone 5. So why is that? It’s unlikely that the flare is solely due to the much-vaunted inclusion of a sapphire glass lens cover (although the refractive index of the sapphire glass is different to conventional optical glass, so it could be a contributing factor). Our money is on it being caused by a combination of different things, none of which, alone, is unique to the iPhone 5.”

It is hoped that Apple will issue a fix for both issues in the near future, and roll out handsets with these issues addressed.