OnePlus 5’s “Jelly” Scrolling Behavior
It has not been long since users received their brand new OnePlus 5 smartphones, but already many users were beginning to notice a peculiar screen effect when scrolling their screens. Dubbed by the community as the “jelly”-like scrolling effect, this effect causes the text on display to bunch up together and then stretch out when the user is swiping in the opposite direction. It’s a bit difficult to explain through text, but a widely-circulating video from The Verge’s Dan Seifert clearly demonstrates this behavior.
One plus response
caught lying
Community members looking into the issue came up with two theories to explain what may be causing the behavior: VSYNC toggling or the display panel’s orientation. The former is a software issue while the latter is hardware related. While the VSYNC toggling theory was quickly dismissed, the OnePlus community seemed to be fixated on the potential that the OnePlus 5’s display panel was oriented upside-down. This claim was made because users began to notice that if the screen is inverted on many other smartphones, those other smartphones may also experience this same jelly-like scrolling effect. The manufacturer didn’t seem to matter – so long as the phone’s screen is inverted, some users could reproduce the issue on their other smartphones.
This code is for the display controller and it clearly defines that the panel is oriented 180 degrees. Thus, the display controller is instructed to compensate by 180 degrees. According to SultanXDA, this is his first time seeing this code in an actual device. The documentation for this line actually exists in the display controller of other devices, but most other devices do not have the line present. We verified this by examining the display controller source code on the OnePlus One, OnePlus X, OnePlus 2, OnePlus 3/3T, Google Nexus 5X, Google Nexus 6P, and a few other smartphones to satisfy our curiosity.
Why Upside-Down?
Obviously, OnePlus deliberately chose to invert the screen panel while manufacturing the OnePlus 5 (remember – it’s not a “defect”!). This is not something that occurs by accident. Although we are not privvy to their exact reasoning, we can offer some speculation.Take a look at what is placed at the top of the smartphone – the dual camera and some antennas. Like with any decision involving where to place components in a smartphone, it likely came down to space considerations. With limited space, the company had to decide where to place each component so everything would fit. Since the dual lens camera, which is new to the OnePlus line-up, takes up more space than a single lens camera it is possible the company moved the motherboard – and hence flipped the display panel – in order to accommodate the new camera module.
TLDR
one plus put the screen upside down, they hoped most people wouldn't notice the problem with the jelly effect, they got caught, so they made misleading PR statements.
