degen Sorry, I was being ironic...or sarcastic, I never remember the difference.
I used the phone for 20 minutes before bed. I woke up this morning with very sticky eyes and as if my head had been turned around a bunch of times. So much tension accumulated after a few minute usage. I feel like I have been run over by a truck.
I am not ironic / sarcastic anymore :-(

    AGI I never use a smartphone before bed anymore. I have a smartphone but now it's solely used for emergencies or necessity when I'm outside. If i'm at home I use my Desktop PC for everything. If I get a IM then I use facebook web/whatsapp web. I would move your PC/Laptop closer to your bedroom if you need to use the internet.

    I can say at least in my experience that ditching the smartphone as much as possible has been beneficial for my sleep and attention span.

    Thanks, after two nights I have not yet "healed". Yesterday I had a long day at work, about 13 hours. It was awful. Neck and head tension, twitching and huge difficulties keeping my eyes focused on anything, screen or paper. All this caused by 20 minutes on the new phone the day before. I now have doubts last year I was lent for two weeks an iPhone 6 instead of a 6s, or maybe the OS was an older version than 10?
    I could tell I would get a trauma from just turning the phone on. No need to read or focus. Actually the characters are neat, the reading is not difficult at all. It is else that kills me.
    I do not think I have chances to get used to it. I can't afford to be so poor performing at work for days every time I used the phone for minutes.
    I do not know what to do now phone-wise. I wanted to test a OnePlus 3 with Paranoid Android but could not get one.
    By the way, thanks for your tips @diop. I have been without smartphone since February and it is so much better, I agree with you.

    @KM I just found a vendor of OnePlus3 on eBay who ships to Japan from Hong Kong!

    He actually sells both OnePlus 3 and 3T. If I look at the specs, the differences do not seem to relate to the graphics. 3T offers more LTE cover, from the little I understand. Selfie camera resolution, battery life and device color are not a priority.

    https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=7995&idPhone2=8416

    Would you agree? Do you use yours fine in Europe, do not you?

    Paranoid Android should work on both phones. I have the doubt which one to try.

    By the way, once I install the custom ROM, if it does not work for my eyes and I want to resell, do I have any chance to factory reset?

    If you have any recommendation, I greatly appreciate it, since you are way more knowledgeable. Do not worry, I won't blame another wrong purchase on you :-)

    • KM replied to this.

      AGI There's some Windows low level software in both the official OnePlus forum and on XDA developers that can even reset a "bricked" OnePlus 3 (black screen, not booting) to some earlier version of OxygenOS. Or you could install any version of OxygenOS again, be it from within TWRP or by USB cable, which will install the official bootloader (replacing TWRP), then you should be able to re-lock the bootloader via console (PC) and have the warning message at boot, that comes with unlocking, disabled. It's the message that makes selling unpleasant. Both methods should be like a factory reset.

      I can't say if the OnePlus 3T has the same display mechanisms like the 3, sadly.

      AGI Do you use yours fine in Europe, do not you?

      No problems in Germany.

      • AGI replied to this.
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        KM Uh, that is very complicated for me, but at least I know there are chances to factory reset, many thanks! I want to be positive, that I won't need to do it, and Paranoid Android will work like a charm. I need to believe it :-) Vielen dank nochmal!

        After OxygenOS 9.0.3 I did a clean flash back to PA 7.3.1. No Wifi. What finally fixed it was flashing OxygenOS 5.0.8 and then clean flashing PA again.

        Much cleaner output on PA. It's hard to describe.

        @degen @KM I thought I would get Android Marshmallow to start with. I had not realized OnePlus come with a customized OS! I get it dithers like Android?
        I read the manufacturer is Chinese. Wonder why most items on eBay ship from US or UK, and do not deliver to Asia. I finally found an Asian seller, right after wasting money on the iPhone 6s :-(

        • KM replied to this.

          AGI Their OxygenOS is just a slightly customized Android ROM. I could use their Marshmallow, which is Android 6.0, and also their Android 7.0, but then they changed something in 7.1 which triggers eye strain. And somehow it made its way into LineageOS and other custom ROMs, but not Paranoid Android 7.3.1 (which is Android 7.1). We don't know what it is, could be dithering or something else nobody thought of yet. But I think it can be triggered if you change the color profile, for example to sRGB. Or if you change colors via apps or system setting sliders.

          Detailed installation instructions should be somewhere in this thread where @degen asked to unlock his device.

          • AGI replied to this.
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            KM I saw the latest Paranoid Android for OnePlus 3 dates 2017. Are older version eventually available or only the ultimate version is downloadable?

            KM I could use their Marshmallow, which is Android 6.0, and also their Android 7.0

            So if I do not update OxygenOS, I can give it a go as it comes?

            • KM replied to this.

              AGI I don't know of older version downloads for Paranoid. I think all older OxygenOS are still available and you could downgrade at any time.

              Edit: I just saw OnePlus has removed all older downloads from the website and only offers the latest versions now. Bad move.

              • AGI replied to this.
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                KM you could downgrade at any time.

                Is this a difference to Android? A factory reset did not restore the original OS version on my phone.

                I just checked (stupidly, late) and the phone I was lent last year is an Iphone 6. Displays are the same but the 6s has a different platform (I assume the GPU plays a role when it comes to graphics). I had slipped on that, even if, to be honest, I have no clue anymore why I am unable to use any smartphone.

                https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=6378&idPhone2=7242

                • KM replied to this.

                  AGI Is this a difference to Android? A factory reset did not restore the original OS version on my phone.

                  No, it's all Android and just a few differences in settings or some dialogues. With an unlocked boot loader, you have pretty much full write access to the partitions, and can downgrade to any OS and OS version, which is much better than a "factory reset" button and something which Apple would never allow. And unlocking is officially supported by OnePlus and just a few clicks away. It's not hidden from the user like on Samsung devices, for example.

                  • AGI likes this.
                  4 days later

                  Hi
                  My smartphone usable nexus 4 LG g2 LG g4 LG g5
                  Smartphone test issue galaxy s7, htc-u11, Huawei mate pro 10, p20, mate 20, xiaomi mi mix 2s, pocophone F1, mi 9 se, Sony Xperia xz2, LG g7 and pixel 3
                  I m desesperate my g5 is die.... I think to test LG G6 or LG v20 or stop to use smartphone
                  Sorry for my bad english

                  • Gurm replied to this.

                    Nikko02 LG G6 will be hit or miss. I also had no problem with G3, G4. Never tried G5, maybe I should? Those are much newer phones (2016) than the HTC I'm using...

                    Can anyone else confirm that LG G5 was ok for them? I can get one pretty cheaply here, and it's two years newer than the HTC One M8's I keep recycling, and I could stay on Android...

                    I am so glad I am not alone but this is a very concerning issue for all of us. 2.5 months ago, I upgraded to a Galaxy S10 and started to have horrible eye strain and headaches. I have never experienced this before. I thought I was crazy to think it could correlate with the phone so I didn't do any research. I got desperate and went to the optometrist but after researching PWM decided that was my problem. I came from a Galaxy S8 which I had for years with no issue (it also has PWM; just a bit higher than the S10) so I wondered if there was some PWM threshold I was okay in. Anyway, last week, I went and bought the LG G7 ThinQ, thinking the LCD display would solve my problem. NOPE! I also spent a day using my work iPhone 8 (LCD) and it felt like death for my eyes. I am in the same boat as you guys but I am not as techy and have an old computer so I am not sure I could make changes to the phone to downgrade the OS to see if that helps. I think I will test my friends Galaxy S8 today to see if going back to that phone helps at all. I don't remember what OS I was using on my S8 a few months ago.

                    This is a profoundly expensive problem and I am at my wits end trying to solve it. I am so stressed out with eye strain, headaches, and neck tension that I want to cry. My quality of life has decreased a lot since getting a new phone. I may just have to get a basic "dumb phone" because I cannot afford to keep buying phones! But I need GPS and whatnot...

                    If my friend's S8 works, I will buy it from him but if it doesn't, how old should I go? Is there a way to prevent the OS from updating? I am sure that has been answered somewhere in this thread.

                    Edit: I don't know how to tag this as introduction. But I am 28 and live in the US. I work in research. I use computers daily but my issue began in the first part of April 2019.

                      laur5446 You can still get S8's new with a fresh battery, which would last you a long time. If you just recently got rid of it, and weren't taking steps to prevent it from updating, odds are you tolerated that screen very well all the way up to Android Oreo, maybe even Pie, so I wouldn't be concerned with the Android OS level on that device (for you! for a lot of us it matters). If I were in your shoes, that'd be my course of action. Sell the S10 (for big money), buy a new S8 outright, and stick with that for 2 years to ride out your contract.

                        laur5446 Sorry to hear that. I tested an S10 in a shop a few months ago. I played around for 5-10 minutes, mostly using an app to make funny images out of selfies. No reading, nothing requiring concentration and focusing. I left the shop and within 30 minutes I felt sick. I had to go straight to bed. It was an horrible and scaring experience.

                        What did the optometrist say? Do you wear glasses?
                        What about the iPhone 8? Could you use it before the S10? If that is the case, bear in mind that, after getting triggered, symptoms may last pretty long, especially if you keep using electronic devices, even "good" ones.
                        Last week I tested an iPhone 6s for 20 minutes. It took me three days to fully recover, and it was not pleasant because I had to work all the time in front of PC and laptop with the horrible consequences left by the iPhone.

                          Gurm Good advice. I am returning the LG G7 today and will buy an S8 and hope I can use it like I did before this started happening. I tried to test my friend's yesterday but my eyes were still hurting from the day before so I couldn't tell. If the S8 doesn't work, I will be at a loss--as it makes sense, as you said, for it to be okay if it was okay before.

                          AGI It is really comforting knowing there are others who have this same experience. It sounds crazy when I tell people I know that I am convinced it's due to the phone screens. I do wear glasses. She said my prescription changed a little bit (which happens every couple of years--nothing out of the ordinary) and she did some testing and added prism to my prescription due to a "convergence inefficiency". Basically, things go double if they are really close to my face. I have had that issue forever, though, and I honestly thought everyone had the same experience. So I do not think that is related to this. I have not yet got new lenses but I also plan to get the Eyezen blue light filtering lenses; the optometrist said she is not convinced yet that those are helpful. She said she does not know why this eye strain would come out of nowhere and suggested I go to vision therapy if the lenses don't make a difference. It was not until after the appointment I found so much information on PWM and on here regarding potential OS issues. And you are correct; it seems to take days to recover from the symptoms. The day I used the iPhone 8 all day, my eyes were not fully recovered from the day before and by the end of the day, I was in so much more pain. It is weird, though, now that you mention it...I got the S10 at the beginning of April AND work upgraded my work iPhone from an older model to an 8 late in April. The previous iPhone I seemed to be able to use with no issue--but I rarely use my work phone, anyway. This is all so confusing. I will report back once I spend some time with the S8 which was usable before all of this started. I will be at a loss if for some reason it is no longer usable. I worry we are doing serious damage to our eyes!

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