For the M8, when activating developer options by tapping 7 times on the build number in the about section of the settings, if you enter it and scroll down to "Disable HW Overlays" and turn it on, could someone comment on whether or not everything looks the same still?
Usable Smartphones?
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Sunspark Initially I wanted to try it for a few more days to be absolutely sure, but now that you ask, no I don't visibly see any differences. But the difference seems to be huge.
Yesterday I gave my OnePlus 3 one more try. The first options I set were "Force GPU rendering" and "Disable HW overlays". I could use the phone until late in the night. The next day I continued to use it. At some point I had to reboot. Some minutes later my eyes started to burn and I felt terrible. I almost gave up on the device. I lacklusterly scrolled down the Developer options, and to my surprise "Disable HW overlays" was again unchecked. I forgot to turn it on again after the reboot. After checking it, I could continue to look at the bright AMOLED screen. I went outside and could still use it (I use auto brightness wich turns all the way up outside). Felt great. I couldn't do that with my iPad without getting a headache quickly. Now I'm back home and typing this message on my OnePlus 3. The battery is dying any moment. In the morning it was at 100%.
Edit: Back and charging
About the M8: I made sure to have both developer options checked for some time without feeling relief. My eyes and my head hurt that day, because of the M8, which ruined almost a whole day. I'm going to test it more in a few days. What I did the last before putting it away was rooting it and added "persist.sys.use_dithering=0" in /system/build.prop which should disable Surface Dithering (whatever it is). Some of us mentioned it might help. I just wonder if I can still return the device, if I need to, after all that flashing and rooting.
Related: Make "Disable HW overlays" permanent
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=52627683&postcount=11
KM Sure you can.. easiest way is to RUU it back to stock, then relock the bootloader, etc. I can't return mine because it was a closeout of a carrier account, one of those use the credit or lose it deals. Don't change too many options at once. I think Overlays is the only one that matters and I noticed having force GPU on 2D slowed some things down. There is a tweak coming soon for the O+3, srgb color profile instead of ntsc.
7 days later
well my HTC One Mini 1 is at the end of life now. So it's pretty hard for me to buy a new smartphone, since problems with the screen are inevitable.
However I don't want to buy a new smartphone with a screen bigger than 5 inch.
Do you guys have any recommodations for me. I don't want to trial and error all the time, because I'm currently testitng different eye care monitors at work.
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Harrison Do you guys have any recommodations for me.
When there is no collection of good / bad anywhere, trial and error is all that you can do.
If you trial some though - the wiki got started up again (for good). Please post findings there and create a separate thread here for each individual device 
If others do it too (and I figure out more easier ways to submit new devices, I find the current instructions too confusing 
), then we can get a list going of good / bad stuff.
4 days later
5 days later
@KM http://www.notebookcheck.net/OnePlus-3-Smartphone-Review.169223.0.html
The brightness measured on a pure-white background is marginally lower than in OnePlus' 2, but it is still comparatively high for an OLED panel. Only the Galaxy S7 Edge is even brighter when its light sensor is enabled. The brightness is even a bit lower when the light sensor is active in OnePlus' 3. The review sample even achieves 532 cd/m² in the screen's center in the more practical measurement of evenly distributed bright and dark areas (APL 50). Black is really black thanks to the screen's underlying technology, and this leads to an unbeatable contrast ratio.
PWM flickering is almost inevitable in OLED technology. This appears at approximately 240 Hz when the screen's brightness is set to ten percent. PWM at 60 Hz can also be detected when the screen is set to maximum brightness. Seen purely subjectively, this low frequency will not be noticed unfavorably in real world use. However, users who like to use their smartphone in minimum brightness at night in bed will definitely notice flickering. The night mode does not have an impact on PWM behavior and only reduces the blue light fraction in the image. It can be customized in the settings.
I have been using the HTC 10 (sharp display) for the last month and i feel a total discomfort in less than 5 minutes while looking at the screen. My eyes get red and i feel a burning sensation. I must add that i own 2 older htc phones (M7 & M8) and i never experienced such problems with them (although i did experience the same or similar problem while using a PSP and a galaxy tab 10.5). Is there any way to avoid these issues?
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JTL I don't know how they think it's at 10%. I took photos, and I see the same amount of stripes from 1 until brightness 65. Then at 66 (up to 255) the amount of stripes is reduced to ¼. Which makes sense when they talk about having measured 240 Hz and 60 Hz. But 65/255 is not "10%".
Anyways, I'm using the phone at 68/255 since my last post here and I can use it all day. This is evidence for me that PWM frequency matters a lot. My eyes are slightly red but I don't have strong eye strain or headaches. If I increase the brightness while I'm outside on a sunny day it gets a little uncomfortable though in just a few minutes. So no full recommendation on my end, but I'm glad that I can use an up to date device which is capable of making good photos.
Another thing I noticed is that I quickly get strained eyes when I use "brightness" apps that add an overlay to the screen.
Also anything below brightness 66/255 starts to hurt after a while, makes me both tired and gives me a sensation of facial numbness in no time.
If at one day we could control the PWM frequency it might be a major breakthrough. Then everyone could try and find his own custom frequencies he has no trouble with.
Last but not least, the Developer Options did not help me. I was indeed trying too many things at once, so at first I thought those options helped me while in fact it was the higher brightness levels > 65 and not using "overlay" dimming apps anymore.
Using OxygenOS 's "Night Mode" and sRGB mode also seems to hurt, similar to those overlay apps.
KM If at one day we could control the OEM frequency it might be a major breakthrough. Then everyone could try and find his own custom frequencies he has no trouble with.
Yes. For laptops with intel or Nvidia graphics I have some ideas. Would require running OS X (hackintosh) or Linux though due to driver requirements.
Ok. I've ordered Sony Xperia Compact Z3 today. Hope the best, however I'm really scared..
I'm using a Sony Xperia Z5 and although of course it hurts my eyes I consider it a lot better than my older iPhone 4S I was using before.
Unfortunately I cannot specify the reasons. I assume that in this case having a little larger display may allow me to be a bit farther away?
6 days later
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I just want to add one more smartphone i can use and for others to test. Up to now i actually use:
Alcatel C5
Galaxy Grand Duos
I have extensively used as a corporate device Vodafone Smartprime 6. It caused me no problems using it all day.
I can also add to other users that HTC M8s is comfortable for my eyes, however the phone gets really hot (both two devices i got my hands to) so i decided not to use it.
Taking the opportunity, i want to share my experience with Sony Xperia XA. I loved its looks and for one day it seemed quite fine. However, the next and the upcoming 2 days my eyes hurt a lot and got a very heavy forehead. I used the phone with and without Crizal glasses but it made no difference. So this phone is unfortunately a no for me.
Has anyone used the Philips Sapphire S616? Philips claims to have a technology that reduces blue light coming from smartphones in order to reduce eye strain.
Sharing experience with xiaomi redmi 3: discomert when not using full brightness. No discomfort with full brightness and i can deal with the light strength - but it may be issue for others.
In android there's an option to decrease brightness without touching pwm using apps that kinda put a filter layer on top of the screen. This doesn't work on the redmi 3 OS. Maybe it does work on cyanogenmod which is availble, but this requires an annoying process of unlocking the device - and only than installing a new rom. Haven't done that to my device yet.
My coworker somehow managed to erase the system partition (or created a permanent bootloop) on a HTC Desire 601 aka Zara_UL. It probably can't be fixed because it wasn't S-OFF and the only RUU I could find that would match it is an older version.
Anyway, I have the phone here. It's a nice LCD panel and is a very light device. 960 pixels like the iPhone 4 and 4S. Not the same PPI though as the screen is larger. Whatever panel is in this specific unit, it is a nice perfectly comfortable one on the bootloader that you could stare at all day, which is interesting because the GPU is an Adreno 305. Kitkat was the last software version released for this device.
I have a microscope in the house, and I think what I am going to do on a different day, I'm going to look at the subpixels on this device, and the 4S that I have that is also good, and then compare to other LCDs I have here and see if the pixels have the same shape or are different. I mostly just want to compare the 601 to the 4S subpixels.
That M8 I complained about so much? I use it, but for Pokemon Go. Lol!