Recent phone tests:

Honor X7B - backlight felt harsh and uncomfortable, especially at lower brightness levels. Web text slightly difficult to read & stay focused/comprehend. The eye shifting/eye swimming sensation appears. However, no pwm symptoms noticed. Honor customer service have also confirmed the X7B uses DC dimming and is apparently "flicker free".

Redmi 12 5G - Same issue as the X7B. Backlight feels strange and odd, and not very eye friendly. Also difficult to stay focused when reading text. I can read a whole paragraph of an online web article, and not absorb any of it, and in some cases, completely forget what I've only just read moments ago. The display is very reflective, and this caused me to skim over webtext as opposed to actually read it. However, again, no pwm symptoms noticed. (Note: there is an anti flicker mode within the developer settings that can be activated).

Redmi 13c - Brief test in store - display felt nice and quite soft. However max brightness was low, and the performance was absolutely horrendously awful. Lags and stutters during general scrolling through the ui. Very bad ram management. Opened a few system apps, and all were immediately closed after opening another app, and they had to be reloaded. Baffled as to why an incapable processor such as the helio G85 is still being used in 2023/2024.

Nokia G42 5G - Very cold display, and no effective option to adjust color temperature. The G42 also suffers from the same harsh backlight issue. Uncomfortable. But no pwm type symptoms were noticed. The touch response of the display is hideous and often frustrating. Avoid.

Quick sum up:

Nxtpaper 40 4G - Uncomfortable and uses PWM

Nxtpaper 40 5G - Uncomfortable and uses PWM

Nokia G42 - Uncomfortable

Nord CE3 Lite 5G - Uncomfortable + eye strain

Moto G73 - Uncomfortable + eye strain

Moto G54 - Uncomfortable/Harsh

Honor X7B - Uncomfortable

Redmi 12 5G - Uncomfortable

Redmi 13C - Comfortable but TRASH performance

Safest phone in 2023, in my opinion, goes to the Honor 70 Lite. By far the most comfortable, yet has a basic 720p tft display. Performance leaves a lot to be desired, is often slow with the odd lag here and there, but the screen doesn't present any pwm or uncomfortable eye strain type of issue.

I'm keen to try the upcoming TLC Nxtpaper 50xl, as this will use the updated papermode 3.0, and it incorporates a circularly polarized light display.

Also both the Redmi 13c 5G & Poco M6 5G have received TUV Rheinland flicker free certification (not that that really means anything). Regardless, these could be worth trying if they're available in your country.

There is also the new blackview shark 8 (Oscal tiger 12), that uses an LCD panel, and is extremely cheap. From some feedback that I've read online, the display has a strong blue cast.

Overall, it's currently a sad state of affairs as it seems a new type of backlight/backlight calibration method is being used in these newer LCD phones which is not proving to be very eye friendly. This new type of harsh backlight was seen across many LCD handsets released in 2023 and its use is expected to go into 2024.

I can't pinpoint what the exact issue is, except the backlighting being used just feels off, and harsh. It's also worth mentioning that a lot of these handsets have received "low blue light" certification, so that may have something to do with it, whether they are now using a method or some type of additional embedded hardware layer, to reduce blue light, or whether the led's being used in the backlight are a newer "energy efficient" type (to help increase battery endurance/prolong display life), which is having a negative effect on the overall backlight and its temperature/calibration. Either way, it's proving to be problematic for those that are deeply sensitive to and with eye strain issues.

    jordan I have not tested any of these recent devices for dithering, as I'm not currently in possession of the right equipment to enable me to do so, so unfortunately I cannot confirm whether the 70 lite is free from dithering. With that being said, if it's any consolation, I haven't experienced any type of eye strain from using the 70 lite, even after lengthy periods of time.

    The display is not perfect, and the quality and color accuracy and calibration are not great, and it's limited to 720p, and uses the older TFT type of panel. I've also chopped and changed screen protectors on numerous occasions, cycling through anti glare matte protectors through to hydrogel/tpu. In the end, I now use it without any type of protector applied.

    In my opinion, it's a pretty benign display, and it works perfectly with overlay apps such as twilight and color calibrator. This enables me to create a good level of comfort.

    Also, in the UK, it's extremely cheap. Currently retailing for £130. Keep in mind, you get what you pay for! So it is a cheap plastic feeling handset.

        jordan personally for me the only iPhones I can use is the 11, XR, and 8 and below

            Frito1224 wow the XR and 11 were extremely bad for me. Must be the color flickering on them that I'm sensitive too

              Vividblu99 TUV Rheinland is just a dummy. Low Blue Light Certified for visible light only with a wavelength of 415 to 455 nm. "Harmful" visible light from 455 to 500 nm is completely ignored. Manufacturers often do not write Flicker-Free's "brightness range." After reaching which the screen begins to flicker again. There is no limit for PWM at 0/25/50/75/100% screen brightness.

                I have watched the OnePlus 12 YouTube review by Mrwhosetheboss and if you skip to 6m 50s he explains how when the phone screen is dimmed lower it switches to PWM Dimming at 2160Hz.

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9-9fP_pcEc

                I don't think I am affected by PWM in mobiles based on handsets without it that have still caused me issues but for those who are and understand PWM plus seeking a powerful handset it may be an option ?

                Over recent months I have tried the Poco M5, Motorola Edge 30 Neo and Motorola G73 without success.

                  jayd

                  What issue(s) did you experience with the Poco M5?

                  Was it something to do with the backlighting?

                  According to the specs, the Poco M5 uses DC dimming too. I was hoping the M5 would be like the M3/M4 Pro 5G models, which were decently comfortable to use.

                      Vividblu99 Firstly I will say that compared to a lot of people on this forum I do not appear to suffer with as wide ranging or impactful symptoms when looking at a screen. Simply intense eye strain / tiredness and nausea. Naturally the strength of this varies and also the length of time it takes my eyes to recover from hours until the following day.

                      I was aware the Poco M5 was no powerhouse however I found the phone slow and software buggy upon initial setup with prompts appearing on screen in relation to this. I factory reset it and tried again however still was not happy and coupled with some strong eye strain I decided even if my eyes got used to the screen I wasn't happy with the initial experience of the software and hardware.

                      I genuinely do not know what the issue is with screens that causes my symptoms. I am fairly confident it is not PWM as I have had issues with devices that do not have PWM. I also have issues with LCD screens so do not take too much notice of the LCD vs OLED debate.

                      In the past I have returned the iphone SE (2016) and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (2014) amongst other LCD handsets. I have been using a Google Pixel 3a for around 4 years now which is OLED. I recently looked at a friends iphone 15 Pro Max (OLED) and it didn't appear to cause any issues but that device is way out of my price range.

                      The other challenge for me is I prefer small handsets so around 6 to 6.2 inches so options are limited however if I found a 6.5 incher that I could use then I would still be very happy. I have just bought a refurbed iphone XR from Ebay as well as a screen protector for the first time to see if it helps though I doubt it, I know you have had success with screen protectors on some devices.

                          jayd
                          You might be suffering from motion blur eyestrain, which is a very real thing.
                          OLED's have much faster response times compared to LCD's (both in monitor and smartphone space)

                          The compact phone market is definitely dry. You could try one of the newer Zenfones (9/10), the old Sharp R2 Compact (LCD), or IPhone 13 Mini. That's as close to "compact" as one might get nowadays.

                              qb74 Thanks for the advice I have been reading up on this and read that it isn't just moving objects / pixels that cause this but also static pixels if what I have read is accurate. My symptoms kick in just by looking at the home screen on a device so I don't even need to scroll up or down. This is also the same on the Windows home screen on a pc sometimes.

                              I first spoke to an optician around 2014 about this and she said it is related to a communication issue between my brain and my eyes most likely. Last year I spoke with another optician who suggested I have pattern glare but I do not think the majority of opticians are aware or fully understand the issues we are experiencing, I do have rare issues with patterns on clothing such as checkered patterns and zig zig patterns and I did mention this to him so I think this is why he made the pattern glare comment.

                              I have attached a photo of the screen on my kitchen airfryer and even this display caused some very mild issues the first few times I used it.

                              I am thinking of eventually trying a refurbed iphone Pro Max as although the screens are larger I think I might get lucky with them based on my friends model.

                                jayd Yes miui is one of the worst interfaces I've used. A complete resource hog, and every software update seems to slow down the system even more.

                                However I love their eye care/paper mode.

                                    jordan Not sure about flickering, as I don't have an opple or similar device to enable me to check.

                                    However, the paper mode 3.0 used in some older miui device like the poco m3 pro 5g/poco m4 pro 5g, and a few of the budget redmi devices, worked very well in terms of eye comfort and reducing saturation. They also worked well with a matte screen protector.

                                    However, the same cannot be said for their newer devices like the Redmi 12 5G. That display is awful. My eyes just cannot tolerate it, regardless of any of the colors modes/eye comfort modes that are selected.

                                    I have a suspicion that it's using PWM, but I haven't been able to detect this using a slow mo camera/shutter speed.

                                    Likewise with the Honor X7B. Also a horrid display, and i suspect this may also be using pwm, even though Honor's customer service team claim it is "flicker free".

                                    I'm quite irritated at the fact that these are supposed to be cheap budget LCD devices, so one would expect them to be pretty usable for sensitive individuals (like previous budget LCD phones), but unfortunately this hasn't been the case.

                                    They're evidently using some new type of LCD tech, or some additional under screen layer, or the issue could be software related.

                                        I mentioned earlier that I had very good experience with Poco x5 pro 5g. But several days ago there was an firmware update that changed MIUI to HyperOS (new OS by Xiaomi) and also new Android version (14 vs 12). And the experience became much worse (( probably new driver or smth else… now i cannot work comfortable more than 5:min. And no ways to rollback to previous system. So dont allow such update!

                                          valex13 you should be able to manually flash the old firmware. I think on Xiaomi forums they post them there

                                              jordan it is very complicated as I have to unlock the boot, and to do it i have to get the unlock permission from Xiaomi. But they don't give it for hyperos firmware. It is very complicated process now.

                                                Hi. I also post this on another forum I found today. And I find this forum too. Can please anyone recommend good eye ache free phone

                                                I try new OnePlus 12 for few days and it causing me lot of aching eye and very strong headache. I try all brightness colours setting but aching eyes still too much. I cant use for more few mins because eyes hurt too much

                                                Before I also try honor 90, magic 5 pro, Xiaomi 13 pro, s23 ultra, Moto edge 40 pro pixel 8 pro all in1 year but I return all as same ache and headache

                                                I read review of OnePlus 12 which said good for eye but for me not true. I am now sending back too.

                                                Is any new phone with good camera eye ache free with no headache? I need good camera for pictures videos but I need headache free phone cause I use a lot for work things

                                                I was using a Hisense A5 procc until i bricked it. Now a normal Redmi LCd phone and it sucks. Especially at night. Will get the TCL nxtpaper 40 soon and see how that goes. if not good then ill buy the hisense a9 eink phone

                                                  dev