I have purchased a Samsung S7 Edge, installed the PWM-free kernel from the guy in XDA forum, running it on Android 6.1 and also on 7.0. Even though the PWM is gone, unfortunately still gives me eye strain. Not sure if that is caused by the 60Hz refresh rate, or something in the Android 6.1 and 7.0, but it is a no go for me.
After reading what you wrote, I am now tempted to buy a used Oneplus 3 just to see if it gives me eye strain or not.
Kray Even though the PWM is gone, unfortunately still gives me eye strain
Remember, PWM is not a defined root cause of eye strain. It's just a suspected culprit. That said, if there a known way to determine which brightness setting on an individual device will stop using PWM? would be good for more testing
I can say after some recent testing that Android 7 causes MUCH worse eye strain than Android 6 on the same device. MUCH worse.
Update: Have been using iphone 7 since over 1 month now with no strain issues when used for reasonable amounts of time, like 30-40 minutes at a time. I avoid going beyond that. IOS updates have not changed this. The 2017 ipad is usable for 3-4 hours without any strain. No luck with any android phone so far. I do not use night shift or colour correction. I just use 'Reduce white point' to 80% and this yields 0 eye strain over the aforesaid time periods. Trying to changethe 'reduce white point' setting to 50-60% did result in mild strain hence I just leave it at 80%. I also use low brightness levels. Generally I don't go above 30% except in sunlight. I also use a matte screen guard (Tech Armor) to reduce reflections, though until I installed it (3 days after purchase) I hadn't noticed any significant strain.
I read that the iphone 8 has the same screen tech hence maybe some people would find that equally good. I tested the screen tone feature on iphone 8 at a store and found it gave rise to eye strain instantly, so that should probably be avoided.
I hope we see some usable android phones soon with the cost of iphones going thru the roof. Do post here if anyone has similar results with the iphone 7 or 7 plus or 8 series using the settings I mentioned. Iphone X too.
I can use my girlfriend's iPhone 7+ for short periods. I haven't spent any serious time with it, though.
ensete is there a known way to determine which brightness setting on an individual device will stop using PWM? would be good for more testing
With a digital camera (also smartphone and tablet cameras) you can see stripes if the PWM frequency is low enough. For current AMOLED devices it's low enough (240 Hz). The PWM frequency normally doesn't depend on brightness levels. It might simply disappear at a certain brightness level, and that's where the stripes disappear, too. And hopefully the eye strain.
I suggest you start at 100% brightness and put the camera in AE/AF locked mode (on Android and iOS usually by touching and holding any point of the screen for a while). Then slowly decrease brightness until suddenly (additional) stripes appear. I say additional stripes because the 60 Hz small amplitude stripes might be visible all the time.
I did this and it proved to me that I'm sensitive to 240 Hz PWM (at least when the percent flicker is high http://www.ledbenchmark.com/faq/LED-Flicker-Measurement.html). It also helped me in finding the exact point of my OnePlus 3 where PWM deactivates. I suggest using this Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tsypa.brightnessmanager Don't let the bad reviews fool you. It's perfect for our purposes because it displays the full range of Android brightness levels (0-255) as opposed to most apps' percentages.
ensete Remember, PWM is not a defined root cause of eye strain.
It is for me, and for many other people as well. There are many causes of eye strain, here are some that I know of:
I get eye strain from PWM and graphics driver. This I can confirm. I dont get eye strain from ICC color profile. I read some people get eye strain from normal LED lights, but so far (thankfully) I dont eye strain from those. So different people are affected by different cause of eye strain.
From what I read, you seem to get eye strain from ICC color profile, but PWM does not affect you much. I get eye strain from using Android 7 too, but we dont know what exactly in Android 7 that is causing the eye strain, could be graphics driver, could be color profile.
ensete for me, PWM is a confirmed root cause. Has been for 15 years. I don't get any eye strain with the same display at 100% brightness when that display does not have PWM at 100%. I get eye strain immediately if the brightness is 99% and there is PWM.
Now just recently, there seems to be some additional form of flicker (e.g. temporal dithering) in some devices, which is causing exactly the same kind of eye strain as PWM, just not as bad.
For me, it's definitely some kind of flicker. Maybe also blue light. Some displays just seem "harsher". PWM is not an issue for me, I am perfectly comfortable with some displays with HUGE amounts of PWM. I don't know that FRC/Temporal Dither is the problem, but most displays that hurt to look at do exhibit that.
Kray Anyway, the new Huawei Mate 10 is out already. It has a different chipset (Kirin processor, instead of Snapdragon), different GPU (Mali, instead of Adreno) and different OS (using the new Adroid Oreo 8.0). Mate 10 is using IPS LCD, their past models does not have PWM. This might be an interesting model to try.
Today I managed to try the Huawei Mate 10 at the store. Played around with it for 15-20 minutes. At first seems okay, but then started to feel some tingling feeling in the eyes. Inconclusive. Need to use it for longer period before can really know if it causes me eye strain or not.
I just bought the iphone 8 plus and I have to say , so far no strain. I used it for a couple of hours.
Plsnostrain I just bought the iphone 8 plus and I have to say , so far no strain. I used it for a couple of hours.
How's the iphone 8 after using it for a week, any eye strain?
Hi again. I havent experienced any eyestrain. It seems fine! But we have different cases of eyestrain (although some have same) ,so I cant guarantee it will work for all.
Plsnostrain Thank you, even though we do, it is a very useful info
I'm trying a Xaomi note 4 in a day or so, will report back
Guys n gals am sad to say that the latest 2 software updates to iPhone 7 n ipad have ruined it for me. All was well and they have done something that now gives me insta-headaches on iPhone 7 and delayed headaches on iPad 2017. It's something to do with the GPU driver am quite certain. On the same hunch I picked up an el-cheapo Lenovo K8 Plus (Mali GPU) and it is fine thus far on moderate use with a blue light filter app on to dull the whites. Adreno and Power GPUs seem to be upsetting my system for no known reason.. This seems to be a part of the problem.
Hi! I use Sony e5 from march, and I don't have any eye strain. 3 times something change and I feel strain, but after hard reset it is fully comfortable.
Previous I used iPhone 4 - no strain, 4s - horrible strain, 6 - permanent strain after one hour, Samsung S5600 - permanent small strain, Moto e4 2017 - permanent small strain.
Does anyone use Sony XZ1? this phone have PWM, but in store after 5 minutes use, it's fully comfortable.
New iPhones and iPads doesn't have PNW, but I still have hard strain.
