I am going to be interested in taking a look at the iPhone XR to see how it is. The panel is Japan Display and they're using a plastic substrate instead of glass.

  • AGI replied to this.

    Does anyone have recommendations as to which phone operating systems are generally good vs generally bad? having a real hard time at the moment trying to find a replacement for my samsung S3 mini running android 4.2 jelly bean.

      Seagull

      Everything Android up to Lollipop 5.1 is fine for me.

      Marshmallow and later have all caused eye strain for me (tested Marshmallow on multiple devices I know are fine on Lollipop and they always became painful immediately)

      This seems to be the general consensus too.

        randomboolean Builds up for days if I let it and vision gets blurry, a takes a few days to return to normal. It's a gradual build up as opposed to fast without the protector. iPhone 8 Plus on iOS 12. Still not nearly as good as my PC set up by I'm resigned that a comfy and modern smartphone is some years away.

        I'm happy personally but I don't want to give the impression this is particularly easy on the eyes and have someone buy the phone and regret it. It's hard to get even close to the comfort of my primary Win 7 + GTX 650 Ti + BenQ EW2440L setup, so everything falls short.

        Sunspark By chance I stopped by an Apple shop. To be honest I had heard there were new products out, but did not even know their names/features, so I was not really expecting anything. I played around with the Iphone XS for 20 minutes and did not feel any of the usual disturbs developing instantaneously, nor the subtle, delayed feeling of sticky eyes which I often suffer from in the absence of acute symptoms (e.g., with Iphone 7). I tested not one, but three devices.
        Has someone else checked on that phone? Any idea why it would behave differently? If not that everyone "sees" different...but I thought of asking whether someone else experienced the same! Thanks

        degen Is it soft? glass? blue blocking? etc. Does it change the polarization of the display? (can check with polarized glasses).

        Seagull My Lumias have never bothered me but they don't even get security updates anymore and have few mainstream apps. Durable and easy to look at so it's a shame.

        Google Pixel 3 is out, has anyone tried it? I'm still using Galaxy S5.

        Have you tried iphone xr? It has the same display density as iphone 4, so in case that could be a factor, it could be useable. Letters are said to be jagged so maybe it doesnt alias so much, if that is a factor as well.

          martin That's intriguing... reduced aliasing and lower DPI is a good thing...

            Gurm Well I kinda feel "sick" of my 27" 1080p monitor and I'm strongly considering getting an NEC 30" 1600p monitor (one of the elusive 10-bit and non W-LED models) after I sort out my "secret sauce" for Macbook 😃

            I guess it comes down to personal preference and what "works" for you. I also like to do photo/video editing from time to time so I like having accurate colors.

            martin Not yet. I will check it out.
            Have you tried the XS? As said above, I did not feel any strain over 20 min, surprisingly. It has an OLED screen, so I expect it to burn my eyes within seconds like the Iphone X or the last Samsung phones.

            Also, what is the status of the Face ID thing? Months ago I read various forums in which they identified that app as the reason for eyestrain in people who could use any previous model, including the Iphone 8, without any issue.

              AGI Wouldn't that just be hilarious, if Apple finally made a phone we can use, and it costs $1500?

                Gurm Yeah, for a few seconds I thought I could buy it despite the price, but then I was immediately like: wait a sec, what if 20 min are not enough and then it is the usual crap? And, even more dreadful, what if I buy it and then they make an update and I cannot use it anymore? I would not be happy to invest so much money for something which could work a month...

                Gurm Notebookcheck says no PWM on the device. Pixels are chevrons. Saw a forum post that said this thing has 2.5x more LEDs than other screens so for sure this means a new backlight controller too. Could be a good thing. People online say good things about the screen.

                FaceID, there's a software switch that will let you turn it off. You don't have to use FaceID if you don't want to.

                I'll go to the shop to take a look at the XR. Though it's certainly not a cheap device, so there's a part of me that hopes I won't like it.

                AGI I'd cover the Face ID sensor with electrical tape because I'd be slightly concerned about it causing long term eye irritation/damage,. Also I think I read somewhere that the infrared LED's were still "firing" despite Face ID being disabled (at least on the X)

                • AGI replied to this.
                • KM likes this.

                  JTL Also I think I read somewhere that the infrared LED's were still "firing" despite Face ID being disabled (at least on the X)

                  I do recall someone suspecting the infrared LEDs were still on with Face ID disabled. I can't imagine adding another variable to the puzzle, and for what? I just want a phone, damn it. I cannot believe I bought three phones in 2018 which I can't use, and I have been paying internet data for 9 months but the SIM card sits in a drawer cause it does not work in my old phone. This really sounds like a joke. I am living off Wi-Fi and I am often in the ridiculous situation of faking that my connectivity is low when the truth is there is no SIM card in the phone...Oh boy

                    I have now XR and it's more worse than XS which I've sent back to Apple last week. Using XR for 10-20 minutes give dizziness and eye pain. It was surprise that even with visual PWM XS was not bad and it gave me just middle eye strain. It's not perfect as old LG G2 but usable more than XR. Face ID is not cause for me and I see that it is used only when unlocking phone, and when Face ID attention is turned off it is used less.
                    I will buy XS due my old iP 6 have to be replaced and we will see in long time.

                      tomek Bad news about the XR :-(
                      I will check the XS again. Thanks for the update

                      7 days later

                      I can't recommend the iPhone 7 Plus or 8 Plus anymore. Even with the screen protector on there is a tightening of the muscles on the eyes that creeps up on you. I actually got a false sense of security with it and overused and now I'm just waiting for my eyes to relax again. Did well for a couple of weeks but, now I think it's no better than any of the other send an email make a note quickly tier smartphones.

                        AGI You can get a nano to mini or standard adapter. I have one. It's just a plastic frame.

                        • AGI replied to this.

                          degen I remember us having similiar issues, brightness related and cramping eye muscles. Maybe you want to give the OnePlus 3 a try, with Paranoid Android 7.3.1 ROM. I use the phone for two years now every day, multiple hours. It's much better for me than the BenQ EW monitors. No such thing as writing emails in a hurry. I have to use it at ~25% brightness to avoid PWM, but surprisingly with this screen the brightness although high is not much of an issue. The screen gets darker and more yellow over time due to the AMOLED burn-out effect. Maybe the typical used device by now is in such a yellow state, too -> less blue light.

                          Must-do for me:
                          - Paranoid Android 7.3.1
                          - Chrome as browser
                          - Brightness out of PWM range (65/255)
                          - no brightness and color-changing f.lux-like overlay apps, they make the screen unbearable

                            degen I suspect a software update has caused this as I was using a 6S for over a year for several hours a day with minimal discomfort (iOS 10.3.2) and since accidentally upgrading to iOS 11 and above it now causes discomfort in about 20mins. I suspect some sort of dithering is being employed now or some update to the display settings. No way to downgrade either so definitely on the lookout for pwm free android phone with a decent ROM to use. May try the one plus as suggested above.

                            Slightly OT... I use Google Voice and get all my texts forwarded to my computer. you can do the same for voice as well..

                            • JTL replied to this.

                              reaganry I have a friend who does similar with voip.ms and a Canadian number.

                              This obviously doesn't help if you want an actual "smart phone" to use when out and about.

                                Does anyone know if the Honor 8x utilizes temporal dithering? It supposedly is pwm free.

                                JTL yeah. working on switching to a dumbphone now. hope to find some sort of prepaid plan that works on iphone for gps/google emergencies

                                KM

                                Is Paranoid Android a want becaue you prefer the ROM, or a need because it reduces eyestrain somehow? If its the latter do you know what/why its better? About color temp stuff can you use the built in Android one? I have Lineage 14.1 on a Moto G4 Play but I don't use it regularly...when testing with it I don't get immediate strain with or without the color temp setting on.

                                • KM replied to this.

                                  hpst I tried many ROMs including LineageOS (most popular one). Paranoid Android 7.3.1 is the only one that is still usable for me apart from early OxygenOS releases (manufacturer's own ROM). It is not a personal choice. OnePlus some day, on the transition from Android 7.0 to Android 7.1. changed something, and other ROMs seem to have copied it. Except the Paranoid guys. They are currently developing an Android 9 ROM, and I hope it will still be fine.
                                  Burning eyes within some minutes on other ROMs. As opposed to multiple hours a day, every day, eyes still good. The PWM has not changed at all. I suspect it is color profile related, because the Paranoid ROM doesn't offer those profiles. But it could be anything. And it is not clear to me if this ROM would help on other devices.

                                  hpst About color temp stuff can you use the built in Android one?

                                  No, I can't use this not even on the Paranoid ROM. Burning eyes over time. It is called Night Light. There is also sRGB mode but that mode wasn't even usable on the known-good original ROMs. That, and brightness apps which change colors are also not usable. Which tells me this problem must be color related.

                                  • hpst replied to this.

                                    KM The only time I have seen color profiles talked about in regard to strain was one or two instances of a good profile HELPING but never why. At the same time I have seen others say messing with gamma caused strain and since all profiles will adust gamma I just don't know what to take from that. I tried hardware calibration on dsktop linux using an expensive device and no profile I could create changed my strain...only aesthetic appearance.

                                    My primary need is desktop linux so I would love to find a way to be sure NO profile adjustment is happening to see if that matters, since on all the distros I have used even if you don't add one, the system uses a default profile. I am not adept enough to know how to shut that off and see. I use Redshift and it doesn't make the strain any worse and it is supposed to mess with Gamma too according to the config file...yet when I use the xgamma command to see what the gamma is set at it doesn't match the Redshift config...so I have no idea whats what.

                                    • KM replied to this.

                                      hpst I think the first thing you should make sure is if your Linux distro is usable with your known-good old monitor. Because if it is, there are most probably no software issues to worry about. Which, if present, seem to manifest on all displays - even AMOLED.

                                      • hpst replied to this.

                                        KM Well my problem there is my only known good computer is a 2006 32bit laptop using Xubuntu 16.04 32bit. You can't use most distros on that as they have moved on to 64 bit only. But using 32 or 64bit Xubuntu 16.04 causes strain on newer devices like everything else does...so it's clearly not as simple as a distro/DE/compositor etc being ok.

                                        • KM replied to this.

                                          hpst Both for Arch and Manjaro there are 32 bit projects: archlinux32.org and manjaro32.org.

                                          hpst But using 32 or 64bit Xubuntu 16.04 causes strain on newer devices

                                          Then it's most probably either the new display itself or the driver of the new graphics card.

                                          • hpst replied to this.

                                            KM I will make a live USB and try Manjaro on my old laptop...but again even the 32bit Xubuntu that is ok on the old laptop isn't ok on new stuff so even if Arch based stuff works on the old it doesn't really help since hardware is the problem for me right now...I can't use anything new.

                                            reaganry With the screen protector is still significantly better than without. I really hope I didn’t waste your money but if you’re anything like me I think you’ll notice and improvement.

                                            Sunspark Thanks, but it is not a sim card size issue. My Samsung does not work where I relocated because of carrier / band incompatibilities :-(
                                            Minutes ago I re-sold my third smartphone of 2018 at half price. I am on that old Samsung off Wi-Fi only now.

                                            degen I can't recommend the iPhone 7 Plus or 8 Plus anymore.

                                            I had to spend quite some time to rule out the IPhone 7 when it came out. It initially looked like I could use it. The Plus hurt from time zero instead. Not sure now with the current OS version.
                                            Have you tried the XS? I would really like to know what it differs by, since I can tolerate it. But, as said, it is a 1000 buck risk which I am not convinced of taking...

                                            I just want to share this, I got dizziness from Garmin watch Fenix 5X.

                                            It has a 30mm display!!! I was in a shock when i first realized it because i did not expect an issue from such a small display.

                                            Has anyone else experienced symptoms with smart watches?

                                              Peter I don't spend a ton of time looking at my smart watch. My old Microsoft Band v2 was fine, no problems there. The Samsung Gear Fit 2 is probably not perfect, but ok for the 10 seconds I look at it to swipe away an alert or check my heart rate. Haven't really tried any others.

                                              dev