Usable Smartphones?

Sunspark

degen I honestly think you will get more used to it. I feel oled PWM isn't quite the same as LCD PWM. I actually have the brightness on my screen turned down a lot often. I usually try to keep it just above the point I don't blatantly see my fingers strobing. Don't use vivid mode. Use srgb ("Natural"). Anyway I don't feel my device is perfect. It isn't. It's good enough for now.

degen

For some reason the S10 still flickers at 255/255 brightness on slow-mo video taken on a Pixel 3. Any ideas?

jasonpicard

degen https://in.mashable.com/tech/10935/oppo-f15-review-high-on-style-low-on-performance See this phone that's coming out? It's using a feature called DC Dimming 2.0. I wonder what's different about it this version.

JTL

jasonpicard I heard the same and am curious too

Peter

Giunti My wife had it and while in the beginning it was straining me now it seems ok. I wanted a dual SIM phone and i switched my Pixel 3aXL temporarily with my wife to test the A70. Seems like i got used to it. A70 along with Pixel 3aXL are the only ones that i can somehow tolerate. Actually at the moment i feel the A70 to be more friendly in the eyes than the pixel.

degen

S10 was very painful by the end of the second day. Wow! I haven't experienced eye strain from a device like that in years.

Sunspark

degen Unfortunate. You should return it. Maybe consider the Hisense A5 when some more folks receive theirs.

degen

My latest experiment is the Huawei P20 (non-pro). It has an LCD screen unlike the P30. It does not utilize PWM, but dithering patterns are fairly obvious. I will report back in a week or so.

degen

degen P20 is another failure. Tightness around my eyes when doing some basic texting. Not good enough.

ryans

The Samsung Galaxy S20 will supposedly offer an "OLED HD 120Hz" screen. Although OLED has PWM, it could be a different enough screen that it's worth trying.

JTL

ryans Sure thing. While I think the phone industry is being condescending and silly removing features, that aside it could be interesting.

According to NotebookCheck regarding the Pixel 4

The 5.7-inch OLED display runs at a native resolution of 2280x1080 (which makes for a high pixel density) and is one of the smaller panels available today. The display supports a refresh rate of up to 90 Hz. We cannot confirm claims that this support is not available at lower levels of brightness as we were able to detect the increased PWM frequency range typical for 90 Hz panels regardless of display brightness. That said, PWM frequencies fluctuated significantly between 176.1 and 367.6 Hz and are thus low enough to potentially cause eye strain and headaches in sensitive users.

So just having a higher display refresh rate doesn't seem to mean much. In theory the OLED PWM frequency seems to correlate with the screen "refresh rate" (r * 4), but the implementations can differ.

degen

Giunti How is the A70 treating you now that you've had more time with the phone? Also, if you have time could you share your experiences with some of those other devices?

Peter

degen Just a comment on the A70, which is the phone i currently use. It may need some time to get used to. It took me more than 2-3 weeks.

Giunti

degen

I work in the technology market in Turkey for 10 years, so I had the chance to try too many devices.

The only device I can say is the Samsung S6 Edge Plus. For some reason, this device has pwm, but it doesn't affect me. I've tried many devices you can think of, but the result was bad every time. I bought a samsung note 8 in 2018.There was no problem when using Oreo, everything was done when I updated to android 9. I sold the device and got a note 8 not updated, but it didn't work, so I had to resell it. I think the problem is in the software.

I'm still trying the a70. I made progress but I can't say okay. But apparently I can tolerate it compared to other devices.

Thank you.

Gurm

I really didn't want to move away from Android, but I am not regretting switching to iPhone 7+. When it dies I will likely jump to an 8+.

vaz

It's frustrating to have to ask this here...this group of people should know how relevant and important it is...but when you list a device, computer etc you have to list details too like OS, version and updates etc, GPU etc...even better if you know screen manufacturer etc since we know that varies. You can't just say "I use X Phone 2 and it's great!" or "Laptop X has solved my problem" and think that helps anyone.

JTL

vaz if you know screen manufacturer

A bit harder to find the screen variant on a phone but otherwise I agree

degen

Costco had S20 on display today, and I put it into 120 Hz, which you have to switch from QHD to FHD to do btw, and it has the same PWM as ever, visible from slo-mo video on my P20.

Sunspark

The great thing about the breakneck pace of development is that there is always something new to look at. I have never seen a fold or flip but I am curious about them.

degen

My latest experiment is cautiously and preliminary a success. Need more time to say for sure.

Huawei Mate 20 Pro. EMUI 10. BOE panel. "Flicker Reduction" ON. Vivid mode. Eye Comfort (Blue Light Filter) OFF. Brightness 10/255 minimum in Brightness Manager. Preferably 45/255 or greater. Based on size of black band when viewed under Super-slo mo camera from Galaxy S10. Unusuable without Flicker Reduction ON. Black band quite big below 10/255 in Brightness Manager, even with Flicker Reduction ON.

I can take a video of the phone under different conditions using the Super-slo mo if there is any interest. It is astounding to see the difference between Flicker Reduction ON and OFF. Can take the video while adjusting Brightness Manager as well.

It's still early days and the phone could end up being crap, but I have a good feeling, especially when comparing it to the Huawei P20 and Galaxy M20, which I still own.

I would rate my recent phone experiments as follows, from best to worst:

OnePlus 3 (PA 7) > Huawei Mate 20 Pro > Galaxy M20 > iPhone 7 Plus = Huawei P20 > Huawei P30 > iPhone 8 non-Plus > Galaxy S10

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