Usable Smartphones?

Lauda89

cristi_repciuc I am sorry for you! It is totally incomprehensible what the problem is. I can use the iPhone X without problems. At Christmas, I'll buy a pixel 4a and I'll be able to tell you how it goes!

K-Moss

From a review of the Moto G7 that seems highly loved. Any thoughts on this unit for eye comfort?

Seriously, this phone was what, $250 when I bought it? I came from lines of iPhones until Jobs died and the quality of Apple went with him. I jumped to multiple other flagships, HTC, Galaxy, etc. But getting out of debt taught me just how much a waste of money flagship phones are. I went to a prepaid service, sold my old Galaxy S6 and got an entry level Samsung. Well, 4 years later almost, that phone gave out and I needed a new one. The last Motorola I had was a flip phone from Cingular way back in the day, so I was already kinda familiar with the brand. I'm not a power user by any means, all that my phone needs to do is stream music, take some decent pictures, use Facebook and use my banking apps. Simple, right? This phone feels great in my hand. It seriously does. I've blown people's minds when they check out my phone compared to the $700-1000 phones they have. And I bought mine cash outright for a quarter what they paid. While they constantly search for power outlets, I use mine for 2-3, maybe 4 days without a charge. I don't use the fingerprint scanner, so I can't comment on it. For being someone my age (mid 20's), I prefer simplicity over newest tech. Something I love specifically however about this phone is the Moto gestures. Chop the phone twice, flashlight comes on. Shake the phone sideways twice, camera comes on. For the amount I work on cars and take visual notes or just need a quick light with gloves on, these are godsends and a genius idea. I feel the build quality of this phone seriously beats out Apple's laughing matters now, and quite a bit of the competition in the price range. This should be a $500 phone, easy. Pick this thing up, and enjoy a solid mid-level phone that mocks the flagships for a quarter of the price.

K-Moss

Looks like I will try the ZTE Blade A5 2020 unless anyone else has any better suggestions. It has a non-removal battery, but I unerstand that's the norm now. At least it's not too expensive or else the non-removal battery would bother me more. The Moto above at almost twice as much also has a non-removal battery.

neca980

cristi_repciuc
I am also interested in 8t, would love to heat about your experience.

Sunspark

I have never seen the screen in person, so I cannot make a recommendation sight-unseen at this time, however this review I read this morning for the Pixel 5's display sounds promising.

Points made in favour as I see it:
-Older OLED generation (Lots of complaints about tints, etc. in current generation)
-Better calibrated than current generation (comparable to iPhone at lower brightness settings)
-Resolution is similar to what I have currently (I have 2400x1080, P5 is 2340x1080)
-No trutone (one fewer moving part)

Again, cannot recommend unseen, but it's a unit I would shortlist for a see-in-person: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-pixel-5-display-review/

degen

Sunspark

The thing is, and I was wrong on this before and was rightfully corrected, is that when they say DC-Dimming, it doesn't really mean that. The implementations so far have increased the PWM frequency so it is a bit less irritating, but it is by no means a true DC-Dimming. I'm speaking separately from the 60-hz flicker which seems inherent to OLED, and which doesn't seem to bother me.

Sunspark

Reading about the Pixelworks 5 chip (not related to Google) I see it supports DC-dimming on OLED. One flagship using this chip and having a DC-dimming feature is the Oppo Find X2.

Oppo is one of the largest Chinese brands, but not carried where I am except via mail-order.

So yes, you CAN get OLED with dc-dimming today.

HAL9000

Just to throw this in there Motorola One Hyper has PWM below 60% ish brightness yet was reviewed at having PWM below 15% brightness. Another one for the return.

cristi_repciuc

So here it is, the oneplus 8t arrived and I got to test it in the last 24 hrs. This one still strains my eyes, though not as bad as MI 10 in the first day of use, but my eyes are getting dry cannot properly focus the text on this screen after 10 minutes. Changing the different display settings don't bring any improvements either.
When I look at the Samsung A40 (amoled with Android 10) and P20pro it feels like my eyes are relaxing and after a few days of use, my eyes are more and more relieved. The same is with my Tab S2 with amoled display.
I think I will give up finding a new phone as I don't seem to understand what triggers my eyes. I tried both lcd (Mi 10t pro) and amoled(S10 lite, mi 10, 8t). I'm not sure that the high refresh is the culprit here, as the S10 lite has 60hz, maybe the high nits in brightness? Also, if it was pwm, then the older phones would cause that too.
I don't have any issues with lcd displays (laptop, tvs) and yet I had with the mi 10t pro.
The common thing is the processor, SD865 (855 for the S10 lite)
So yeah, if you can return the devices, you might give it a try.

Later edit: it does seem a bit more easy on the eyes in dark environment with low brightness and vision confort enabled.

Sunspark

degen I wonder though.. text like this seems to indicate that it actually is DC dimming not pwm refresh rate increase "Pixelworks solves a key eye strain and visual sensitivity issue that can occur at low brightness on AMOLED screens with DC Dimming 2.0. To dim the screen, Pixelworks dynamically adjusts the display’s current to mitigate the screen flickering associated with conventional Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) dimming."

Oppo Find X2 and the Oneplus 8 Pro both use the Pixelworks 5 chip.

Seems intriguing.. https://www.pixelworks.com/media/better-video-on-your-phone-due-to-pixelworks/

HAL9000

Just thinking, not sure if this forum has the functionality for it but is it possible to get a list / database of who has / had what phone and if it was good/bad for them and if it has PWM that they've tested themselves vs reviews up as a pinned topic?

Just thinking before I go off an buy a 3rd motorola (G8 power) if we had a list / database we could check which may help some people out (As notebookcheck PWM tests seems to be incorrect lately)

JTL

HAL9000 (As notebookcheck PWM tests seems to be incorrect lately)

Just another theory I've had. While their PWM testing isn't perfect, could it be that the same model of phone comes with different LCD panel models in different production batches, which has a differing frequency. I mean we've seen similar with laptops and monitors before.

neca980

It is not all to the PWM... i couldn’t use iPhone 11 , it was bit better then S20, but still same symptoms, headaches, eye stress... On the other hand, I have no problems with Samsung A3 2017 with OLED and PWM. I would say that Samsung A series is better in this regard, as high end screens are having everything on the max. I will try A71 and Huawei Nova 5T.

HAL9000

Yes, I know its not always PWM, I have to use 'reduce white point' on my ipad 2018 (no PWM) at the lowest / first setting otherwise I get eye pain and headaches from the screen (not as bad as the pain then migraine the 2015 macbook pro would cause)

I have read that some OLED phones PWM 'amplitude curve' (I think thats what they called it) is in such a way that the flicker can be percieved differently. I had a Galaxy S6 a few years ago and this was fine. My work A6 is ok with an app called 'oled saver' and the brightness at 100% with oled saver 'dimming' the screen, even though I still see PWM banding when checking with a camera its tolerable (although this is only used for work for a few seconds at a time, I dont watch videos or browse sites etc on it but it doesnt hurt so much anymore)

Anyway I've purchased a 3rd Motorola phone from a 3rd supplier (G8 power) should be here tomorrow, if this one also has PWM around 60% brightness I'll give up on motorola phones, accept that I'll 'have' to get an iphone 8 even as theyre still quite a high price considering their age.

HAL9000

Very early on, but the 3rd phone (G8 power) doesnt seem to have PWM measurable in the same way as the G 5G plus or the One Hyper....I had a migraine earlier (sumatriptan helped a lot) due to my A6 rebooting and I didnt have the oledsaver set up and I had to use the device a lot this morning though but I cant see flicker at high shutter speed checking the screen through another camera phone.

I really hope the G8 power is ok for me

HAL9000

Just to update this I think its going to have to go back, the screen has 3 colour modes but it still gives me a headache, I can see a different sort of flicker when changing brightness through another camera at very high shutter speed, theres not lines like the others but a sort of 'jump' its hard to explain, like the screen goes a bit jagged for a moment moving the brightness....maybe this is some sort of flicker I'm not sure. Maybe its flickering higher than I can test for, I'll try it with the oled saver app running for a bit and see how it goes but its looking like the fruit phone is calling with its reduce white point settings....

Lauda89

For Christmas I gave the moto G8 Power to my father and the Pixel 4a to my girlfriend.

I used the G8 Power for about twenty minutes and I had bad sensations. The classic LCD that seems super bright to me even lowering the brightness. I don't think I would be able to use it.

Pixel 4a I used it for half an hour and I was very happy. No eye strain or brain issue. So I would advise you to give it a chance.

P.S. my current phone is the iPhone X.

Quad43

iPhone SE2 is/was the closest for me since iOS14. Although I can't deny it still gives me eyestrain (and head expansion). I've tried the Hisense phones but these don't seem very usable to me, still need a top-tier phone even if e-ink. Mostly for mail, browsing, calls, apps.

degen

Quad43 Although I complained about my iPhone SE2, it's the most tolerable modern phone I've tried, despite not being perfect as you point out.

tfouto

https://www.anandtech.com/show/16339/xiaomi-announces-mi11-first-snapdragon-888-device

6.81" AMOLED
3200 x 1440

120Hz Refresh

480Hz Touch
HDR10+ / 10-bit panel

I would like that it would be a true 10-bit panel, but i dont put my hopes on it.
Even if it was, manufacters could put dithering, just because they wanted.

Quad43

degen What settings? For me the lowest brightness physically possible helps. If I make it even 50%, hugely intolerant. Also had a blue light shield on it from Eyesafe, seemed to make it worse?

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