Usable Smartphones?

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?

Quad43

randomboolean Did anyone try this one? I saw another report in Usable Laptops that Razer laptops are working well. Does the phone have the same success level?

randomboolean

Quad43

Not me. I am using Iphone 7 pro plus with changed cheapest screen on the market. The original screen just kills eyes in a matter of seconds. Changed screen - if I look into it enough hours per day - I get kinda adapted and can use it normally. And by "normal" I mean normal given the situation, because it is nowhere near to "10 years ago normal" or "before illness normal", but with each year i remember less and less, thus it became the new normal. Nowadays I hardly remember what it felt to be without this issue, thus it is perfectly normal for me to be with some kind of aches, blurrynes or so, i hardly notice them anymore.

deepflame

The best phone for me is currently an iPhone 12 Pro on high brightness.
It seems to have a higher refresh rate than the other OLED iPhones ( also see https://youtu.be/O4nLeOlyJiA?t=183 ).

before:
iPhone 6 Plus -> immediate eye strain ( guess from the backlight )
Google Pixel 3a -> nausea, headache after some seconds as well ( first thought it was good but my head was too messed up I guess )

Cannot use the iPhone 12 Pro extensively for hours either but personally way better than the previous phones.

mike

deepflame Have you tried iPhone 11 Pro? If so, better or worse than 12 Pro?

deepflame

mike Yes, have tried it. Think it was like the iPhone X I had, the XR and the iPhone 12. Not usable for me.

Gurm

I personally found the 11pro to be barely tolerable. Much worse than my iPhone 7 Plus. I think my next upgrade - since they are still selling them new - will be to an iPhone 8 Plus.

To be fair though, I haven't put a Skinomi Techarmor Matte on the iPhone 11 Pro, it's my wife's so it has a Zagg ballistic glass (her preference) instead.

I'm interested in trying the SE2. The old SE was nowhere near as good as my current phone.

HAL9000

Iphone 11 max / pro etc have OLED screens and PWM as does the iphone X and all of the Iphone 12's but you can almost stop the flicker by setting the brightness to 100% or at least very high and then using reduce white point to lower the screen brightness artificially. I have seen videos online that seem to show different iphone 12s not flickering, but this could be due to certain cameras (likely other phones) having flicker sensors so they dont show it on video.

If anyone has an IOS device that causes issues before returning / putting in in with the 'bad' devices in a box try setting reduce which point to the first setting (25% 1st setting can go higher) its in settings - accessiblity - display & text size - reduce white point, this lowers the screen brightness by drawing over the screen with a filter, this is much much better on IOS than any app on Android.

I'm returning my Moto G8 Power as I cant use it, immeidately it gives me a headache thats just getting worse and I'll have a migraine soon. All the brigthness lowering apps did nothing.

I got a 2nd hand iphone 8 and this is fine BUT I have to use 'reduce white point' at ths first 25% setting. I can live with that.

What I cant live with is the battery as its 2nd hand and old and the price to replace the battery put the phone in the same price as a used SE 2020 so I ordered one, which from what I've read has the same screen as the 8 (hope so) so I'm likely going to return the 8 if the SE works for me.

Gurm

HAL9000 also "reduce white point" still is lighting up every pixel on the screen, it's just lighting them up ... a darker color. So it kind of chews battery on older devices, for sure. 🙁 If you can tolerate a bigger device, the 7+ and 8+ don't need any special settings to look ok for me, someting about the bigger screen makes it more tolerable for sure.

HAL9000

Gurm

True as they're LCD it doesnt help with power consumption but it does lower the 'intensity' of the colors which for me helps, I've used an 8+ which was fine but its physically slightly comically large and bigger than my old sadly broken LG G6.

Either way I recieved the SE 2020 model but so far testing is inconclusive, on the delivery day even before I opened it I developed a significant migraine and 3 days later even with sumatriptan im still feeling the after effects, I've reverted back to using the 8 for now but I think the SE wasnt helping with my recovery of this latest attack.

What is noticable though is the screen on the SE 2020 is not the same as the 8 as it doesnt have the 3d touch feature, (although I've read they are interchangeable but I dont know if the 'thickness' of the 8 screen helps with its usability for me?) I set the SE to 25% reduce white point and had true tone on to match the 8 but I've turned the device off for now as my symptons didnt get better,

I'll have to wait until my migraine clears fully then try it again. - both are on IOS 14.01 but again I fear this is another device I cant use and im running out of time to return either then 8 or the SE or keep both and accept the 'migraine tax' that we all pay sometimes when we purchase a device we cant use and later have to sell at a loss.

Dominic

I did some tests recently:

Samsung s10e, Samsung s10+, iPhone 11, Samsung A70, Huawei p10 lite, Huawei p9, Vivo Y70, Huawei Mate 20 Lite, Realme 6 Pro

All of them don't really work for me, but I Samsung s10e is clearly the best device I tried. It didn't get me any symptoms when using for a short time like checking some out or quick reply to messages.
Even though I couldn't use for hours I was thinking of not returing it, but it's quite small for me as I prefer bigger smartphones.
The second best phone was Samsung s10+, so it seems like Samsung S series work pretty well for me. It might be Dynamic Amoled which is known for eye-friendliness.

Some of you recommended Samsung A70, but it honestly gave me ones of the worst symptoms I have ever had. After a while my vision was so blurred that I was afraid of going anywhere out.

I find it incomprehensible that Huawei P9 didn't work since my only fully comfortable phone is Huawei P9 Lite with the same Android version.

E: I ordered Samsung Galaxy Note 10 as I tested it out in a store for 10 minutes and I felt quite well.

Sunspark

Dominic Do you remember if the A70 was on Android 9 or 10?

Dominic

Sunspark I'm not pretty sure, but I didn't do any upgrades and it was brand new, so it should be Android 9.

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