Usable Smartphones?

Sunspark

Gurm Good luck! If I was you, I would just wipe the device via installing the official RUU to make sure everything is clean and lined up properly. Here is a thread link to the latest official Verizon RUU as your starting point http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-htc-one-m8/general/official-ruu1-55-605-2-t2883845

When I did my experiment yesterday, I RUU'd my device, and before even booting, I immediately flashed in twrp and the hk sound mod. Then it booted for the first time. I was careful about what updates/apps I installed because I wanted to see what would happen with standby idle first so I started the install with wifi off so I could turn auto-update off in Google Play and adjusted a few setting here and there. Installed GSAM battery monitor. According to this, it says while on wifi @ home it has used 5% battery while being idle for 13 hours.

Riktor

hi,

i know your problems. i tested several phones in the last weeks. but none can get the picture like my beloved sony z3 compact which i sold last month 🙁 because i wanted a bigger screen.

huawei p9 lite
motorola g4
xiaomi redmi 3s
htc m9
sony xperia x

the sony xperia x seems to be the best one at the moment. i have ordered a bq x5 plus. my last attempt. one of these have to stay. i will report later.

cu,
Riktor

KM

AMOLED testing

I used the free iPhone app I discovered a few days ago to measure my OnePlus 3 flicker. It confirms that the frequency is ~60 Hz at a low difference in amplitudes.

At Android brightness 100/255:

For comparison, my bathroom's incandescent bulb:

The app's website, including its App Store link: http://www.visosystems.com/products/flicker-tester/
I believe the app is especially useful to test AMOLED PWM because those frequencies are low. It might not detect high LCD backlight frequencies.
I could not test the bad PWM flicker that appears below brightness 68/255 (too dark for the app). But if you observe an AMOLED device through a video camera (mode) and fine-regulate the brightness from 255 downwards, you'll see at which point the running stripes suddenly multiply and get darker. That's where the flicker percentage increases. Maybe not frequencies really matter that much, but rather the difference beetween high and low amplitude...

degen

Hey Gurm,

Remember this post of yours on the Apple thread:

"- Lensing/Glass effect: In some phones, such as the LG G4, Samsung S6 Edge, or Sony XPeria Z3, as well as the HTC Desire 612 and the iPhone 6... the screen is "lensed" in order to make it "pop". This lensing effect induces IMMEDIATE eyestrain for me regardless of settings, filters, etc."

I wish I understood more about it. This effect is very plain to see when you compare an iPhone 6/s/7 to a 5s or earlier, yet I don't have the vocabulary to describe it properly. As far as I can tell it is the major differentiating factor between my unusable 6s and my iPad Air which is ok for short usage.

Gurm

degen They warp the glass to make the icons "float". It's basically like putting one of your grandpa's big ol' magnifying glasses on top of a piece of paper.

ryans

degen "- Lensing/Glass effect: In some phones, such as the LG G4, Samsung S6 Edge, or Sony XPeria Z3, as well as the HTC Desire 612 and the iPhone 6... the screen is "lensed" in order to make it "pop". This lensing effect induces IMMEDIATE eyestrain for me regardless of settings, filters, etc."

@Gurm Any idea how to find out if this is also on the LG G7? I wonder if this is causing my eystrain. Wonder if a matte screen protector will help. Do you know of any more technical term for this to research?

I am talking to other people who have this problem. Most of them have told me they got used to their devices after a few weeks of eyestrain/headache.

ryans

Gurm Is there any more info on this lensing effect? I wonder if new Galaxy S9 has this

Sunspark

HTC M8 under Sense has dynamic contrast turned on as do many laptops. I can observe it happening with a switch from bright to dark content. This is not the same as auto-brightness. I will be exploring later if it is possible to obtain a kernel or aosp or something else that does not toggle this function on. I don't think dynamic contrast by itself is inherently bad, but it's kind of dependent on the reliability of the sensor readings it receives and the implementation. My preference of course would be for it to be off, I can't even imagine doing photo editing on a screen with that on.

KM

Sunspark I saw the same "dynamic contrast" effect on my BlackBerry Z10 after upgrading it to the problematic firmwares. It may be part of the eye strain issue. Not sure why manufacturers don't include options to turn this off.

JTL

Gurm From 2009

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/are-iphone-displays-led-backlit.521261/#post-6939282

My uncle has an old Windows Mobile phone from 2003 somewhere 😛

Gurm

JTL Yes, you're very clever. A "phone which can run a modern OS", then. Nobody has built CCFL into a phone since... like the year 2005. Since smartphones became a thing.

Riktor

i can recommend the bq aquarius x5 plus.
the best screen i have ever seen. no headache or eye burn. check it out.
its designed in spain and build in china. you can get it from amazon.co.uk for example.

Select

Gurm
Hi Gurm, but you are mistaken. There are at least a few older CCFL backlit phones. I've been using a Huawei Ascend Y300 for years without issues. I've researched it and confirmed it's CCFL backlit. I'm sure Huawei has other models with CCFL, maybe some newer. There should actually be a thread here posting known CCFL smartphones.

Gurm

Select Yes, I also had several CCFL lit phones. I'm sure older Blackberries probably were. But once weight and compute power started being an issue... just like you can't find a CCFL backlit laptop.

Gurm

So as promised I'm writing back.

I upgraded my m8 to Marshmallow, then flashed in the ADSP for Harman/Kardon audio.

The screen is now... better than stock Marshmallow, but not as good as stock Lollipop. Toggling the overlay option helped a little, too. It's now... if it were my only option, it would be usable.

But it's not my only option, so... I will likely be dropping back to Lollipop.

Wootever

I'm currently working on pwm free custom kernel for the S7 Edge, details can be found on XDA: http://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/development/amoled-pwm-s7-edge-t3517739

The most noticeable issue is a little screen deterioration on very low brightness (desaturation and visible grey "freckles" ).
Although this isn't as problematic as seen on earlier revision amoled panels.

JTL

Wootever <3

Real courage, unliek what Apple does removing headphone jacks 😛

I would be willing to work with you.

I feel like crying 😃

KM

Wootever That is so very great news! I almost can't believe that someone finally managed to do this. Do you think it could be ported to other AMOLED devices, too? I think currently the vast majority of AMOLED smartphone panels are made by Samsung. Maybe all of them use similiar drivers, and this is the first day of totally PWM-free devices.

Do you know why there still is this small 60 Hz flicker? Does it do anything important?

optix

Wootever Man, you're genious - this really works =)

The last usable OLED phones from Samsung (for me) were Galaxy S2, Galaxy Nexus and Note 2. Those weren't causing any discomfort and I was able to look at those displays for 4 hours straight without problems.

Discomfort and eye strain started with Galaxy S3 and Note 3 for me and are still present with latest models like S7 Edge, which I confirmed today before flashing your kernel.

It would be very welcome if we could get your patches included in major custom kernels for Samsung devices (at least), so this fix becomes standard =)

I'd like to donate, please let me know your paypal id or advise alternatives you might prefer.

Wootever

KM Do you think it could be ported to other AMOLED devices, too?

Probably yes, the AID (AMOLED intervall driving) dimming mechanism they are implementing is actively used since the Galaxy S3. Although the implementation itself may vary (especially Exynos vs. Qualcomm).
Unfortunately this is exclusively used by Samsung, other AMOLED Panel devices might use a different approach or a panel built-in solution.

We probably need a complete AMOLED datasheet of a recent panel to fully understand those settings.

KM Do you know why there still is this small 60 Hz flicker? Does it do anything important?

I can only guess, it might be used as a burn-in protection / panel longevity method.

About the low brightness deterioration:
What we can see on especially low brightness is called mura defects. Those are small irregularities / deviations caused by the oled production process.
The PWM effect is also used to mask those mura defects, apart from stabilizing the color temperature and grayscale linearity (although less noticeable then the mura defects).

JTL

Wootever This is still great progress!

Wootever

There is unfortunately not much feedback on XDA, i guess most people are not aware of this issue or accept it as a part of AMOLED.
Is someone here with a Samsung phone willing to try a custom kernel with the PWM adjustment included?

JTL

Wootever When my mother gets a new phone I'll try and port it to her Galaxy S4.

I could also try getting my old Note 3 back from a family member, but I feel it damaged my vision permanently 🙁. Would be fun to try it though 😃

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