I've been testing some new devices recently.
I've definitely confirmed (at least for me personally), that all Amoled/oled screens, regardless of whether they have a dc dimming/flicker free mode - do not bode well for my eyes.
I always seem to experience eye strain no matter what.
Recent experience is with the Honor 50 (Huawei nova 9). The phone is amoled, with the flicker free mode always activated by default (a new type of amoled screen tech they are advertising/promoting. It is also a true 10 bit display.
I used the device for 3 days, and the eye strain was almost immediate. Video's/YouTube was watchable, punchy colors etc, but when reading articles and scrolling blogs,whatsapp messages etc, the eye strain would immediately appear and cause discomfort.
There is something very odd about amoled/oled displays for me personally. I cannot put my finger on it, and I'm irritated at the fact that I react to it so negatively and it severely limits my choices in smartphones.
I've also tried the realme GT and the Realme GT master editions. Both amoleds. Both caused eye strain/fatigue after playing around with them for an hour or so.
For anyone who is interested:
The following devices (with some screen brightness tweaking and night/bluelight/active reading modes enabled), have been ok for me.
Poco m3 pro/redmi note 10 5g (The best ones so far for me) in terms of comfort (especially with their reading modes activated). Absolutely no strain or fatigue, and totally flicker free.
Motorola G100 - The stock blue light filter is practically useless, but downloading a third party filter app, and then using the device, makes it quite easy on the eyes when reading articles etc.
Redmi Note 9t (absolutely no flickering detected, even with the screen brightness set to under 10%, however, I can only really use it with the screen brightness set low, otherwise the light from the lcd screen seems way too harsh, but doesn't cause strain in the conventional sense. It just feels too piercing at higher brightness levels.
I also used my cousins Realme 8 5g for about 30 mins to test it. Screen had a very noticeable blue tint, but didn't seem to cause me any strain. The screen however, was very drab and lifeless and not great for youtube videos, but seems great for reading web articles. Not sure if it is due to a lack of contrast.
Poco x3 pro - (screen brightness set to 50% or above, with reading mode activated). Minimal eye strain or fatigue. But when I set the screen to lower than 50% brightness, I start feeling that strange strain.
Regarding LCD displays, I think the comfort level has a lot to do with how well the manufacturers have tweaked the contrast, hues, dpi's, ppi's etc. For me, a slightly dimmer amber tinted screen with a good contrast level works for my eyes, and minimizes strain.
I don't think however, that this is a case of one size fitting all. Everyone's personal choice and preferences are different, and I wish manufacturers would allow us the option to fully customize the display settings for contrast, hues, brightess etc etc within a settings menu, like they do on monitors.
Hope this info may help other eye strained individuals out there!