Usable Smartphones?

ensete

Just a note, I have been keeping a spreadsheet of phones that I have tried that have worked for and have not, and unfortunately, I have not been able to find ANY technical similarity between them all. They all have various resolutions, color depth, display type, chipsets, operating systems, etc.

QlaGzr

Nokia G21, PWM? Actual experience from the screen. Not from Notebookcheck review… thanks

QlaGzr

…or MOTOROLA MOTO E40

QlaGzr

Bought Motorola Moto E40. No PWM. At least in my phone. Brightness level at 0 all the time.

Ferrero64

bitslacker

if you found something better than the LG g7 let me know pls!

ryans

Ferrero64 I am currently using the LG G7. It was the best phone I could find in 2018 and luckily is still serving me well to this day. It is usable for a few hours a day with no issues.

It is unfortunately the most "modern" usable phone I can find, and was the last one to use a non-OLED display. LG is unfortunately out of the phone business, which was a huge bummer, their handsets were seriously underrated.

My specs if anyone is curious:

Android version 9
Android security patch level: August 9, 2020
Kernel Version: 4.9.112
Build number: PKQ1.181105.001
Software Version: G710VM21b

It also still has a headphone jack.

bitslacker

Ferrero64

After returning LG g7 I'm still using my Huawei Mate 20 pro.
I just started looking now again and considering one of these:

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T 5G
Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G

Both have IPS LCDs, Mi 10T Lite has a better spec, so probably will try this one.

Ferrero64

there seem quite a bit of new posts since last year, had an LG g7 for a year but unfortunately it was the 4gb version, there is a 6gb one!, and tho it wasn't perfect it was SO SO much better than for example my Iphone XR that I had before… now I am on a 6s and yeah doesnt kill me but it does feels like I cant use it as much as my LG G7, also the speakers… really miss my phone, anyway someone stole it from me got another from ebay and the Screen wasn't the OG one and im just wishing to know of anybody of the ones that had that phone, if you had find anything as good screen wise, cause this thread turned into walls of text since last year and now I am not even sure what to get

reaganry

I do not recommend the TCL A3.

Hisense A5 proCC was great but it was only 3g in the US- maybe it still works in europe

HAL9000

It would be good if we could get some sort of poll / vote records for what phones people have used OK and what ones caused them issues. Does anyone know if this forum has that feature?

I have tested Samsung A32 5G for a short time and initially no PWM and seems ok to use, has an odd processor / gpu as its a mediatek, it is very large though

https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_a32_5g-10648.php

I think it is the 60hz 4GB model based on what I can tell from the phone.

Compared to the last 'new' phones I tried (Iphone XR / SE2 / Motorolas) the a32 5g is very usable. Time will tell.

SebbesApa

HAL9000

How are you finding the A32 5G? Using the Mi 10t Pro gives me migraine even with the brightness above 60%.

Staycalmsyndrome

+1 for Moto G100, very comfortable screen above 65% and not too bright. The forced updates suck though.

Maxx

Staycalmsyndrome Thanks for reporting this. I also have G100, and it has been comfortable for a year. (If you read my other posts, you know I have currently some weird problem that all displays irritate my eyes, G100 included, but it seems that it is probably a ciliary spasm that might resolve in time)

Very important to gather the information.

Could I ask you to report this to Motorola service desk, so they would learn there are others like me, where G100 is OK, but OLEDs and even the new g200 is not.

degen

Staycalmsyndrome I have Moto G100 on the way and I was wondering if you found it comfortable on Android 11 or the new Android 12 update? Did it force update to 12?

@Maxx Wish me luck!

Maxx

logixoul What device you use to measure PWM frequency?

logixoul

Maxx This one. Well, to be precise, I had an engineer friend make it for me, and he enhanced the original design by adding a "transimpedance amplifier circuit" - I suppose this increases the accuracy.

John615

Anyone use the iPhone SE 2022? For some reason it’s still causing headaches, although not as bad as other pwm phones. I have another 4 days before I have to return the phone. Wondering if I should return it and try a larger android phone. The small screen sucks.

zsdd89

John615

Yep, i had to return it after 2 days. Only after a few minutes of looking at the screen it hurted my eyes. Seems too aggressive dithering.

Now i'm using a Oneplus 8T. Amoled but 460Hz PWM and it has DC dimming which is very rare nowadays and it's very comfortable to my eyes.

Maxx

logixoul

how is it better than a DSLR? Does it measure really high frequencies like 100Khz like the ones that Notebookcheck uses?

JTL

Maxx It will be limited by sound card sample rate, and I don't think it'll go that high.

logixoul

Maxx I know of two benefits of this device over a DSLR:

It'll show you the flicker waveform (rectangular-ish waveforms are worse/harsher than e.g. triangle-ish waveforms - see here)
I doubt most DSLRs can detect a PWM frequency as high as 10 KHz (or 20 KHz). This device does.

Btw I don't have a DSLR.

And it can (I suppose) detect 100KHz if you have a professional soundcard that supports such high frequencies. (this excludes any cheap built-in soundcard).

John615

zsdd89

Thanks for the reply!

I returned the iphone se 2022 and bought an iphone 11. I don't like that one either. Is the OnePlus 8T different from the OnePlus 8T 5g? Do all oneplus phones have dc dimming?

John615

zsdd89

Can you tell me what version android you have on the OnePlus 8T? I read that they got rid of the dc dimming in android 12.

Maxx

I don't know scientifically, but I've used DSLR for years and sometimes I see tens of bands in one picture of 1/4000 shutter speed. If there is 10 bands, Wouldn't it be 40Khz? But yes, it would be handy to have an oscilloscope. My soundcard does 196Khz, so that would be enough. Personally I've confirmed multiple times that at least 2.5kHz PWM strains my eyes, but I have doubts that say 10x that would bother me anymore. After that it must be related to the same as with any new laptop, e.g. temporal dithering

logixoul

Maxx I don't know scientifically, but I've used DSLR for years and sometimes I see tens of bands in one picture of 1/4000 shutter speed. If there is 10 bands, Wouldn't it be 40Khz?

I don't think so. In fact, I'm not sure if you can detect PWM by shooting a photo with a DSLR. I think that, instead, you'd need to look at the problematic screen through the electronic viewfinder and look for visible flicker.

But I haven't researched this recently so I may be wrong here.

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