Usable Smartphones?

Zazu

Zazu Another update, I forced GPU rendering and also turned off HW overlays (in developer tools on android). It made the device usable for me. Not perfect but can use for an hour or so with no issues.

hayder1983

I have to add i have a problem with every of the very new Samsung devices. I didnt 10 years ago, but they do sth strange to the colors to make them "pop", on TVs and on phones. I am testing an Sony OLED tv tomorow, hoping it is good enough and eye friendly. It didnt hurt my eye when i looked at it in the store, so fingers crossed. If yes, then i will try the sony phone in a month from now.

And i will never sell a working "good" device after getting a now on from now on 🙂

jpark28

hayder1983 have you tried an LG OLED tv?

Sunspark

hayder1983 colors to make them "pop", on TVs and on phones.

On your phone's display settings, change it from "Vivid" to "Natural" (used to be labelled as "Basic"). Natural/Basic is sRGB mode.

hayder1983

jpark28 I tested an Samsung, LG and Sony OLED in the store. The store has like 10m high ceiling and is super bright. Every TV was at full brightness. Samsung was giving me the creeps, skipped it then. LG looked good, but Sony looked amazing. My eyes didnt revolt, so i thought i should buy one for my home.

I ordered one at amazon, so i could give it back, it is after all super expensive… I was really happy when it arrived, tried it and … I feel like throwing up watching it. I dont get eye sore, but i think my brain sees the 250hz dip in brightness AND/OR there is some aggressive dithering going on. You have one option to turn off dithering, but not sure wether it is the only dithering algorithm. And after all it is a TV, it has no backlight, but i cant make it more bright than other TVs. Sony uses an LG Panel, so not sure LG is that different. Sony is even more expensive… And i read LG uses super aggressive dithering on its OLEDs, perhaps it is even needed because they cannot show so many colors?

I read that there are 2 TVs from 2021 that are 100% flickerfree even at 0% brightness. LG QNED90(IPS Panel, expensive) and Sony X80K(IPS Panel, cheap). I think in a few weeks i will try the cheaper one. But my eyes need some rest, so i will try light bulbs, that is more important for me right now.

I dont think 1920 hz flicker is better than 100 hz. Halogenlamps are ok for me(100hz) but HUE lamps(1000hz) make my eyes twitch. Try this website below, it is listing a lot of phones, that are completly flickerfree(0 = flickerfree). Ignore all OLEDs and try an flickerfree IPS. Use google translate if needed or just ask me for translation 😉

https://www.notebookcheck.com/PWM-Ranking-Welche-Notebooks-Smartphones-und-Tablets-nutzen-PWM.163974.0.html

jpark28

Xiaomi 12T and 12T Pro measured at 1920hz PWM on DXOMark

https://www.dxomark.com/xiaomi-12t-display-test/

https://www.dxomark.com/xiaomi-12t-pro-display-test/

jpark28

hayder1983 just my personal experience, my friend got a Samsung QLED tv which is an IPS miniLED panel and it was giving me headaches, but I changed the settings that reduced the flicker and it was fine for me after that. My brother in law has an LG OLED and the TV is fine for me. The rtings.com website is good to see if it's flicker free or not.

Alyosha2001

hayder1983 60hz normal IPS low-contrast flickerfree is my optimum, i think. If possible with a backlight, that has a warm tint, not a white LED backlight.

I tend to the same thing, contrast no bigger that 700-800:1, warm white balance and 60Hz IPS.

hayder1983 I read that there are 2 TVs from 2021 that are 100% flickerfree even at 0% brightness. LG QNED90(IPS Panel, expensive) and Sony X80K

Indeed I know somebody who has this TV (LG QNED) and is pleased with it, however he is very little affected in general (or does not aknowledge it). I also went in showrooms to measure the 55 QNED's and they all flickered.

I saw the X80K (the 55 IPS one) and gave me good first impression in the showroom, but there there are a lot of light interferences, and I've made this mistake too often.

Getting back to the topic of this thread, I saw very recently Motorola G60s and, although I didn't have the oscilloscope with me, it was pretty tolerable. the only caveat was that is has pretty cool (cold) white, opposed to the HTC U11 that I have.

hayder1983

jpark28 Sony Oled TV "flicker" is like LG Oled TV "flicker". It could be sth. else, dont know. It is superhigh contrast. I am using my old TV(static contrast max. 1:1000?) on low backlight setting and 65/100 contrast. But VA Panels and OLEDs are just too much.

Additionaly it could be motion sickness. I get little motion sick from 144hz monitors with 144fps and freesync, perhaps it was a kind of motion sickness?

60hz normal IPS low-contrast flickerfree is my optimum, i think. If possible with a backlight, that has a warm tint, not a white LED backlight.

nikomanuel96

A friend wants to replace his redmi note 11, says he cant tolerate the amoled screen...but seems that his problem is not that bad compared to mine (is the first time he cant use an phone confortably and like i said before i cant use any amoled screen since 5 or 6 years) i dont know if he is starting to be sensible to pwm flickering too or if it is something else.

He is going to purchase an honor x7, someone here has tried it? Notebookcheck dosent have an review and some users talk about flickering on gsmarena...but i guess they dont mean pwm flickering but faulty screens.

Sorry bad english.

dawidd6

I'm trying Sony Xperia 10 IV now, with different display settings. No dice yet, I get a headache. Real shame as the device seems to be almost ideal for me. I'll try tweaking the settings further and see how it goes with full brightness as this seems to help often.

Friedeyes

dawidd6

I couldn't use it either. Tried for about a week. Save yourself the trouble and skip the Pixel 7/7 pro, OnePlus 10T also.

I read the s22 ultra has "almost dc dimming" at 75% and over. Went to the store twice and used one for 30+ mins and had no symptoms, so I may buy one this week and test further.

Friedeyes

Modern phones I've tried & CAN'T use due to pwm:

Pixel 6 Pro

Pixel 7 Pro

Samsung s21/+

Samsung s22/+

Samsung Flip & Fold 3/4

OnePlus 10T

OnePlus 9 Pro

Any Sony Xperia with OLED

Any iPhone with OLED (including 14 series)

Asus Zenfone 8

Asus Zenfone 9

Phones I could tolerate with time:

Google Pixel 5

Google Pixel 6

Symptoms never fully went away, but at higher brightness it wasn't as bad as others. I wont deal with any symptoms at all, so I returned them.

PHONES I CAN USE WITHOUT SYMPTOMS:

Samsung s22 ultra (above 75% brightness)

OnePlus 9

OnePlus 8t

OnePlus 8

Samsung S9

That's about it. The OnePlus 9 is what I have now as it causes no symptoms whatsoever. Not sure why, but it doesn't. I'm picking up the s22U soon as I've tried it twice in store and above 75% brightness I get no symptoms whatsoever.

dawidd6

Friedeyes

Those not problematic devices that you've listed are unfortunately either too expensive or not easily available where I live. Appreciate your post though, it gave me a bit hope that maybe some day I'll find a suitable device for me. After reading your post and using the Xperia 10 IV for some time I'm not really hopeful about this device, real shame.

bz12

Friedeyes what settings are you using on the OnePlus 9?

dawidd6

Friedeyes I actually managed to get a OnePlus 8T. Did you change some display settings there? Cause I get a slight headache, yet it is not as severe as with other OLEDs I've tried. Still would great to eliminate it completely, just don't know how and if at all possible.

s_u_

Jack I had exactly same situation. I bought second devices for both XZ1 and Oppo A52. Both were same specs with the prior ones however both were unusable for me. No idea how to proceed since I got tired of trying devices.

Friedeyes

dawidd6 no problem. I hope you do. I have hope for the new Samsung e6 screen. Seeing them develop a display with 2k+ pwm is exciting.

"The shipped 2160Hz PWM screen is a long way and more powerful than the low-frequency PWM + fake DC solution constructed last year."

https://www.samnews24.com/2022/08/26/samsung-e6-2k-flexible-screen-may-land-in-all-new-flagships-of-snapdragon-8-gen2/

Vividblu99

dawidd6

Plenty of other devices that you to try! Including:

Realme X50 5G

Realme 7 5G

Realme 8 5G

Realme 8i

Realme 9 pro

Redmi note 9t

Redmi note 10t

Poco M3 Pro 5G

Poco M4 Pro 5G

Poco M5 pro

Oneplus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G

Honor x8 5G

Honor Magic 4 Lite 5G

Nokia G60 5G

Motorola G62 5G

Oppo A96

But as you may notice, they aren't really mainstream brands, and the majority of them are low specced - but the prices reflect accordingly

However definitely try one of these phones, as it will definitely be worth it in the long run! Saving your eyesight and preventing fatigue/eye strain and all those other nasty PWM symptoms!

Friedeyes

bz12 sorry! Just saw this. All settings out of the box. I have it set to higher refresh rate if that isn't default. I also use manual brightness adjustment, but that's it.

qb74

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-iPhone-14-Plus-smartphone-review-Better-than-the-iPhone-14-with-a-bigger-display.664500.0.html#toc-9

First OLED iPhone that doesn't use a horrendous PWM dimming curve? Finally!

The new Motorola Edge smartphones could also be appealing options for people looking to jump on OLED, as they do seem to feature a different dimming curve as opposed to other smartphones, seems like OLED displays in smartphones are advancing!

dawidd6

qb74 I bought moto edge 30 neo. Must say I don't get an instant heavy headache with it, but I still need to test it more. It's just that after buying and trying so much devices I'm just tired and the device most of the time lies down, waiting for me to have a better day and have willingness to likely cause myself a headache that will last all day. Anyway, the device feels really nice and the OLED display is something different. I haven't seen such a good OLED display in some time, definitely worth a try. Also according to notebookcheck this device does not have temporal dithering. Does have PWM though…

JRUK

qb74 I tried the 14 Plus for one evening and got a headache, eye strain and mild motion sickness. Not as bad as the 14 Pro, not as good as the standard 14. But still the same reaction as I've had with every OLED iPhone. Sometimes I think notebookcheck is just wrong.

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