Kray My phone cannot be rooted as my work requires an unrooted device as a requirement and my job has a heavy mobile component. Interesting to see that CF.Lumen works that way on a rooted device though, curious if something those alternate drivers change would make a difference. Would love to see results of someone who had a phone that gave them problems, they tried CF.lumen, i didn't help, they then rooted the phone, tried it again, and found one of the alt drivers eliminated the eye strain. Not only would it be a good solution for people to try, it would narrow down the cause of the eye strain as something that driver is changing

    7 days later

    Hi, I was also having problems with some phone screens, especially Super Amoled, they caused headache and dizziness. I'm searching for a new phone now, but it's difficult to make the right choice of safe screen. I don't need powerful processor or good camera, I just want that it wouldn't cause headaches ...I know the best way is to test it , but in my country it's not so easy to order and then to return it, most online shops are somewhat reluctant to accept return; and in real-world shops you can't look at the phone for a longer time. That's why I was trying to narrow the possibilities by reading opnions here and finding any dependencies. I think there should be some rules for safer screen, yet.
    I made some common observations after reading posts here:
    -older phones seem to be safer than new phones,
    -older Android/IOS versions seem to be safer, too,
    -definitely avoid Super Amoled screens with pwm,
    -the fewest complaints are from Super LCD (HTC) / TFT screens
    -some IPS displays cause problems, too, GPUs,color profiles may be the reason for this;

    I excluded Moto G3/4 due to a post I read here. I tested Sony Xperia XA in a shop and it seemed to be OK, but I also saw a post in this thread stating it causes headache after a day, so still hesitate about it. I tested 2 Lenovo phones (Lenovo K5 and S1 Lite) in a shop. Both gave me headache and dizziness though they are IPS. My oldest smartphone is Samsung Galaxy Core. I didn't have problems with it but after watching at Pwm screens, I think my experience with Galaxy Core is worse, it causes some headache but it's still usable. It's strange that as if screen problems are contagious, after seeing one bad screen, you got eyestrain with screens that were ok previously ...

    Due to the above considerations I narrowed my choice to several older (and not so powerful) phones.They can still be found in local online shops:
    HTC Desire 610
    HTC Desire 626
    LG G3s (Beat)
    LG G2 mini
    Samsung Galaxy Express 2

    Has anyone tried any of these phones, could you recommend any?

    Also, do you think there is some dependency of the GPU used in the phone and its effect on eyes? is it possible that certain GPUs (e.g. Adreno 450, 306) are causing eystrain/headache, and others (maybe the weaker) not? I started wondering about this after reading the thread about Moto G4 problems: https://ledstrain.org/d/202-moto-g4-plus-causes-brain-pain-eye-strain/3

      Bobby87 It's still try and error. And if you have bad luck, you will test a phone on the "wrong" OS or with the wrong apps which makes you think the screen itself is bad when in fact it would work with different software.

        Bobby87 I can say from personal experience I have never seen a Samsung device that did NOT cause me terrible eye strain. Apple Products and Samsung products are the two worst screens for me

          I can say with certainty that Apple has done something to address this. The new ipad 9.7" 2017 does not cause me eye strain over hours and the iphone 7 over the short time I spent did not cause me any strain as well. The best result is with my old iphone 5 but 6 & 6s cause a lot of strain. Samsung is terrible all models after galaxy s2 cause immediate strain. I hope someone tests the new sony xperia phones so we can know how they are. I prefer android but am stuck becuase only these Apple devices can be tolerated by me..

            I think one of the best approaches for now might be to look up current and new AMOLED device reviews on notebookcheck.net, and search the article for "PWM". If it says "no PWM" or "PWM below 25% brightness", I believe it's worth a shot as long as you could easily return the device within some days. Because currently AMOLED seems to be the only display type we know either flickers at 240 Hz or not at all (not considering the small amplitude 60 Hz flicker that's always there).

              Ok so I've checked LG G6 and Huawei P10, this phones are great but not for us - I had to return.
              I had those phones for few days and no one was usable for long time like my iP 6 which i use only for few minutes.
              I hoped that P10 can adjust color tint in setting, but it don't work at all or maybe a little bit.
              I use LG G2 D802 with bluelight filter at 30% whole day without strain but in this phones this don't work at all.

              I'm afraid that I have to stick wit G2 for long time but even with last Lineage OS it is not so fast.

              I read that LG G6 uses pwm at 2400 Hz 🙁 and also all new LG models, as well as Moto G5...
              I'm thinking of trying an HTC phone . Unfortunately M8/m9 are a bit too expensive for me now, so I am turning to Desire 610/626/630. I watched some videos of HTC 610 and it's interesting a flicker can be noticed in the screen, as here:

              https://youtu.be/jY3njP42ejk?t=35

              (in the upper right) .How do you think , what can it be due to? Do you think it is some kind of pwm or dithering?

              KM Yes, it'd be good if it works, but I was heaving eyestrain and headache from my Super Amoled Samsung even at 100% brightness, where it's not supposed to have pwm. Either the 60 HZ flicker is still irritating my eyes, or there's something else besides pwm which bothers me. But I think PWM is definitely a problem for me, as I felt change when reducing and increasing brightness. At low brightness the headache was heavy and I felt very dizzy, while above 80% brightness the headache was less but still uncomfortable to use after 2-3 minutes. Could Super Amoled screens also have issues with dithering and color tints?

                Devotee Well, I can say I have not tried the new iPads, I guess I could give it a shot

                Another data point, using TechArmor matte screen protectors 100% cures any eye strain from any Apple device. My wife and my son have identical iPads, she has no screen protector and I get triggered within seconds of looking at it, my son has a TechArmor matter screen protector and I can stare at it for hours with zero issues. So whatever it is, it appears it CAN be clocked/screened out.

                    ensete Would you mind to list the Apple devices that worked for you with TechArmor matte screen protector. It sounds very exciting. I read your posts about this before, but not sure why it slipped thru my mind. I am definitely going to give a try this time. Thanks.

                        Jerry So far I have been able to use the following Apple devices with a Techarmor matte anti glare screen protector

                        iPad 2
                        iPad 3
                        iPhone 5s

                        Those are the only devices I have tried it on, but it worked on all of them

                            ensete

                            I can also use the Ipad 2 without eye strain for long hours, until i (stupidly) upgraded the IOS from IOS 7 to IOS 8. Then i start to get eye strain. But it was too late to go back by then. My ipad 2 sits useless in the drawer for quite some time already.

                            Do you get eye strain from ipad 2 when the ipad 2 was using IOS 7 (or below)? What version of IOS when you use the Techarmor matte screen protector?

                                ensete Great! Just placed order for a pre-owned iphone 5s thru bestbuy and ordered the screen protector at ebay. Fingers crossed!

                                  ensete I am at present using a tech armor matte HD for my iphone 6, and it has helped else it was unusable. On the ipad 2017 I did not need anything. In general matte screen protectors help and I believe this is due to it making the light more diffuse and
                                  less direct. Cfl lights were more diffuse and in general I think LEDs have a harsh more direct sort of light.

                                    10 days later

                                    I have recently spent some time with my girlfriend's iPhone 7+ (the big one) and found it quite nice. She keeps it too bright, but I turned it down a little and was able to use it without issue (this is huge!) so Apple has clearly done something.

                                    I always found the iPhone 6+ to be better than the 6, as well.

                                    So this could potentially be huge. I might, when my contract is up on the HTC m8, get an iPhone 7+ and put the techarmor matte on it...

                                      Gurm

                                      Nice. Just curious, how long did you use the iPhone? Just a few minutes or you managed to look at the screen for long period of time (i.e. more than 20 minutes) without eye strain?

                                        I'm going to spend more time with it. I only used it for a few minutes. But in general I know right away if a phone will be usable.

                                        Because we discovered that AMOLED smartphones are potentially usable when PWM is turned off (and the OS is friendly), I looked up notebookcheck.com's AMOLED reviews that claim PWM is only used at low brightness levels. These are the results so far (I cut the list at 40%):

                                        • Acer-Liquid-Jade-Primo-Smartphone: 238.1 Hz up to 23% brightness
                                        • Google-Pixel-XL-Smartphone: 238.1 Hz up to 23% brightness
                                        • HP-Elite-x3-inkl-Lap-Dock-Phablet: 357.1 Hz up to 31% brightness
                                        • Lenovo-Moto-Z-Play-Smartphone: 243.9 Hz up to 20% brightness
                                        • Lenovo-P2-Smartphone: 240.4 Hz up to 20% brightness
                                        • OnePlus-3-Smartphone: 243.9 Hz up to 10% brightness
                                        • OnePlus-3T-Smartphone: 244 Hz up to 10% brightness
                                        • OnePlus-X-Smartphone: 237 Hz up to 25% brightness
                                        • Samsung-Galaxy-J1-2016-Smartphone: 238.1 Hz up to 30% brightness
                                        • Samsung-Galaxy-J3-2016-Duos-Smartphone: 238.1 Hz up to 38% brightness
                                        • Samsung-Galaxy-J7-2016-Smartphone: 238.1 Hz up to 40% brightness
                                        • ZTE-Axon-7-Mini-Smartphone: 238.1 Hz up to 20% brightness

                                        If anyone wants to try AMOLED phones, those are probably our best bet at the moment. Please let me know if you know of other sites that test for AMOLED PWM.

                                          KM I've been thinking of possibly working with someone with a Pixel XL on making a fully flicker free kernel and buying one for myself.

                                            dev