I talked to Samsung. I was told stock apps reset to the last update, which contradicts what I quoted in the previous message.
I proceeded anyhow since I was desperate.
It turned out that after a factory reset the third party apps of course disappear, and the stock ones do go to a default which is NOT the last update. I took a screenshot of suspect n. 1 for my eyestrain, Android System WebView, before the reset
and after the reset
You can clearly see the difference. My last version was 66.0.3359.126 and the new one after reset is 55.02883.91. I did the same for my new phone, a Freetel. In that case the Android System WebView has become 50.0.2661.86, which is a different default than the Samsung's. Hence a factory reset wipes the updates also of the stock apps. However, I see that the "About Device" page is the same as before the factory reset with Security Patch Level and Kernel version of March 2017, when my phone was bought in August 2016. Not sure which way those get updated. Any idea?
So finally the Samsung agent acknowledged that the stock app Android System WebView may be the culprit and he will signal the issue to the software developers.
Maybe some of you guys who got their phone screwed after an upgrade can try a factory reset and check? I will see if my eyestrain goes away over the next few days and update.
