Current best phones as of January 2020?

The Hisense A5 will not give anyone any strain becuase it's an e-ink screen. I use it as my main phone and its great. Very functional once you learn how to set up and use it and overall a pleasure to use.

bkdo Same for me. iPhone 8+ is the best Apple device currently.

Seanicus Well for most people yes. But people like me get eyestrain from books (yes it is crazy) and eink even more. Eink is much much better than OLED or LCD but still not perfect. Hisense s9 pro was my daily driver for over a year. I had yota 2 previously and it was a bit better.

As of today I use iPhone 7 plus with changed screen to the most cheap screen from China i could find. With original screen I would get eye strain and headaches after 10-20 s. With this bad screen I can use it for up to 1-2 minutes without any long term headaches.

If I need to read something for 10-20 mins - I use eink side of S9 pro. Not perfect, but still no long term headaches.

I've been using a Sony Xperia X compact for almost 3 years and I can use it for hours with no problem. (and Z5, Z3, etc... Before this one).
I have issues with most Samsung latest phones.

Sony Xperia XZ2. It took a couple weeks to get used, but its fine now.

Plsnostrain did you try any other xperia? I have been using since beginning 2016 the Z5 and it worked well. I once tried to use a newer model (this was already in 2018, can't remember the model name) and I absolutely hated it.

I don't know if the screen was different, but I think the brightness was comparatively stronger and maybe the font rendering was not that much to my liking. Ended up returning it and have bought another Z5, for the time being. I'm not sure what I'm going to be picking up next when this one dies..

randomboolean

Have you tried to use screens with a privacy film? And/or a polarized film? You can buy both from china at good price. You buy a big size film, so you can cut and try with different angles with your devices.

eyestrainsolutions

Very great question, thanks!

Yes, I did try everything - I could not get back to the "old normal". Eventually I gave up, because, I think I have the very worst of the worst cases (I could find 0 devices which are perfect; even perfect devices became unusable eventually). What helped me - simply forget the life (I do not remember what it means to not have these strange sensations or reactions to screens/leds/whatever else that is flickering) I had before this and try to adapt ""to the new normal". And my life changed. I am successful now, I do not search for "possible causes of headaches in the environment". I can work (at some level), I can go to shops, see photos on other people phones. Of course - I still cannot use the "high-end devices". BUT I order new iphone, I order the cheapest Chinese screen I can find, I change it, Adapt to it by using it for 1-2 weeks and I am good to go. "The new normal" is much worse than what I had like 10 years ago, but it is much much better, than I thought, Yes, I get headaches from time to time, yes I use painkillers from time to time (at first I used them everyday, but now - once a every 2-3 weeks). I stopped searching for PERFECT device. I do not think it will happen. Ever. But I do not think about it anymore and enjoy my life. I still can work, I still have hands and legs and family. If I work too much - I will have sensations too heavy to be able to enjoy life. And that is a good thing - I spent my free time not looking at screens. I moved to management 100% because of this illness.. I optimize my work so that I do not have to look at screens and spend more discussing everything in real meetings, without screens. I think this illness introduced A LOT GOOD things to my life. Really important things in life like family, loved one, spending time in nature, sharing good moments, "just doing nothing with loved ones".

And still - I am big fan of new phones, tablets, eink tech, robots, rpa, power bi, programming and many other tech things. I even have small business built on this. I cannot use it, but it does not stop me from admiring it.

I am sharing the above because I really hope that sharing the above will help at least 1 person to overcome excessive stress this illness introduces when one understand they have it. At least until the time "the cure" has been found.

randomboolean

Thank you for the words!
btw, the cheapest screen replacement for the iPhone was my discovery, I have one and it works very well. I can also use an iPad with the cheapest Touch Screen Glass Digitizer Replacement from china (it replace the polarized film, not the screen), you should also try one. I have hope that with polarized film, we could find some solution, for example placing the polarized film 1mm or 2mm away from the screen. Probably I will buy a big polarized film from china to try.

I bought two iPhone SE 2020's one red 128gb and one black 64gb the day they were released.

The black one I use every day and I can look at it for a significant amount of time with no real problem.

The red one on the other hand gives me eye strain almost immediately and ends in a headache within 20 minutes.

Why? Don't know! When looking at the screens side by side there's a very very slight difference in their warmth and the red one has a more pronounced "screen door effect" that I can see if I tilt the phones to about 160 degrees. I'm not sure how to explain it but I'd assume there is a very slight difference in the pixel layout on the screens.

It's possible this phone may work for you if you win the eyestrain screen lottery.

Great phone btw - excellent camera, CPU is the same as the iPhone 11 so insanely powerful, water proof, cheapish, it just the battery is small and the phone looks dated but I'm not too concerned with the aesthetics or the bezels. Highly recommend you try one.