Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

[MICHAELSD]

Has anyone seen the Huawei Mate 50 Pro Notebookcheck review? Does anyone really understand this 😂? No PWM was detected?

Huawei Mate 50 Pro smartphone review: The camera star has problems

Huawei is once again offering a camera flagship in the Mate 50 Pro at a steep price this year. Variable aperture, optical zoom, high performance, a high-quality case and an OLED screen may well justify the price , but there is another problem...

www.notebookcheck.net

View attachment 2116889

Yes, it seems plausible there’s no PWM. It’s technically possible, and that is a high-end smartphone.

I tried iPhone 14 again just to confirm there’s no bias, and I am getting light headaches. But I might try staying on it just slightly longer then seeing how I feel afterwards as it’s not unmanageable currently.

FWIW I could stay on iPhone SE for hours and get no headaches at all. PWM sensitivity is usually instantaneous for me.

iPhone 14 Plus still has me intrigued since it should be similar to the OnePlus, which nonetheless looks better as it doesn’t have the wavy curves, but I should possibly just get an iPad Mini/Air/11” Pro.

 

[john g.]

Yes, it seems plausible there’s no PWM. It’s technically possible, and that is a high-end smartphone.

I tried iPhone 14 again just to confirm there’s no bias, and I am getting light headaches. But I might try staying on it just slightly longer then seeing how I feel afterwards as it’s not unmanageable currently.

FWIW I could stay on iPhone SE for hours and get no headaches at all. PWM sensitivity is usually instantaneous for me.

iPhone 14 Plus still has me intrigued since it should be similar to the OnePlus, which nonetheless looks better as it doesn’t have the wavy curves, but I should possibly just get an iPad Mini/Air/11” Pro.

Are you still using your MacBook Pro? If so, I wonder if that muddies the water with whatever phone you try?

 

[MICHAELSD]

Are you still using your MacBook Pro? If so, I wonder if that muddies the water with whatever phone you try?

Yes, but I haven’t used it in a few days so that shouldn’t be biasing my current experience which is still, well, PWM sensitivity with iPhone 14.

I definitely am getting a light behind-the-eye throbbing from this iPhone. I’m trying to only use auto-brightness and even hold the iPhone a little further away than usual. Still getting headaches. So I can be satisfied at least knowing that.

The charts in Notebookcheck’s review still made me more optimistic that I was wrong on first impression, but I’m not sure any iPhone from this generation would be significantly better. I do think there’s potential once I get rid of the MacBook Pro and Apple continues on with improvements that next generation my experience will be better. Both of these iPhones, iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro Max, are just barely usable.

 

[jm31828]

Yes, it seems plausible there’s no PWM. It’s technically possible, and that is a high-end smartphone.

I tried iPhone 14 again just to confirm there’s no bias, and I am getting light headaches. But I might try staying on it just slightly longer then seeing how I feel afterwards as it’s not unmanageable currently.

FWIW I could stay on iPhone SE for hours and get no headaches at all. PWM sensitivity is usually instantaneous for me.

iPhone 14 Plus still has me intrigued since it should be similar to the OnePlus, which nonetheless looks better as it doesn’t have the wavy curves, but I should possibly just get an iPad Mini/Air/11” Pro.

That Huawei is mentioned to have 119,000 Hz PWM, so the article is a bit contradictory- sounds like there IS PWM, but it's high frequency that shouldn't bother most. (same frequency as the new iPad Pro, I believe?)

And on you using the SE- aside from it having no PWM and being easy on the eyes, how do you like it? Are you pretty happy with it, or feeling some serious FOMO in regards to not having a flagship phone?

I was surprised how much I truly liked the SE when I had it.... I won't go into it, but on my other post I mentioned that I moved to a 13 Mini this weekend and really like it, but I am tempted to make one final move- back to an SE- to get away from PWM, since I honestly feel I wouldn't be missing out on much of anything going from the Mini to the SE.... real life battery capacity seems to be the exact same with how much I have left at the end of each day, the single camera on it is surprisingly good, it's of course just as fast- and side by side you don't even really notice the difference in screen sizes, as the mini only has a tiny bit of additional content that fits on the screen.

The only thing would be the lack of night mode on the camera, and the lack of a second lens to help to allow taking Portrait pictures of non-human objects, which I sometimes like to do when I am out on hikes.

 

[Chrispy]

So I have a confession. I really love this iPhone SE, haha. I almost feel stupid for being so stubbornly against going with it from the start. I almost jumped on it when it was announced, but I decided to wait for the 14 holding out hope it would be different this year. But now that I've been using this SE for a week, I'm seriously in love with it. I forgot how much I missed TouchID. I have to authenticate every time I open Outlook and it's so much faster with TouchID. I can hit the app icon, put my finger over the home button and the app never even gets the chance to ask. No more waiting for it to scan my face or having to pick it up off the table for the scan.

Looking back on the entire experience, I've also had to admit to myself that I never really liked the XR. I convinced myself I did, but now that I have this small and light SE it's clear I didn't. The size always bothered me no matter how much I pretended it didn't.

It's rare I'm surprised by how much I enjoy something, and so far the iPad Mini 6 and SE 2022 have far exceeded my expectations. Shame I can't be so impressed by the flagship products but my wallet is pleased at least. All I know is I finally have a phone that feels like it's my perfect match. Thank you to everyone for the soft encouragement through all these posts to give it a try! You all gave me the push I needed to stop obsessing over it being "an old, outdated design" and focus on what works best for me. This is why I love the little community that we've built up in this thread!

 

[The.Glorious.Son]

Well I am about 4 hours on the 14 Pro. Already several annoyances not related to PWM.
1. I prefer the softer whites of the 11 vs the warm tones of the 14P (yes true-tone is off)
2. I definitely prefer how text is rendered on the 11. It seems very thin and more difficult to read on the 14P. I have messed with every setting possible and simply cannot recreate how text is (size, boldness, etc) on the 11.
3. A fair number of photos I have synced back to the 14P from my MacBook are available just fine in my photos app but they have a little info button in the bottom right corner that states an error occurred while trying to load a higher quality version of the photo and that is driving me nuts.

Hell who needs PWM when you're not sure about the phone itself lol.

 

[john g.]

Well I am about 4 hours on the 14 Pro. Already several annoyances not related to PWM.
1. I prefer the softer whites of the 11 vs the warm tones of the 14P (yes true-tone is off)
2. I definitely prefer how text is rendered on the 11. It seems very thin and more difficult to read on the 14P. I have messed with every setting possible and simply cannot recreate how text is (size, boldness, etc) on the 11.
3. A fair number of photos I have synced back to the 14P from my MacBook are available just fine in my photos app but they have a little info button in the bottom right corner that states an error occurred while trying to load a higher quality version of the photo and that is driving me nuts.

Hell who needs PWM when you're not sure about the phone itself lol.

Numbers one and two are definitely a thing. I have not found a solution either.

 

[john g.]

Numbers one and two are definitely a thing. I have not found a solution either.

Although, switching from the glossy screen protector to the antiglare screen protector seem to help a bit with reading text

 

[jm31828]

So I have a confession. I really love this iPhone SE, haha. I almost feel stupid for being so stubbornly against going with it from the start. I almost jumped on it when it was announced, but I decided to wait for the 14 holding out hope it would be different this year. But now that I've been using this SE for a week, I'm seriously in love with it. I forgot how much I missed TouchID. I have to authenticate every time I open Outlook and it's so much faster with TouchID. I can hit the app icon, put my finger over the home button and the app never even gets the chance to ask. No more waiting for it to scan my face or having to pick it up off the table for the scan.

Looking back on the entire experience, I've also had to admit to myself that I never really liked the XR. I convinced myself I did, but now that I have this small and light SE it's clear I didn't. The size always bothered me no matter how much I pretended it didn't.

It's rare I'm surprised by how much I enjoy something, and so far the iPad Mini 6 and SE 2022 have far exceeded my expectations. Shame I can't be so impressed by the flagship products but my wallet is pleased at least. All I know is I finally have a phone that feels like it's my perfect match. Thank you to everyone for the soft encouragement through all these posts to give it a try! You all gave me the push I needed to stop obsessing over it being "an old, outdated design" and focus on what works best for me. This is why I love the little community that we've built up in this thread!

That’s fantastic, so glad to hear it!!
It truly is a great phone.

 

[MICHAELSD]

That Huawei is mentioned to have 119,000 Hz PWM, so the article is a bit contradictory- sounds like there IS PWM, but it's high frequency that shouldn't bother most. (same frequency as the new iPad Pro, I believe?)

And on you using the SE- aside from it having no PWM and being easy on the eyes, how do you like it? Are you pretty happy with it, or feeling some serious FOMO in regards to not having a flagship phone?

119Hz matches the refresh rate of the display, much like iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. It’s not 119,000, but it appears quite flat at lower brightness levels.

I’ve really warmed up to iPhone SE. It took a while due to how much more I liked the display, cameras, and build on iPhone 13 Mini but I’ve since had no qualms with the home button and find it to be a perfectly capable little device.

I’m just as confused with the size as I’ve ever been since I’m typing this one-handed on iPhone 14 and it’s not nearly as comfortable. For actual use I still don’t find the 6.1” size to be tangibly better than 6.7”, besides some content appearing sharper. It is nice not having quite as large of a pocket bulge either.

I do think it’s possible iPhone 14 may be more usable than upon initial impression. I’d still like an OLED iPhone that I can pick up and say that it doesn’t give me any headaches from the first moment, and every moment thereafter.

 

[MICHAELSD]

So I have a confession. I really love this iPhone SE, haha. I almost feel stupid for being so stubbornly against going with it from the start. I almost jumped on it when it was announced, but I decided to wait for the 14 holding out hope it would be different this year. But now that I've been using this SE for a week, I'm seriously in love with it. I forgot how much I missed TouchID. I have to authenticate every time I open Outlook and it's so much faster with TouchID. I can hit the app icon, put my finger over the home button and the app never even gets the chance to ask. No more waiting for it to scan my face or having to pick it up off the table for the scan.

Looking back on the entire experience, I've also had to admit to myself that I never really liked the XR. I convinced myself I did, but now that I have this small and light SE it's clear I didn't. The size always bothered me no matter how much I pretended it didn't.

It's rare I'm surprised by how much I enjoy something, and so far the iPad Mini 6 and SE 2022 have far exceeded my expectations. Shame I can't be so impressed by the flagship products but my wallet is pleased at least. All I know is I finally have a phone that feels like it's my perfect match. Thank you to everyone for the soft encouragement through all these posts to give it a try! You all gave me the push I needed to stop obsessing over it being "an old, outdated design" and focus on what works best for me. This is why I love the little community that we've built up in this thread!

iPhone SE third-generation is a genuinely good device that Apple improved in every aspect. I only wish that I had figured that out sooner.

 

[Ac1d 8urn]

So I have a confession. I really love this iPhone SE, haha. I almost feel stupid for being so stubbornly against going with it from the start. I almost jumped on it when it was announced, but I decided to wait for the 14 holding out hope it would be different this year. But now that I've been using this SE for a week, I'm seriously in love with it. I forgot how much I missed TouchID. I have to authenticate every time I open Outlook and it's so much faster with TouchID. I can hit the app icon, put my finger over the home button and the app never even gets the chance to ask. No more waiting for it to scan my face or having to pick it up off the table for the scan.

Looking back on the entire experience, I've also had to admit to myself that I never really liked the XR. I convinced myself I did, but now that I have this small and light SE it's clear I didn't. The size always bothered me no matter how much I pretended it didn't.

It's rare I'm surprised by how much I enjoy something, and so far the iPad Mini 6 and SE 2022 have far exceeded my expectations. Shame I can't be so impressed by the flagship products but my wallet is pleased at least. All I know is I finally have a phone that feels like it's my perfect match. Thank you to everyone for the soft encouragement through all these posts to give it a try! You all gave me the push I needed to stop obsessing over it being "an old, outdated design" and focus on what works best for me. This is why I love the little community that we've built up in this thread!

I feel this. I'm happy with my 14+ but I definitely miss my SE. So pocketable, touch ID, beautiful screen.... if only my eyes could still tolerate small screens 😭 I didn't get rid of it so I guess I can just take it out and gaze lovingly at it once in a while. lol

Please Apple, PLEASE make an SE+ with updated guts and LCD in an 8+ body. I would pay infinite money.

 

[DJTaurus]

119Hz matches the refresh rate of the display, much like iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. It’s not 119,000, but it appears quite flat at lower brightness levels.

I’ve really warmed up to iPhone SE. It took a while due to how much more I liked the display, cameras, and build on iPhone 13 Mini but I’ve since had no qualms with the home button and find it to be a perfectly capable little device.

I’m just as confused with the size as I’ve ever been since I’m typing this one-handed on iPhone 14 and it’s not nearly as comfortable. For actual use I still don’t find the 6.1” size to be tangibly better than 6.7”, besides some content appearing sharper. It is nice not having quite as large of a pocket bulge either.

I do think it’s possible iPhone 14 may be more usable than upon initial impression. I’d still like an OLED iPhone that I can pick up and say that it doesn’t give me any headaches from the first moment, and every moment thereafter.

So till now better experience with 14 than 14 pro max ?

Yesterday i play with a 14 plus on the store for half an hour and i was starting to get mild pain on the upper/back part of my head.

 

[francerex]

Has anyone seen the Huawei Mate 50 Pro Notebookcheck review? Does anyone really understand this 😂? No PWM was detected?

Huawei Mate 50 Pro smartphone review: The camera star has problems

Huawei is once again offering a camera flagship in the Mate 50 Pro at a steep price this year. Variable aperture, optical zoom, high performance, a high-quality case and an OLED screen may well justify the price , but there is another problem...

www.notebookcheck.net

View attachment 2116889

It has pwm

 

[dimitricook]

14 pro and pro max are back at Apple... They both gave me extreme headache very quicky. I know from experience that this kind of headache is not going to get better over time because i did try this with keeping the 12 for over months.

Now testing the 14 and i am also willing to try the 13mini next because i read some good stories about that phone. Anyone using one of those as a daily driver right now?

 

[Mastrociambella]

Would you be able to share what you know about temporal dithering? I can't find anything about it online, it sounds like the suspicion is that Apple LCD displays have it- the 11, and even the SE models- but is there any way to know for sure? And how does that work- is it really only in effect when watching HDR videos, or is dithering occurring all the time, even when simply looking at random news websites or social media?
And do the OLED displays have temporal dithering? I know Notebookcheck confirmed that the 14 Pro does NOT have dithering- would that perhaps mean that the other 14's and even the 13 series do not have it, either? Is there something different about OLED where ditherhing isn't necessary vs. the need to use it on LCD displays?

Actually not much
But I always knew iPhone 11 has it (but I cannot find any source now, maybe that’s the explanation I made up myself since I could use iPhone XR, could use iPad Air, Air 2, iPad Pro 2018 until iPadOS 16, without issue).
I guess iPadOS introduced dithering as I noticed a slight change in colour rendition, but it’s my guess (and I think it’s more likely they introduce dithering instead of pwm on standard lcd)

 

[jimmy_uk]

So I have a confession. I really love this iPhone SE, haha. I almost feel stupid for being so stubbornly against going with it from the start. I almost jumped on it when it was announced, but I decided to wait for the 14 holding out hope it would be different this year. But now that I've been using this SE for a week, I'm seriously in love with it. I forgot how much I missed TouchID. I have to authenticate every time I open Outlook and it's so much faster with TouchID. I can hit the app icon, put my finger over the home button and the app never even gets the chance to ask. No more waiting for it to scan my face or having to pick it up off the table for the scan.

Looking back on the entire experience, I've also had to admit to myself that I never really liked the XR. I convinced myself I did, but now that I have this small and light SE it's clear I didn't. The size always bothered me no matter how much I pretended it didn't.

It's rare I'm surprised by how much I enjoy something, and so far the iPad Mini 6 and SE 2022 have far exceeded my expectations. Shame I can't be so impressed by the flagship products but my wallet is pleased at least. All I know is I finally have a phone that feels like it's my perfect match. Thank you to everyone for the soft encouragement through all these posts to give it a try! You all gave me the push I needed to stop obsessing over it being "an old, outdated design" and focus on what works best for me. This is why I love the little community that we've built up in this thread!

That's good to read as I'm leaning towards an SE on Black Friday.

 

[john g.]

14 pro and pro max are back at Apple... They both gave me extreme headache very quicky. I know from experience that this kind of headache is not going to get better over time because i did try this with keeping the 12 for over months.

Now testing the 14 and i am also willing to try the 13mini next because i read some good stories about that phone. Anyone using one of those as a daily driver right now?

I sent back the 14+ because I started to get mild headaches even though the screen was amazing for my aging eyes. I’m currently trying a 14. So far, over the weekend it was going very well. However, my son and I both woke up on Sunday morning with head colds so that muddies the water a bit. I have sinus pressure and a headache but it’s hard to tell what that’s from so I’m just being patient and getting through the cold but things felt good enough on the weekend that I took it to level 2, which is me transferring my Sim to the 14. Patience! That’s what I am practicing

 

[now i see it]

Shame I can't be so impressed by the flagship products

“Flagship” is just a word everyone slaps on the most expensive iPhone.
The “flagships” aren’t necessarily better at everything as we all know (like displaying content)

 

[jm31828]

For those who definitely have PWM sensitivity, even if it's somewhat mild- do your symptoms always come in during use or immediately after use of the phone?

I am still trying to figure out whether I have any problematic sensitivity to PWM. In the past I definitely noticed some discomfort using OLED phones (an XS I bought at launch as an example that I had to return).

I have a 13 Mini that I have had for a week now. I am a light user, mostly just use the device for an hour or so each evening browsing the web, social media, online banking, etc. Over the course of this week I have not had eye strain or headaches during use or immediately after, with one exception on Sunday, where I spent a lot more time- about 3 hours- using this and the SE I had at the same time to compare/contrast the displays and make a decision on returning my SE (which I did end up returning that day). A headache came on within a couple hours of that session.
However- I am prone to very frequent headaches, sometimes several times per week- but that goes back to before I ever used a smartphone, and I had not ever noticed these headaches occurring directly during or after using this phone- they always came on randomly.

So, essentially I went almost a week using this phone without any difference in experience headache-wise, with none coming on during or immediately after use- other than the one on Sunday.

For those of you out there that are definitely sensitive to PWM- would you say this experience does not sound indicative of PWM sensitivity? Or could it occur in a random way, with many days not causing problems with an occasional problematic day sprinkled in even though the device is being used on a consistent basis daily?

 

[dimitricook]

For those who definitely have PWM sensitivity, even if it's somewhat mild- do your symptoms always come in during use or immediately after use of the phone?

I am still trying to figure out whether I have any problematic sensitivity to PWM. In the past I definitely noticed some discomfort using OLED phones (an XS I bought at launch as an example that I had to return).

I have a 13 Mini that I have had for a week now. I am a light user, mostly just use the device for an hour or so each evening browsing the web, social media, online banking, etc. Over the course of this week I have not had eye strain or headaches during use or immediately after, with one exception on Sunday, where I spent a lot more time- about 3 hours- using this and the SE I had at the same time to compare/contrast the displays and make a decision on returning my SE (which I did end up returning that day). A headache came on within a couple hours of that session.
However- I am prone to very frequent headaches, sometimes several times per week- but that goes back to before I ever used a smartphone, and I had not ever noticed these headaches occurring directly during or after using this phone- they always came on randomly.

So, essentially I went almost a week using this phone without any difference in experience headache-wise, with none coming on during or immediately after use- other than the one on Sunday.

For those of you out there that are definitely sensitive to PWM- would you say this experience does not sound indicative of PWM sensitivity? Or could it occur in a random way, with many days not causing problems with an occasional problematic day sprinkled in even though the device is being used on a consistent basis daily?

Its very personal and from al the thousands of comments here i understand that it´s very very different from person to person. I can feel most phones symptoms within minutes or so. But some better phones take hours to give any issues. If i look at your story it sounds like you don´t have much trouble with the 13 mini. but again its al personal. I also believe that we might have to get used to new screen types, sizes, techniques and that some discomfort or pain is acceptable for a couple of days or a week.

 

[The.Glorious.Son]

Numbers one and two are definitely a thing. I have not found a solution either.

Well, I fixed the issue with the photos so that’s a great thing. However, the thin, smaller text is bothering me. On my 11, I have it on zoomed. It makes everything perfect sized for my personal self. The boldness, size of apps, overall text size, etc. No combination of tweaks can replicate that on here. I was able to on the Pro Max however. So now I am questioning my return of the Pro Max 😫

I’m not gonna lie….I’m almost happy I’m currently experiencing strain and full-headedness. Keeping my 11 would just simplify things. Oh, and the speakers on the Pro Max blow these phones away. They are SO loud and clear. I hate all of this lol.

 

[jrajpaul]

iPhone 14 Pro Max still isn’t quite as bad as previous generations. Just not fixed.

I will say that my quality of life with this iPhone is better than with iPhone SE. It does seem to make me happier owning a capable iPhone.

Unfortunately I’m getting to the point where I might have to sell my 14” MacBook Pro due to headaches, and if I wasn’t using that then I might have a better experience with this generation of iPhones.

I’m curious if I’d still get persistent headaches using this iPhone without the MacBook Pro, since my headaches seem to be worse with the MacBook Pro surprisingly. I was even able to watch Apple TV+ for a few minutes, which I couldn’t do with any past iPhone. But my eyes aren’t too happy using both devices.

@MICHAELSD So I recently traded in my wife's iPhone 12 pro and bought the 14" MacBook Pro. Using it for a day now and I get severe tension headaches (pain occiput and base of neck). Is that a similar experience for you. I previously used an M1 MacBook Air with not much issues.
It seems like if we are sensitive to PWM then there is no hope to use any newer device with a high contrast screen. I'm worried the headache is not going to get better and I just wasted a ton of cash.

 

[john g.]

Well, I fixed the issue with the photos so that’s a great thing. However, the thin, smaller text is bothering me. On my 11, I have it on zoomed. It makes everything perfect sized for my personal self. The boldness, size of apps, overall text size, etc. No combination of tweaks can replicate that on here. I was able to on the Pro Max however. So now I am questioning my return of the Pro Max 😫

I’m not gonna lie….I’m almost happy I’m currently experiencing strain and full-headedness. Keeping my 11 would just simplify things. Oh, and the speakers on the Pro Max blow these phones away. They are SO loud and clear. I hate all of this lol.

I can’t recall, did you send back your pro max because it was too big and heavy or was it causing you symptoms?

 

[siri_3005]

Sorry if this question has already been answered but is there a good screen protector that doesn't cause eye strain and isn't made out of glass? I ask cause the last time I had a screen protector that was glass, it was very painful to remove.