How about wearing sun glasses? Then you can run it at 100% brightness indoors and it won't be too bright,,,,,,,
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Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up
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Auto-brightness is still a necessary function for comfort, and this is nowhere near as comfortable as an Apple LCD. Still feels like an improvement overall, and the higher brightness levels seem more comfortable than they’ve ever been. Maybe even the lower brightness levels as well comparatively.
My wife actually just mentioned that as well when I was talking about this topic.... and she was not joking. lol
So what are people’s thoughts on leaving the phone at 100% brightness, using the action button to reduce white point 100% for when using the phone indoors, and when using the phone in a dark room (e.g. when in bed at night) using the zoom low light filter on the triple-click power button in addition to the fully reduced white point? Sorta like three brightness settings, all with the screen at 100% brightness. Will that prevent PWM?
Not really. It depends on the phone model.
See @pwm away 's test results.
Reduce White Point is just another method of dimming the brighter end of the spectrum. High RWP with high brightness has about the same PWM nastiness as low RWP and low brightness on the 15pm. See table.
The OLED pixels can only be on full brightness or off. No in between. PWM flickering fools our visual processing to perceive a dimmer disply, but its not. Its full intensity flashing 480X/second.
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If I’m being honest the iPhone SE display is infinitely more comfortable… it still feels like my eyes don’t want to focus on the iPhone 15 Pro display.
If that was the case, wouldn’t it be like the equivalent of constantly staring at a 1000 nits or even 2000 nits display all the time? That concept has confused me with PWM, as it certainly appears dimmer especially when using it for lighting/flashlights.
That’s exactly what we’re doing.
But our visual processing averages the off and on cycles so we perceive a dimmer display — but it’s not dimmer, it’s just flashing on and off at full intensity- really fast.
It’s known as Flicker fusion threshold.
NotebookCheck goes into more detail:
www.notebookcheck.net
But our visual processing averages the off and on cycles so we perceive a dimmer display — but it’s not dimmer, it’s just flashing on and off at full intensity- really fast.
It’s known as Flicker fusion threshold.
NotebookCheck goes into more detail:
Why Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) is such a headache
Explanation of PWM, when and why it is bad, and possible solutions
So in theory wouldn’t running the display at 100% brightness feel exactly the same?That’s exactly what we’re doing.
But our visual processing averages the off and on cycles so we perceive a dimmer display — but it’s not dimmer, it’s just flashing on and off at full intensity- really fast.
It’s known as Flicker fusion threshold.
NotebookCheck goes into more detail:
Why Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) is such a headache
Explanation of PWM, when and why it is bad, and possible solutions
It still feels like shining an extremely bright flashlight into the retinas.
I can clarify on that.That’s exactly what we’re doing.
But our visual processing averages the off and on cycles so we perceive a dimmer display — but it’s not dimmer, it’s just flashing on and off at full intensity- really fast.
It’s known as Flicker fusion threshold.
NotebookCheck goes into more detail:
Why Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) is such a headache
Explanation of PWM, when and why it is bad, and possible solutions
But before that ~ Honestly, while I really appreciate notebookcheck reviewers for bringing awareness of PWM to us , I strongly feel they are no longer qualified to advice on PWM anymore.
That is because their understanding of PWM and flicker is based on severely outdated technology and research findings.
Nobody uses these research to back up their claims in this modern era.
Anyway, back to this.
When notebookcheck claimed that screens are flashing on and off at full intensity, they are making the assumption that all panels are using modulation depth of 100%. Therefore, it is only using duty cycle to create the perception of a dimmed brightness. However, there are little evidence to suggest that the reduction in duty cycle is merely our perception in respect to our perception of actual screen brightness.
Those are completely false and a misinformation in today's context.
I will illustrate why below.
For instance, we'll look at a smartphone of a rated max brightness of 1000 nits. If user adjust the bright to etc 45% brightness, it will be 450 nits. (speaking hypothetically as all display drivers are not the same)
So in a modulation depth of 35%, what it actually does is it will lower from (max rated brightness of) 1000nits to 280 nits in its screen OFF phrase, and aggressive force it to stop at that nits. Then, it will rise up to 580nits in its screen ON phrase. It will then stop there aggressive again.
The mean brightness nits between 580nits and 280nits results in we would tentatively see, which is 450nits.
Hence, the 580nits and 280nits has a modulation depth of 35%. We can calculate the modulation depth simply by using the below formula proposed by lighting regulation iee1789:
Modulation depth percentage = (highest brightness - lowest brightness) / (highest brightness + lowest brightness)
After this screen ON and OFF is completed, we can say that 1 duty cycle is completed. Therefore, 1 hertz completed.
Next, on Duty cycle manipulation. This is expressed in Duty cycle percentage. A 50% duty cycle means screen ON/OFF time duration ratio is 50% ON and 50% OFF. Like the above mentioned in the infograph.
Likewise, 25% duty cycle means screen ON duration time is 25% while screen OFF is 75%.
Brightness can be further dimmed by aggressively showing less of the screen ON time. This is again to (aggressively) manipulate the amount of screen exposure time during each hertz (or duty cycle). Hence, brightness is indeed dimmed despite what notebookcheck claimed.
This aggressive method of showing less of the screen ON time creates further eyestrain and headache for many of us.
Hope the above clarifies.
P.S. Please save this comment of mine and repost if necessary.
As honestly, it does is quite exhausting having to repeat the same information over and over again ~ like a broken old radio, really!
*If this is not living like in Edge of Tomorrow, I do not know what is this anymore 😉
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Very instructive explanation. This is what I measured today. First graph is 15 Pro Max, the second Samsung flip, both at 50pct brightness. The flip is way more stressful to my eyes.
BTW it's there anyway I can reduce the size of these? Edit... dragging corners seems to work.
BTW it's there anyway I can reduce the size of these? Edit... dragging corners seems to work.
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I got the iPhone 15, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max. So far I will be returning the 15 since it causes dizziness and head pressure within 10 minutes. I will try the other two more over the next few days and decide if either are truly useable. I’m so tired of my iPhone SE 2020 but it’s the only iPhone I’m able to use.
Thank you for sharing this link. This screen is absolutely stunning.
2 full days in with the 15 PM and the worst has been some eye strain/fatigue. What’s different is that I’ve not gotten any headaches or nausea. That is a first for me. I’ve used this phone for 2.5 hours straight and while my eyes were strained a bit, that was it.
I’ll continue to use it and see how things evolve. There’s something that tells me I’ll be back on my 11, but I’m really loving this phone. It was an absolute game changer at a concert last night. Amazing cameras and zoom. You should see these pics! I don’t want to return it 😩
I’ll continue to use it and see how things evolve. There’s something that tells me I’ll be back on my 11, but I’m really loving this phone. It was an absolute game changer at a concert last night. Amazing cameras and zoom. You should see these pics! I don’t want to return it 😩
I thought I saw the same when I measured in store with the Radex Lupin. I wasn’t sure whether to believe it. Having said that, the difference in % was very small, not sure how significant it would be.
I did find the 14 usable. I used it exclusively for a month (although I deliberately didn’t spend as much time on it as I did with my 11). The result was that I felt I could generally use it without issues. This was with auto brightness and RWP off.
I did notice that it felt uncomfortable in low light environments, so I didn’t use it much at night time.
I also had a slightly higher than usual incidence of migraines during that period. But I came jump to a conclusion on that one.
In the m end I decided to stop using it and go back to the 11, mainly for psychological reasons.
If it’s any consolation, the 2022 iPhone SE is at least an upgrade in build quality, performance, and connectivity.
I think these iPhones are the closest to being usable with some accommodation. I’d like to know more before coming to those conclusions.
But I’m thankfully not getting as attached as I normally would and therefore I’m not as attached to the outcome.
What I can say today is that the display on the 11” iPad Pro is much more comfortable and easier to focus on. Meanwhile OLED displays are unbeatable for HDR content.
Yep, that’s tricky. And it’s difficult to know what to go on.
For me, I have the % results from the Radex Lupin, and it’s my guide. Generally speaking, based on those results, RWP with 100% brightness will give a lower % result than the equivalent lux value with RWP off and just brightness regulated.
Re: RWP, I also noticed that it starts increasing the % result more significantly from about 85% - 90%, whereas it’s a more gradual increase until then. So I would generally recommend not going for RWP higher. But, the downside is that the lux value at that point is still on the higher side. Although I find it still usable, as long as the environment has some lighting. Definitely too bright for dark environments.
I saw a post from someone mentioning Zoom settings and further dimming capability. Does anyone have any reference to that?
Yep, I find the display on my 11” M2 Pro to be fine.
Having said that, I have noticed that after a longer session of focused work/watching/reading on it, my eyes are a tad bit sore. But it’s not too bad, and it goes away quickly when taking a break.
I don’t spend as much time on my iPhone 11 to know if that also occurs on there. I generally doesn’t occur on my monitor.
I just figured this out as well. There’s a Low Light filter option in the Zoom settings in Accessibility. Enabling Zoom also enables the filter, and it only zooms with specific gestures.
Thankfully the Action Button at least makes it easier to enable these Accessibility features.
Having disabled Reduce White Point, I find the Low Light filter in Zoom easier on the eyes even at 100% brightness. Wow, this a little more comfortable. New hack?
Besides the downside of pesky gestures enabling the Zoom, which I’ll look into, this is another slight workaround.
Edit: within a minute this isn’t super comfortable. But it is technically effective at dimming the display.
Besides the downside of pesky gestures enabling the Zoom, which I’ll look into, this is another slight workaround.
Edit: within a minute this isn’t super comfortable. But it is technically effective at dimming the display.
I’ve used the Radex Lupin to also test lux values when I test the flicker %. Mainly out of curiosity. I can confirm that it does reduce the lux.
I guess, I don’t know the technicalities of how it does that, and whether it’s a cause of the average of the duty cycle, as per @from reddit the_top_g showed in their diagram, or something else.
Thanks! I’m currently on holiday without my Lupin, but will take some measures when I get back.
This could be an additional option. If 100% brightness, RWP at a lower percentage, plus this third setting provide a better result, it’ll be worthwhile noting.
On the other hand, if Apple used the RWP equivalent methodology to achieve the reduced low light, it might be much of a muchness.
It does feel like there is additional modulation rather than simply a pure filter reduction.