Other Eye-strain while using iPhone X and up

[neil74]

Same here. I'll be picking up an iPhone XR tomorrow in the early afternoon. But before I do, I'm going to do a test with the showroom model, which is going to be there for sure.

The key thing to test imo is not just if there is PWM (I expect there will not be) but if looking at it hurts your eyes.

 

[decder]

The key thing to test imo is not just if there is PWM (I expect there will not be) but if looking at it hurts your eyes.

No worries. Had a look at one at the shop just a moment ago and it was very pleasant to look at, unlike the OLED models.

 

[Tijdelijk]

No worries. Had a look at one at the shop just a moment ago and it was very pleasant to look at, unlike the OLED models.

Now let's hope it's not the face id for some of us

 

[sddabrow]

Now let's hope it's not the face id for some of us

Yes, curious to hear what folks say that had issues on here that jumped to the XR today

 

[chazh]

Yes, curious to hear what folks say that had issues on here that jumped to the XR today

As someone who had to return an XS Max due to the headaches and eye strain, I’m happy to report that the Xr I picked up today is absolutely fine on that front. No trouble at all.

 

[Tijdelijk]

As someone who had to return an XS Max due to the headaches and eye strain, I’m happy to report that the Xr I picked up today is absolutely fine on that front. No trouble at all.

Face ID already used ?
Normally with the XS MAX it already should have been an issue for you ?

 

[chazh]

Face ID already used ?
Normally with the XS MAX it already should have been an issue for you ?

Yes, I'm using FaceID. With the XS I was feeling the effects within 10-15 mins, so for me the difference is immediately obvious. I couldn’t be happier. The physical size is nicer, the screen - for me - is impeccable, and if the battery life is all it’s meant to be then the only thing I’ll miss is the telephoto lens. I’ll cope...

 

[karinatwork]

Oooh, I'm so excited now. Only 4 more hours to go!!

 

[ooloo]

just got it! no eye strain here

 

[rnbarg]

It's hard to test at an Apple Store (or Best Buy) because the fluorescent overhead lights use PWM and will introduce flicker into your slo-mo video. At Best Buy, the cord is long enough so you can bring the iPhone underneath the table to do your business, but I don't think that's the case at an Apple Store.

The Apple store is absolutely terrible for assessing their phones. They have a lot of LED track lighting right above the tables where the phones are on. This introduces a lot of glare and reflections. Very dumb.

 

[infoghost]

There is no PWM, guys. I've got one right here in front of me, it passes the slo-mo test at any brightness level.

 

[TDDM]

I basically had 3 scenarios in my mind:

Worst case: PWM at every brightness level

Meh case: PWM only below xx%

Best case: No PWM at all

I *really* wasn't expecting to see absolutely zero PWM at all, I'm really happy about that. Hope you guys are all enjoying your XRs, I'm gonna head down to Apple and pick mine up later tonight.

That red color though....

 

[1369281]

I walked into the Apple Store at 3 PM in Tampa and they had all models in stock. I picked up a black 64GB iPhone XR... it was very impressive in store. Very excited!

 

[Tijdelijk]

Perfect explanation about LCD and why you can't compare LCD PPI with Dianand Pentile layout

 

[stafil]

Perfect explanation about LCD and why you can't compare LCD PPI with Dianand Pentile layout

Nice one, but I think people are comparing the PPI with the LCD of 8+ not with the OLED of the XS

 

[GlenK]

Got my XR few hours ago and love it!! No eye strain or headaches and love this thing!! It's a fantastic device!!!!

 

[RD207]

I’m so happy to hear the positive comments about the XR! I will be getting one, probably sooner than later

 

[user1234]

I've been using mine for 7 hours setting it up, and no more eye-strain than I would usually have when the shape I have been in today. So far so good! I have had it set to about 20% brightness which was appropriate for todays light levels indoors.

Really happy with it so far

 

[RD207]

Thanks for the feedback on how long you been using it with no issue to eyes, that’s a win in my book

I just pulled into my carrier store on way home from work to have a look-see.

 

[MICHAELSD]

As long as they sort out the pulse-width modulation on OLED displays in the future or switch display technologies, we will once again be able to enjoy flagship iPhones.

I haven’t tested the XR yet but am intrigued and if the display is better than the 8+ then I’ll upgrade therefore not breaking my annual upgrade tradition .

Edit: Haven’t personally tried a XR yet so with further developments in this thread I’m not sure if FaceID causes sensitivity.

 

[stafil]

not breaking my annual upgrade tradition .

Steve Jobs would be so proud of us!

 

[rnbarg]

Yes, curious to hear what folks say that had issues on here that jumped to the XR today

I have an 8 Plus and found the XS Max fatiguing to use and returned it. I ordered the XR which I got today. There is no issue with the screen as far as eye fatigue goes, the phone is as fast as lightning and the Face ID and gesture-based access to the home screen and app switching are great improvements over the traditional home button.

Unfortunately, for me, coming from a Plus screen, there are too many negatives that I realized after about an hour of use comparing the phones side by side. The XR is considerably narrower than the 8 Plus and uses a smaller font as well. And the side bezels on both phones are about the same. In fact, the bezels on the XR, being part of the screen actually look worse vs the white side bezels on my silver 8 Plus which are much less distracting and to a better job than demarcating the content from non-content. Imagine if your TV set had black bezels on the screen itself.

Text wraps a lot more on the XR than the Plus phones. You get more text per line on the plus even w/its larger font. My eyes have to work harder with the narrower width of the XR moving from line to line. I have had Plus phones for the past four years and am used to reading text on them. Moreover, the XR displays even more information than the Plus phones. It displays the same amount of information as the mammoth XS Max. It simply can't do this w/out smaller fonts which is also a negative for me. It simply takes me longer to read the text and it is not as comfortable.

Also I can definitely see the difference in text quality between the 401 PPI that I'm used to on the 8 Plus and 326 ppi on the XR. It could be the distance I hold the phone from my eyes or I just have a sharp eye for details. This is particularly noticeable on an Apps like Reeder 3, an RSS reader, which uses gray text and is one of my go to apps. My perception of this difference may also be because I have had the 401 PPI resolution for 4 years. And I can definitely see the difference on videos which size perfectly to the 8 Plus's 1080p resolution and of course have w/no notch that can potentially obscure part of the video. The aspect ratio on the XR is just not that great for most video vs. the Plus phones.

I can see that for the person coming from a non-plus iPhone, 5,6,7,8 used to the smaller font size, narrower screen (than the Plus), and 326 ppi, the XR is probably a great upgrade. The natural migration path for Plus users is the XS Max in my view. Unfortunately for me, that's not a good option for the reasons stated.

And as far as the camera, almost all the pictures that I take use the telephoto lens that the XR does not have. I am not a camera buff, but that is the one feature I really value.

I guess I will be using the 8 Plus for the foreseeable future.

 

[The.Glorious.Son]

I have an 8 Plus and found the XS Max fatiguing to use and returned it. I ordered the XR which I got today. There is no issue with the screen as far as eye fatigue goes, the phone is as fast as lightning and the Face ID and gesture-based access to the home screen and app switching are great improvements over the traditional home button.

Unfortunately, for me, coming from a Plus screen, there are too many negatives that I realized after about an hour of use comparing the phones side by side. The XR is considerably narrower than the 8 Plus and uses a smaller font as well. And the side bezels on both phones are about the same. In fact, the bezels on the XR, being part of the screen actually look worse next to the plastic side bezels on my silver 8 Plus. They are much less distracting.

Text wraps a lot more on the XR. My eyes have to work harder with the narrower width moving from line to line. I have had Plus phones for the past four years and am used to reading text on them. Moreover, the XR displays even more information than the Plus phones. It displays the same amount of information as the mammoth XS Max. It simply can't do this w/out smaller fonts which is also a negative for me. It simply takes me longer to read the text and it is not as comfortable.

Also I can definitely see the difference in text quality between the 401 PPI that I'm used to on the 8 Plus and 326 ppi on the XR. It could be the distance I hold the phone from my eyes or I just have a sharp eye for details. This is particularly noticeable on an Apps like Reeder 3, an RSS reeder, which uses gray text and is one of my go to apps. My perception of this difference may also be because I have had the 401 PPI resolution for 4 years. And I can definitely see the difference on videos which size perfectly to the 8 Plus's 1080p resolution and of course have w/no notch that can potentially obscure part of the video. The aspect ratio on the XR is just not that great for most video vs. the Plus phones.

I can see that for person coming from a non-plus iPhone, 5,6,7,8 used to the smaller font size, narrower screen (than the Plus), and 326 ppi, the XR is probably a great upgrade. The natural migration path for Plus users is the XS Max in my view. Unfortunately for me, that's not a good option for the reasons stated.

And as far as the camera, almost all the pictures that I take uses the telephoto lens that the XR does not have. I am not a camera buff, but that is the one feature I really value.

I guess I will be using the 8 Plus for the foreseeable future.

It’s almost as if you wrote this for me. I could not agree with you more on everything. And it sucks because not only did I love the Max (sans pwm symptoms), but I believe next year will be a nearly identical lineup.

 

[karinatwork]

I'm happy to report, absolutely ZERO flicker even at lowest screen brightness.
I filmed it super slow mo and there was nothing.

Enjoy your new phones, guys.

 

[5105973]

I'm happy to report, absolutely ZERO flicker even at lowest screen brightness.
I filmed it super slow mo and there was nothing.

Enjoy your new phones, guys.

Loving my Xr too, so far. I’m noticing everything @rnbarg has noticed so I’m not disagreeing with his observations. I just so far don’t find the differences off-putting.

I am happy. Let’s hope all continues to go well as I continue setting this puppy up. I decided to set up as new this time. So it’s skow going. I do enjoy typing on this phone. I make fewer typos on it.