Flicker-free Phones

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mtbvfr

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 19, 2010
Messages
99
Hi Everyone,

Firstly, to whomever the moderator of this forum is, can we make this a Sticky topic?

If you can confirm that your phone doesn't use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the dimming of the backlight, please post its details in this thread.

Thanks, MTB.
 
You are jumping pretty quick to that Sticky request for a topic that has almost zero discussion :p

I use mostly iPhones and if they are using PWM to control brightness, they are doing a fine job of covering it up
 
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lol, I dont even know why i clicked on this. I have no idea what it means lol
 
I have never seen a single phone with noticeable PWM. I can tell PWM at about 100Hz or less - I can't imagine anyone using that low a frequency though. According to this, human perception ends at about 120Hz (kinda OT, but I found it interesting and had to look it up).
 
Accidentally put a scratch on the back of on iphone screen backlight cover (not frame) and watch it flicker all day long. Quickest way to ruin your day when you've got 20 customers lined up for repair and you didnt notice it until you test it on a black screen.

I would have thought the AMOLED screen would have been the go for this, never really checked any mobiles for this though. Good call OP, I'ma check my phone manual for an epilepsy warning now, cant say i seen one.
 
SsmB_92 said:
I would have thought the AMOLED screen would have been the go for this, never really checked any mobiles for this though. Good call OP, I'ma check my phone manual for an epilepsy warning now, cant say i seen one.
Click to expand...

From the little research I've been able to do, it appears that latest revisons of AMOLED screens use PWM. :(

I was thinking of getting a phone with a Super AMOLED (better contrast - truer colours) screen until I saw that.
 
Non-PWM-related IPS/LED eye strain

Just a hit from Google. Someone mentioned Sonys screens aren't using it. No justification atm, although Sony have their own thing going it wouldnt suprise me.

The Note 5s screen is just amazing IMO, im pretty sure that S-AMOLED.
 
mtbvfr said:
If you can confirm that your phone doesn't use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the dimming of the backlight, please post its details in this thread.
Click to expand...

mtbvfr said:
From the little research I've been able to do, it appears that latest revisons of AMOLED screens use PWM. :(

I was thinking of getting a phone with a Super AMOLED (better contrast - truer colours) screen until I saw that.
Click to expand...

OLED screens have no backlight though.
 
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2. It uses AMOLED and it doesn't flicker. At the moment it seems like the only phone I can use on the planet that doesn't give me eye pain or migraines. I have recently learned that flicker is not 100% percent to blame for the migraines and eye pain. It makes up most of the problem but then you have to deal with Frame Rate Control and temporal dithering which is used in TN panels on computer monitors. I just bought a flicker free gaming monitor and couldn't tolerate it for more then 20 minutes. I returned it. I guess I have to get an IPS monitor which is very depressing because they are so expensive. I read that the cheap IPS monitors can still use Temporal dithering. From what I understand AMOLED is similar to Plasma technology except from what I have seen almost all devices using this technology flicker. I use my plasma TV as my computer monitor at the moment.
 
Ok, so I did some research on this back when this thread opened up and never replied here. Now that there's some interest I thought I'd share. Unfortunately I can't find the link anymore, but maybe someone else has seen it. I have a Note 5, and I only see flicker when the screen is on a very bright setting (like when I'm in the car and the sun is on it or something). Apparently, AMOLED screens use some kind of PWM as an overheat protection for the display, so it will only "flicker" on max brightness. This makes sense as the screens are more prone to burn-in, so I think that's why they implemented it. You never see it on mid- or low- brightness settings. I found this really interesting, because usually PWM is used to lower the perceived brightness, which is the opposite of how they're using it.

The flicker I see is only when the phone is in my peripheral vision. It's certainly not a deal breaker by any means (IMHO).
 
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