S20 FE headache and eye pain

[Jingyd]

I bought the new Samsung FE from Samsung a few days ago. I had the S10 plus and it wa a saying me such bad headaches, stabbing eye pain, nausea and some days I’d wake up so dizzy. I moved to the iPhone after a year of suffering. I hate iPhones but the iPhone 11 has erased all those symptoms, I rarely suffer anything now when using my phone. 

I missed Samsung as I’d used them for years prior to the S10. I bought the S20 FE and after w days use yesterday the symptoms from last year came flossing back, I felt so sick and weirdly weak all over with the dizziness and pain. Soon as I used May iPhone 11 again the pulling in my eyes and symptoms settled.

I’m gutted as it’s a brilliant phone, the camera is amazing and made my Etsy shop photos look even better. 

I had the phone on lowest brightness, dark mode and blue light and still I had these symptoms. I put 2 Facebook posts up side by side with my phones and the Samsung it was like the words and photo were jumping out the screen hurting my eyes and the iPhone it looked flat on the screen. My husband said exactly the same and he agreed the Samsung even on lowest brightness its so bright and overpowering. 

Can you return after using the phone for 24 hours? I kept the sticky plastic on the back (wasn’t any on the front of the phone), I’ve got the original box etc. It says you can return before 28 days for whatever reason but I wasn’t sure if you’ve trialed it. 

Thank you. 

[JackDemetriou]

You can change the colour from vidid to natural in the display settings, and see if that helps. Maybe turn auto-brightness off, or manually keep adjusting the brightness (while auto-brightness so still on, as it had adaptive brightness which will remember your preferences in certain conditions).

I am not from Samsung but I believe, if you bought it from Samsung.com, you should be able to return it within 28 days for free

[Jingyd]

Thank you.

Yes I have all those settings on but still the same. I read it’s to do with the flicker count or something and Samsung don’t have dc dimming. 

Such a shame.

[JackDemetriou]

I don't believe the iPhone has DC dimming either (Samsung also makes the OLEDs for iPhones). You should look into maybe getting a OnePlus phone instead

[Jingyd]

The iPhone 11 is an lcd which I seem to manage better and has no bad reaction to. 

[JAMES4578]

@Jingyd Would not have thought there would have been such a difference  between LCD and  OLED,however if adjusting the display settings did not make much of a difference would seem the Samsung Device is not the vest for you.   Sorry you felt ill.  Certainly you should be able to return.

However would just point out a Us health study found that is that headaches likely to be caused by variety of factors, though smartphones may make symtoms already present worse in some cases.  (may not be conclusive at this stage though)

https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?article 

[Jingyd]

Thank you. I’m not one to suffer from headaches or eye pain and I haven’t this year suing the iPhone 11. Soon as I go back to Samsung the pains return. So it most definitely is due to the phone. It’s very strange. I was told it’s due to the pwn flicker or something, it’s higher on amoled displays. 

[NemanjaT]

Have you tried to keep brightness above 33%, at this level there should be no PWM ?

According to the notebookcheck.com and youtube videos.

[SquidProCrow]

Having the screen below 30% will force the screen to flicker with PWM, perhaps this is responsible for the irritation.

I also get irritated by screen PWM flicker, and for the last 2 years used an LG v30, as that seemed to be the only AMOLED screen kind to my eyes above 45% brightness - up to recently I could not use any Samsung phone.

I purchased an S20 FE after reading the notebookcheck review, where they tested the screen to have no PWM above 30% brightness. Switched to the S20 FE recently and using it above 30% brightness without any irritation so far.

The review is here:

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-Galaxy-S20-FE-5G-Smartphone-Review-After-Community-feedback-th...

[Jingyd]

Thank you so much.

I currently use an iPhone 11, with the LED screen. How does that compare to the s20FE flicker wise? I have it very low brightness with dark mode on and night mode so it has the filter on. Seems to cause no real issue with my eyes. 

I’m a Samsung fan and always used to use them but went to iPhone last year after issues with the s10 on my eyes. Causing awful headaches and eye pain.