Note9 and Crippling Headaches

[Paul Hodge]

Be terrified of the NOTE9. It caused me to have three (3) crippling headaches before I figure out the phone was causing them. I purchased it directly from Samsung and received it yesterday (8/30/18); by 8:30 pm, the first headache set in. For a fleeting moment, I consider the phone as the cause but ruled it out because obviously Samsung spent a good $100MM in development and there is on way they would miss the problem. After two more headaches (8/31/18), that night at 4am and again at 12pm all addressed with 800mg of ibuprofen each time - from which I lost the entire day because of ibuprofen brain fog. I then had the bright idea to Google-It as a possibility and found this review posted two days earlier (8/28/18) - https://www.valuewalk.com/2018/08/galaxy-note-9-display-flickering-issue/ Galaxy Note 9 Display Has A Flickering Issue That Could Cause You A Headache. I wish I had read this before I tried to bruise my brain.

I called Samsung and their engineers confirmed the issue - they even had their health impact product team on the phone with me. I asked if they has some setting that could address the 227Hz flickering issue; they said no. I returned the phone to Samsung this evening and I ordered the Samsung s9+. If anyone knows any horror stories about this unit, PLEASE tell me. I have about three days before it arrives.

PS: I am sad the Note9 was such a problem; it is BEAUTIFUL and POWERFUL.

 

[The_Chief]

Welcome to Android Forums, Paul! Albeit under very unpleasant circumstances...

Your post about the flickering display is a surprise, as I rarely use the phone in low-light situations. At night, the Blue Light Filter automatically kicks in from sunset to sunrise. While I DO wake up and use the phone in the wee morning hours, I guess I haven't really looked for any flickering. I certainly haven't seen anything that stands out as a flicker. I have my display resolution set to FHD+, if that means anything.

It's a shame that the PWM flickering affected you so horribly: one can only hope that Samsung is working on a fix to send out. In the meantime, feel free to hang out, enjoy the S9+ Forum, and I hope to see you in the Note10 Forum this time next year!

 

[james27007]

Wow, that's scary. I've had my Note 9 for a week now and have not had any headaches. But, I turned on the adaptive display a few days ago, while watching a YouTube video at night, the screen got very bright and then would quickly for and get bright very very quickly. I turned off adaptive display and it fixed it immediately. Not sure if it's the same, but something to try if you still have your phone

 

[alpha7r3]

I've had back to back migraines sunday night and monday night triggered from what I can only assume is this flickering crap. I had lasik eye surgery about 5 years ago and ever since then my eyes have a heightened sensitivity to brightness (chrome on cars when the sun strikes it, etc) so I'm pretty much the perfect candidate for this. Sucks because the display is so incredibly wonderful but I'm getting my butt kicked. Migraines are brutal. I lose partial vision for about 15 minutes followed by what I can only imagine feels like a baseball bat to the head.