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[Q] Please help- Screen TOO bright even at lowest setting! :( any remedy?

Hello everyone
I just got the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S yesterday and my worst nightmare has come true. I have sensitive eyes and keep brightness on all my equipment at the lowest level. I had asked someone before buying this phone and he told that it is manageable but now I find out that the screen is way toooo bright even at the lowest setting!
It strains the eyes + drains the battery.
Suppose we are not connected to internet through any source. Then if we refresh any widget we get the error "Please check your network access" and the screen goes dull in background. Now thats the perfect setting I would like for the phone.
Any idea how we can reduce the brightness even further through Mod or through factory settings or somehow?
I would really appreciate any help on this one.
Regards.

You are a vampire?
Bright on 35% level is correct.

staticduo said:
You are a vampire?
Bright on 35% level is correct.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try fiddling with your phone in the morning, just as you've woken up. It works as a nice wake upper though. .

Android default min brightness is 8% (even though it reads 0%).
Two apps that give you less than 8%, both goes to 0% :
- Brightness Level by CurveFish
- Dimmer (Night Mode) by geekyouup
Also, look into changing your background color to black, it'll save you battery and be easier on your eyes. Lastly, the browser has its own brightness setting, found by hitting menu > settings.
Alternatively, only use under direct sunlight.

staticduo said:
You are a vampire?
Bright on 35% level is correct.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lolz. I am just a human with sensitive eyes.
alovell83 said:
Android default min brightness is 8% (even though it reads 0%).
Two apps that give you less than 8%, both goes to 0% :
- Brightness Level by CurveFish
- Dimmer (Night Mode) by geekyouup
Also, look into changing your background color to black, it'll save you battery and be easier on your eyes. Lastly, the browser has its own brightness setting, found by hitting menu > settings.
Alternatively, only use under direct sunlight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I would try the dimmer and see if 0% helps somewhat though I have read that its only marginally better.
I am hoping that there should be a way to reduce it somehow since it gets reduced when we see some error just like I mentioned in 1st post.

I agree even at the lowest level its way to bright.
I have the curvefish brightness app, but even set to 0 its too bright for use in the darkness.

goyal.sanchit said:
Thanks. I would try the dimmer and see if 0% helps somewhat though I have read that its only marginally better.
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Click to collapse
I've actually written that it's only a marginal improvement, but I omitted that opinion here since I think my opinion is less applicable to someone with sensitive eyes. You might perceive a 3x decrease than what I did, not sure if that'd still be enough.
Again, I think changing to a dark background will get you more mileage, if you haven't already done so.

alovell83 said:
I've actually written that it's only a marginal improvement, but I omitted that opinion here since I think my opinion is less applicable to someone with sensitive eyes. You might perceive a 3x decrease than what I did, not sure if that'd still be enough.
Again, I think changing to a dark background will get you more mileage, if you haven't already done so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently I am using a relatively black background but when surfing most webpages have white background and that really is painful! I guess I may have to look for some tinted screen protector!

i know this may sound strange, but If I wear my sunglasses at night while browsing it works quite well

You can also use tasker for lower brightness levels..

Sunglasses.

THUDUK said:
i know this may sound strange, but If I wear my sunglasses at night while browsing it works quite well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wear spectacles so cant wear sunglasses
dekeijzer said:
You can also use tasker for lower brightness levels..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am currently using "Dimmer". It takes the brightness levels from 30% (Though in settings it show minimum only) to 10%. I have also tried "Quick settings" so I guess tasker would perform the same function.
When we have locked our screen and we have to unlock we have to slide the screen. When we do that it seems like we have to slide a transparent layer of glass which is quite dark.
Now I am no developer but is it technically possible to create an app which is like a layer of tinted glass on screen so that it dims the screen further?
Regards

I haven't tried the dimmer apps yet but I DO agree that I miss my iPhone which can be set to a much lower brightness level for better privacy, night vision, "before sleep reading".
but I think it has something to do with the display technology. The OLED for Samsung may not permit such low levels or so. I am not sure...

but I think it has something to do with the display technology. The OLED for Samsung may not permit such low levels or so. I am not sure...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At first even I thought that and I was worried about that. But there are some times for example when you get some error on the screen the major part of screen goes quite dull so it is indeed possible to do that technically I guess just that it cant be done through brightness.
I am baffled why did the Samsung/Android guys set lower level of brightness as option also. It would have cost them nothing and would have saved us a lot of strain and battery life.
PS: Is this the issue with Android or Samsung?

To someone with a bit more knowledge: how hard would this be to do something about? We all know the screen dims to a level that's not for the moment available to manually set some time before it shuts off, so it's got to be a way.
The screen is just too bright for me at the lowest setting - meaning it hurts me eyes (some pity here Samsung) and consuming a lot more battery than it needs to.

+1 for the app that will do this

got me new galaxy s for a couple of weeks now.. but really miss my old htc hd... the minimum backlight setting was awesome for nighttime reading/browsing.
switching on the sammy in bed in the week hours of the night makes my eyes burn! hehe.
an app to force lower or add a filter over the entire screen would be awesome!

samsung galaxy s has a SUPER AMOLED display which is why its bright even at lowest level.

Maybe your device shares our problem?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765569

AnnihilatorSC said:
Maybe your device shares our problem?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765569
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I dont know for sure. The device has been working same since the 1st day. I guess its just that the brightness is too much for me. As far as the screen is concerned I didnt notice anything significant but any easy way to check about the problem?
Regards.

Screen Getting Dim?

My Note 3 is nearly a year old now. I can't be certain, but it seems that my screen is getting dim. It's especially noticeable outside. I have tried both auto and manual settings. Have any of you noticed this? Is it even possible for an AMOLED display to degrade with time?

They most certainly degrade with use. My friend had a note 2 I sold him. Got it replaced under warranty. He put burn in on the new screen in only 3 months. If you run high screen brightness all the time it will do it faster.

Thanks. I do run full brightness often. Hmmmm. Maybe an excuse for a note 4.....

I run auto brightness seems to help a lot

Every time I check auto brightness the screen is way too dim for me

sndtubes said:
Every time I check auto brightness the screen is way too dim for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here also
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Free mobile app

ANYONE KNOW HOW DO WE TURN THIS &*# OFF - ''content-based dynamic contrast''

And yes I did make the title CAPS, because I am a bit cross they thought this would be a good idea.
Personally I don't think our screens need this feature....
It seems the nexus 6 has this 'automatic contrast brightness' feature built in.
Really, i cant think why.
I am really enjoying the phone, but for me the brightness just is not up to scratch (unfortunately) but hey hoo.
Anyway, i noticed this happening to mine. Start chrome for example, for a split second the screen is bright then it dims down.
I would say this is software setting, but it seems there is no access to it, can it be fixed by kernel setting or some other rom mod?
Cheers
MJ-12

Do you have Adaptive brightness turned on in the Display settings?

are you noticing this at full brightness?

stevemw said:
Do you have Adaptive brightness turned on in the Display settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, yes it is off as is ambient display...
As stated in the OP, this is built in on the Nexus 6 as it is with the LG2 also i think.
It would be great if we where able to disable it, but from what I have read about Content-based Dynamic Contrast it might be kernel related or something within the rom...
Does anyone have any info on this CDC feature?
Cheers
MJ-12

There is no such thing. Do you have any reliable reference that it's a feature of the N6? I can only find one article from "PC Pro UK" whatever that website is.
What does happen like it happens with most if not all OLED (and Plasma btw) is that the screen has a max overall brightness it can achieve. If you have a small white square it will be able to get brighter than if you had the whole screen white.
In practice I don't notice it though, with the phone turned to max brightness and then opening a mostly white empty Chrome page.

Are you running stock? I don't have this type of issue unless I have adaptive brightness on.

Red tint on dark grey ie dark theme on brightness below 50%

There is a noticeable red tint on dark grey color everywhere while the brightness slider is set in range of 0-49%. Effect is more pronounced while using 120hz refresh rate and less while using other modes. 50% and above and the tint just disappears.
Does anybody suffers with the same issue? This is indian variant of the phone.
Attached image can be used for testing.

This seems to be a problem with many ROG 2 owners. The Red tint is massive at low brightness. And yes, this is a screen problem not a software issue.
Better try replacing the unit. But there is no guarantee new phone won't have the same problem as many people are reporting this issue.
I think maybe Asus is buying cheaper display from some other manufacturer, not Samsung. Here is a similar complaint thread on Asus forums -
https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/11085/display-red-tint-issue-on-my-rog-2
And if it very troublesome for you, simply return it, ask for refund and buy some other device.

I will probably do that but samsung has that stupid hole. I sold my op 7 pro for this.
But 1 thing that is interesting is at 60hz the red tint is visible at 0-10% range. And the higher the refresh rate the more brightness range it covers like at 120hz its visible at 0-40% range. At 50% nothing of such sort is visible at any refresh rate.
It mostly has to do with that 1ms gtg ie grey to grey response time at high refresh rate. And yes all units will have that issue maybe not at 60hz but definitely at 120hz.
Lets see if asus has any response. I still have my return window left.

And now you know why others don't have 120Hz AMOLED panels, and why reviewers complain about the minimum brightness being too bright. Asus tried to mitigate these issues because the panels are only acceptable above a certain brightness.

I have an Indian unit and have the red tint. I don't have an issue as i keep my screen at 50% brightness. Hope in Android 10 apps use black instead of dark grey for the dark mode

madsud said:
I have an Indian unit and have the red tint. I don't have an issue as i keep my screen at 50% brightness. Hope in Android 10 apps use black instead of dark grey for the dark mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reality is that most apps including google ones are going the way of dark grey background, not pure black.
Also always 50% brightness? Don't you turn it down in room with no lights or low lights?
---------- Post added at 08:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:13 AM ----------
sanurocks said:
I will probably do that but samsung has that stupid hole. I sold my op 7 pro for this.
But 1 thing that is interesting is at 60hz the red tint is visible at 0-10% range. And the higher the refresh rate the more brightness range it covers like at 120hz its visible at 0-40% range. At 50% nothing of such sort is visible at any refresh rate.
It mostly has to do with that 1ms gtg ie grey to grey response time at high refresh rate. And yes all units will have that issue maybe not at 60hz but definitely at 120hz.
Lets see if asus has any response. I still have my return window left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sold OP7 Pro for this? Seriously bro? I mean unless one is a gaming fanatic, ROG doesn't make sense for someone who wants a overall great experience. It was evident that Asus has cut corners at many places when they priced it so low.
Even if it's 60Hz, red tint shouldn't be there. It's an example of not a good display.

Abhi Dahiya said:
You sold OP7 Pro for this? Seriously bro? I mean unless one is a gaming fanatic, ROG doesn't make sense for someone who wants a overall great experience. It was evident that Asus has cut corners at many places when they priced it so low.
Even if it's 60Hz, red tint shouldn't be there. It's an example of not a good display.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP7 Pro had its issues, I bought it on first sale. camera focus was not good, camera output was soft around corners while clicking text/documents for sharing. the screen though gorgeous looking was actually hard to use. i can recall a particular issue - i use phone pe and the menu for edit beneficiary was just in the screen space where it started to become edge and it required multiple touch to activate it.
actually rog 2 feels more premium in hand and the weight distribution is quite good as compared to op7 pro, it was top heavy. i have large hands so actual phone size was not the issue with either op7 pro or rog 2.
if one can ignore this red tint issue almost every aspect is better than op7 pro. screen above 50% brightness( which is actually not 50% screen brightness output, its just 50% slider) hdr in video playback works very well, its a quite brighter than op7 pro. Sharpness is less but only apparent on close viewing. Sound quality is better on speakers and louder too. Screen smoothness is much better. gets less hot then op7 pro, Cyber hunter on full was 47-48 on op7 pro, its 44-45 on rog ii. and the battery life is way better. There are much differences to be pointed out but the thread will grow.
Though the phone might not look professional in a meeting and i don't think it will receive timely android updates. But as a usable device i find this better than op 7 pro. If the grey management was not an issue this would have been almost unbeatable in its category and even in a higher category. op7 pro costed me 51.5k after bank discount, this costed 34k after bank discount.

Abhi Dahiya said:
Reality is that most apps including google ones are going the way of dark grey background, not pure black.
Also always 50% brightness? Don't you turn it down in room with no lights or low lights?
Agree. Said just a hope. The objective of dark mode is also to take advantage of amoled which is not met by grey. Hoping common sense prevails.
I hardly use the mobile in low light, if i do, i dont turn the brightness down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I'm swapping my Galaxy S8 in for this. How certain are we that this red tint is a hardware issue?

GeekGod said:
I'm swapping my Galaxy S8 in for this. How certain are we that this red tint is a hardware issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely a hw issue. Its only notcieable between 15 to 30%. I wouldnt worry about it.

madsud said:
Abhi Dahiya said:
Reality is that most apps including google ones are going the way of dark grey background, not pure black.
Also always 50% brightness? Don't you turn it down in room with no lights or low lights?
Agree. Said just a hope. The objective of dark mode is also to take advantage of amoled which is not met by grey. Hoping common sense prevails.
I hardly use the mobile in low light, if i do, i dont turn the brightness down
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you wanna see the issue:
1) go to a dark room or in a room with almost no light.
2) add "Screen Frequency" toggle in the status bar, and lower the status bar to show the toggles;
3) lower the brightness above 40-50%;
4) use the toggle to swap frequency from 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz.
You will notice the colour of the status bar itself changes… it's like is 80%grey and 20%red on 60Hz; 90%grey and 10%red on 90Hz, 50%grey and 50% red on 120Hz (it's like the status bar is dark-brown coloured).
And, then again, increase slowly the brightness: the status bar will be "magically" turn back to its natural color, dark grey.
This is a big issue for a smartphone which costs about 960American dollars here in Italy! I'm thinking about to return it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

NajimKiSaad said:
madsud said:
If you wanna see the issue:
1) go to a dark room or in a room with almost no light.
2) add "Screen Frequency" toggle in the status bar, and lower the status bar to show the toggles;
3) lower the brightness above 40-50%;
4) use the toggle to swap frequency from 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz.
You will notice the colour of the status bar itself changes… it's like is 80%grey and 20%red on 60Hz; 90%grey and 10%red on 90Hz, 50%grey and 50% red on 120Hz (it's like the status bar is dark-brown coloured).
And, then again, increase slowly the brightness: the status bar will be "magically" turn back to its natural color, dark grey.
This is a big issue for a smartphone which costs about 960American dollars here in Italy! I'm thinking about to return it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This means international version suffers with the same issue. What they have done to achieve such high refresh rates and such low response times must be the issue. Now if someone from asus can confirm if this tinting can be fixed via software update or not that will be the main factor for either keeping or returning the phone. The issue is already raised in zentalk forum and i have also commented there and the mod also has accepted the issue in his demo unit.
https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/11085/display-red-tint-issue-on-my-rog-2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It's so minor I've literally never noticed it (until using your test image just now) and I've been using this phone for almost a month now. I'm filing this under not an issue for me.

Not an issue for me. My brightness is pretty much always set to 50% and 90hz - never even noticed it. If you're running brightness down around 20% then you're either pretending to be on an Ethiopian diet, or you have an issue with over sensitivity of your retinas and should get it checked out asap

bluegizmo83 said:
It's so minor I've literally never noticed it (until using your test image just now) and I've been using this phone for almost a month now. I'm filing this under not an issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This only affect night time usage with lights out or in low lit environments where you will keep your screen brightness low. Daytime usage is perfectly fine as 50% slider is not actually 50% screen brightness. So slider % remains high during day.
cheetah2k said:
Not an issue for me. My brightness is pretty much always set to 50% and 90hz - never even noticed it. If you're running brightness down around 20% then you're either pretending to be on an Ethiopian diet, or you have an issue with over sensitivity of your retinas and should get it checked out asap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its clearly mentioned that its a non issue with brightness slider in range 50% and above. So you wouldn't notice it.
And by the way if you are using that high of brightness in low lit or lights out environment then maybe you have less sensitive retina and maybe get it checked.
This will only affect people who use this for night time reading and naturally dim the screen to read comfortably. If people use normal day brightness at night this will be a non issue for them.
The main point is is this a hardware or a software issue. And i have already hypothesized why this might be happening. You can read the posts above.

sanurocks said:
This only affect night time usage with lights out or in low lit environments where you will keep your screen brightness low. Daytime usage is perfectly fine as 50% slider is not actually 50% screen brightness. So slider % remains high during day.
Its clearly mentioned that its a non issue with brightness slider in range 50% and above. So you wouldn't notice it.
And by the way if you are using that high of brightness in low lit or lights out environment then maybe you have less sensitive retina and maybe get it checked.
This will only affect people who use this for night time reading and naturally dim the screen to read comfortably. If people use normal day brightness at night this will be a non issue for them.
The main point is is this a hardware or a software issue. And i have already hypothesized why this might be happening. You can read the posts above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I would ever find myself in a pitch black room with just my phone and no other background light of any sort. I'm not that kinda guy
If you head over to the Asus forum, this is not a new issue. Asus have declared the reddish tint is normal behaviour of the screen at high Hz, so its hardware, not software, and operating as it should. Every handset will be exactly the same. If it bothers you too much, then maybe look at the Nubia Red 3S or Xiaomi Blackshark 2 instead. For me, its a non issue as like you said, i never drop below 50% brightness, and my retinas are poor, so I would never see it.. :fingers-crossed:

I always thought that xda subscribers were above fanboy-ism...

cheetah2k said:
I don't think I would ever find myself in a pitch black room with just my phone and no other background light of any sort. I'm not that kinda guy
If you head over to the Asus forum, this is not a new issue. Asus have declared the reddish tint is normal behaviour of the screen at high Hz, so its hardware, not software, and operating as it should. Every handset will be exactly the same. If it bothers you too much, then maybe look at the Nubia Red 3S or Xiaomi Blackshark 2 instead. For me, its a non issue as like you said, i never drop below 50% brightness, and my retinas are poor, so I would never see it.. :fingers-crossed:
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To each his own. :good:

Xebeck said:
I always thought that xda subscribers were above fanboy-ism...
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Click to collapse
We are all fans of something! :laugh:
This is my first Asus phone, and I'm coming from a long line of samsungs (the latest being the Note10+) and for what I do with the ROG2, its performance creams anything Samsung has ever produced.. so, when a negligible issue like red tint (don't forget Samsung had blue, sony had red also in the past) I'm willing to forgive it because 99% of the time it doesnt affect me. If you call that fanboy-ism, then so be it..

Looks like, red tint in the display, issue is widespread in most of the ROG 2 phones .
Asus has confirmed the same, but refused to say, if it is a SW issue or HW issue.
ASUS India @asusindia
Replying to @justreach2ram
Hi there, our team has identified this issue and we have given high priority to solve it as soon as possible. Request you to cooperate for the same.
sanurocks said:
There is a noticeable red tint on dark grey color everywhere while the brightness slider is set in range of 0-50%. Effect is more pronounced while using 120hz refresh rate and less while using other modes. 50% and above and the tint just disappears.
Does anybody suffers with the same issue? This is indian variant of the phone.
Attached image can be used for testing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Question True AMOLED display ? Is my device defective ?

Hi. I don't have any way to show this but my unit has what I think is backlight bleed when displaying a fully black (#000000) picture.
This bleeding is somehow especially visible at 35% (don't ask me why) and 100% brightness.
Now, it's only really visible when in the dark and when my eyes are used to it so it's not a big deal for daily use. However, this screen is supposed to be AMOLED which presumably works on the same principle of OLED displays.
My OnePlus 3T, with the same picture of a plain black background and with the brightness turned to the max shows no sign of any light whatsoever, as any true OLED display should.
My Zenfone 8 however has a weird pattern of tiny scattered dots and a few vertical lines you can barely make out all around the display and especially along the left edge of the display.
Can anyone with a Zenfone 8 check if they observe the same effect ? Like I said, it's only visible when your eyes are well accustomed to obscurity. I tried repeating the experiment yesterday when going to sleep and didn't see anything at first but I woke up later that night and sure enough, the same pattern was visible again.
In case you're doubting the file I used to test it out, here it is. A fully black pic. Of course you have to watch it in fullscreen so that no UI element can pollute your vision.
Any insight on what might be happening would be greatly appreciated.

Used your file and checked it in a pitch black place. Can't see nothing on full brightness. I still had the home-recent apps slider on the bottom but covered it with my finger. I couldn't tell where the screen is at all.
Maybe yours has some defect but if you cannot see it without hours of eyes adjustment than I think you are exaggerating quite a bit.
I've been using the LG V30 which also has OLED but it had a grey lighting always. Don't know why. This screen is much much better.

Kemez said:
Maybe yours has some defect but if you cannot see it without hours of eyes adjustment than I think you are exaggerating quite a bit.
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Click to collapse
It's not like I was purposely trying to find flaws in the display. I was looking for a wallpaper while in bed and as I was zooming in a picture, I noticed as if what I initially thought were color variations in the image remained static on the screen. It wasn't due to a dirty screen. In doubt, I tested with the black picture and cranked the brightness to emphasize the issue and it was clear something was up.
So even if this issue can't be seen during the day, it's still something that can be seen in normal use when using the phone in the dark.
I just went from the my PC to a dark room and tried to reproduce it with brightness at 35% and I could see it in a matter of seconds.
One of the key factors that made me buy this phone in the first place is the AMOLED display. If it's actually defective, I might as well get it replaced. I would just like to know if it's worth the hassle or if every unit has that defect maybe due to something in the manufacturing process.

Can't see anything like that on mine. Totally black everywhere. Try exchanging the phone. Or just give it back and get another so they will not try to repair it.

Thank you very much for your feedback.

The only way the pixels can light is if they have current. Otherwise they are black as night.
Bad firmware or defective hardware.

Try clearing the system cache.

My display has that too, but only at 60 and 120 hz. At 90 Hz, the Dysplay is without lighting, so black as it should.

blackhawk said:
Try clearing the system cache.
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Click to collapse
I don't have the option in the bootloader to reset the system cache, only "wipe data/factory reset".
I selected it thinking it would let me choose what to wipe but then it warned me about permanently deleting everything so I nope out of there.
Any other way I can do that ?

Mr.GSpecial said:
My display has that too, but only at 60 and 120 hz. At 90 Hz, the Dysplay is without lighting, so black as it should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, interesting. I'll give this a try as well.

Nekrozys said:
I don't have the option in the bootloader to reset the system cache, only "wipe data/factory reset".
I selected it thinking it would let me choose what to wipe but then it warned me about permanently deleting everything so I nope out of there.
Any other way I can do that ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in Settings somewhere under storage or memory.
On Samsung's it's on the boot menu.
Lol, a factory reset will definitely clear it

Mr.GSpecial said:
My display has that too, but only at 60 and 120 hz. At 90 Hz, the Dysplay is without lighting, so black as it should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's it! I got the same behavior. Perfect black at 90hz, grey goo at 60 and 120. Since I'm not the only one, I suppose this is "normal". I guess that must be some sort of compromise they had to make for the display and they hoped people wouldn't notice.
It's a shame but at least I'm relieved knowing the screen works well at 90Hz. Since the 120Hz was not one of the key features I was looking for, this doesn't feel too bad a compromise to deal with.
Thank you everyone for your time and replies.

Interesting, I hope this is a software issue that can be fixed with an update...

Same.. When viewing black wallpaper @60/120 hz, it got scattered gray all over the place with a vertical line in the middle. Noticeable if you're in a dark room. Glad i'm not the only one

Alright, so I was able to capture a long exposure photo of the phone on a black screen. The issue appears on 60 and 120Hz like mentionned above. I found that it is more apparent on the 120Hz mode than 60Hz. 90Hz is flawless. The effect is kind of exagerrated, but it was the only way to visibly capture it.

Adaoh said:
Alright, so I was able to capture a long exposure photo of the phone on a black screen. The issue appears on 60 and 120Hz like mentionned above. I found that it is more apparent on the 120Hz mode than 60Hz. 90Hz is flawless. The effect is kind of exagerrated, but it was the only way to visibly capture it.View attachment 5350315
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Also during restart, the "Zenfone" loading screen appears like that in dark room.

Same behavior here, 120 and 60Hz are not truly black. 90Hz is.

Quick reply to add here that for those that use the phone at 60Hz, you can enable DC Dimming, that solved the issue for my device. 120Hz still needs to be figured out though...

Adaoh said:
Quick reply to add here that for those that use the phone at 60Hz, you can enable DC Dimming, that solved the issue for my device. 120Hz still needs to be figured out though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting.
DC dimming can reportedly have its own drawbacks as well like skewing color rendering.
What is DC Dimming & Why it's Important for AMOLED Smartphones? - Gizmochina
OLED panels have a lot of advantages. They have better color accuracy and contrasts (including better blacks) and are thinner and brighter than traditional LCD panels. So, it’s no surprise that smartphone manufacturers are shifting to OLED panels for their smartphones. Even the mid-range ones...
www.gizmochina.com

after further investigation and trying to replicate on several ZF8's, it seems that this is a normal behavior. The questions is: is it hardware or software?