I can empathise here, I am very susceptible to display screen vagaries. I once had a tv set that gave me a blinding headache after 10 minutes, nobody else was affected including the friend that I gave the set to. Also I have had similar problems with certain monitors, laptop screens and so on. I need to be very careful as to what I buy but I still can’t define exactly what it is that produces the eye strain.

My only such issue with the N800 is with late night use in a dark room, e.g. bedtime reading. Even with the brightness turned right down it hurts my eyes after a while. Otherwise it is perfectly fine and I have used it for hours on end watching videos.

I have seen very wide differences in quality of N800 displays and it seems to me that you might have a bad one, especially judging by the shimmery effect you describe.

Generally speaking the N800 display is superlative so it should not give you this discomfort; if it was an intrinsic characteristic then others – including me – would have reported similar experiences.

IMHO The best option is to return yours and get a replacement, there is every possibility the new one will be better.