Hi,
I bought my wife a Wildfire but the softkey backlights are a bit of a pain - under both 2.1 and 2.2.
They appear to be ambient light sensitive - so they come on when it's dark and go off when it's brighter. However, it has to be really dark/dull for them to come on - and I think the sensitivity is set too low.
I can't find any way of adjusting the sensitivity - and it is not effected by the brightness controls. No way to keep them on permanently either - like my Desire HD.
I'm just wondering if the sensor is faulty or if it's just normal behaviour and we need to get used to it? it needs to be twilight with the lights off for them to come on - or really dull internal lighting. They never come on outside unless it's just about night-time.
Let me know your experiences?
Cheers - and a happy new year.
Well if it helps if anything Myne is over sensitive
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App
Im sure it is automatic and does not use the ambient light. There is no setting for this that i know of. Im sure if u just look the phone and unlock it the backlights come back on.
I believe it works with the brightness of the screen, so if you set it to automatic brightness then it'd be automatic. otherwise it'll just follow the brightness set.
I read on another forum that the sensor is behind one of the speaker grills.
That does seem to be the case; on my Wildfire, if you cover the righthand side grill, the lights come on.
The sensor seemed to be on the black screen frame - near where the notification light was. I could get the lights to illuminate by covering it up too - but as soon as pulling my finger away, they would go out.
Anyways, my big-fingered wife couldn't get to grips with the virtual keyboards on the small Wildfire - and I tried as many as I could - Swype, Better, various T9s etc. So we still had enough time to exchange the phone to a physically keyboarded Android phone - she got a SE X10 mini pro.
Thanks for all your help though...
I think its in the black strip by the htc logo
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Related
Hey all,
Does anyone know of any means to turn off the keyboard backlight, force it off no matter what the situation? As well, does anyone know of any hack or program one could use to force toggle the keyboard on and off?
Aside from this, does anyone have any pictures of the keyboard open? I specifically want to see how the leds are arranged in there. I want to remove the blue leds and replace them with a few white or red ones.. or, put a resistor in, so that the blue leds are EXTREMELY DIM compared to their brightness now.
It's annoying to me that the keyboard leds are so bright, that they actually outshine my main screen (which has the brightness turned down).
Any ideas, anyone?
Hi Brad,
Most of the pics available had no shot of the keyboard PCB removed... I am also looking for it. I wanted to shim the right side of the keyboard since that part is lower than the left side.
Is your keyboard keys also going a little sunk from left to right ? you need to feel/look for it hard, since it is just a matter of half millimeter.
No.. no issues with my keyboard, other than I can't even stand to look at it. I literally just can't look at it. I have to close my eyes when I type. I think I have some extreme blue-light sensitivity or something.
My Hermes is fairly new, though... but again, the keys all seem fine. I can't *see* the keys, but they feel fine.
I just refuse to stare at extremely bright and annoying painful to look at things. I mean, didn't these guys notice that the Hermes seemed to be all blurry, when the backlight was on? And really bright??
I published the HTC Accelerometer SDK a while ago, and have been spending some time off and on trying to find out how to get access to the Nav API. No luck there yet, but I did figure out how to access the light sensor.
The updated API and source is available at:
http://www.koushikdutta.com/2008/07/htc-light-sensor-sdk.html
Koush
can you give us compiled exe?
where are the lightsensor? is it the front/back cam?
how often will auto light adjust update?
alltime? once per power on switch? once per minute?
when the autolight is not set, and it will be done by frontcam, we can safe cams energy, by switching off automatic backlighht adjust. cameras are needing a lot of power.
can anybody confirm that?
WooooWWW this keeps getting better!
Thanks HTC
Please.. Somebody will make a "really" adjustable light settings util with this SDK.. I want to set min backlit level to lower for totaly dark enviroments... because default one is too much than required..
Sorry for my poor English..
Sure, I'll make a utility to do that. Give me a bit though, I'm coding up the Nav sensor SDK right now.
feature request
disable light sensor when call is in progress.
enable light sensor back after call was terminated.
sensor option
Thank you,
I have noticed on the new Bang & Ollefson and another new highend phone [not iphone] they are set so that when the display is away from the air is is visable...against ear off......thus...
when you are looking at the display it is visable
when phone is covered by ear...display is off
take phone away from ear....display comes back on
back to ear display goes off....etc...
This is a fantastic feature and has a wow factor as a sales tool.
2395 said:
Thank you,
I have noticed on the new Bang & Ollefson and another new highend phone [not iphone] they are set so that when the display is away from the air is is visable...against ear off......thus...
when you are looking at the display it is visable
when phone is covered by ear...display is off
take phone away from ear....display comes back on
back to ear display goes off....etc...
This is a fantastic feature and has a wow factor as a sales tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is exactly happen what i saw a few days ago..
iGo2008 running, a phone call received and i'm noticed display on & off with light sensor working !!!! I'm looked at the display it is visible (...from 10-15cm distance from my ear..) , when phone is covered my ear...display is off... I'm tried over and over again... still worked at the end of conversation... But when i'm closed iGO2008 and tried again... Not happen again...
Any ideas ???
2395 said:
Thank you,
I have noticed on the new Bang & Ollefson and another new highend phone [not iphone] they are set so that when the display is away from the air is is visable...against ear off......thus...
when you are looking at the display it is visable
when phone is covered by ear...display is off
take phone away from ear....display comes back on
back to ear display goes off....etc...
This is a fantastic feature and has a wow factor as a sales tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice work Koush - and I completely agree with the above quote. I'm surprised HTC didn't have this already included, having to press a button to wake the display is kind of stupid since it gets turned off by the light sensor
2395 said:
Thank you,
I have noticed on the new Bang & Ollefson and another new highend phone [not iphone] they are set so that when the display is away from the air is is visable...against ear off......thus...
when you are looking at the display it is visable
when phone is covered by ear...display is off
take phone away from ear....display comes back on
back to ear display goes off....etc...
This is a fantastic feature and has a wow factor as a sales tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hands down thatll be one of the coolest tweaks!
DOMin8or said:
where are the lightsensor? is it the front/back cam?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Light sensor is just left of the front face phone speaker (inside the speaker recess).
2395 said:
when you are looking at the display it is visable
when phone is covered by ear...display is off
take phone away from ear....display comes back on
back to ear display goes off....etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This happens with the iPhone too.
It's exactly what we need to make the Diamond much better. I don't want the backlight on during a call as its a waste of battery - but I hate having to push the power button during a call if I need to enter a number or change to speakerphone etc.
How could HTC have missed out such a simple feature? Hopefully this is something that can easily be coded in? Fingers crossed
tnacar said:
Please.. Somebody will make a "really" adjustable light settings util with this SDK.. I want to set min backlit level to lower for totaly dark enviroments... because default one is too much than required..
Sorry for my poor English..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any news here? I'd appreciate a tool or tweak to define minimal backlight level for myself because of the same reason.
somebody got ahead regarding the customization of automatic backlight changing with this api?
regards
this would be great if someone with programming skills looked into it!!! ie not me!
You don't have to press power button while on call to enable the backlight. Pressing the middle button (circle) will enable backlight and wont do anything with the call
wcg-tom said:
Any news here? I'd appreciate a tool or tweak to define minimal backlight level for myself because of the same reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i may have confused you!
this is the app i would like! reading ebooks in the dark is far too glaringly bright!
sad maybe but i do this alot
bugeyes said:
i may have confused you!
this is the app i would like! reading ebooks in the dark is far too glaringly bright!
sad maybe but i do this alot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
confused?
no. i've exact the same problem
not reading ebooks, but just using my diamond in the dark sometimes...
now iam confusing you my previous post was aimed at the post by Haobe!
I have a Blackberry which I use for work and I've had my HTC Touch HD for a couple of weeks. One of the things I really like about the Blackberry is the way the screen turns off when you slide it into the pouch and the way it comes back on when you slide it out. It strikes me that it would be great if the HD could mimic that - a lot less fiddling around when you are using it on the move. I guess that the Blackberry uses some kind of light sensor to achieve this. Has anyone come across an app that would do the same thing for HD?
yaelle said:
I have a Blackberry which I use for work and I've had my HTC Touch HD for a couple of weeks. One of the things I really like about the Blackberry is the way the screen turns off when you slide it into the pouch and the way it comes back on when you slide it out. It strikes me that it would be great if the HD could mimic that - a lot less fiddling around when you are using it on the move. I guess that the Blackberry uses some kind of light sensor to achieve this. Has anyone come across an app that would do the same thing for HD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
interesting indeed.. but what if its night time? if we use the light sensor to turn off the screen then when its pitch black the device will be off instead of on..
im getting my hd back today hopefully.. im willing to give it go
Brilliant. I don't know how the BB does it, it seems to work day or night. I can't really think of too many instances when it's pitch black but i suppose you can resort to pushing the buttons then.
One of the reasons I'd like it to operate like this is because I really like the slide in/out cases rather than a flip case and this would make it sooooo much easier.
I have a feeling the BlackBerry uses a reed (magnetic) switch (or alternative), as oppposed to an LDR (light sensor) to switch the screen on and off, triggered by a magnetic strip on the case, rather than darkness, which would be more 'reliable' I guess.
yaelle said:
Brilliant. I don't know how the BB does it, it seems to work day or night. I can't really think of too many instances when it's pitch black but i suppose you can resort to pushing the buttons then.
One of the reasons I'd like it to operate like this is because I really like the slide in/out cases rather than a flip case and this would make it sooooo much easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well.. we could try.. but an extra process that will run all the time will add battery drain.. anyways we will see
hey guys,
The blackberries don't use the light sensor to achieve this. They have a magnetic strip built into the case which causes the two metal connectors on the back of the blackberry to 'activate' hence then switching the screen off.
BenGmuN said:
I have a feeling the BlackBerry uses a reed (magnetic) switch (or alternative), as oppposed to an LDR (light sensor) to switch the screen on and off, triggered by a magnetic strip on the case, rather than darkness, which would be more 'reliable' I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can someone google the blackberry device specifications and confirm how it does that?
BenGmuN said:
I have a feeling the BlackBerry uses a reed (magnetic) switch (or alternative), as oppposed to an LDR (light sensor) to switch the screen on and off, triggered by a magnetic strip on the case, rather than darkness, which would be more 'reliable' I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually - I think you are right - just tried the BB in my HD pouch and it doesn't turn off/on :-(
I was wondering if there's a app that allows the screen to turn off when you put the phone to you head? Then when you bring it out and in front of you, it turns back on. My Iphone did that and I loved that feature.
upping cause i'm intersted too
im believe this feature on the iphone is provided by a proximity sensor, you can probable do this with the light sensor but it would only work in the day time bc at night the screen would always be off...
not unless you use the gsensor too? i think if you work with the light sensor and the gsensor..you can get it to work. maybe have it only work when theres a active call.
This is an extremely good idea!
now if I was only a programmer
i'd love to see this feature on my diamond/blackstone too, i always have problems with the cursor jumping somewhere else when taking a note while in call...
theres already a thread about that:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=451456
sweet. thanks
I really love that fuction on iPhone as well. I found some program that can adjust the Light Sensor to dim the back light as you want. I never try it but surely not work in the dark. If any news on this issue, pls advise!!
I think the g-sensor is the answer, off course in combination with light sensor. If someone could make an app that would turn off the backlight during an active call AND when phone is in vertical position; this could resolve difficulties with light sensor.
aonavy said:
I was wondering if there's a app that allows the screen to turn off when you put the phone to you head? Then when you bring it out and in front of you, it turns back on. My Iphone did that and I loved that feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a couple out there that attempt to solve the same problem the iPhone does.
One I know of is Touchlock Pro - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=444215
It is free but it still has a little way to go before it is a polished solution
The other is PocketShield -- http://www.pocketshield.net/
It's not free but I found it so effective for the in-call problem as well as general locking/unlocking that it was worth paying for
I've also, as a developer by trade, played with the light sensor, g-sensor, and stylus sensor APIs and tried to create a basic proof of concept that solved just the in-call problem very well and found that without the approach taken by Pocketshield it just was not reliable enough for me.
fireweed said:
There are a couple out there that attempt to solve the same problem the iPhone does.
One I know of is Touchlock Pro - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=444215
It is free but it still has a little way to go before it is a polished solution
The other is PocketShield -- http://www.pocketshield.net/
It's not free but I found it so effective for the in-call problem as well as general locking/unlocking that it was worth paying for
I've also, as a developer by trade, played with the light sensor, g-sensor, and stylus sensor APIs and tried to create a basic proof of concept that solved just the in-call problem very well and found that without the approach taken by Pocketshield it just was not reliable enough for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All these programms are great software but are nowhere near the iphone solution... like i already said, the problem is e.g. that if you are on the phone and the person on the other end tells you a phonenumber you need to write down - the cursor always jumps to somewhere else as soon as you put your phone back to your ear (and then take it away again ofcourse to continue to notice the number).
ive messed with those apps before with no luch for what i was looking for. Simple app...JUST for incall and end call. light goesout..then comes back in. those other apps are pretty detaild
pitchbend said:
All these programms are great software but are nowhere near the iphone solution...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very true, but unfortunately this hardware does not have the same sensor as the iPhone so you can only fake it so much.
I'd love to see this developed as well. But just wondering as some have mentioned using the gsensor; what if your laying down using the phone?
any developers out there. this would be awsome. make it simple. only works when the phone is in call. the gsensor sensing the phone from 0-45 degrees and only 0-5% light. seems sorta simple when u look at it like that.
hey everyone. My HTC Touch Pro came with this functionality out of the box. And i really don't like it at all. I think the difference to the iphone is that the screen does not turn back on until the power button is pressed.
millab said:
hey everyone. My HTC Touch Pro came with this functionality out of the box. And i really don't like it at all. I think the difference to the iphone is that the screen does not turn back on until the power button is pressed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My diamond does this already?
mine didnt. very weird.
For what it's worth, S2U2 v.1.42 has an option called "blank screen on call" which essentially disables the touch screen and makes it turn off when a call is connected (both sent and received). To get the screen to turn back on, simply press any hardware button. (Note though that pressing the END button while on a call will end the call as well as turning on the screen.)
I've found this feature to be VERY useful and figured it's as close as we're going to get for the time being .
Does anyone find it annoying that the bootom back, home and search keys do not stay lit up?
I've been looking for a setting that would at least allow it to be dimmed but thats been a no go. I just find it hard to find the buttons with no visual cue nor any physical at that, It almost feels as if Im guessing the location.
epidemike said:
Does anyone find it annoying that the bootom back, home and search keys do not stay lit up?
I've been looking for a setting that would at least allow it to be dimmed but thats been a no go. I just find it hard to find the buttons with no visual cue nor any physical at that, It almost feels as if Im guessing the location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine don't stay lit up. But coming from a Samsung Fascinate which also has lighting time-out issues, I just sort of waved my hands at it...
They will light back up once you touch one, so you could just run your finger over the search key since that has the least chance of knocking you out of wherever you are...
I never have problems finding the buttons at night. I actually like that they turn off. Makes the phone look cleaner if your using it in the dark.
KonAitor said:
I never have problems finding the buttons at night. I actually like that they turn off. Makes the phone look cleaner if your using it in the dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree, I've not had an issue finding them when not lit either. Doesn't bother me at all.
The keys lot staying lit is a Samsung thing. They do the same on the Galaxy S phones like the Epic, Captivate. It was annoying on those phones and yes it is annoying on this phone as well. Yes I agree they should be lit all on the time.
-McMex
They are spaced far enough apart so being lit isn't that big of deal for me but I wouldn't mind seeing them lit.
I like that they aren't lit all the time.