Lowest brightness setting (lower than Settings limit) - Nexus S General

If you are like me, who have no problem with lowest brightness setting on this awesome SUPER AMOLED, you might want to know what I found.
Note that after about 2 weeks of usage, I found lowest brightness setting is more than enough. Even outside! Granted, right now is winter time here, so it has not tested on super bright sunny day.
Ok, I found that the lowest brightness setting set by the default "Settings" app (Display option) is not true lowest.
I compared the "battery power" usage using "Power Tutor" app (http://powertutor.org/):
Display System Power Usage -> LCD
1. Lowest brightness setting set via default Settings Display option
versus
2. Set brightness to 1% using Widgetsoid (developer said 0% is not possible, error)
The 1% setting uses lower battery power!
The no. 1 give LCD power usage reading at 350 mW.
The no. 2 give LCD power usage reading below 350 mW.
So, there you go, you can save some more battery by setting it to 1%
Of course, you can use any other app to set to 1%.

Cyanogen also can attain brightness lower than the stock "lowest" setting. However, on AMOLED screens the colors become a bit distorted when the brightness is very low. I've had 3 nexus S's and all of them have a slightly red/purple tint at extremely low brightness levels.
If you really want to save power, use the renderFX filter on Cyanogen and set it to red, and reduce brightness as much as you see fit. If I'm not mistaken, red draws the least power for AMOLED screens.

dinan said:
If I'm not mistaken, red draws the least power for AMOLED screens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Black draws ZERO power. I'm not sure what's next lowest draw, though. Could red being the lowest be why the Nexus Ones tended to have a reddish tint to them? Mine was so oversatured in red I couldn't stand to watch videos with people in them. They all looked like lobsters.

distortedloop said:
Black draws ZERO power. I'm not sure what's next lowest draw, though. Could red being the lowest be why the Nexus Ones tended to have a reddish tint to them? Mine was so oversatured in red I couldn't stand to watch videos with people in them. They all looked like lobsters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the red tint was a feature of AMOLED screens whereas SAMOLED screens have a distinct blue tint. Before anyone flames me for this, go talk to someone who know anything about how modern TV displays are tuned; they are always set to be slightly blue-ish as the human eye registers this very light blue as a pure white and is often used to make displays look brighter than they actually are.

I can't the 1% setting with widgetsoid to work. It does reduce momentarily but then jumps back to the default minimum. Auto brightness is off btw.
Any tips?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I use the N1 Calibration app to make the color look better and lower the brightness.

Wow this app is awesome. Running it on CM7 nightly 15 and I was able to fix the slight green/blue tint that I had =)
unknown.soul said:
I use the N1 Calibration app to make the color look better and lower the brightness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

You can use Screen Filter too. It works amazing.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/screen-filter/com.haxor

The screen calibration hack doesn't work with stock, right?

NexusDro said:
The screen calibration hack doesn't work with stock, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Needs root, and you also have to download the appropriate one for your ROM.

zephiK said:
You can use Screen Filter too. It works amazing.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/screen-filter/com.haxor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 works really great

I keep my brightness on 0 so.....yeah

I got blue eyes and in the sun I cannot see a thing unless brightness is all the way up. Especially when blinded by the snow.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I did some tests and when you use screen filter, it doesn´t go below 350 (power tutor). Using widgetsoid worked just fine.

In cm7 rom screen filtering is in cyanogen settings/ display.

Related

[FYI] Auto brightness is brighter than your highest stock setting

I noticed today when I was outside that it was hard to see my screen because I always keep it at the lowest brightness level.
I bumped it up to the max so I can see easier.
I tried out auto brightness immediately after and it was much brighter than the brightest stock setting.
TMYK
That's odd, so you're saying if you put it on the highest setting with manually configured brightness, it still won't go as high as auto brightness in a situation where its needed (like direct sunlight)?
I personally use the auto brightness anyway but that's interesting to know...
sj_martin said:
I noticed today when I was outside that it was hard to see my screen because I always keep it at the lowest brightness level.
I bumped it up to the max so I can see easier.
I tried out auto brightness immediately after and it was much brighter than the brightest stock setting.
TMYK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's weird as hell lmao. I'll test it tomorrow with sun. Will be SO upset if its true. YOU BETTER HOPE UR WRONG lol.
sj_martin said:
I noticed today when I was outside that it was hard to see my screen because I always keep it at the lowest brightness level.
I bumped it up to the max so I can see easier.
I tried out auto brightness immediately after and it was much brighter than the brightest stock setting.
TMYK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i noticed that too. auto bright seems to go higher than the regular brightest setting.
If that's true, is there a way to manually increase the brightness to max?,
you know, similar to increasing the volume values?
Maybe someone can try it
gsvnet said:
That's odd, so you're saying if you put it on the highest setting with manually configured brightness, it still won't go as high as auto brightness in a situation where its needed (like direct sunlight)?
I personally use the auto brightness anyway but that's interesting to know...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, exactly.
the auto brightness probably kicks into outdoor visibility level.
Dose your phone say at the lowest light level. Because mine, even after I set it to the lowest level, moves to a brighter level.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Ditto, mine always finds a way to creep back up to higher brightness levels.
I think I'll just use auto from now on
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I'm not real sure but the lowest manual level seems still too bright to me. I've seen lower with Auto on, but maybe its my eyes playing tricks again.
It is probably Power Savings in the Display settings that is STILL automatically dimming the display, so ot merely seems like auto brightness is brighter than manual max adjustment. Turning Power Savings off keeps the screen at 100% all the time --the browser and other apps will not dim the display anymore.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
silverwolf0 said:
I'm not real sure but the lowest manual level seems still too bright to me. I've seen lower with Auto on, but maybe its my eyes playing tricks again.
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Click to collapse
This is one thing that drives me nuts with this phone. I use the "dimmer" widget to drop the thing down to 10 brightness, but even that's way too bright and I haven't yet found an app that makes the display dimmer than 10 (I know that requires root, but none of the ones in the market seem to work with the Vibrant).
applebook said:
It is probably Power Savings in the Display settings that is STILL automatically dimming the display, so ot merely seems like auto brightness is brighter than manual max adjustment. Turning Power Savings off keeps the screen at 100% all the time --the browser and other apps will not dim the display anymore.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'm missing something here, but I have power savings off and auto brightness off, and the screen still dims when I go into the browser.

Brightness at lowest level is still really bright?

I tried setting my Vibrant to the lowest possible brightness level (with auto brightness disabled, of course). It still seems very bright to me compared to the lowest level on every other phone I've used. I realize this phone has a nice screen, etc. but is there no way to make it dimmer in situations where you just don't need that bright of a display and want to save battery?
Edit: I want to clarify, I love the screen's brightness, I'm just mainly asking for battery saving purposes.
I was running a black bg for a while. It would seem to be your best option for both issues. It was said in another thread that black uses the least amount of battery.
Vibe the XDApp
You can get tinted screen protector....The bright vibrant screen is the best thing on this phone.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA App
All~G1 said:
I was running a black bg for a while. It would seem to be your best option for both issues. It was said in another thread that black uses the least amount of battery.
Vibe the XDApp
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Click to collapse
Interesting idea, i'll try it.
STi489 said:
You can get tinted screen protector....The bright vibrant screen is the best thing on this phone.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Yeah, that's not my complaint. No doubt this screen is awesome
What I mean is that I'd actually like to increase battery life further by going even dimmer, if possible.
Then a black background is a good idea, black pixels literally use no battery on an AMOLED screen because the pixels aren't on when they're black, so it's a true black. That's the wonderful thing about these screens, and why the contrast ratio is so ridiculously high. Also why the Kindle app has the color reversal option, making the background black and the text white, and a lot of the UI uses black in places I've seen stock android white or gray. I read a couple chapters of Sherlock Holmes the other day and my battery went down 2%. Awesome screen.
Also the web browser has a separate brightness setting.
Homestar1217 said:
..I read a couple chapters of Sherlock Holmes the other day and my battery went down 2%. Awesome screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
**slow reader..jk
maybe one of the genius phone gods could post a mod for a supper dim night mode. hint/nudge :burning eyes:
I would have to agree even on low the brightness of the screen is very high. I didn't realize this until today my friend wouldn't believe me I had brightness on low (his Droid's screen looked like crap compared to mine ).
Thanks for the tip on the black background... I really do need to find out ways to improve battery life on this thing.
I made a similar thread a while ago. For me it's too bright in low light situations. I'd love to see a way to lower the lowest setting.
+1, i'd like to see to an option to go even dimmer.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Same here. The browser is downright blinding in low-light.
Hey I'm not the only one who thinks the phone should have much lower brightness settings. I think I've seen it dim lower than the lowest brightness, but only on auto mode and only for a short time. Or maybe not. But I'm sure it can go lower because it would be weird if it couldn't. I also much rather have dimmer colors than a black vacuous screen for battery savings.
It does go lower. Put the brightness on manual and set it to lowest possible then wait for it to timeout and go to sleep. 5 secs before it goes to sleep the screen goes dimmer. On the G1 the lowest setting was this pre-sleep brightness. On the Vibrant we can't get that level as an option. Fingers crossed a non-samsung rom like CM6 will fix this.
SykesAT said:
It does go lower. Put the brightness on manual and set it to lowest possible then wait for it to timeout and go to sleep. 5 secs before it goes to sleep the screen goes dimmer. On the G1 the lowest setting was this pre-sleep brightness. On the Vibrant we can't get that level as an option. Fingers crossed a non-samsung rom like CM6 will fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good observation. Indeed hopefully its fixed in a custom ROM or even by samsung themselves (though i'm not holding my breath on that one).
Alarm Clock Plus
The "dim mode" in Alarm Clock Plus is really dim. It would be nice to have a setting that would allow me to drop the brightness down that much.
yeah, because even on low MY EYES, They BURRRN!
lol
seriously
+1 for supporting this thread!
+1 for lower brightness option.
+1 from me too. This thing lights that whole dang room when my wife is trying to sleep.
Sorry it took so long to reply to this thread. I had to go find my sunglasses.... Seriously though, I read in bed at night and yeah its way too bright.

[Q] Screen Brightness Levels

Hello everyone,
I don't know if my question has been answered already but I've used the search and haven't come across an answer.
My Nexus 7 is set to the lowest brightness at all times and it works great for me. But I want to be able to set it lower especially when reading at night with the lights turned off. At this point the lowest brightness is still too bright.
Is there away of adjusting the screen brightness slider to accommodate lower levels? Maybe an update I can flash?
I'm using PA 2.50 and Franco.Kernel #25.
Doesn't anyone have a similar question?
Is there anyway to tweak the screen brightness of the N7.?
any rom or kernel that allows this?
I think ScreenFilter is what you want.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ch_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oYXhvciJd
Let you set the screen much dimmer and it saves battery life. Works great on phones (as long as it isn't bright outside).
magick86 said:
I think ScreenFilter is what you want.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ch_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oYXhvciJd
Let you set the screen much dimmer and it saves battery life. Works great on phones (as long as it isn't bright outside).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I will check out that app.
But you think there's a way of setting it in the system? So that the lowest brightness setting on system is lowered?
magick86 said:
I think ScreenFilter is what you want.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ch_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oYXhvciJd
Let you set the screen much dimmer and it saves battery life. Works great on phones (as long as it isn't bright outside).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will do nothing. It will not lower the backlight. It just draws a semitransparent black filter over everything. Battery consumption will be the same. Some custom kernels, like the one in my signature, will let you lower the backlight well below the normal lower limit. This will actually save battery.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Metallice said:
This will do nothing. It will not lower the backlight. It just draws a semitransparent black filter over everything. Battery consumption will be the same. Some custom kernels, like the one in my signature, will let you lower the backlight well below the normal lower limit. This will actually save battery.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great! Thank you! I'll check out your kernel sir!

Automatic brightness better on or off ?

What's best for battery life, automatic brightness on ? Or set to a certain % ? Like at home if at 40%-50% that's good enough, but outside, or in bright area, hard to tell, much higher, or even auto.
Some phones do better or worse on auto brightness. Some phones can adjust quickly and actually do auto brightness very good, other phones I've had suck at adjusting the light level on auto.
What do you recommend ? And which is easier on battery life ?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Try lux. It can give you the best of both.
Zorachus said:
What's best for battery life, automatic brightness on ? Or set to a certain % ? Like at home if at 40%-50% that's good enough, but outside, or in bright area, hard to tell, much higher, or even auto.
Some phones do better or worse on auto brightness. Some phones can adjust quickly and actually do auto brightness very good, other phones I've had suck at adjusting the light level on auto.
What do you recommend ? And which is easier on battery life ?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I never put my brightness on auto. I always put it at a certain percentage up to the point where I can see the icons on my phone and such. Putting it on auto will make the phone fluctuate between low and high brightness setting according to the lighting of the environment. When I'm home, I always set my brightness level at the very lowest. Also another thing I notice is that when I'm outside I need to turn up the lighting to about 10-20 percent and I good to go. When I'm indoors, the screen is quite bright and so I just turn it back down. (You get the point.)
I don't think there are phones that perform better or worse on auto-brightness. I don't even think it has any effect on performance. Anyways, to answer your question about battery life. If you can't see the phone while you're outdoors then you need to turn it up and thus it will use more power. Personally, I suggest that you set it at a fixed percentage rather than auto.
Was looking into this question myself. What I was able to turn up amounts to the following.
Setting the brightness manually or through the use of the auto brightness makes no difference if its the same percentage/ brightness setting.
The difference comes down to using auto brightness will cause the cpu execute to make the setting changed according to the polled data from the light sensor. The will cause minimal additional battery drain I suspect, but the exact number I haven't been able to identify. So this is the downside. The upside is that if the brightness settings are compatible for you, its very convenient.
As for the manual, you may gain a little due to the lower cpu use. More importantly, you can tune the brightness to what you want. If the auto setting for a certain outdoor environment is too high, if the manual setting is lower that the user prefers this could also save battery. Of course the opposite is also true. Same for indoors, etc... Being manual it requires you to change it, but using certain ROMs, quick setting tile or apps make this a lot quicker.
I'm personally running Xylon + Nova Prime + Brightness widget
Set the gesture swipe up, to execute the widget
Set 0,20,45,80,auto percent brightness in the widget
Swipe up to cycle through when indoor or out, home...
Zorachus said:
What's best for battery life, automatic brightness on ? Or set to a certain % ? Like at home if at 40%-50% that's good enough, but outside, or in bright area, hard to tell, much higher, or even auto.
Some phones do better or worse on auto brightness. Some phones can adjust quickly and actually do auto brightness very good, other phones I've had suck at adjusting the light level on auto.
What do you recommend ? And which is easier on battery life ?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am running Xylon + Nova. Where do I get this brightness app ? I'll look on Play.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Free in the play store
Zorachus said:
I too am running Xylon + Nova. Where do I get this brightness app ? I'll look on Play.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you really need to conserve the battery I don't recommend having your screen brightness
at more than than 10%, most of the time I run at around 5%.
Asking others about their Auto Brightness experience is not very useful because a user
in Brazil will have a different result than a user in Norway.
If you charge your phone often and can read the screen at auto brightness just run it at that.
Otherwise you should always manually adjust your brightness for your own threshold of
readability.
A curious thing about LCD screens is that blacks and whites draw similar amount of power.
(As opposed to other technologies such as OLED). So ROMs with high contrast text that are
easier to read can actually help you save battery if you manually adjust brightness for readability.
I agree with using Lux, once setup and you have linked several light readings to screen brightness settings and set to dynamically adjust its great. The paid version allows you to dim the screen alot more then you can do normally and makes reading in bed very easy on your eyes.
estallings15 said:
Try lux. It can give you the best of both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Screen Brightness

Is everyone here satisfied with the screen brightness? It looks somewhat nice when the brightness is at 100% but then that drains the battery faster.
I have never used the 100% brightness - outside I'm not using the G Pad, inside I'm somewhere near 50-65% brightness, and for night reading 10-20% brightness. About battery draining, I haven't keeping an eye on it. When the battery goes near 30%, I automatically put in on the charger (I got one sexy thin 4m. USB cable here so I can keep using the tablet anywhere in my room)
Zarrick19 said:
I have never used the 100% brightness - outside I'm not using the G Pad, inside I'm somewhere near 50-65% brightness, and for night reading 10-20% brightness. About battery draining, I haven't keeping an eye on it. When the battery goes near 30%, I automatically put in on the charger (I got one sexy thin 4m. USB cable here so I can keep using the tablet anywhere in my room)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
50-65% for me seems somewhat dim, almost too dim to enjoy the HD screen. Are there any additional settings other than the main brightness setting? I do not have auto brightness turned on at all
Indoors i hardly ever raise brightness over 40% i have no complaints. In fact 100% brightness is damn near blinding.
Faded_329 said:
Indoors i hardly ever raise brightness over 40% i have no complaints. In fact 100% brightness is damn near blinding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Brightness isn't an issue. The problem is that the gamma is too high resulting in darks being too dark.
Sent from my LG-V500 using Tapatalk 4
dalingrin said:
Agreed. Brightness isn't an issue. The problem is that the gamma is too high resulting in darks being too dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an interesting observation. I think there are apps to adjust the gamma. Does anybody have any tips on that?
dalingrin said:
Agreed. Brightness isn't an issue. The problem is that the gamma is too high resulting in darks being too dark.
Sent from my LG-V500 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So can we change the gamma in the kernel ?
yes, I find the ugly screen (very dark) with the brightness below 60%.
by 100% against beautiful. But ouch battery !!
No, you can change the gamma (and saturation, and brightness and stuff) in an app, someone mentioned it here on xda, but I can't remember it's name. Take a look around
Zarrick19 said:
No, you can change the gamma (and saturation, and brightness and stuff) in an app, someone mentioned it here on xda, but I can't remember it's name. Take a look around
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Screen adjuster
Faded_329 said:
Screen adjuster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded screen adjuster but it does not have any gamma or saturation settings. Only red, green, blue, brightness, and contrast. By the way, does anyone know how to take screenshots on this tablet?
hold Unlock + Volume down
I recommend using the app LUX. It does a terrific job of managing auto brightness. Way better than the built in logic. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.lux
Sent from my LG-V500 using Tapatalk 4
I'm slightly ahead with this advice because I haven't even looked into rooting yet. But I can tell you if Franco kernel comes out for this baby that's what you want. It fixed the gamma settings and the color settings on my Nexus 4 completely. Made it like a brand new device with beautiful accurate colors and amazing battery life to boot. I will be keeping my eyes out for Franco kernel.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

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