Database Users

Possibility of Auto-Change Backlight ???

Hey guys,
do you think it's possible to wirte a program which automatically can change the backlight according to the actual daylight condition.
Maybe it is possible to start the program when you wake up your device. then the program turns on the built in (front) camera for about a second or maybe more. The camera "checks" out the light intensity. If its very bright the backlight condition is set to the max.
his is only a idea. I'm thinking of it because for example today it's a very sunny and i can almost read nothing on the display of my touch cruise!!
What do you think about it?
greetings

any idea?
Or does any software like this exist?

Maybe the guy who wrote this program below could be of assistance:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=379270

Well, it doesn't have to be so hard...
All we need is a small service that reads from a file the approximate sunrise-sunset time and alters the brightness accordingly. If anyone has the time, he can additionally take advantage of the current time zone and calculate those limits automatically all year long!
Destinator 7 does the exact same think by turning night colors on and off. It is actually better than a build in brightness sensor because it never fails!

Nevermind...did not read the question thououghly

Yeah good ideas,
but a time sceduled scenery has also disadvanteges. When its clowdy outside it causes unnecessary battery consumption.

MVBklight 1.4.2 is not working on my polaris!!

w04g005 said:
Yeah good ideas,
but a time sceduled scenery has also disadvanteges. When its clowdy outside it causes unnecessary battery consumption.
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I come from a rather sunny country (greece) so I really missed this!
Anyway, those PDAs have actually very low brightness screens. In a bright day you cant actually see anything. On the other hand, I have yet to see a rainy/cloudy day that requires a reduction to the maximum brightness level. Overall I think that a time scheduled solution should be the best solution for no sensor-equipped devices.

papajohn said:
I come from a rather sunny country (greece) so I really missed this!
Anyway, those PDAs have actually very low brightness screens. In a bright day you cant actually see anything. On the other hand, I have yet to see a rainy/cloudy day that requires a reduction to the maximum brightness level. Overall I think that a time scheduled solution should be the best solution for no sensor-equipped devices.
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I second that! Even though I'm not from Greece but it's never too bright during the day. Right now my solution is to map the camera button to backlight so I can change it quickly.

Changing the brightness according to the time of day would not be as helpful as changing it according to the ambient light level. If you walk inside a dimly lit building during the day, you don't need the backlight to be as bright as if you were outside. Also, even outside, a cloudy day can be considerably dimmer than a sunny day.

jfeldredge said:
Changing the brightness according to the time of day would not be as helpful as changing it according to the ambient light level. If you walk inside a dimly lit building during the day, you don't need the backlight to be as bright as if you were outside. Also, even outside, a cloudy day can be considerably dimmer than a sunny day.
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I totally agree, but given the fact that there is no ambient light sensor in our devices I dont think that we can do any better. Two scales, one for day and one for night and we are OK for most cases. Yes, as you point out this strategy fails but it is better than:
1. No brightness change at all
2. Manual changes.

papajohn said:
I totally agree, but given the fact that there is no ambient light sensor in our devices I dont think that we can do any better.
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Thats the crux. Some devices especially the newer ones have a camera on the front. I'm no photo-expert but i think every camera is a "ambient light sensor".
The camera also reacts on different light conditions. You can see this by turning on the fps function. But i agree that it would be a lot of work.
Maybe we have to wait till more people and programmers own htcs with such bad displays like the polaris.

Titan Photo Sensor
I found myself thinking about this auto-backlight topic on my way home tonight after a long trip using my 8600 as a GPS. The screen went from being a clearly-visible screen during the day portion of the trip to a flashlight in my eyes at night. While I knew I could adjust the backlighting manually, I didn't want to mess with it while driving. Also, living in Arizona, I can barely make out the screen when in daylight unless the screen is on maximum brightness, but max brightness is horrible on battery life, so I would rather not set it to that by default.
Anyway, the Titan has a photo sensor on the keyboard which is used to determine dim lighting conditions and automatically illuminate the keyboard. I'm not sure if the exact lighting value being detected by the photo sensor can be read, but if it can be, then it should be relatively easy to write an application that would automatically adjust the backlight setting whenever the keyboard is slid open.
The application could both use location-based sunrise/sunset algorithms to set the default backlight value based on time of day, and also allow the setting to be overridden momentarily (perhaps only until the screen is turned off again) by opening the keyboard and sampling the ambient lighting conditions.

Automatic backlight broken or just badly designed?

As far as the automatic backlight setting goes, it is my understanding that the phone should check how bright (or dark) it is, and adjust the display brightness accordingly (brighter when out in the sun, darker when sitting indoors / dark rooms).
However, it seems to me it just sets the backlight at ~40% and that's it. I went out into the sun with my HD2, and the brightness didn't change and I had trouble seeing what was on the screen.
Is there some kind of way I could test, if the light sensor is working? Or is this setting simply badly designed and I should set the brightness myself?
I'm currently running latest Energy ROM (23569 Cookie May 09) but it was the same with the stock ROM, so I don't think it's related.
PS. A little side question, if I may; if I perform task 29 before flashing... do I still need to do a hard reset after flashing a new ROM?

...in the very least... are there any apps that make use of the light sensor?

Well I know the acctualy percentage in the settings never changes when its on auto (atleast not for me)
But I can clearly tell a difference between being in a dark room and the backlight being on low
to being in the sun and it on max.
Ive also never had trouble reading the screen, the screen is always plenty bright enough.
Prehaps you've got a bad one?

Shaamaan said:
...in the very least... are there any apps that make use of the light sensor?
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I know an app that can measure the amount of light in lumers.

lonelykatana said:
I know an app that can measure the amount of light in lumers.
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Care to share the name of that app?
Also, it's difficult for me to say if the screen is busted or not. On max brightness (as opposed to the automatic setting) it's a lot more comfortable to look at in the sun, albeit indoors it's OK on any setting really.
EDIT: I don't suppose the automatic setting can be tweaked for better performance via some registry changes?

Shaamaan said:
Care to share the name of that app?
Also, it's difficult for me to say if the screen is busted or not. On max brightness (as opposed to the automatic setting) it's a lot more comfortable to look at in the sun, albeit indoors it's OK on any setting really.
EDIT: I don't suppose the automatic setting can be tweaked for better performance via some registry changes?
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I think it's called Lumos.
Try searching for it.

You certainly can test it. Just cover the light sensor (upper left corner above the screen) with something. I don't recommend thumb, as you might press 'start' button. You will also need any application with white background.
The brightness should clearly drop.
Auto only sets the brightness from 20% to 60% (or so it seems). But the effect is clearly visible.

Dr.Sid said:
You certainly can test it. Just cover the light sensor (upper left corner above the screen) with something. I don't recommend thumb, as you might press 'start' button. You will also need any application with white background.
The brightness should clearly drop.
Auto only sets the brightness from 20% to 60% (or so it seems). But the effect is clearly visible.
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Click to collapse
No change at all.
I'll restore the stock ROM to see if it's a firmware issue, and I'll check that Lumos application.
EDIT: Lumos clearly detects light changes and works well. Seems it's either something to do with Energy ROM after all or possibly I'm just blind and I can't see any changes. I'm still going to check the stock ROM, just to be safe.
BTW, once more, can someone tell me quickly if hard resets are needed after task 29?
EDIT 2: OK, it DOES work after all, I'm just blind; the change however, on the automatic settings, is minimal. I actually had to put the phone under a light-bulb, as covering the sensor didn't really work. I wonder if it should be calibrated like the g-sensor...

night time
i think the day time brightness is fine but the night time setting is far to bright. i would love for this to be customizable as well

rdbthrgnaRDg

Dr.Sid said:
Auto only sets the brightness from 20% to 60% (or so it seems).
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Can this range be increased?
For indoor use the auto-adjust works fine for day/evening/night, but outside I always need to turn off the auto-adjust, so it can go to 100%. When back indoor again, then switch to auto again and so on ... and so on ... and ...

Just installed .NET CF + Lumos and will see how it works out.
.NET CF for laptop and automatic install to HD2 via ActiveSync:
microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E3821449-3C6B-42F1-9FD9-0041345B3385&displaylang=en
Latest Lumos v10 RC2:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=450318

My screen is too bright, what will make it dim below "10"?

Even on the dimmest settings, the Vibrant is too bright for me in bed, where the light disturbs my wife.
It seems that, with root, you can lower the brightness further - at least on other phones. Is there any way to do this with the Vibrant?
Thanks!

The "Dimmer" app will toggle it from your current brightness down to 10 but if you find something that will go lower let me know.

It has an automatic brightness control based on input from the sensor. You may need to disable this in the settings too, but I would think it would be automatically dimming itself already in a dark room.

Dallasalien said:
It has an automatic brightness control based on input from the sensor. You may need to disable this in the settings too, but I would think it would be automatically dimming itself already in a dark room.
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Right, but that doesn't get dim enough in some situations and the minimum brightness you can select manually is 30. "Dimmer" will take it all the way to 10 but I would like to see something that would take it to 1 or 2.

I agree. It's too bright in low light situations.
If you find a solution please post it.

Try the Screen Filter App from the market. You can get UNBELIEVABLY low brightness. Which means much better battery.

+1 on screen filter. New version now dims taskbar too.

Is there a mod to lower the auto brightness levels?

I really like the auto brightness feature, but it's consistently too bright for my taste.
Is there a mod or tweak out there that will allow me to lower/adjust my automatic brightness levels to save some battery life?

(Currently running Blackhole 3.0 / DL09, will go to Blackhole 4.0 once it's out tomorrow)

anybody have any ideas

Unless you know how to modify the kernel source (which I believe is written in C, correct me if I'm wrong devs) or modify some file that is the delegate for the ambient light sensor, you're SOL buddy.
Its probably hardwired into the kernel, would be my guess.

Hmmm, I thought automatic meant automatic. My bad. J/K
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Yes, automatically too bright in most situations. Yet not bright enough in sunlight.
I almost need to cover the light sensor some to fool it.
This is where Samsung fumbles. Their software is poor. Whomever is writing the code, set the light sensor to brightness conversion wrong. At least on DL30 they fixed one mess up. On the original rom, when you plugged in external power, the brightness would go to a fixxed level. If you were outside in a car and plug in power, it would dim the display. Indoors at night, plug in power, and it would BRIGHTEN the display. What's up with that.

worwig said:
Yes, automatically too bright in most situations. Yet not bright enough in sunlight.
I almost need to cover the light sensor some to fool it.
This is where Samsung fumbles. Their software is poor. Whomever is writing the code, set the light sensor to brightness conversion wrong. At least on DL30 they fixed one mess up. On the original rom, when you plugged in external power, the brightness would go to a fixxed level. If you were outside in a car and plug in power, it would dim the display. Indoors at night, plug in power, and it would BRIGHTEN the display. What's up with that.
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Whats wrong with manually changing it? It doesnt even take 5 seconds to change the level.

Kaze105 said:
Whats wrong with manually changing it? It doesnt even take 5 seconds to change the level.
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Click to collapse
Exactly. Why would you expect your phone to automatically make your life easier or function at an optimum level?

Kaze105 said:
Whats wrong with manually changing it? It doesnt even take 5 seconds to change the level.
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Click to collapse
What's the purpose of having a light sensor if it never works?
Often when I pop my phone open to do a specific task, '5 seconds' is about as long as it would have taken to do that whole task. And it's just annoying to unlock the screen, begin to attempt doing something, and then notice 'oh hey, the screen is basically unseeable!' and have to interrupt whatever you're doing. Or, even worse, when you're going from place to place and go through areas that are lighter and darker, forcing you to keep interrupting your work.

worwig said:
Yes, automatically too bright in most situations. Yet not bright enough in sunlight.
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KitsuneKnight said:
What's the purpose of having a light sensor if it never works?
Often when I pop my phone open to do a specific task, '5 seconds' is about as long as it would have taken to do that whole task.
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You guys nailed it. The screen is far brighter than I need while indoors at the office, but step outside and it just doesn't keep up with the bright Colorado sun (I can adjust it manually to a level that can be seen in sunlight just fine).
I could spend 5 secs adjusting the backlight each time the light environment changes, but why not spend 30 min optimizing the auto brightness levels and then never have to worry about it...

I know with my Moto Droid, someone had made a code that altered a particular file to change the lowest brightness level, but I have yet to see that for the Fascinate. It's a shame since the Fascinate's screen is so much nicer, but not set up optimally.
I know some dev's had also integrated the ability to change the auto brightness levels within custom ROMs for the Moto Droid. That'd be a great feature on the Fascinate!

KitsuneKnight said:
What's the purpose of having a light sensor if it never works?
Often when I pop my phone open to do a specific task, '5 seconds' is about as long as it would have taken to do that whole task. And it's just annoying to unlock the screen, begin to attempt doing something, and then notice 'oh hey, the screen is basically unseeable!' and have to interrupt whatever you're doing. Or, even worse, when you're going from place to place and go through areas that are lighter and darker, forcing you to keep interrupting your work.
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That is to peoples own preference. I use auto most of the time and its fine. Doesn't work would indicate it doesn't change the brightness at all.
You can't expect it to auto sense it to every persons liking. Also does power control change it so you can see the screen, cause that doesn't take '5 seconds'
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

spenceuiuc said:
I really like the auto brightness feature, but it's consistently too bright for my taste.
Is there a mod or tweak out there that will allow me to lower/adjust my automatic brightness levels to save some battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Screen Filter - its in the app store. With screen filter applied I keep my phone set to auto and screen filter reduces that more - in my case 50% more.

Well in the DL30 rom you don't have to go to the settings menu to change the brightness, just press and hold on the notification bar and then slide left and right to change the brightness.

Zong00 said:
Try Screen Filter - its in the app store. With screen filter applied I keep my phone set to auto and screen filter reduces that more - in my case 50% more.
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Ill check that out. Thanks!

notification light?

i saw a white light on the bottom corner on my xoom;s screen. is it for notifications?

Depends on how you hold it. The notification light is a white (supposed to be tri-color) line next to the Verizon logo.

Jrockttu said:
Depends on how you hold it. The notification light is a white (supposed to be tri-color) line next to the Verizon logo.
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right. i'm just confused as it rarely comes on. i think the only time it came on was when i was playing wordfeud with friends.
isn't it suppose to come on when i get IM or email or something?

clovis_ll said:
right. i'm just confused as it rarely comes on. i think the only time it came on was when i was playing wordfeud with friends.
isn't it suppose to come on when i get IM or email or something?
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My light pulses White every 2 seconds or so when I get an IM on Gmail Talk. Edit: Only when the screens off, btw.

clovis_ll said:
right. i'm just confused as it rarely comes on. i think the only time it came on was when i was playing wordfeud with friends.
isn't it suppose to come on when i get IM or email or something?
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Here are the steps I took to learn this information:
1) Read the labels on the film taped across the front of the Xoom's screen as it came from the box, where it's pointing to NOTIFICATION LED
2) Read the user manual
3) Use my common knowledge and history of using mobile, connected devices to understand that a blinking light means something new has happened or arrived on the device.
4) Post a question on the forum
I think this is my first post, but I gladly use it to point out how newbish you are to have to ask this question on the internet.

Broadscope said:
Here are the steps I took to learn this information:
1) Read the labels on the film taped across the front of the Xoom's screen as it came from the box, where it's pointing to NOTIFICATION LED
2) Read the user manual
3) Use my common knowledge and history of using mobile, connected devices to understand that a blinking light means something new has happened or arrived on the device.
4) Post a question on the forum
I think this is my first post, but I gladly use it to point out how newbish you are to have to ask this question on the internet.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for being a jerk. You may also want to make sure that you have notifications turned on whatever apps you're using.

Top light to the left of the camera
There's another light, just to the left of the front-facing camera. Does anybody know what it does?
The light to the camera's right glows when the camera's on. But the light to the left doesn't seem to do anything yet. (And it's not listed in the manuals nor on the plastic pull-off screen protector.)
Judging from the iFixIt take-apart photos, I'm guessing it will light up when the Xoom is running 4G.
Anybody else know more?

Broadscope said:
Here are the steps I took to learn this information:
1) Read the labels on the film taped across the front of the Xoom's screen as it came from the box, where it's pointing to NOTIFICATION LED
2) Read the user manual
3) Use my common knowledge and history of using mobile, connected devices to understand that a blinking light means something new has happened or arrived on the device.
4) Post a question on the forum
I think this is my first post, but I gladly use it to point out how newbish you are to have to ask this question on the internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW thanks for your reply!
1. the label was taken off by the verizon employee when it was activated so i don't know that there was a sign that pointed to it.
2. the user manual did not specify where the notification light for apps are only for the charging light.
3. i know it is used to notify if something arrived but like i said it DOESN'T light when i get IMs even when the screen is off.
4. it is posted on the forum!
thanks, but i don't need your sarcastic answers.

AndyRathbone said:
There's another light, just to the left of the front-facing camera. Does anybody know what it does?
The light to the camera's right glows when the camera's on. But the light to the left doesn't seem to do anything yet. (And it's not listed in the manuals nor on the plastic pull-off screen protector.)
Judging from the iFixIt take-apart photos, I'm guessing it will light up when the Xoom is running 4G.
Anybody else know more?
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Click to collapse
I'm fairly sure what you are referring to is a light sensor, for automatic brightness adjustments.

I actually had sorta the opposite problem in that I had the notification light going for seemingly no reason. Checked all apps and no notifications on bottom bar. Reboot solved but made me wonder what was up.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

If you can't see the notification light it most likely has to do with your screen brightness. I thought mine was broken when it was so faint, so i cranked up the brightness and sent myself a test e-mail. When the screen was off the notification light pulsed incredibly bright, i turned it down repeated the test, and the notification light was really faint. Hopefully they can change that to where it's always bright no matter what the brightness of your screen is set at.

SphericalPuma said:
If you can't see the notification light it most likely has to do with your screen brightness. I thought mine was broken when it was so faint, so i cranked up the brightness and sent myself a test e-mail. When the screen was off the notification light pulsed incredibly bright, i turned it down repeated the test, and the notification light was really faint. Hopefully they can change that to where it's always bright no matter what the brightness of your screen is set at.
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Click to collapse
I assumed the notification light is only when the screen is off. Why do you need it when the screen is on? You can see all notifications in the lower right.

Also, lets not forget the notification light on the BOTTOM center of the tablet in landscape.
It only comes on if the device is OFF... its a battery charge light. Its 2 or 3 colors that change depending on the charge level.

keitht said:
I assumed the notification light is only when the screen is off. Why do you need it when the screen is on? You can see all notifications in the lower right.
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Click to collapse
What I'm saying is that the brightness of the notification light when your screen is off depends on the brightness your Xoom is set to. If you have your screen at 100 percent when its off the notification light will be very bright. However I had my screen quite dim and when it was off ans I received a notification, the light was almost nonexistent. You can test it for yourself. Its something that is hopefully fixed so that the notification light brightness is independent of the brightness your Xoom is set to.

SphericalPuma said:
What I'm saying is that the brightness of the notification light when your screen is off depends on the brightness your Xoom is set to. If you have your screen at 100 percent when its off the notification light will be very bright. However I had my screen quite dim and when it was off ans I received a notification, the light was almost nonexistent. You can test it for yourself. Its something that is hopefully fixed so that the notification light brightness is independent of the brightness your Xoom is set to.
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Click to collapse
Oh, I am sorry I misunderstood. I tested it at lowest brightness setting and the notification light is just as bright as full brightness for me.

diaa08 said:
I actually had sorta the opposite problem in that I had the notification light going for seemingly no reason. Checked all apps and no notifications on bottom bar. Reboot solved but made me wonder what was up.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
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The reboot actually made it work. It was driving me nuts. Lol
The batery on this thing is so good, I haven't turned it off till I got it yesterday.

keitht said:
Oh, I am sorry I misunderstood. I tested it at lowest brightness setting and the notification light is just as bright as full brightness for me.
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Yeah, mine works now too, weird, I rebooted it so there must have been something wonky going on, but everything works now.