Automatic Brightness... Bonkers, help please - Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi,
I bought a Nexus 7 32GB Wifi version yesterday from Carphonewarehouse.
I brought it home and it asked to update, I let it update to 4.2, with automatic brightness my screen is very dim, I mean its not nice to view with automatic brightness as it seems to dim the screen to much.
I know people are having problems with latest update etc, as I updated immediately when turning on device etc I cannot be sure if this is due to the update or it was like it before the update, I would like to use automatic brightness to conserve power but it seems to dim the brightness to much and I also notice the brightness level adjusts quite a bit in same lighting and is very noticeable when viewing screen.
When using full brightness the screens brilliant.
Is this part of the 4.2 bugs ?
I disabled auto sync for Google Currents to help some performance issues for now.
As this is my first tablet and updated immediately I can't compare differences between updates to know if its just a bug.
How long does it take to charge the tablet fully approx ? as mine seems to take ages, again I am aware this is possibly another bug after 4.2 update.
PS: I here that I should have got a £15 Google credit but never got an email and I had to pay by card when I purchased a £2 app as no option to choose Google credit only to pay by card. Was this a limited time offer or something as am gutted I not got it ?
Thanks for any help/advice!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Hi,
Unfortunately the screen flickers issue is a well known issue to nexus 7. Since you just bought it, I would recommend exchange it and hope you get a good one. Mine is having the same issue but I kinda get used to it. Good luck...
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

If automatic brightness does not work the way you want turn it off. Flicker gone.
It is a checkbox under settings / display.
I like mine best with brightness set to about 50%. An added bonus is that really extends battery life.

I highly suggest giving lux a try. I bought it because I found the minimum brightness on the n7 was too bright for night reading. It has a lot of settings to tailor the auto brightness to your taste. I turned off the android auto brightness and set the manual brightness almost all the way down and let lux adjust it from there.

4.2 totally screwed up automatic brightness, made it super sensitive. best option right now is to turn it off and change thaw brightness manually

Thanks everyone for replying, gonna just turn off auto brightness and set it to 50%, its ok at 50%, thanks much appreciated!
Fingers crossed an update will sort the sensitivity out.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

What does the flicker everyone refers to about auto brightness look like? I don't think I experience this issue. It may be the lighting I have around doesn't cause it.
What I DO have an issue with is low brightness either manual or auto in dim rooms where I don't want to be blinded, is the flickering caused by WiFi signal being low. This isn't the same issue others refer to here is it?

snarlytaz said:
What does the flicker everyone refers to about auto brightness look like? I don't think I experience this issue. It may be the lighting I have around doesn't cause it.
What I DO have an issue with is low brightness either manual or auto in dim rooms where I don't want to be blinded, is the flickering caused by WiFi signal being low. This isn't the same issue others refer to here is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it flickers on manual - you have a different issue.

Some devices have screens that are significantly dimmer than others on all brightness settings (I've had 4 so I should know). I've got an n7 that the screen is virtually unusable on auto under some conditions. I complained and got a replacement and they've never bothered picking up the faulty one. My Mrs has it now and it doesn't bother her but, side by side with my n7, its a massive difference. If it bothers you return it because it'll really get on your nerves after a while.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

my device died anyway so took back for replacement. I decided not to update to 4.2 as auto brightness works excellent without update and no bugs either so will wait for a more stable update, much happier now. Thanks!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Related

[Q] Auto Brightness Changes Extremely Frequently

I got my GT 10.1 this past Monday and I have noticed auto brightness changes quite frequently. I can't figure out why. I don't think I am blocking the sensor but I don't know where it is...
Has anyone else had this issue? It's making me dizzy so I just turned off the auto setting but it seems like it should work.
Yes, mine does the same. I assume the sensor is next to the front camera, which I'm not obstructing. But the brightness level will change rapidly. I had to disable the feature. Found it default to a level too dark most of the time anyway.
I agree with it being too dark. At least I know I'm not the only one with the issue.
Same issue with me. Turned it off. I read that auto brightness burns more battery than full brightness cause it's constantly asking the CPU to make a decision regarding brightness.
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk.
Interesting. I always thought that one if the purposes of auto brightness was to conserve the battery.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I had this problem too. It would constantly change so i had to disable it.
Maybe samsung can put a fix out for it.
I imagine the algorithm included is very simple and uses very few cpu cycles, so I doubt it has an impact on battery life. Especially since it probably doesn't (shouldn't) run when the screen is off, so it shouldn't prevent the device from sleeping.
I agree the levels they have set are much too dim and make auto-brightness just about useless. I had the opposite problem with my Captivate, where the auto-brightness as too bright. Fortunately CM7 allows you to adjust the levels for auto-brightness. I hope we see something similar show up in a custom rom for the Galaxy Tab 10.1
Anyway, I keep mine set at 20% and that seems to work pretty well for me.
Where do you see the brightness percentage? I have a slider but don't see a percentage anywhere.
It's an approximation on my behalf.
I notice the same problem especially when holding the device vertically with my right hand on the front facing camera. I guess the ambient sensor is located somewhere where my hand is and thinks that I'm in dark room and automatically lowers the brightness. I also noticed that the brigthness change whenever I touch the screen so i guess its listening every time you touch the screen unlike the ipad where it refreshes evertytime it wakes up.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium App
mesasone said:
It's an approximation on my behalf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. I thought I was missing something somewhere...
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Is very anoying, i was moving my head while the screen increase the brightness and move my head and decrease... over and over. So i switch to a custom brightness.

Screen Filter

Maybe a useful post for some. I found this the other night, mainly because I was bored So if you use the app Screen Filter (which, by the way, is awesome for night time viewing in bed while the wife is asleep, you wont have to hear her say stop playing on your phone, because the screen is so bright!), but if you turn up screen filter all the way up to 100% brightness AND turn up your regular Android display setting up to 100%, you are basically getting your display level at 200%! And let me tell you...It is BRIGHT! I know this may be a useless post to most, but I found it to be actually very helpful in viewing my screen in direct sunlight, when the normal display brightness just wasn't enough.
Been using this app for months.
Sent from shane6374's Epic via Tapatalk
I am having problems enabling and disabling it consistently, but when I do enable it at 100% with my Android brightness at 100% I don't see any further brightness.
Also what is the advantage of this over the regular manual brightness?
Milkman00 said:
I am having problems enabling and disabling it consistently, but when I do enable it at 100% with my Android brightness at 100% I don't see any further brightness.
Also what is the advantage of this over the regular manual brightness?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use it for brightness, I use it to dim the screen to a lower point that what you can do in the settings.
I've been using this app for a few months now. I love using it at night to watch a video in the dark, since the lowest setting for the brightness always seems to hurt my eyes in the dark.
That sounds unbelievable yet I believe it. I'd be concerned though that doing this might shorten the screen's life or damage it. As for that app it's been on my homescreen for a long time. Pretty essential.
Only problem is soft keys ofter are too bright for night veiwing
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
I have tasker set to open screen filter at a low brightness at 11 pm
/sig
Avelnan said:
Phones are going to come to life someday. Take note: LG Optimus line. ASUS Transformer. And now the Nexus Prime.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

to avoid overheating maximum brightness has been reduced

Anybody else experiencing this issue?
I looked everywhere but found no real solution.......
Tried flashing new rom no luck ...
This was quite common with the S2, what you can try is to power off your phone and remove the battery for 20-30mins, if the same issue occurs either the battery sensor is messed up or IDK.
Happened with my infuse in the summer out in the sunlight and i posted a topic in there about it. They say its normal
Well I tried this still not working .....
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
Same problem here. Even i charge my Note also is heating. Dun know why.
Screen bright again
I dont know what cause this problem, but I got the same thing on my phone. A temporarily solution is to install Brightness Level from Android Market. It does not fix the problem in the system settings but it makes your screen 100% bright again
opiujn said:
I dont know what cause this problem, but I got the same thing on my phone. A temporarily solution is to install Brightness Level from Android Market. It does not fix the problem in the system settings but it makes your screen 100% bright again
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Click to collapse
Maximum brightness? trying to get blind?
just joking....
Why so much brightness?
You know that you will get burn-in sooner with so much brightness?
yea sometimes its like a heatpad on my thigh jeans pocket
Well for me it dissapeared suddenly... I'm happy
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
Jeshter2000 said:
Anybody else experiencing this issue?
I looked everywhere but found no real solution.......
Tried flashing new rom no luck ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got this issue before , here is my solation
Use titanium backup to wipe the setting/wallpaper
Than u can adjust brightness but can't set wallpapers
Reboot your phone ...and everything good like before
Jeshter2000 said:
Well for me it dissapeared suddenly... I'm happy
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problems that go away on their own, come back on their own...
Is there a way to remove this protection?
When I have the gps in the car I get that all the time, even if the phone is not hot at all, very annoying because with the sun and sunglasses -> cant see the screen very well.. stupid!
If you have one of those tpu softcases you will not know whether or not your note is hot just by the feel. Those cases are terrific insulators. I had overheating with the Note on GPS and charging. It actually shut down once and dropped out of the GPS signal a couple of times. Took the Nillikin case off and found that the whole phone was very hot.
After the case was removed I continued the trip with four days of continuous GPS and on charge with no problems. Even with the TPU naked, it still got pretty warm at the top half of the phone, but worked fine with brightness set pretty high. I think this is normal for the Note
[FiX] Galaxy Note ICS OVERHEATING PROBLEM SOLVED
[FiX] Galaxy Note ICS OVERHEATING PROBLEM SOLVED:
1 Go to settings- developer options - UNCHECK "Dont keep activities"
2 Use go launcher ex (or some other good launcher...) instead of default launcher
3 Instal from google play android assistant and use it to clean cache and stop most of background process
4 install from google play "cpu master free" (MUST HAVE ROOTED PHONE) and set 1000 MHz for MAXIMUM, and check box "set on boot"
P.S. DO NOT expect that your phone will be cold as ice after you do this...
ICS is build that you can use max. out of dual core, and galaxy note is pretty slim and back is made out of plastic...All that increase heating problem...
Hope i helped! =D
download the free version of "watchdog" and it will give you an alert if any software uses a lot of cpu power, you might have to go into setting and add system process to the watch list, you can also whitelist and blacklist program so they are killed as soon as they cpu usage goes above a certain level, though this might be pro version only.
Only use watchdog to find the problem and then remove it as it can use quite a bit of cpu power itself.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...GwsMSwyLDYsImNvbS56b211dC53YXRjaGRvZ2xpdGUiXQ..
John.
Having modded the framework for my rom to include lower brightness mod i can say that the values set in the decompiled framework are virtually the same as gb values infact brightness was increased at the lowest level from 32 in gb to 40 in ics with powersaving mode set to 32 in ics
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
thering1975 said:
Having modded the framework for my rom to include lower brightness mod i can say that the values set in the decompiled framework are virtually the same as gb values infact brightness was increased at the lowest level from 32 in gb to 40 in ics with powersaving mode set to 32 in ics
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see no difference at 38 and below in LQ3. The lowest dim at 39. At 40 the brightness will then increase.
legion1911 said:
Maximum brightness? trying to get blind?
just joking....
Why so much brightness?
You know that you will get burn-in sooner with so much brightness?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi legion =)
I most often use phone at 100% brightness simply just because I like it when the screen is bright and clear, colors appear nicely too on high brightness. And outdoors in sunlight its sometimes hard to see whats on the screen even though brightness is set to 100%. You were right about the burn-in. Can see some burn-in if looking very carefully, depending on what colors there are on the screen over the burn-int areas. But still they are so weak and hard to notice even when you know where to look for those areas that I will probably have bought a galaxy note 2 or maybe even 3 before they appear clearly visible and too annoying to endure
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Chaimfire made an app called "root dim "
Does as it says
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
I use the goku kernel together with the LRQ stock rom and my phone does not overheet. Sure it gets hot when charging or surfing the web, especially with wifi on. But this has been normal with all smartphones I have owned so far.
Sent from my Galaxy Note running ICS

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
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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
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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

Auto brightness won't stay off

When using the Nexus 7 2013 outside in the bright sunlight, auto brightness is too dim. I turn off auto brightness and set the brightness at 100 percent. This works fine for a few seconds but then auto brightness turns itself back on! I cannot make the screen brightness stay at 100 percent.
How can I keep my screen at 100 percent brightness?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
jrhodes973 said:
When using the Nexus 7 2013 outside in the bright sunlight, auto brightness is too dim. I turn off auto brightness and set the brightness at 100 percent. This works fine for a few seconds but then auto brightness turns itself back on! I cannot make the screen brightness stay at 100 percent.
How can I keep my screen at 100 percent brightness?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
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Click to collapse
Weird. never heard or had that experience before.
I read about someone who had a different tablet, but a similar issue. He had a suite installed that supposedly saved battery life. The setting about auto brightness there overwrote the system setting. And even after deinstalling it, it was still enabled. Do you have something similar installed?
Have driven around in bright sunshine using N7 (2013) as GPS and haven't run into this issue with stock unrooted.
Death666Angel said:
I read about someone who had a different tablet, but a similar issue. He had a suite installed that supposedly saved battery life. The setting about auto brightness there overwrote the system setting. And even after deinstalling it, it was still enabled. Do you have something similar installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. You got me to thinking about an app may be causing the problem and you were right. I had installed a app called Screen Controls but I didn't get around to trying it. When I uninstalled it, my problem went away.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

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