Database Users

[Q] Back Light Issue - Anyone else?

I love this phone, but when I'm messing with it at night with all the lights turned off, usually the bottom softkey lights are bright as hell. I was wondering if any devs can put an option to where the bottom softkey lights only last for only a couple seconds.
Just asking, thanks in advance!

in the power options widget you can set the brightness.
you can also turn off auto-adjust in Settings->Display
fyi I've had the same problem when i turn on the phone after waking up, my eyes feel like they are on fire when the screen turns on at full brightness.

He's talking about the softkeys I think. There is an app that can change it and we at the mes forums have a mod to extend it but idk if you can shorten it.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

If you're rooted and have rom manager jt has tweaks for it.

sageDieu said:
He's talking about the softkeys I think. There is an app that can change it and we at the mes forums have a mod to extend it but idk if you can shorten it.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
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Yes but the above fix works as well. Since the DL09 update the screen timeout is linked to the softkeys. So set the screen timeout for less time. Besides optional kernals there is no other way I know of.

cstrife999 said:
Yes but the above fix works as well. Since the DL09 update the screen timeout is linked to the softkeys. So set the screen timeout for less time. Besides optional kernals there is no other way I know of.
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Setting the screen time out would affect how soon the screen AND softlights turn off, which wouldn't be any help to him because i believe what he is asking for is a way to turn off the softlights only while the screen remains on. Ever since dl09, the softlights stay on as long as the screen is on, where before with di01 and such, the softlights would only remain on for a few seconds while the screen was on and then they would go off. Im jot sure there is currently any way to turn softkey lights off while screen is on, but the mods that jt1134 has in rom manager might work.. but they were designed for di01 and dj05 and meant to actually extend the time that the softkey lights stayed on while screen was on.. as most people complained that the buttons could not be seen at night or in dark and wanted them to stay on (hence the fix for it in the official dl09 release) so there's a good chance that they won't work on dl09.
Sent from my OTB 1300mhz black magic fascinate.

yeah, sorry guys. I meant the softkeys at the bottom. I loved how they would turn off after only a couple seconds, but I hate how it stays on for how long my screen time out is. Bothers me and I just want to go last for only a couple seconds instead of the screen timeout duration itself.

thachizzle said:
yeah, sorry guys. I meant the softkeys at the bottom. I loved how they would turn off after only a couple seconds, but I hate how it stays on for how long my screen time out is. Bothers me and I just want to go last for only a couple seconds instead of the screen timeout duration itself.
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Click to collapse
I totally agree with you, and would love to find a way to revert to the DI01 way of them only staying on a few seconds after use. Hell, I'd settle for turning them off all together so they never light up - in the daytime, you don't need them, and at night, I pretty much know where they are anyway.

I wish I could figure out how to keep mine on. I'm running dl09 and idk if I installed a kernel or theme that caused the issue but once my screen dims the lights go out and won't come back on until I physically touch them. They used to turn on once I touched the screen.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

ChrisDDD said:
I totally agree with you, and would love to find a way to revert to the DI01 way of them only staying on a few seconds after use. Hell, I'd settle for turning them off all together so they never light up - in the daytime, you don't need them, and at night, I pretty much know where they are anyway.
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Click to collapse
I agree; there should be a mod to turn off soft key lights

Lowest brightness level turns off screen

I noticed this when I was out Friday night at a dark bar as I was lowering my brightness so I wouldn't be blinded by the screen while texting. I lowered the brightness all the way down, and the backlight essentially turned off; at first, I thought the phone turned off sporadically so I turned it back on...but it turned out that the screen was on, but the backlight was off.
After some more investigating, it seems like this is a hardware issue as I did a complete hard reset and the problem persists. Strange, but my replacement should be shipping sometime soon. Has this happened to anyone else?

gadgetluva said:
I noticed this when I was out Friday night at a dark bar as I was lowering my brightness so I wouldn't be blinded by the screen while texting. I lowered the brightness all the way down, and the backlight essentially turned off; at first, I thought the phone turned off sporadically so I turned it back on...but it turned out that the screen was on, but the backlight was off.
After some more investigating, it seems like this is a hardware issue as I did a complete hard reset and the problem persists. Strange, but my replacement should be shipping sometime soon. Has this happened to anyone else?
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Click to collapse
Accidentally gave you a thanks Lol. Mine doesn't do this, when I go to the wick settings, tap brightness, and slide it all the way down it just gets dim, doesn't turn off.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²

kcls said:
Mine doesn't do this, when I go to the wick settings, tap brightness, and slide it all the way down it just gets dim, doesn't turn off.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²
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Same. No lights out.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

When your screen goes out are you able to adjust the brightness afterwards?
Sent from my Nexus 4

XxSilent22xX said:
When your screen goes out are you able to adjust the brightness afterwards?
Sent from my Nexus 4
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Click to collapse
Yes, but I didn't realize this since I was in a really dark bar. When I got home, I played around with it and noticed that sliding the brightness all the way down to 0 resulted in the backlight turning off, and then the screen turning off within seconds. Very strange behavior.
Just something that I wanted people to be aware of so they can get their units swapped out.

Do you have a custom rom installed?

nba1341 said:
Do you have a custom rom installed?
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Click to collapse
Nope, stock everything. Locked bootloader, unrooted.
The screen actually doesn't turn off I found out. The backlight is off completely, but the screen stays on for the preset amount of time.

[Solved] Brightness dims very dark every wake?

Ever since as long as I can remember, my phones brightness will dim to a brightness so dark you just can't see it. Even if you manually set the brightness, once you lock and wake the screen, it's fine then suddenly switches to dark.
I've used multiple ROMs and they all do it. Is it a device issue, or could it be a kernel issue? I've not screwed with kernels so I don't know if it could be it. If it's a device issue, I'll be getting a replacement ASAP.
Any help is appreciated!

Now that I'm able to Google, I realize it's a common problem with the S4.
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4

Serfma said:
Ever since as long as I can remember, my phones brightness will dim to a brightness so dark you just can't see it. Even if you manually set the brightness, once you lock and wake the screen, it's fine then suddenly switches to dark.
I've used multiple ROMs and they all do it. Is it a device issue, or could it be a kernel issue? I've not screwed with kernels so I don't know if it could be it. If it's a device issue, I'll be getting a replacement ASAP.
Any help is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only time I had the screen go dim like you describe is I remember once following a phone call. It goes dark when you put the handset to your ear like it's supposed to, and lights back up when I pull it away from my head. I was stepping out of a truck into the broad daylight when I tried to hang up my phone, I couldn't see the screen very well. The other party ended the call, and my screen timed out while I was squinting at it. I pushed the home button and it lit right back up nice.
You got something going on, and if you tried all those different roms, say... can you nandroid back to stock? Did you try that?
I'd try everything I could on the outside chance of repair instead of replacement. If you get a replacement you might be stuck with that MF3 where you cannot install a custom recovery.

fukenbiker said:
The only time I had the screen go dim like you describe is I remember once following a phone call. It goes dark when you put the handset to your ear like it's supposed to, and lights back up when I pull it away from my head. I was stepping out of a truck into the broad daylight when I tried to hang up my phone, I couldn't see the screen very well. The other party ended the call, and my screen timed out while I was squinting at it. I pushed the home button and it lit right back up nice.
You got something going on, and if you tried all those different roms, say... can you nandroid back to stock? Did you try that?
I'd try everything I could on the outside chance of repair instead of replacement. If you get a replacement you might be stuck with that MF3 where you cannot install a custom recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mf3? Is that something new with the S4s to prevent custom ROMs?
It does not go pitch black. It goes very dim every time I wake the device. If you Google S4 screen dimming it's a wide problem.
Once you wake it, it's fine for 2 seconds and dims quite dark. It is not screen timeout/sleep/etc since I can still see the screen.
Sent from my SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4

I'm on MDJ and don't get any auto dimming of any sorts. Auto brightness is off, brightness controls about 1/3 brightness (indoors), but Power Saving mode is on with all three options on.

My S4 is MDL. I found out the problem (More than likely) was the Paranoid Android ROM. I was on ver. 3.69 and since switched to CM 10.2 Nightlies, latest as of today, and no screen dimming. I will install my usual apps and use it as normal and if it happens, it's probably an app. However, the only apps I use are ones such as SwiftKey, LightFlow, ASTRO, Chrome, and Dashclock.

I'm on stock MDL. It has only been occurring since I upgraded from MDB 3 days ago, and is a huge PITA because brightness controls are unresponsive during this time - I go into settings to adjust brightness since I have removed all the brightness controls from the notification panel as they've always worked just fine, and turn off auto brightness, scale it all the way to max, and it is still dim as crap.... Only fix I've seen is to reboot, which is obviously not ideal in most situations when I need to wake the device! I'm using STOCK kernel, STOCK ODEXED ROM as well, nothing crazy should be going on to screw with brightness settings being unresponsive either!

KryptosXLayer2 said:
I'm on stock MDL. It has only been occurring since I upgraded from MDB 3 days ago, and is a huge PITA because brightness controls are unresponsive during this time - I go into settings to adjust brightness since I have removed all the brightness controls from the notification panel as they've always worked just fine, and turn off auto brightness, scale it all the way to max, and it is still dim as crap.... Only fix I've seen is to reboot, which is obviously not ideal in most situations when I need to wake the device! I'm using STOCK kernel, STOCK ODEXED ROM as well, nothing crazy should be going on to screw with brightness settings being unresponsive either!
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Click to collapse
Do you by chance use Light Flow?
I solved the problem. I had "lcd_backlight" control flipped on in the settings of Light Flow. It fixed it. To tell if it's an app problem, just factory reset and try, once you boot up, to lock and wake the device to see if it happens. If it doesn't, it's an app problem more than likely, or even a general setting. Troubleshoot for the win!

Serfma said:
Do you by chance use Light Flow?
I solved the problem. I had "lcd_backlight" control flipped on in the settings of Light Flow. It fixed it. To tell if it's an app problem, just factory reset and try, once you boot up, to lock and wake the device to see if it happens. If it doesn't, it's an app problem more than likely, or even a general setting. Troubleshoot for the win!
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Click to collapse
I do use Light Flow, but I don't have either one of the LCD Backlight controls enabled, never have and never will, so I don't know how that could be affecting my phone at all.... That's a good start for some, but not for me, unfortunately! Good catch though
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S 4 using the XDA app

Serfma said:
Ever since as long as I can remember, my phones brightness will dim to a brightness so dark you just can't see it. Even if you manually set the brightness, once you lock and wake the screen, it's fine then suddenly switches to dark.
I've used multiple ROMs and they all do it. Is it a device issue, or could it be a kernel issue? I've not screwed with kernels so I don't know if it could be it. If it's a device issue, I'll be getting a replacement ASAP.
Any help is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this issue before on my Galaxy S3. I ended up replacing the front glass because of a dead pixel. Come to find out I had a sensor issue and that was causing my brightness auto going to whatever level it wanted.
Perhaps you're experiencing that too. Haven't heard or read of any sensor issues yet with the S4 but you could be the lucky winner!

[Q] Auto-dimming bug

Great phone but, it appears to be a bug with the screen dimming.
Regarding settings, I have everything turned off. Adapt display is off. Auto-brightness is off. Auto-adjust screen tone is off also.
I know Samsung displays dim if the phone overheats but my phone will auto-dim even if the phone is cool.
What I've found out is that the phone will only dim "permanently" when the screen is about to shut off.
For example: Set the screen shut off to 30 seconds and around the 28 second mark, the screen will dim for a couple of seconds before it shuts off. This is where the auto-dimming will "permanently" kick in. When the screen dims at the 28 second mark for a second, i'll touch the screen so it doesn't shut off. But by this time, the screen has dimmed already and won't go back to the regular brightness. I have to lock and unlock the phone for the dimmed screen to go away.
This scenario has happened every single time. Extremely annoying.
Anyone else experience this?

swy05 said:
Great phone but, it appears to be a bug with the screen dimming.
Regarding settings, I have everything turned off. Adapt display is off. Auto-brightness is off. Auto-adjust screen tone is off also.
I know Samsung displays dim if the phone overheats but my phone will auto-dim even if the phone is cool.
What I've found out is that the phone will only dim "permanently" when the screen is about to shut off.
For example: Set the screen shut off to 30 seconds and around the 28 second mark, the screen will dim for a couple of seconds before it shuts off. This is where the auto-dimming will "permanently" kick in. When the screen dims at the 28 second mark for a second, i'll touch the screen so it doesn't shut off. But by this time, the screen has dimmed already and won't go back to the regular brightness. I have to lock and unlock the phone for the dimmed screen to go away.
This scenario has happened every single time. Extremely annoying.
Anyone else experience this?
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Click to collapse
Seems like software problem, do you use custom roms? kernels? maybe any app that could control ur screen? try to do hard reset.

GodXen said:
Seems like software problem, do you use custom roms? kernels? maybe any app that could control ur screen? try to do hard reset.
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Click to collapse
Using stock Kit-Kat 4.4.2
No other strange apps. Ughh hate to have to do a hard reset. Just set this thing up yesterday brand new. :crying:

Have the exact same issue but it only happens some times very strange.

acerdroid said:
Have the exact same issue but it only happens some times very strange.
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Click to collapse
Yes, same here. It happens alot. Not every single time, but alot of the times.

Try this...
Hi
As the other user said it might be the software bug.
Please try this app. Disable your auto brightness and install this software https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitocassisi.luxlite
This lite version is free. Try this. If everything works, you may consider the paid version to support the dev guy...

Brightness Changes for no reason?

Anyone else having an issue with the brightness changing on their Note 3? I DO NOT have auto brightness on. Often times when using apps, the brightness will change, from maybe 100% to 70%. Its not a huge change, but its really annoying that it does this. I have a slider for the brightness on my notification screen, and it will still be at full when its at the 70% (Im not sure what the actual percentage is, just a guess). If I move the slider down and back up, its back to normal. Any ideas what this is?

Almost positive
xFaultx said:
Anyone else having an issue with the brightness changing on their Note 3? I DO NOT have auto brightness on. Often times when using apps, the brightness will change, from maybe 100% to 70%. Its not a huge change, but its really annoying that it does this. I have a slider for the brightness on my notification screen, and it will still be at full when its at the 70% (Im not sure what the actual percentage is, just a guess). If I move the slider down and back up, its back to normal. Any ideas what this is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am almost certain that this is because of the screen modes the phone has in the display settings. You should by default be on Adapt Display and that will change the setting automatically depending on if you're playing a game, watching a movie..ect..
Hope that answers that for you.

johnnybravo19 said:
I am almost certain that this is because of the screen modes the phone has in the display settings. You should by default be on Adapt Display and that will change the setting automatically depending on if you're playing a game, watching a movie..ect..
Hope that answers that for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will be while already browsing a page, after a random interval, the screen will go dark. Not always, but it happens relatively often

Stock?
xFaultx said:
It will be while already browsing a page, after a random interval, the screen will go dark. Not always, but it happens relatively often
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you on stock build, or a custom rom?