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[APP] SuperDim

RootDim (formerly known as ScreenDim) lets you set the screen brightness on backlit screens below what the OS normally allows, which is handy for amateur astronomy where the lowest normal OS backlight setting (even with a red nightmode) leaks enough through the black pixels to damage night vision. Moreover, SuperDim lets have several brightness profiles, and to include nightmode settings (enabled by ChainFire3D or Cyanogenmod's render fx) as part of the brightness profile.
Needs root.
Public domain, source code available. In Market (search for RootDim).

Now in Market (free, no ads).

I just uploaded version 1.10, which restores low brightness settings after the screen is turned off and back on (the OS normally was restoring its brighter screen).

Works well, but seems to mess with the functionality of the notification/charge LED (Nexus One, CM7.1)

bobtentpeg said:
Works well, but seems to mess with the functionality of the notification/charge LED (Nexus One, CM7.1)
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I assume this is when you use the other lights option to toggle these lights, or when you restore a profile, right?
In version 1.11 (just uploaded), I no longer restore other lights when a profile is loaded--this should help with your problem, as long as you don't touch the other lights. Eventually, I may add an option to choose which lights get restored from a profile.

I originally made SuperDim for setting very low backlight settings on LCDs, and so I made it not work on non-LCD screens (e.g., OLED). But I've since realized that the profile feature might be useful for non-LCD users as well, so I've released version 1.20 that supports non-LCD screens. It's in Market. While I was at it, I cleaned up the code a little, made it more javaish (I'm new to java).

My MyTouch 4G just seems to turn the screen off totally if i go below 20 brightness, it dims but then shuts off.

Doesn't work at all with Dell Streak 5

I'm sorry to say, but Screen Filter does the same, but doesn't require root.

fifarunnerr said:
I'm sorry to say, but Screen Filter does the same, but doesn't require root.
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Awesome, thanks for the Advise!

fifarunnerr said:
I'm sorry to say, but Screen Filter does the same, but doesn't require root.
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Click to collapse
Actually, all Screen Filter does is dim the colour of the pixels. This app actually modifies the screen backlight level. E.g. Screen Filter just makes the screen gray-er.
Also, works good on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, but the backlight completly switches of when set to under 15.
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI-IRIS using XDA Premium App

fifarunnerr said:
I'm sorry to say, but Screen Filter does the same, but doesn't require root.
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Click to collapse
Screen filter merely adds a black semi-transparent overlay across the screen, making it look dimmer.
This app adjusts the backlight, which means darker black levels on the screen.

Frosty666 said:
Actually, all Screen Filter does is dim the colour of the pixels. This app actually modifies the screen backlight level. E.g. Screen Filter just makes the screen gray-er.
Also, works good on Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, but the backlight completly switches of when set to under 15.
Sent from my X10 TripNMiUI-IRIS using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
My eyes don't care. +1 Screen Filter

lownox said:
My eyes don't care. +1 Screen Filter
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Your eyes would probably care if you were doing amateur astronomy under a dark sky (which is the primary purpose for SuperDim). Screen Filter doesn't turn down the backlight, and on a lot of devices there is enough backlight leaking through even completely black pixels to damage night vision. You can try this experiment. Turn a backlit device to a completely black screen (maybe view a black jpg) and take it to a completely dark room. Let your eyes dark adapt. The "black" screen will in fact probably be quite grey. (If it's really black, that's probably because you have an OLED device.)
When I do amateur astronomy, I am not infrequently looking to see objects way dimmer than backlit black pixels.

I'd like to do something about the screen turning completely off issue.
To that end, I need people to do some experiments for me, and I will be very grateful (I'll also give a free full version of Force2SD as compensation for the first couple of experimenters, if you want it--just email me). The first experiment is this. Download SuperDim 1.22, now up in the Market. Press the menu key, and choose "Turn on safe mode" (you can tell safe mode is on, because next time you pull up the menu, it says "Turn off safe mode"). Now, turn brightness down to 10. Does your screen turn off?
I should warn that very low brightness levels can be very low indeed. For instance, if I am outdoors on a sunny day, I have trouble telling the difference between brightness 4 and off. So you need to be in a dark area--I recommend a room without windows and with the lights off.
If the screen does not turn off at 10, turn it down to 5, and then 1. Let me know if it ever turns off.
I am guessing that in safe mode, it doesn't turn off at all.
What safe mode does is it makes very low brightness settings not persist. So if you are in safe mode and leave SuperDim, you lose your low brightness setting.
I'd also appreciate it if people who can normally turn their brightness down to 1 could do some experiments with safe mode. Specifically, I'd like to know if moving the slider to 1 in safe mode has the same effect on screen brightness as moving the slider to 1 in non-safe mode has. (Again, if you're one of the first few experimenters and want a free copy of Force2SD, email me.)
On my Archos 43, brightness 1 is very, very dim, but the screen is still on. And I can't tell the difference between safe mode and non-safe mode, except that in safe mode, the settings don't persist after I leave SuperDim.

Tried this app on my desire HD.
Great idea, but when I reach 10 and below, the backlight doesn't get lower.
If I use the adb method (don't remember the command), I can set the backlight manually all the way down to 0.
There is no difference with or without safe mode on.

inspire 4g with coredroid V7.0 doesnt work

elmanortega said:
inspire 4g with coredroid V7.0 doesnt work
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What happens? And does safe mode work?

I agree, doesn't work with Desire HD/Inspire 4G, safe mode only dims the brightness but no lower than normal, and only dims the brightness on the screen, regardless of your settings

kamranh3 said:
I agree, doesn't work with Desire HD/Inspire 4G, safe mode only dims the brightness but no lower than normal, and only dims the brightness on the screen, regardless of your settings
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I found a bug. In fact, the bug is such that I have no idea how it was managing to work on my device at all! In any case, I think I fixed it. Try 1.23 (should be in Market or here) and see if it does the job. If not, I have some more ideas.

[Q] Camera brightness issue Gingerbread

I am having this issue using the camera app on my Sense 3.0 ROM for the Evo.
I've noticed this on all Gingerbread based ROMs.
The camera app does this thing where it increases the brightness upon clicking on the app, and reduces it after exiting.
This is problematic for me, because I am a college student who uses my phone to take pictures of presentations in class. It is distracting for other students, especially in a dimly lit PowerPoint setting, to see a bright phone lifted up so that I can take a picture.
There are already enough idiots out there with their Macs on full brightness, I don't want to be part of that problem.

Same thing happens to my Desire : screen goes full bright when in Camera.

I have tried digging in the camera settings to see if there is a way to turn it off, but I cannot seem to do so.
Do you know of any way to turn that off.
I'm sure this is helpful when you are outdoors and suddenly need to grab a picture, but it isn't in my case.

anishannayya said:
I have tried digging in the camera settings to see if there is a way to turn it off, but I cannot seem to do so.
Do you know of any way to turn that off.
I'm sure this is helpful when you are outdoors and suddenly need to grab a picture, but it isn't in my case.
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It's not an issue it's built in to Gingerbread, just like the TV off animation...Google probably figured you'll need max brightness to use the cam, to help with viewing the screen. There's nothing you can do, if you change the brightness in settings, it doesn't change the cam setting.

But you can turn off animations if you want to.

anishannayya said:
But you can turn off animations if you want to.
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Yeah, but the camera thing can't be toggled, perhaps you can ask a dev to take a look into the source code, there should be information on how to change the brightness there.

LOL, I don't have enough posts to post in a dev thread.

Screen dimming app.

If any of you other users out there feel that the whites on this thing are too awesome for super late at night like I do, I found a app when searching for a f.lux type alternative for android. I have been using this app to help ease the stress on my eye late at night. I dont know about the techical side of what it does, or any of the jargon involved, but it applies a filter of sorts to dim the screen further than what the phone allows. I been using it a lot lately and figure I would share with you guys. If anyone has any recommendations for other similar apps, please share.
Tl:dr
Screen Filter
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.haxor
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

enomele said:
If any of you other users out there feel that the whites on this thing are too awesome for super late at night like I do, I found a app when searching for a f.lux type alternative for android. I have been using this app to help ease the stress on my eye late at night. I dont know about the techical side of what it does, or any of the jargon involved, but it applies a filter of sorts to dim the screen further than what the phone allows. I been using it a lot lately and figure I would share with you guys. If anyone has any recommendations for other similar apps, please share.
Tl:dr
Screen Filter
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.haxor
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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Or just turn on "Background Color" in Power Saving Settings.

Or if you want the screen brightness itself to be lower than what most ROMs allow, you can use this app called RootDim. It worked amazing on my xoom, not sure if it works on the SGSIII yet..
It requires root though..

yosterwp said:
Or if you want the screen brightness itself to be lower than what most ROMs allow, you can use this app called RootDim. It worked amazing on my xoom, not sure if it works on the SGSIII yet..
It requires root though..
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Screen filter does the same and doesn't require root. On our AMOLED screens this can save battery.
Also you can turn off those damn capacitive key lights by going to Settings>display>"touch Key light duration"> Always off.

I can confirm that Root dim does work for the SGS3 I use it on my phone.
Current~Samsung Galaxy S3 SynergyRom 1.3 & Imo's Lean Kernel v12 Oc'd @ 1.9ghz
~Acer Iconia A500 Stock
Past~Droid X Gummy ICS 1.2

Lux is an amazing auto brightness app and setting it up for your tastes is incredibly simple.
Go out in the sun and turn brightness up all the way using the app then "link" that setting, go in complete darkness and set it to your taste and link it, then indoor lighting, set it, link it. It then uses just those 3 settings to create a smooth graph of brightness values that are all perfect. You can have as many links as you want but i find the less settings you put in that app the better.
I tried all the suggested ones in here btw.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

I've tried and really like Lux (in fact I'm considering purchasing it soon) but I've noticed two issues. First is that sometimes it will not refresh itself and I have to open up the lux dash to get the brightness to change. It doesn't happen often, but it happens often enough to be annoying, and I have it set to automatically.
Also, (and this may simply be an issue with the S3 and not lux itself) but sometimes I will be in a decently lit room and be at 1 lux, while lights out is 0. Not a lot of variance unless it's really bright outside. Have you found anyway to increase the light sensors sensitivity?

noingwhat said:
I've tried and really like Lux (in fact I'm considering purchasing it soon) but I've noticed two issues. First is that sometimes it will not refresh itself and I have to open up the lux dash to get the brightness to change. It doesn't happen often, but it happens often enough to be annoying, and I have it set to automatically.
Also, (and this may simply be an issue with the S3 and not lux itself) but sometimes I will be in a decently lit room and be at 1 lux, while lights out is 0. Not a lot of variance unless it's really bright outside. Have you found anyway to increase the light sensors sensitivity?
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Try setting it to be always active in the task bar, that prevents it from being killed. Also try setting it to not use raw values for light sensor readings, this gives you a simple scale of 0-10 for readings and total darkness always reads as 0.
Edit: oops reread your post. That's weird that it is reading indoor light at 1. I usually get around 2 or 3. I used to have a screen protector on that covered the light sensor and that put it all over the place. Maybe that is what's causing it?

noingwhat said:
I've tried and really like Lux (in fact I'm considering purchasing it soon) but I've noticed two issues. First is that sometimes it will not refresh itself and I have to open up the lux dash to get the brightness to change. It doesn't happen often, but it happens often enough to be annoying, and I have it set to automatically.
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I noticed the same behavior with the free version. In my case, the lowest value the HTC Desire S can reach with its default Android auto brightness is in fact about 15%.
In LUX settings you can configure the "0" value to be lower and "bypass" the freeware limitation (you can't configure sub-zero levels in the free version). This will work when you test it in the dashboard, but during regular use the light level never goes below the 15% limit already set by the OS.
What I did was purchase the full version (to get astronomer mode along with all the settings unlocked) so I was able to leave the 0 level at its default 15% but link some light intensity values to sub-zero percentages. Guess what? It works great! Once you go into a very dark room, the display dims as far as you set it to.
Another problem with the free version was that a few times I unlocked the phone outside in full sunlight and LUX did not increase the brightness. It appeared almost completely black because the light level was at about 15-25% (the same level it would be inside a low lit room).
Again, with the full version I did not notice this problem (I've used the free version for 1 day and the paid version for 1 day but running tests in different light levels inside and outside).
It's like the free version is a bit buggy on purpose, and I remember uninstalling LUX free about 2 months because of this; I was thinking that if the free version does not work OK, I shouldn't buy the full version. Apparently this is not the case (touch wood).
Just for the record, it's on "dynamically adjust".
noingwhat said:
Also, (and this may simply be an issue with the S3 and not lux itself) but sometimes I will be in a decently lit room and be at 1 lux, while lights out is 0. Not a lot of variance unless it's really bright outside. Have you found anyway to increase the light sensors sensitivity?
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Click to collapse
If the display is a bit dirty (oily, dusty, etc) around the light sensor, you can try to clean it. If this is not the case, open the dashboard, let it determine the light level or hit "auto" a few times and make sure the reading is correct. Then just slide your finger along the yellow line to find the appropriate brightness level and long press the chain to link. Go to a brighter lit room then go back to the first room and see how LUX behaves. Also lock/unlock the phone a few times and see how it goes.
If you still have problems running LUX, disable it and check the default Android auto brightness to make sure it's not a sensor issue.
LUX also has the possibility to set the response delay under Settings -> Advanced -> Developer Settings (the last to just on the bottom, but for this you would need to buy the full version.

Inginerul said:
If the display is a bit dirty (oily, dusty, etc) around the light sensor, you can try to clean it. If this is not the case, open the dashboard, let it determine the light level or hit "auto" a few times and make sure the reading is correct. Then just slide your finger along the yellow line to find the appropriate brightness level and long press the chain to link. Go to a brighter lit room then go back to the first room and see how LUX behaves. Also lock/unlock the phone a few times and see how it goes.
If you still have problems running LUX, disable it and check the default Android auto brightness to make sure it's not a sensor issue.
LUX also has the possibility to set the response delay under Settings -> Advanced -> Developer Settings (the last to just on the bottom, but for this you would need to buy the full version.
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Thanks, but I think it is more of an issue of the sensor not being sensitive enough. I'm not sure if this is anything you can change in lux or if it would have to be edited in the kernel (or if it is fault of the hardware) but I just feel like the sensor doesn't go down low enough. As I said, I can get down to 1 or 0 in a decently lit room, and yes I have tried cleaning the screen. It's not like it jumps around or anything so it's not like I would notice anything in default auto brightness, it's just that it doesn't seem to be sensitive enough.

Screen filter is great!! I use as well!!!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Well for my Desire S, the lowest light level that the sensor can read is 160 lux (raw value). You can try and set LUX to use raw values because this is more accurate in my oppinion.

Another +1 for Screen filter here

Does anyone know how to use "luma" values for automatic adjustment in Lux instead of "lux" values?

noingwhat said:
Does anyone know how to use "luma" values for automatic adjustment in Lux instead of "lux" values?
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What I have noticed on my phone is that "luma" readings are taken from the front facing camera, while "lux" readings are taken from the ambient light sensor (you can chose which one to use in the settings).
I suppose the front facing camera uses more battery than the light sensor; it also appears to be more sensitive because it can read more light levels.

Inginerul said:
What I have noticed on my phone is that "luma" readings are taken from the front facing camera, while "lux" readings are taken from the ambient light sensor (you can chose which one to use in the settings).
I suppose the front facing camera uses more battery than the light sensor; it also appears to be more sensitive because it can read more light levels.
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I guess so. Thanks! But doesn't that kinda defeat the whole purpose of Lux? Because you can't use automatic mode with the camera(s).... so then what's it good for?

Well even if you don't have an ambient light sensor, you can still use the camera to check the light level when you unlock the phone and let LUX adjust the brightness level. Of course it's not dynamic but it's still better than having the brightness at 50% the whole time or changing brightness levels through a widget..

[Q] How do I disable button backlight?

I have an app that dims the display and makes it more readable at night. It's called easy eyez, and it's good on all the devices I tried so far.
On the Nexus 5 though, there is a problem. The buttons keep their brightness.
I'm looking for a way to shutdown their brightness or better, make the app effect work even on those buttons.
Does anyone know?

domenicop said:
I have an app that dims the display and makes it more readable at night. It's called easy eyez, and it's good on all the devices I tried so far.
On the Nexus 5 though, there is a problem. The buttons keep their brightness.
I'm looking for a way to shutdown their brightness or better, make the app effect work even on those buttons.
Does anyone know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google changed the API and ****ed all these auto brightness apps. According to the dev of Lux Auto Brightness:
"This is a known issue and a limitation of the Android API. I'm working on bringing a Nexus 5 plugin to Lux to provide a better experience."
I'm not sure how a plug in will work, but if it is only useful as a target for Tasker then it's more or less useless to me. Time will tell.

[Official Pie] Auto Brightness

Hi all.
Is it me or the auto brightness of Pie works way worse compared to Oreo' one?
Too much bright inside, too much dark outside.
Just my impressions. Your thoughts?
Hints / Suggestions?
Sent from OP6 via Tapatalk

ca110475 said:
Hi all.
Is it me or the auto brightness of Pie works way worse compared to Oreo' one?
Too much bright inside, too much dark outside.
Just my impressions. Your thoughts?
Hints / Suggestions?
Sent from OP6 via Tapatalk
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Definately worse that Oreo. The pie stable was just a rushed update

For me, the auto brightness initially was working on the extreme ends on pie, but after constantly adjusting it to suit my needs, adaptive brightness has worked it's magic and now for me works exactly as I'd want it to work.

emil_515 said:
For me, the auto brightness initially was working on the extreme ends on pie, but after constantly adjusting it to suit my needs, adaptive brightness has worked it's magic and now for me works exactly as I'd want it to work.
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Do you mean it is an official documented / mentioned feature the fact that leaving adaptive brightness on and still manually correct it, will lead in time to system recognizing your needs and slowly adjust accordingly?
Or is it something we're just guessing?
Sent from OP6 via Tapatalk

ca110475 said:
Do you mean it is an official documented / mentioned feature the fact that leaving adaptive brightness on and still manually correct it, will lead in time to system recognizing your needs and slowly adjust accordingly?
Or is it something you we're just guessing?
Sent from OP6 via Tapatalk
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It is something that I have experienced after the update to pie.

The Pie update is just a friggin mess. Horrible brightness, time zone changing, bank apps not working, future alarm notifications, awful interface with the info cards and pull down menu notifications, websites loading strange, developer options nested in another settings menu, less options in the settings area, phone dialer button is green... I rolled back to 5.1.11 because of all the hassle.
And yes, I have bug reports and yes, I even tried it with a full wipe and fresh flash of 9.0. Between Google's design choices and the bugs, Pie is awful.

It has always been really bad for me.... Too dark all the time.... it doesn't really respond accurately and fast enough....

ca110475 said:
Do you mean it is an official documented / mentioned feature the fact that leaving adaptive brightness on and still manually correct it, will lead in time to system recognizing your needs and slowly adjust accordingly?
Or is it something we're just guessing?
Sent from OP6 via Tapatalk
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I have also to say that is working better after sometime, probably adjusted to my eyes.

meistr91 said:
I have also to say that is working better after sometime, probably adjusted to my eyes.
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WTF ls the point have having Auto brightness if you need to set it manually for a little while? This is just a bad excuse for a poorly see everyone's feature. Nobothern9honebhas this issue and even on Oreo it wasn't an issue

yldlj said:
WTF ls the point have having Auto brightness if you need to set it manually for a little while? This is just a bad excuse for a poorly see everyone's feature. Nobothern9honebhas this issue and even on Oreo it wasn't an issue
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Go and read about it, ask google. I think now its called adaptive auto brightbess or smntg like that, just use it adjusting just will help it for auto feature to give the best screen brightness. Not everyone sees the same in the same light conditions. So this new adaptive brightness in pie is aiming to that. By adjusting it to your needs how u see it better in different light conditions it just helps phone to learn about everyones different vision/seeing levels.
But it just my opinionl

meistr91 said:
Go and read about it, ask google. I think now its called adaptive auto brightbess or smntg like that, just use it adjusting just will help it for auto feature to give the best screen brightness. Not everyone sees the same in the same light conditions. So this new adaptive brightness in pie is aiming to that. By adjusting it to your needs how u see it better in different light conditions it just helps phone to learn about everyones different vision/seeing levels.
But it just my opinionl
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I have read about it and apparently it's a WIP. Doesn't make sense to put a WIP feature in a stable build. Don't get me wrong I love the OP6 and the pie release is ok but it was very much rushed out. They should have taken there time and released a pie build that was perfect. Beta builds should be used to make changes and fixes.