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How can you dim the screen further?

Hey Everyone,
As has been mentioned many times in other threads:
1) The LCD is often the biggest battery drainer
2) The 'minimum' setting of the brightness setting is still needlessly bright.
It certainly can be pushed further down for dim/night/dark settings.
3) Certain apps "dim" the screen but are just changing the color, not the backlight. So while useful they still aren't helping your battery.
Following some tips from a different android phone, I found this file:
/sys/devices/platform_/nov_cabc.0/leds/lcd-backlight/brightness
Which appears to contain the current 'brightness #' of the LCD backlight.
Using the normal Brightness slider, the value changes from 30 - 255, with 255 being the brightest. So this clearly could be reduced further.
Setting 'Screen Filter' to 50% brightness has no effect on the value.
Here's something interesting:
Assume the screen is already set at lowest brightness.
When I use 'Widgetsoid' to set brightness to '1', the screen dims slightly, then brightens back up. The 'brightness' file gets set to 20.
'widgetsoid 20' feels the same as 'min brightness 30'. - I wonder if Android is enforcing minimum backlight?
Anyway, thought that would be interesting to note. I'm going to download some other screen dimmer apps and see what they do.
- Frank

I found this online which is very interesting reading:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35972886/An-Analysis-of-Power-Consumption-in-a-Smart-Phone
At '30' they said the display consumed 7.8 mW, while at 255 it consumed 414 (!!!)
Various apps coud push the value to 20 - tasker, adjbrightness.
Tasker tries to set it lower but as with widgetsoid, you can see the screen get forced back up to 20.
adjbrightness can "set" it lower than 20, but the entire screen blacks out, even at 19. Remember where the other buttons are so you can restore brightness!
- Frank

Whoa, thanks for the information. That pretty insane but its an apparently in the Market: Screen Filter, saves a helluva lot of battery.
Edit: Nevermind, Frank shut me up LOL.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

I read a thread that said that the stock rom just doesn't allow setting it that low.
Ah well
- Frank

ChodTheWacko said:
I read a thread that said that the stock rom just doesn't allow setting it that low.
Ah well
- Frank
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Click to collapse
Can you set it lower in other roms - like cm7?

netter123 said:
Can you set it lower in other roms - like cm7?
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Click to collapse
I've been playing with CM7 which has some nice features for customizing the auto-brightness settings as well as the "dim" value which seems to be the lowest value the screen will go to and what it gets set to when the screen dims before shutting off after a timeout.
For the Dim setting in CM7, the default is 20. The next highest setting in the picker is 18. I believe it goes down to 0 or 1. When set to 18 or lower the screen blanks out completely when dimmed. Depending on how you test this, you may have a problem getting the screen back, so be careful you know where your widget button is on the screen to bring it back... 20 seems to be the lowest value. However, while dim, in a very dark room it could certainly be even dimmer so I don't know why lower values don't work.
I've also found the light detector doesn't seem to detect a continuum of light levels. It seems to be quantized at particular values, so there's a pretty hard limit on how fine you can set the auto brightness levels since the lowest light reading it seems to take is not very sensitive. It can't seem to distinguish between a fully darkened room and a dimly lit room, so setting the lowest value automatically makes the screen too dark to be comfortable in many environments, but then too bright for a really dark room. I don't know if this is an issue with the ROM software or a hardware limitation of the sensor. I've set my lowest auto setting to 40 which seems to work well, then I manually switch it to the dim value (20) if I'm in the dark.

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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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..

Fix adaptive brightness (windows rt/8)

I customized a luminosity curve for my surface rt, just edit the registry keys.
Download extract and run the attached .reg file and confirm the insertion of the Keys, then reboot the system.
Alert to make a backup of the old keys if you want to restore the previous state.
This change is compatible with all windows 8 but I have tested only on the surface.
Adaptive brightness varies proportionally to the user manual brightness, I suggest to manually adjust the brightness bar to about 20%, if you place the bar at 0 the brightness will be minimal with no automatic adaptation.
Appreciated thanks
New version v2
New improved version.
Try it and tell me if it's okay.
In the zip you will find the normal version and one with more brightness in the dark
I suggest to manually adjust the brightness bar to about 25%

So you have a fix, that's great. But to what? You didn't state what the problem is. Neither did you way what you are doing differently over the default values. Why would me, or anybody else for that matter, want do download this?

Amax said:
So you have a fix, that's great. But to what? You didn't state what the problem is. Neither did you way what you are doing differently over the default values. Why would me, or anybody else for that matter, want do download this?
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Click to collapse
In my surface the luminosity curve does not satisfy me.
The display seemed to have only three levels of brightness, setting an average value (ie on the desk in the room in the morning) adaptivity did not fit values ​​for low-light (night) and lots of light, that is to say the brightness in the dark was not a minimum making it annoying for the view and unnecessary consumption of battery, instead with shaded light levels brightness became easily maximum, with again a waste of battery.
This forced me to move often the brightness bar manually, but now with my calibration does not touch more because it adapts automatically to any light condition.
Also the adaptation of brightness occurred after 3 seconds by the change of light, whereas now changes instantly in 0,1 seconds (100ms).

I like it a lot, just what I was looking for.
I use mostly in low light conditions my surface so it is very useful.
Just one remark: it is too sensitive so it is changing screen brightness very quickly even when I just touching the upper part of the screen and making a little shade on the light sensor...
So I think instead of 1 msec. would be better 3 msec.
Would you please and make a 3. version of the settings with 3 msec.?

Alapar said:
I like it a lot, just what I was looking for.
I use mostly in low light conditions my surface so it is very useful.
Just one remark: it is too sensitive so it is changing screen brightness very quickly even when I just touching the upper part of the screen and making a little shade on the light sensor...
So I think instead of 1 msec. would be better 3 msec.
Would you please and make a 3. version of the settings with 3 msec.?
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Click to collapse
100ms not 1ms! However, this file will change only the time in 300ms

antys86 said:
100ms not 1ms! However, this file will change only the time in 300ms
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Click to collapse
You are right, 100 ms. I was in a hurry. Thanks for the fast response and update

Your v2 seems to be working fine for me. Before applying it I could really tell when my surface was adjusting the screen, after applying it the transitions seems smoother and less abrupt.
I have been looking for documentation about how all of these things really work and the closest thing i could find was this link http://superuser.com/questions/644538/customize-adaptative-brightness-in-windows-8
but they seem to be using a different registry location than what you are and different registry names
regardless your settings seem to work immediately after restarting the sensor service

Adaptive Brightness Does Not Work

Has anyone else had issues with their Adaptive Brightness not working. Toggling the setting has no effect on my display. For such an expensive phone I expect things like this to work.

Yes, it doesn't work that great for me either. I mean I can see it adjusts the brightness "somewhat". But it appears it is not nearly as dramatic as on my Galaxy S7 which would pretty much perfectly adjust the brightness.
I agree that a phone this expensive should do it correctly out of the box. Google please listen.

This is the intended function as I understood it, so I googled it and here confirms. This is not intended to operate the same as auto brightness many other phones use.
In Android L, Google's introduced a new feature called Adaptive Brightness that combines manual and auto brightness. You can manually adjust the brightness level to a state you like. Once it's set, your screen will adjust based on ambient light so it stays at the same brightness relative to the light around you. This way you can set the screen to your preferences without sticking to an absolute level.
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Been this way a long time. Would this be your first Nexus/Pixel phone?
Source

The problem I have is that every time the phone is rebooted, adaptive brightness is set back to Off, even though it was On when the phone was restarted. Running NDE63V and not rooted.

Question Adaptive brightness - do you think it works good?

Hello ,
I observe that, my s22ultra in the same conditions (light intensity) make darker screen than my old note10+.
In my old phone (note 10+), the adaptive brightness works very well for my eyes (maybe excluding reaction speed - but never it wasn't too bright or too dark (in my opinion), never had to change any settings.
S22Ultra always make's screen too dark for me (in all lighting conditions) and i compare works of with my old note10+ and approved my suspicion that s22u makes screen darker than note10+ in the same conditions.
In general, the "jump / scale" of switching from light to dark and vice versa is good, but I would have to move the "threshold / level 0" action to a slightly brighter - if anyone understands what I mean - you can do something about it, someone has an idea ? Can I fix working of this function ?
What do you think about adaptive brightness in S22U?
Are you satisfied with its functioning?
See the differences compared to your old phone (what mobile it was)?
Thank you very much for any suggestions

I have two N10+'s and as far as I'm concerned adaptive brightness never worked right. Maybe better than my S4. I disable and use manual control, easier on the battery, display and retinas. It also varies in spite of not seeing huge changes in lighting conditions when sitting, I find this very distracting.
Best practice to limit display on in direct sunlight to seconds not minutes. Avoid using in direct sunlight whenever possible.
I try to limit brightness to less than 50%, 30-40% is typical. As a result after almost 3 years of heavy usage my original N10+'s display is still perfect with no signs of wear.
If I know I'll need to use the phone in bright conditions I will temporarily enable auto brightness sometimes. Otherwise I find it useless and generally too bright.