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[Q] Auto-brightness too dim?!

I noticed after playing a bit with my TF that the auto-brightness is a bit too dim than what I'd like. Definitely not nearly as bright as my EVO, iPad, or Nook Color. I ended up setting it fixed at half brightness. Anyone else agree/disagree?

I agree, it's a bit on the dark side but its not too bad.

Autobrightness is calibrated poorly on pretty much every device unfortunately, I'd guess the Transformer isn't all that different.
http://www.displaymate.com/AutoBrightness_Controls_2.htm

I think the TF's screen is just dimmer as a whole (this is compared to my iPad 2). I don't mind it when doing things like surfing and email, etc. It only bothers me when I'm watching a movie because I have it set to about 90% brightness, which is pretty much even with my iPad 2 set at 60%, and the light bleeding is more apparent on the TF when set to that (this also makes the little home task bar buttons on the stock movie player more apparent as well. Why can't there be a movie player that just shows the movie and nothing else?)
I guess it makes sense though since the TF screen is bigger than the iPad 2's. Like in TV's; the smaller the screen, the brighter and better contrast they'll be.

I saw this also. I have auto brightness turned off and have it 1 click before max brightness.
I wonder if it could be dirt or grime covering the sensor next to the camera?

akarol said:
I noticed after playing a bit with my TF that the auto-brightness is a bit too dim than what I'd like. Definitely not nearly as bright as my EVO, iPad, or Nook Color. I ended up setting it fixed at half brightness. Anyone else agree/disagree?
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Click to collapse
I agree. I don't know why they don't let user pick the initial brigtness and based on that, adjust the lighting. It seems like an easy thing to do.

nxp3 said:
I agree. I don't know why they don't let user pick the initial brigtness and based on that, adjust the lighting. It seems like an easy thing to do.
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I thought it never went below the value you set it at just prior to turning on AUTO.
IE- If you have it set at 50% and turning on auto it'll never go below the 50% mark.
I haven't messed about with auto since my first firmware so maybe they changed this in later ones.

jimbob1971 said:
I thought it never went below the value you set it at just prior to turning on AUTO.
IE- If you have it set at 50% and turning on auto it'll never go below the 50% mark.
I haven't messed about with auto since my first firmware so maybe they changed this in later ones.
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Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure it's reverse, as in you set the bar to the highest setting you want and it adjusts to the room settings without exceeding the highest point you set. That's how it works in my iPad 2 at least.
Edit: This is, indeed, how it works on the TF

songmeesay said:
I'm pretty sure it's reverse, as in you set the bar to the highest setting you want and it adjusts to the room settings without exceeding the highest point you set. That's how it works in my iPad 2 at least.
Edit: This is, indeed, how it works on the TF
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Click to collapse
Not true. I just set mine to the lowest setting, then turned on the auto. It still brightens when there is light present.

If you start testing with auto brightness, one thing that you need to be aware of that makes it hard to test is that the TF checks to see if it should increase brightness frequently, but it only checks to reduces brightness after the screen goes to sleep or a power off. So once it is bright it seems to stay that way.

dmeehl said:
Not true. I just set mine to the lowest setting, then turned on the auto. It still brightens when there is light present.
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Click to collapse
I stand corrected. Looks like Auto, truly is, auto no matter where you set your point in the bar. I just set it on the highest and then hit auto and went into a darker part of the room and it did dim the screen down, and I did the reverse like you did and it adjusted brighter in a higher lit part of the room.

brachiopod said:
If you start testing with auto brightness, one thing that you need to be aware of that makes it hard to test is that the TF checks to see if it should increase brightness frequently, but it only checks to reduces brightness after the screen goes to sleep or a power off. So once it is bright it seems to stay that way.
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Click to collapse
I don't know if that is true, because if that was the case, it should be brighter most times. and less likely to dim, but I'm having the opposite effect.

So what's the final verdict. Will AB limit itself to whatever manual brightness you had set as the max or min?

akarol said:
So what's the final verdict. Will AB limit itself to whatever manual brightness you had set as the max or min?
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Click to collapse
From the testing I did, AB bypasses any setting you put on the bar and just adjusts to room light conditions.

I just bought a B60 serial TF and it has the dim auto brightness issue too.

I have also experienced this dimmer than what I want the brightness to be when I set to auto issue. So I revert back to the default brightness setting that came with Android 3.1. Much better on my eyes.

[Q] Screen Brightness Level?

Is there any way to calculate the maximum Nits of the Desire S screen? Or is this published somewhere?
Thanks

According to GSMArena, the max brightness on a white screen is 193 nits... that sounds horribly low, even the Incredible S and Sensation, which I thought use the same SLCD, are 275 and 438 respectively. Why is the Desire S so low?
Can anyone shed some light on this please? Or is there any way to push it past the maximum brightness available in Android settings?

Just put it on auto-brightness...

aajk said:
Just put it on auto-brightness...
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Click to collapse
No I mean is there any way to push the screen beyond 100%, maybe using some kind of hack? Because surely it should be able to reach the brightness of the Incredible S, which uses the same screen?

djsubtronic said:
No I mean is there any way to push the screen beyond 100%, maybe using some kind of hack? Because surely it should be able to reach the brightness of the Incredible S, which uses the same screen?
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Click to collapse
Hang on a second...I don't see what you trying to achieve out by this?
Apart from in direct sunlight the screen is easily bright enough. We spend most of the time trying to minimize the screen brightness in an attempt to minimize the biggest battery consumer - which is the screen. I've read several posts complaining that the Auto-Brightness setting is in fact too bright and several people have hacked the code so that it displays dimmer settings by default.
So why would you want a brighter screen? do you live a desert?
I'm not intending to have a pop, just trying to understand, if it's simply because our device scores less than the others....Who cares!
ps
Whats a nit? I thought that was something children get in their hair?

ben_pyett said:
Hang on a second...I don't see what you trying to achieve out by this?
Apart from in direct sunlight the screen is easily bright enough. We spend most of the time trying to minimize the screen brightness in an attempt to minimize the biggest battery consumer - which is the screen. I've read several posts complaining that the Auto-Brightness setting is in fact too bright and several people have hacked the code so that it displays dimmer settings by default.
So why would you want a brighter screen? do you live a desert?
I'm not intending to have a pop, just trying to understand, if it's simply because our device scores less than the others....Who cares!
ps
Whats a nit? I thought that was something children get in their hair?
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Click to collapse
It was partly curiosity (as I was under the impression that the SLCDs should similar, if not the same, brightness levels) and partly because I find myself in sunny situations where I can't see the screen quite often.
And a nit is basically 1 candela per square meter, a measure of screen brightness.

Well, I have it set to auto brightness, but even when on full, it doesn't take much sun - take today, overcast bright - to render the screen all but unreadable.

al89nut said:
Well, I have it set to auto brightness, but even when on full, it doesn't take much sun - take today, overcast bright - to render the screen all but unreadable.
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I'm not going to disagree with you on that , as I myself also find the device pretty un-usable outdoors....even in the UK weather. Although it is possible when at full brightness.
In fact I'm pretty sure that I've simply trained myself not to use the phone outdoors just for that reason.

So back to my original query
Does anyone know any type of hack that allows pushing the brightness beyond 100%?

Do any custom ROMs/Kernels allow you to have full control over screen brightness?

Regardless of ambient light, is there a way to set full brightness on the S6?
Running the stock ROM/kernel, even on full britghtness, the screen can go brighter unless the light sensor detects a high ambient light. I am wondering if its possible to change this.
Currently means PWM is still active on the screen even on full brightness. Same with the note 4 but this was not the case with previous samsung devices. PWM on full brightness is a deal breaker for me so I need to know now or this phone is being sold.

I think it's not really advisable to keep the screen on "extended brightness" mode for longer periods of time, because AMOLED panels wear out over time and this would be a definite way to make it wear out faster. Also it generates a lot of heat. There's a reason why Samsung implemented this adaptive mechanism.

mindfever91 said:
I think it's not really advisable to keep the screen on "extended brightness" mode for longer periods of time, because AMOLED panels wear out over time and this would be a definite way to make it wear out faster. Also it generates a lot of heat. There's a reason why Samsung implemented this adaptive mechanism.
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Thankyou for replying but you did not answer the question at all. I specifically stated this is a deal breaker for me, and that it means that I have to sell this $1000 phone for great effort at a reduced price because of it.
If something is this important to me then I clearly do not care about wearing it out over time. My galaxy s1+s2 has been running on modified AMOLED gamma values for 6 years and they are still fine so I dont care if the displays wears out in 10 years time.
I cannot use the phone becuase the PWM effect means the screen flickers like crazy. It gives me a headache after 1 minute of use. The phone is worthless to me in this state. If i can increase the brightness to full hopefuly the PWM effect stops and I can use a screen filter to lower the brightness, so it will not wear our the display as well.
Lastly why was this moved to Help and Troubleshooting, it is a very important question about the phone. All previous SGS phones have been fine, this is a game changer for the worst.

Yuge said:
Thankyou for replying but you did not answer the question at all. I specifically stated this is a deal breaker for me, and that it means that I have to sell this $1000 phone for great effort at a reduced price because of it.
If something is this important to me then I clearly do not care about wearing it out over time. My galaxy s1+s2 has been running on modified AMOLED gamma values for 6 years and they are still fine so I dont care if the displays wears out in 10 years time.
I cannot use the phone becuase the PWM effect means the screen flickers like crazy. It gives me a headache after 1 minute of use. The phone is worthless to me in this state. If i can increase the brightness to full hopefuly the PWM effect stops and I can use a screen filter to lower the brightness, so it will not wear our the display as well.
Lastly why was this moved to Help and Troubleshooting, it is a very important question about the phone. All previous SGS phones have been fine, this is a game changer for the worst.
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Click to collapse
Not really sure where the issue is at, are you stating that when the brightness is reduced you can visibly see the phone flicker? I use an app called Velis Auto Brightness, it gives you way more customization to the brightness level. I like it because it mathematically calculates based off the luminescence (in the environment) of how bright the display should be to show accurate color perception, rather than focusing on batter life as much.
The extra brightness mode on the phone is just a high contrast feature, I haven't found a way to force it on as of yet. I know the phone goes up to 700 nits in sunlight, but the biggest difference is the contrast feature on it.

Brittany_Menton said:
Not really sure where the issue is at, are you stating that when the brightness is reduced you can visibly see the phone flicker? I use an app called Velis Auto Brightness, it gives you way more customization to the brightness level. I like it because it mathematically calculates based off the luminescence (in the environment) of how bright the display should be to show accurate color perception, rather than focusing on batter life as much.
The extra brightness mode on the phone is just a high contrast feature, I haven't found a way to force it on as of yet. I know the phone goes up to 700 nits in sunlight, but the biggest difference is the contrast feature on it.
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Click to collapse
I can see the phone flicker even when the brightness is on max setting, because it is not truly the the max brightness of the screen hardware. All the galaxy phones after the s2 did this, except when you turned them to max they stopped flickering. The s6 is the first device that does not allow you manual control over brightness, so I just want to know if custom roms have done this.
IF you don't know what I mean this is how they flicker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2f0TZtpRA4
Also you are wrong that the extra brightness is just contrast, it increase the lumens as well as reduces or stops the flicker PWM effect. This is how phones using PWM reduce brightness, by making the screen flicker on and off, whereas in phones like the S2 the actual display dimmed. Some people can see this and are sensitive to it, some people are sensitive to to it but they don't know it, and some people dont see it and aren't affected by it.
But it doesn't look like anyone has made a Kernel that allows for full control over the AMOLED in the S6 so I plan on selling the phone soon.
Lastly I hope someone moves this to a more appropriate section where a DEV can see it, not the basic QA section like how do i change wallpaper.

Yuge said:
I can see the phone flicker even when the brightness is on max setting, because it is not truly the the max brightness of the screen hardware. All the galaxy phones after the s2 did this, except when you turned them to max they stopped flickering. The s6 is the first device that does not allow you manual control over brightness, so I just want to know if custom roms have done this.
IF you don't know what I mean this is how they flicker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2f0TZtpRA4
Also you are wrong that the extra brightness is just contrast, it increase the lumens as well as reduces or stops the flicker PWM effect. This is how phones using PWM reduce brightness, by making the screen flicker on and off, whereas in phones like the S2 the actual display dimmed. Some people can see this and are sensitive to it, some people are sensitive to to it but they don't know it, and some people dont see it and aren't affected by it.
But it doesn't look like anyone has made a Kernel that allows for full control over the AMOLED in the S6 so I plan on selling the phone soon.
Lastly I hope someone moves this to a more appropriate section where a DEV can see it, not the basic QA section like how do i change wallpaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really don't see the problem. All of the phones today flicker, that's how they show images on the screen. You're not going to find custom roms on this device because AOSP is not working on the phone yet, so if its a deal breaker go ahead and return it and get a new phone.

Yuge said:
I can see the phone flicker even when the brightness is on max setting, because it is not truly the the max brightness of the screen hardware. All the galaxy phones after the s2 did this, except when you turned them to max they stopped flickering. The s6 is the first device that does not allow you manual control over brightness, so I just want to know if custom roms have done this.
IF you don't know what I mean this is how they flicker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2f0TZtpRA4
Also you are wrong that the extra brightness is just contrast, it increase the lumens as well as reduces or stops the flicker PWM effect. This is how phones using PWM reduce brightness, by making the screen flicker on and off, whereas in phones like the S2 the actual display dimmed. Some people can see this and are sensitive to it, some people are sensitive to to it but they don't know it, and some people dont see it and aren't affected by it.
But it doesn't look like anyone has made a Kernel that allows for full control over the AMOLED in the S6 so I plan on selling the phone soon.
Lastly I hope someone moves this to a more appropriate section where a DEV can see it, not the basic QA section like how do i change wallpaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Questions do not belong into Development. It will be clear once you read the respective section rules.. I'm afraid that you'll have to live with the thread in Q&A

Adaptive Brightness

I think I've gotten too used to this feature on my old Note 4 with CyanogenMod, because I really miss it on my V20.
I just got the phone today, and so far, I really enjoy using it. But I'm having trouble with the lack of adaptive brightness. I like to have my phone screen dark (dark themes, low brightness, etc), battery saving or not. With adaptive brightness, I could set the brightness slider pretty low, and still have automatic adjustments; the screen would just be darker in brighter light than it would be on a higher setting.
It looks like LG got rid of this and put the old auto brightness back. I know most people prefer this, but I do not. The screen is just too bright for me. Is there any way to get adaptive brightness on here, preferably without root?
H918 (TMO)

Check out this thread for some ideas.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/help/auto-brightness-t3490880

pbelcomp said:
Check out this thread for some ideas.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/help/auto-brightness-t3490880
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks like Lux is the only option. I've used it before and never really enjoyed it. I installed it anyway but brightness is really jumpy. I guess I have to hope T-Mobile adds it back in.

Zacharee1 said:
It looks like Lux is the only option. I've used it before and never really enjoyed it. I installed it anyway but brightness is really jumpy. I guess I have to hope T-Mobile adds it back in.
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You need to adjust the settings. You can tell the app how quickly/slowly to ramp up/down the brightness. How much of a change in brightness is required before the change is actually made (so the screen isn't jumping around by 1% every time you move it in your hand). You can set brightness levels for certain ambient light levels, all to your choosing. It takes a little bit of time to dial it in, but it's far better than the garbage auto-brightness LG uses. I too miss the built-in adaptive brightness.

DC dimming

I am interested in getting either this phone or the regular one plus 7, but I have horrible time using a oled screen due to pwm. I suffer from severe headaches and eye strain.
So Im wondering if there is anyone else out there that suffers like I do, is using this phone and does dc dimming actually help?
Please if you dont know what pwm is or if it's not a problem for you Dont Comment.
I appreciate any help you can give.
Thank you!

I wonder if the 90Hz refresh would help....

I don't have that issue while using dc dimming but if i turn it off, after about 5 min i do notice my eyes hurting and stuff. DC dimming only works when the brightness is very low (i believe)

Hi, I know the thread is old but I wanted to share my views about this topic.
I am one of the few people who are sensitive to PWM flicker used in OLEDs. Before I switched to OP7 Pro, I had OP3. OP3 display destroyed my eyes and i came to know that PWM was the cause of my eye discomfort and headaches.
I switched to OP7 Pro as it had DC dimming which reduces the discomfort to PWM sensitive users. And to a huge extent this has helped me with the discomfort. But I still get headaches after prolonged viewing of the screen so I take frequent breaks and avoid extensive reading on the phone.
I have done some research about OP7 Pro display and turns out that PWM frequency is around 350hz (the more the better) when the screen is kept at 90Hz refresh rate and around 150hz PWM frequency at 60 Hz refresh rate. SO it is advised to keep display at 90Hz. All other phones have roughly 250Hz PWM frequency. Also, our phone’s display uses PWM when brightness drops below 50% which is really good as some other OEMS use PWM brightness control below 95% display brightness. So I keep the DC dimming on and use the phone at low brightness. I also use an app called OLED saver though I dont know whether it is redundant as it does same thing as DC dimming.
Recently I started noticing something after upgrading to OOS Android 10. I noticed that DC dimming implementation is different on OOS android 10 than on OOS android 9. I started getting headaches and eye discomfort on OOS android 10. I noticed that the PWM flicker is much more evident on OOS 10 .I used camera pro mode on another phone and reduced the shutter speed to 1/1000th and viewed OP7P screen through it. The flicker was evident. So I reverted back to OOS 9 and the discomfort was greatly reduced. I think I will stay on OOS 9 for the future
There is one thing I am very clear about is that all the OLED screen phones nowadays use PWM brightness control and even if DC Dimming is implemented the OLED screen will still flicker slightly. And if anyone is very sensitive to PWM then buy LCD screen phones. It’s the only option

Same Problem
daninantro said:
Hi, I know the thread is old but I wanted to share my views about this topic.
I am one of the few people who are sensitive to PWM flicker used in OLEDs. Before I switched to OP7 Pro, I had OP3. OP3 display destroyed my eyes and i came to know that PWM was the cause of my eye discomfort and headaches.
I switched to OP7 Pro as it had DC dimming which reduces the discomfort to PWM sensitive users. And to a huge extent this has helped me with the discomfort. But I still get headaches after prolonged viewing of the screen so I take frequent breaks and avoid extensive reading on the phone.
I have done some research about OP7 Pro display and turns out that PWM frequency is around 350hz (the more the better) when the screen is kept at 90Hz refresh rate and around 150hz PWM frequency at 60 Hz refresh rate. SO it is advised to keep display at 90Hz. All other phones have roughly 250Hz PWM frequency. Also, our phone’s display uses PWM when brightness drops below 50% which is really good as some other OEMS use PWM brightness control below 95% display brightness. So I keep the DC dimming on and use the phone at low brightness. I also use an app called OLED saver though I dont know whether it is redundant as it does same thing as DC dimming.
Recently I started noticing something after upgrading to OOS Android 10. I noticed that DC dimming implementation is different on OOS android 10 than on OOS android 9. I started getting headaches and eye discomfort on OOS android 10. I noticed that the PWM flicker is much more evident on OOS 10 .I used camera pro mode on another phone and reduced the shutter speed to 1/1000th and viewed OP7P screen through it. The flicker was evident. So I reverted back to OOS 9 and the discomfort was greatly reduced. I think I will stay on OOS 9 for the future
There is one thing I am very clear about is that all the OLED screen phones nowadays use PWM brightness control and even if DC Dimming is implemented the OLED screen will still flicker slightly. And if anyone is very sensitive to PWM then buy LCD screen phones. It’s the only option
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Click to collapse
Actually I am facing the same problem I can't look at the phone more than 10 minutes
and installed "OLED saver" and nothing happened the same problem
I was wondering is this a problem my eyes with all AMOLED displays or it's just Oneplus only ?