Develop Bugs

[Q] Just got my nexus, the screen dimming is annoying. help please.

I just got my Galaxy nexus (an hour ago), and I'm getting around using it pretty well except for one thing which is annoying me big time.
The screen seems to dim or change its color balance when viewing certain things. Whites are usually dimmed at most times, but when I view other things, the dimness goes away and whites become very radiant.
It seems like the phone is adjusting automatically to things on the screen for the sake of energy saving. How do i disable this!?
Yes, I have my Brightness on manual and set to full. That is not the issue.

okay wow this is getting annoying... Two more issues:
1-The thing won't transfer files while im using windows 7 "the device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected". When using OSX Lion, it isn't even detected.
2-There is chinese text here and there no matter what I do for language settings.
This is my first android phone ever, and I'm not liking the experience so far...
Look, I've tried searching for these two issues, and I did not find any threads with them resolved. Maybe I'm computer illiterate. Maybe I have a very low IQ, but can you just help me resolve these issues IF you know how to resolve them without just going into my thread and be like "Oh look, another noob", and proceed with leaving?
PS: I AM A NOOB.

Protip 1. Read up on amoled technology a little. And then read some of the issues some phones like galaxy s2 had. Your dimming is normal. It sounds like you're just more sensitive to it.
Protip 2. Download the appropriate drivers. In device manager, you want it to say android adb interface when you're phone is plugged in.
Protip 3. Take a chill pill. It is okay to be a noob. It happens. Your attitude comes off as annoying or you're freaking out over nothing. Solving problems take time and we are not sorry xda can solve them instantly for you. Patience, amigo.
My grandma beat me down and took my nexus. Sent from a jitterbug with beats by dre.

You might try turning of Auto Brightness and set it somewhere you feel comfortable... I just decided when I got this phone that I'd make myself get used to the adjustments and it's worked out well.

IMHO the adjustments going from white to black are less noticeable on 4.0.3

As far as the dimming, you have Auto Brightness on. Go to settings, screen and set the brightness to something else.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Is_907 said:
You might try turning of Auto Brightness and set it somewhere you feel comfortable... I just decided when I got this phone that I'd make myself get used to the adjustments and it's worked out well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GinoSylum said:
As far as the dimming, you have Auto Brightness on. Go to settings, screen and set the brightness to something else.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it you missed the part where the op said his brightness is set on manual?

samsung drivers
for the drivers use this post
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=20311264
PDAnet installs the drivers for you nice and easy, then you can remove from your phone and pc and the drivers will stay behind.

at this time there is no way to disable the screen dimming function. samsung's other phones have this feature as well, with an option to disable it in settings. its a power saving feature. for whatever reason google did not give any option to turn this on or off. so for now we have to wait if maybe a ROM can disable it.

For OSX you need to download Android file transfer for it to be seen.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Thank you everyone ...Sorry for the attitude earlier.
It seems like I got one of the GNexus phones which have a really good screen (The colors are just mind blowing), its only the dimming thing which is getting in the way. Also, I've tried to update to 4.0.3 and checked out the developer's section of the GNexus forum, but the steps are kind of overwhelming and I'm having my final exams at university right now, so I'll have to wait for a week to just sit back and read everything slowly and correctly.
One more thing, is there a download link to the official 4.0.3 mod ? It seems like everyone here prefers modded images one way or another.

lol. the dimming you are referring to is probably from current draw or a trait inherent to amoled. some people have mentioned they notice "dimming" like on white background browser and you pop up your keyboard. the white will get dimmer or yellower, or black more grayish. this is what you're talking about?

pukemon said:
lol. the dimming you are referring to is probably from current draw or a trait inherent to amoled. some people have mentioned they notice "dimming" like on white background browser and you pop up your keyboard. the white will get dimmer or yellower, or black more grayish. this is what you're talking about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its the opposite. When you draw the keyboard out, the whites get brighter and stronger. I don't have yellowing on my phone (thank god), but I do have dimming.
top make it simple:
The more the blacks = The brighter/stronger the whites.
Clearly a voltage issue for power consumption's sake. As the phone physically switches of diodes to achieve true blacks, more energy flows to lit diodes and they in turn become brighter.
Isn't there some sort of tweak deep enough to give full power to all diodes at all times regardless of what's on the screen (Full power even if the entire screen is white) ?

Firstly, welcome to Android. Once you get used to it you'll love it. I gave the same problem Windows 7 sometimes usually large video files and need to say that the adb drivers are not required to transfer files to the phone - I don't have them installed and I can still transfer data.
I have to say this is my first amoled device and I haven't noticed any dimming unless I have auto brightness on of course which I understand you don't.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

BLL00 said:
Its the opposite. When you draw the keyboard out, the whites get brighter and stronger. I don't have yellowing on my phone (thank god), but I do have dimming.
top make it simple:
The more the blacks = The brighter/stronger the whites.
Clearly a voltage issue for power consumption's sake. As the phone physically switches of diodes to achieve true blacks, more energy flows to lit diodes and they in turn become brighter.
Isn't there some sort of tweak deep enough to give full power to all diodes at all times regardless of what's on the screen (Full power even if the entire screen is white) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ah yes. you're correct. i had it backwards.

I have the same issue with transferring large amounts of data using Windows 7. Looking for a fix too.
Investing the time to learn how to setup the SDK and using ADB will be well worth it.

BLL00 said:
Its the opposite. When you draw the keyboard out, the whites get brighter and stronger. I don't have yellowing on my phone (thank god), but I do have dimming.
top make it simple:
The more the blacks = The brighter/stronger the whites.
Clearly a voltage issue for power consumption's sake. As the phone physically switches of diodes to achieve true blacks, more energy flows to lit diodes and they in turn become brighter.
Isn't there some sort of tweak deep enough to give full power to all diodes at all times regardless of what's on the screen (Full power even if the entire screen is white) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of the three results I found searching for this topic, I'm glad I checked this thread.
The exact thing I was wondering was:
Is there any way to disable the screen from getting brighter when my keyboard comes up on the screen?
From reading your response, it seems that the screen getting brighter is a result of the design of the screen, suggesting that there is no way to stop it from happening. The only thing I've been able to do to make the screen remain at the brightness I set it is to change the theme of my keyboard to a brighter or lighter color based theme.
I'm using Swiftkey with the Neon keyboard, it looks great and I love it!
I had a Samsung Vibrant previously to the Galaxy Nexus, and there indeed was a "Power Saving Option" in the settings and if I remember correctly that stopped the screen from getting brighter with the keyboard on screen. Has any fix / ability to change this on a stock Galaxy Nexus running JB been found? It's just barely annoying enough for me to notice it, plus I'm a stickler for more battery life and I can feel my battery dying the brighter the screen gets. ( I know this last part may be a mental thing, but still. Haha. )

Battery Life Suggestions

Hi! I'll be going abroad in a couple of days and while I have tested most JB roms I'm not sure which rom has the best battery life. I'm currently using Rasbeanjelly and Trinity Stable 35 and I only got 3hrs of screen on yesterday (however I did have 3G enabled most of the time). Can anyone please suggest the best ROM for battery life ?
(Sorry if this has been asked before but I needed to know the answer with the latest roms)
Thanks

3h screen on is already decent for jb. You wont get much better.
Theres a lot of tweaks you can do. One of the most helpful ones is using a screen filter set at about 50%. Its good in the dark, sometimes in the sun you will wanna disable it.

Purchase an extended battery ASAP, they're awesome. Also, another recommendation is to buy an external battery that does at least 1AMP output.
Useful link for the battery.
Check out this item I found on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=120832462058
You've pretty much done all you can software wise. Don't ever use auto brightness FYI, that seems to be a big thing that people do and wonder why there battery drains.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

I get over four hours of screen on time and over 12 hours of battery life with moderate use on stock jb. I consider this to be very good.
If you plan to use GPS a lot, an extended battery is recommended.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Samsung extended battery is quite nice and fits in most stock covers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for all the replies
AlexWekell said:
Purchase an extended battery ASAP, they're awesome. Also, another recommendation is to buy an external battery that does at least 1AMP output.
Useful link for the battery.
Check out this item I found on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=120832462058
You've pretty much done all you can software wise. Don't ever use auto brightness FYI, that seems to be a big thing that people do and wonder why there battery drains.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind explaining why auto brightness drains so much ?
Thanks

modstorm said:
Thanks for all the replies
Do you mind explaining why auto brightness drains so much ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think of it this way:
On your phone is a variety of sensors that go off only at certain times (an example being the sensor to the left of your camera, it senses when your face is pressed up against your phone during a call and turns off your screen, call some and cover it with your finger, you'll see).
Now, for auto brightness there is a little hole in the upper right on the back of your phone. Turning auto brightness on keeps this little "camera" on permanently. It causes the phone go run a constant series of scripts telling it to adjust the brightness over and over again and on the fly.
I guess that's the best description I can give, I hope that helps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

AlexWekell said:
Think of it this way:
On your phone is a variety of sensors that go off only at certain times (an example being the sensor to the left of your camera, it senses when your face is pressed up against your phone during a call and turns off your screen, call some and cover it with your finger, you'll see).
Now, for auto brightness there is a little hole in the upper right on the back of your phone. Turning auto brightness on keeps this little "camera" on permanently. It causes the phone go run a constant series of scripts telling it to adjust the brightness over and over again and on the fly.
I guess that's the best description I can give, I hope that helps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I get your idea. I'll use the phone without auto brightness for a couple of days and see how it goes. Thanks for all the replies

AlexWekell said:
Think of it this way:
On your phone is a variety of sensors that go off only at certain times (an example being the sensor to the left of your camera, it senses when your face is pressed up against your phone during a call and turns off your screen, call some and cover it with your finger, you'll see).
Now, for auto brightness there is a little hole in the upper right on the back of your phone. Turning auto brightness on keeps this little "camera" on permanently. It causes the phone go run a constant series of scripts telling it to adjust the brightness over and over again and on the fly.
I guess that's the best description I can give, I hope that helps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That little hole in the upper right on the back of the phone is a 2nd mic for when your recording video to cancel noise. The auto brightness sensor should be on the front of the phone, as there are 2 sensors beside the front camera.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

msavic6 said:
That little hole in the upper right on the back of the phone is a 2nd mic for when your recording video to cancel noise. The auto brightness sensor should be on the front of the phone, as there are 2 sensors beside the front camera.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mistake, thanks
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

I Am Marino said:
Samsung extended battery is quite nice and fits in most stock covers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what battery might that be?

jzero88 said:
And what battery might that be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Official Samsung Extended Battery ( 2000Mah for GSM)
Here is a link so you can see it: http://www.expansys-usa.com/samsung-extended-battery-and-cover-for-gsm-galaxy-nexus-226962/
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I also recommend the extended battery, I bought mine from Verizon and I get about 17 hrs. I need to play with the settings a bit more and try other kernels. I also suggest to select "never" in the email app, not the gmail. The app seems to wake the phone up the most.

if you wanna try a new rom, try this it's mine i've a very good battery life with it.
here's the thread for info
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=29863202#post29863202
BigB1984
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Screen Brightness/Color issue?

So I've noticed that when I hold my GS3 next to my sisters hers looks brighter than mine, hers isn't rooted it's running stock TW. I'm not sure if it really is a brightness thing or if her colors are just more vibrant, I can't really tell. Also the bottom of my screen is oddly brighter when viewing blacks than the rest of the screen. Anyone know what this is or if it's fixable? I read somewhere that morfic's kernels make the colors more accurate or something like that but I'm not sure if it's true.
Info:
Rom: Frosty JB v3.0
Kernel: Stock
Modem: LI7

Gotta replace it.... My old one was yellowish. Now my new one makes a popping sound when playing music, you can't win them all.... My first one had a broken power button
Samsung quality control is ****
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Are you using automatic or manual brightness when comparing? Auto brightness on a lot of JB roms are somewhat broken.

Manual for both, I flashed higher brightness levels that Wanam made and that sort of fixed the brightness thing. When comparing on lowest brightness hers is still noticeably brighter but on max it's about even. Mine actually looks a little brighter but the whites on her screen are more accurate or "crisp" so it appears that they are about even when mine is most likely brighter. This didn't fix the black screen issue unfortunately, I think it's also important to note that she has a white GS3 and I have a blue one, I looked on the internet and in some comparison videos where they do a side by side of both with a blank white screen the white S3 is noticeably brighter so that may be why.

theboss23 said:
Manual for both, I flashed higher brightness levels that Wanam made and that sort of fixed the brightness thing. When comparing on lowest brightness hers is still noticeably brighter but on max it's about even. Mine actually looks a little brighter but the whites on her screen are more accurate or "crisp" so it appears that they are about even when mine is most likely brighter. This didn't fix the black screen issue unfortunately, I think it's also important to note that she has a white GS3 and I have a blue one, I looked on the internet and in some comparison videos where they do a side by side of both with a blank white screen the white S3 is noticeably brighter so that may be why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not saying that there isn't a problem but it could all be an illusion. With a white phone the color probably makes the screen look whiter or "brighter" as compared to a darker colored border on ur blue phone
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

That's what I thought at first but I all my friends and others said hers looked brighter as well and it's pretty noticeable with low brightness that hers is brighter.

theboss23 said:
That's what I thought at first but I all my friends and others said hers looked brighter as well and it's pretty noticeable with low brightness that hers is brighter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might as well contact Samsung and ask for a replacement for a faulty screen
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Are you using any sort of screen protector, could affect screen. Just a thought
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

Two things to consider.
Toghle the display setting for Auto Adjust Screen Tone.
Also, unless you are both on the same rom you wont be doing apples to apples. DJ' Frosty roms include the Bravia Engine i believe. This alone could cause the differences you are seeing. Odin back to stock, same build as the other phone. Make sure the settings are all identical. (Not just display, but all settings. Dev options, battery saver, etc)
If youre still having different results then you may have hardware issues.
One very Important question to ask yourself....would you even notice that your display might be sub par if you didnt have the side by side comparison?
Consider that before thinking about sending it in. Often you will get a refurb in return which can have much more annoying issues.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

DocHoliday77 said:
Two things to consider.
Toghle the display setting for Auto Adjust Screen Tone.
Also, unless you are both on the same rom you wont be doing apples to apples. DJ' Frosty roms include the Bravia Engine i believe. This alone could cause the differences you are seeing. Odin back to stock, same build as the other phone. Make sure the settings are all identical. (Not just display, but all settings. Dev options, battery saver, etc)
If youre still having different results then you may have hardware issues.
One very Important question to ask yourself....would you even notice that your display might be sub par if you didnt have the side by side comparison?
Consider that before thinking about sending it in. Often you will get a refurb in return which can have much more annoying issues.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I didn't really plan on sending it in, it's not that big a problem with higher brightness levels by Wanam so it's not really worth it. I was just wondering if something caused it or if it was a defect but as you said above the bravia engine could cause it so I'm okay with it, I'd rather have my rooted, less bright, boss of a phone running frosty JB v3.0 than stock TW with a slightly brighter screen. :laugh:

I've never really understood why ppl make mods for higher brightness or sound can't that hurt ur hardware I mean isn't there a reason why the max volume or brightness is set at that level
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

otariq said:
I've never really understood why ppl make mods for higher brightness or sound can't that hurt ur hardware I mean isn't there a reason why the max volume or brightness is set at that level
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Often the levels are set with battery savings in mind. Also i doubt any manufacturer will set ranges to include true maximum as it could shorten device life and some components may have different tollerances from one batch to the next.
Yes setting levels too high can cause damage if you are not careful. People still make mods for this stuff for the same reason they mod every other part of android, to get more out of their device! Just about everything you see here on xda comes with some level of risk.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

I had this problem when I was using the power-saving feature.
Even after disabling powersaving my screen was all dark and messed up just like yours.
To fix it I had to enable powersaving, then go to power saving options and uncheck all four of the powersaving methods, then finally disable powersaving.
Only after that did my auto-brightness start functioning correctly again.

Tellymon said:
I had this problem when I was using the power-saving feature.
Even after disabling powersaving my screen was all dark and messed up just like yours.
To fix it I had to enable powersaving, then go to power saving options and uncheck all four of the powersaving methods, then finally disable powersaving.
Only after that did my auto-brightness start functioning correctly again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I'm not sure why it didn't effect her screen since she also has power saving on but after doing this my screens back to normal now.

Does anyone have the brightness mod? I went to the original link and unable to download it. Thanks in advance.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

Auto Brightness Jerky

Hi all,
I just gotten this phone today. I noticed the auto brightness transistion is not smooth but rather jerky and on my set it will brighten the screen and then lower the brightness quite often even though the lighting in the room did not change. Just wondering if I got a lemon set.

Newbie123 said:
Hi all,
I just gotten this phone today. I noticed the auto brightness transistion is not smooth but rather jerky and on my set it will brighten the screen and then lower the brightness quite often even though the lighting in the room did not change. Just wondering if I got a lemon set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see the same thing. I hope it's not defective.

Mine does the same thing. Ended up turning the feature off, and leaving the brightness at about 50%

mine to i think it's a software issue

andygold said:
Mine does the same thing. Ended up turning the feature off, and leaving the brightness at about 50%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly What I did. I used to have the face recognition to keep screen on and that was really annoying with the screen dimming every 15 seconds but with the brightness. Set at 50 I can still see the screen pretty well in sunlight.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

thedudex said:
Exactly What I did. I used to have the face recognition to keep screen on and that was really annoying with the screen dimming every 15 seconds but with the brightness. Set at 50 I can still see the screen pretty well in sunlight.
Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from 2.5 months of HTC One, I just got this phone yesterday! Awesome phone amid some lags here and there at times. I hope that the next update of Android 4.2.2 will iron out those issue.
Yes, Since Android 4.1, the Autobrightness is kind of "too extreme" to be practical especially the dimming of backlight in low light. I have also set it to 52% manual.

Bloated touchwiz or defective phone causing bottom to heat up, will rooting help?

On friday I got a brand new Galaxy S3 from sprint, everything seemed to be well until I got home and actually started using my phone.
After I let all my apps download and everything synced up I started using my phone (texting my friends)
I have the phone completely
What I have noticed between then and now (and there have been plenty of restarts along the way) is that the bottom part of the phone, where the capacitive and home buttons are (I turned off the lights btw) get really warm, borderline hot by just merely unlocking the phone and sending a few texts.
The only apps I can think of that sync in the background are gmail and facebook, but that was never a problem on my evo LTE.
EDIT: The phone is completely stock and it doesnt get warm once the screen is off

Uninstall those apps for a day and see if it runs fine. But it does sound like something is constantly running heating up the processor and that will cause the reboots. Also you can Get an app called cpu spy and install it then let the phone sit for 10 minutes then wake it up and go to CPU spy and see if it's going into deep sleep.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4

edfunkycold said:
Uninstall those apps for a day and see if it runs fine. But it does sound like something is constantly running heating up the processor and that will cause the reboots. Also you can Get an app called cpu spy and install it then let the phone sit for 10 minutes then wake it up and go to CPU spy and see if it's going into deep sleep.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I meant to say I rebooted the phone a couple of times to see if that would help. Should've been clearer.
The heating up only happens when the phone has the screen on, but I'm installing the app right now. Thanks.
Initial install gave me this
http://i43.tinypic.com/2m29ijn.png

I just noticed that the battery doesn't heat up when my screen is on. I don't know if that helps
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

Well your getting deep sleep which is good. Let me ask does it get warm or hot to the touch, which worries you? If it's just a slight warmth i wouldn't worry to much. How do you have screen brightness set at? Don't use auto brightness and set the level lowest you can live with.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4

edfunkycold said:
Well your getting deep sleep which is good. Let me ask does it get warm or hot to the touch, which worries you? If it's just a slight warmth i wouldn't worry to much. How do you have screen brightness set at? Don't use auto brightness and set the level lowest you can live with.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It gets pretty warm, bordering on hot imo, and I have set the brightness to lowest level.
I'm going to root and install a rom on and play with the cpu settings to see if that helps.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

jesuscash said:
It gets pretty warm, bordering on hot imo, and I have set the brightness to lowest level.
I'm going to root and install a rom on and play with the cpu settings to see if that helps.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck, keep us updated.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4

edfunkycold said:
Good luck, keep us updated.
Sent from the future via Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phone runs MUCH cooler on cm. I guess my phone didn't like touchwiz
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4