Develop Bugs

[Q] Could auto brightness be set more conservatively?

So as everyone knows our brilliant screen and auto brightness eat batteries like candy. Many people, understandably, disable auto brightness to conserve battery life. I haven't gone that far yet as I do use my phone in many different environments and enjoy the dynamic brightness. With that said auto brightness does set the brightness unnecessarily high.
Would it be possible to adjust auto brightness so that it still functions but sets brightness 10-20% (or a user specified value) lower than normally?
I'm not sure this would save as much battery as statically setting the brightness (is it the "auto" adjustment that drains battery or the brightness it sets it at?) but I'm sure it would be better than stock auto brightness.

You cannot do this from stock rom to my knowledge, but I'm sure there is a custom rom that will allow you to do this. You might have to search around a bit though.

I wrote an app that allows you to set custom auto brightness behaviour. You can check out the free version here.

Cyb3rGlitch said:
I wrote an app that allows you to set custom auto brightness behaviour. You can check out the free version here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, question: will this actually reduce battery usage or possibly cause more by enabling so many extra features?

If you're willing to rebuild android from source you could try changing device/samsung/tuna/overlay/frameworks/base/core/res/res/values/config.xml to have a more subtle brightness adjustment.
Or maybe running yet another app is easier in the meantime... But maybe someone who builds custom roms might want to hack at it...

The juice defender app has a schedule for brightness i believe, So it will come on automatic during the times frames you set..good luck

textshell said:
If you're willing to rebuild android from source you could try changing device/samsung/tuna/overlay/frameworks/base/core/res/res/values/config.xml to have a more subtle brightness adjustment.
Or maybe running yet another app is easier in the meantime... But maybe someone who builds custom roms might want to hack at it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah thanks that's what I was looking for. You can't mod this file directly without rebuilding from source? Would be cool to be able to apply this to any ROM.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

wish777 said:
The juice defender app has a schedule for brightness i believe, So it will come on automatic during the times frames you set..good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, not exactly what I was looking for though. It has to be more dynamic than a hard schedule.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Editing default auto brightness levels was a Cyanogen 7 feature. If it hasn't yet been added into CM9, it'll eventually get there.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

phishie said:
Ah thanks that's what I was looking for. You can't mod this file directly without rebuilding from source? Would be cool to be able to apply this to any ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems this thread has figured out a lot more about this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1377410
I don't know how easy it is to patch the existing apk. Seems possible.

Cyb3rGlitch said:
I wrote an app that allows you to set custom auto brightness behaviour. You can check out the free version here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good, unfortunately useless in free version and I have no card to buy payed one

pesho00 said:
Sounds good, unfortunately useless in free version and I have no card to buy payed one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why is it useless? I have been playing with it since yesterday and really like it, much better than system auto brightness. I don't really feel it's missing anything it the free version though I'm pretty sure I'll buy it just to support the developer. Very nice app.

pascanu said:
Why is it useless? I have been playing with it since yesterday and really like it, much better than system auto brightness. I don't really feel it's missing anything it the free version though I'm pretty sure I'll buy it just to support the developer. Very nice app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, it is a very nice app! I love how I can customize the brightness to match my environment and needs.

In my case, I selected "auto brightness inly on wake" in Lux Auto Brightness and it is draining battery. I paid for it but I am going to uninstall it.
Please Vito, let us know how to improve battery with Lux configurations. Thaks

While I can't provide any input on Lux, I also wrote an custom auto brightness application which can be found on Market here.
The market version isn't really good on Gnex though, you may just contact me and I'll send you the last dev version, it is now alright. I myself have a GNex and now it's alright. It would take me about 2 weeks till I'll be able to update Market version, most likely - there are enough things to add.

Auto-Brightness delay

Anyone experiencing any lag with the auto-brightness adjusting when you you turn on the screen? It's not all the time but sometimes my screen seems to stay pretty dim for awhile before adjusting.

clankfu said:
Anyone experiencing any lag with the auto-brightness adjusting when you you turn on the screen? It's not all the time but sometimes my screen seems to stay pretty dim for awhile before adjusting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
I am a Sprint product ambassador I am experiencing the same issue. It happens occasionally and I wanted to let you know that I have sent the feedback to our device teams. Stay tuned. Thanks.

Auto brightness on this phone sucks big time. Its useless, either the screen is very bright or very dim. On my EVO lte auto brightness was kick ass. Its always gave me the right amount of brightness base on my light situation, while on this phone it only seems to have 2 settings.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

kams01 said:
Hello
I am a Sprint product ambassador I am experiencing the same issue. It happens occasionally and I wanted to let you know that I have sent the feedback to our device teams. Stay tuned. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Staying tuned as mine does this also. Its not a terrible issue but curious if there is a fix, thanks

As far as I know, there's no fix yet. But you may want to give Lux (workaround ) from market ago for now.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

iceman19631 said:
As far as I know, there's no fix yet. But you may want to give Lux (workaround ) from market ago for now.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you noticed a significant battery drain with Lux? I'm assuming you need to disable the stock auto-brightness to use it right?

clankfu said:
Have you noticed a significant battery drain with Lux? I'm assuming you need to disable the stock auto-brightness to use it right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive been using LUX since i got my GS3.....im in and out of places all day long and LUX seems to work GREAT for me....no real battery drain imop.
Just hate having the icon in top bar.....but im used to it now

Downloaded Lux. Works great!

hofs1 said:
Just hate having the icon in top bar.....but im used to it now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to remove the icon in the settings.

Is there any way to remove the stock brightness slider from notifications? It's kind of pointless with Lux.

clankfu said:
Have you noticed a significant battery drain with Lux? I'm assuming you need to disable the stock auto-brightness to use it right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
clankfu said:
I was able to remove the icon in the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i removed icon i noticed a few times lux stopped working

hofs1 said:
when i removed icon i noticed a few times lux stopped working
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you know it stopped working?

clankfu said:
How do you know it stopped working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
went from a well lit room to a dark room....no change opened lux and it changed levels. did this a few times.
that was an early build and ive kept the same settings since....maybe ill try again with current version.

hofs1 said:
went from a well lit room to a dark room....no change opened lux and it changed levels. did this a few times.
that was an early build and ive kept the same settings since....maybe ill try again with current version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotcha. I haven't had any issues so far but I'll post in this thread if I do. I love this app! It's 10x better than the stock auto-brightness setting.

Minimum brightness still too bright

Any idea how I can reduce the brightness level below the minimum? When reading in bed for instance, I find the setting to be too bright. I don’t have any other reference [FONT=&quot]than my iPhone 4 which which has a greater range – e.g. the max brightness is roughly the same but the min brightness is much less than my Galaxy Nexus.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Any suggestions are much appreciated. Still on 4.2.2 but will upgrade to 4.3 when Wug’s[/FONT] Root Toolkit is updated.

I have always used Lux Auto Brightness app. There are other options though.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

You can try with screen filter
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.haxor&hl=es-419

Screen Filter works good if you are using your mobile at night

Great, thanks! I'll try those two apps.

Will give screen filter a try
I've been using:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.palmerin.easyeyezfree
Find it really helps when using before bed with eye strain and bonus helps me fall a sleep quicker.
LOL

griffinriz said:
Screen Filter works good if you are using your mobile at night
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use this on my N7. Good app. I wish they'd put a scheduling ability in to it so you could have it automatically turn on and off based on time.

GldRush98 said:
I use this on my N7. Good app. I wish they'd put a scheduling ability in to it so you could have it automatically turn on and off based on time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has a tasker/locale plug-in built in so you can do that if you own either of those two.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

bpyazel said:
It has a tasker/locale plug-in built in so you can do that if you own either of those two.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tasker but have found its scheduling extremely unreliable. It will randomly turn the screen filter on and off over the course of even just 1 hour. It is super annoying to be reading something then all of the sudden the screen kick back to normal brightness and burn your eyes out.

GldRush98 said:
I have tasker but have found its scheduling extremely unreliable. It will randomly turn the screen filter on and off over the course of even just 1 hour. It is super annoying to be reading something then all of the sudden the screen kick back to normal brightness and burn your eyes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use a task in Tasker to trigger a full screen scene overlay that acheives the same effect as screen filter. It's much more reliable and only uses one app!

[FACT][TIP] SONY XPERIA S Auto Brightness

SONY XPERIA S's Auto Brightness is always on, so there's no need for some application to do that for you.
TEST : Press your DIAL icon and type this code : *#*#7378423#*#* : Press Service tests : Scroll down to : Ambient Light Sensor : Press it and you should see some values. Now put your finger on the sensor and those values will change. Now you know the sensor is working OK.
The build in Brightness which is in Settings/Display should be set over/or to 60%, if it is set under that value the auto brightness will not be ''AUTO''
And of course you can do a test in broad daylight, when the sun is up
Put your finger on the sensor and see the step by step brightness difference/changing.
Unrelated-hint : If you want to enter another secret menu this is the code : *#*#4636#*#*
You'll see :
Phone information
Battery information
Usage statistics
Wi-Fi information

skywalkerdroid said:
SONY XPERIA S's
The build in Brightness which is in Settings/Display should be set over/or to 60%, if it is set under that value the auto brightness will not be ''AUTO''
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice info but what is the proof of this??
skywalkerdroid said:
[BUnrelated-hint : If you want to enter another secret menu this is the code : *#*#4636#*#*
You'll see :
Phone information
Battery information
Usage statistics
Wi-Fi information
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its Not secret menu...its a common code which can be used on any android device in world.........

n70shan said:
Nice info but what is the proof of this??
Its Not secret menu...its a common code which can be used on any android device in world.........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the point for this is that I saw so many threads about Auto Brightness apps, modes, tweaks and some other stuff, that are irrelevant when you know that the Auto Brightness is ON and ALWAYS working. The Auto Brightness is ON, so there is no need for some application occupying space on the phone, to do what your phone already is doing by itself.
And you're right, that's not a secret menu, but it's not a sub/menu in Settings either

skywalkerdroid said:
Well the point for this is that I saw so many threads about Auto Brightness apps, modes, tweaks and some other stuff, that are irrelevant when you know that the Auto Brightness is ON and ALWAYS working. The Auto Brightness is ON, so there is no need for some application occupying space on the phone, to do what your phone already is doing by itself.
And you're right, that's not a secret menu, but it's not a sub/menu in Settings either
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well thats not a proper statement....thats only ur point of view.....how u can say that auto brightness is working by itself?? u have no proof for it..... may be xperia s has only manual control for brightness...

n70shan said:
well thats not a proper statement....thats only ur point of view.....how u can say that auto brightness is working by itself?? u have no proof for it..... may be xperia s has only manual control for brightness...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The proof is in my first post. But more easy, go out in the sun, put your finger on the sensor and the brightness will decrease automatically and vice versa.

n70shan said:
well thats not a proper statement....thats only ur point of view.....how u can say that auto brightness is working by itself?? u have no proof for it..... may be xperia s has only manual control for brightness...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He is right, but auto brightness works with 30% and up of a brightness.
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app

The best value is 60 %. Any value under that will not make much difference regarding Auto Brightness.

I keep my phone on 30-40% and i can clearly see that auto brightness works and makes huge diference.
Also IMO 60% is to hell bright, and i can bet you barrelly can use display more then 2:30-3:00 hours.
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app

electrash said:
I keep my phone on 30-40% and i can clearly see that auto brightness works and makes huge diference.
Also IMO 60% is to hell bright, and i can bet you barrelly can use display more then 2:30-3:00 hours.
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keeping the level at 60 %, which is the default setting will not drain the battery that fast. Under that, as you stated that you are keeping it at 30 %, well, in a few years you will need glasses. It's a smartphone,with HD screen resolution, let it do his job, make the best of it. Normal level is 60 %, not 100 % but for sure not 30 %

skywalkerdroid said:
Keeping the level at 60 %, which is the default setting will not drain the battery that fast. Under that, as you stated that you are keeping it at 30 %, well, in a few years you will need glasses. It's a smartphone,with HD screen resolution, let it do his job, make the best of it. Normal level is 60 %, not 100 % but for sure not 30 %
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Booyaaah!! This kid is the boss. Happy to find a dude who does not hesitate. ONLY FACTS.
Enviado desde mi Lti26 usando xda App

YuriBasescu said:
Booyaaah!! This kid is the boss. Happy to find a dude who does not hesitate. ONLY FACTS.
Enviado desde mi Lti26 usando xda App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but there's always someone trying to argue the facts.

skywalkerdroid said:
Keeping the level at 60 %, which is the default setting will not drain the battery that fast. Under that, as you stated that you are keeping it at 30 %, well, in a few years you will need glasses. It's a smartphone,with HD screen resolution, let it do his job, make the best of it. Normal level is 60 %, not 100 % but for sure not 30 %
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you cite any scientific data to support your claim of loss of vision due to chronic use of low backlight screens or are you repeating a myth that our grandparents told us when we tried to read a book in darker rooms? All you can get from extreme cases is temporary eye muscle fatigue, nothing more.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/human-biology/reading-in-dim-light.htm
Another thing, I have done some endurance tests concerning impact of backlight on battery life and between 30% and 60% there is a substantial difference (few hours) in battery life.

Temporary eye muscle fatigue it's already SOMETHING you can GET from low light reading,right? But anyway,the truth is always somewhere in the middle. The point is that there is no need for an application to handle the Auto Brightness.
THERE IS A TRUTH IN EVERY MYTH!!!

skywalkerdroid said:
Temporary eye muscle fatigue it's already SOMETHING you can GET from low light reading,right? But anyway,the truth is always somewhere in the middle. The point is that there is no need for an application to handle the Auto Brightness.
THERE IS A TRUTH IN EVERY MYTH!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MYTHBUSTER
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app

This thread is about Auto Brightness. I will ignore all off-topic comments.

I'm listening to your comments, and I put my brightness on 60%.
I know that the auto brightness is working, I've tested it many times. The best test to see something is to put the phone under a light bulb. You'll see the screen going brighter.
I'm curious why to put on 60%, I always have my phone on low brightness. When it's sunny, it brightens up itself.
Cheers

Give it a try, 60 % it's the default brightness on SONY XPERIA S. The phone's battery will not drain,and you'll see better what's happening on your smartphone screen
Best of luck.

how to set brightness exactly to 60%

@NUJ said:
how to set brightness exactly to 60%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Set it how you want it, this 60% perfect and non battery draining setting is bulls*it. It's just an original preset, that doesn't mean anything

Logic tells the less % the less battery drain.
He came from another world which have diferent nature laws.
Sent from my LT26i using xda app-developers app

[KERNEL MODULES] [4.4/4.4.1] Screen Dimmer, Fast Charge

Screen Dimmer
The minimum screen brightness is too damn bright to use in the dark.
Run the app, click "Load" next to "n5dim", change your brightness to the minimum (and then up a bit and back down) and notice how much dimmer it is.
The brightness at all other levels stay the same.
Source: https://github.com/mzhou/n5dim
Fast Charge
This works by setting the registers on the bq24192 charger chip to allow as much input current (from USB/AC) as possible, as well as allowing as high a charge current as possible (to the battery).
From limited tests I've performed in the past, this actually isn't enough to get faster charging, so further investigation will be needed, though your testing will be much appreciated.
It will take effect on the first time you plug in after clicking "Load". If you're already plugged in, you need to unplug and replug for it to take effect.
Source: https://github.com/mzhou/n5charge
General
To use either of these, you need any kernel which supports modules (CONFIG_MODULES=y).
I've attached (modules_boot.img) a stock kernel with the config changed to support modules.
modules_441_boot.img is for 4.4.1, while modules_boot.img is for 4.4.0.

Does this dim further than setting '1' in /sys/devices/mdp.0/qcom,mdss_fb_primary.160/leds/lcd-backlight?
(Also I noticed your CSE email, a fellow UNSW student?)

Cyb3rGlitch said:
Does this dim further than setting '1' in /sys/devices/mdp.0/qcom,mdss_fb_primary.160/leds/lcd-backlight?
(Also I noticed your CSE email, a fellow UNSW student?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Dragging the brightness slider to the minimum already sets 1 there.
There's values hard coded in the platform data to internally restrict the value to a minimum of 5 (but that's of little consequence).
The main gain is is from the "full scale current" (you can find an explanation in the datasheet for lm3630) which has been hard coded to 18 in the platform data. Bringing it down to 0 makes a huge difference.
(sup)

Nice work! I wonder why they limited it. Possibly to stop people putting their phone into an unusable state during the day?

Cyb3rGlitch said:
Nice work! I wonder why they limited it. Possibly to stop people putting their phone into an unusable state during the day?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done it to myself many times when I did this to my old phone.
Also updated the attachment in the OP to be compatible with more kernels.
Tested working on Franco.

Very cool! :good:

AWESOME! Is there maybe a mod like this for the NN7 (new nexus 7 )

Is there any advantage to this method over using an app like lux?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

adzjwarner said:
Is there any advantage to this method over using an app like lux?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No app will be able to get the backlight this dark.
I'm not sure what Lux does, but if it modifies the colours to produce a darkening effect, then the contrast will be very bad.

adzjwarner said:
Is there any advantage to this method over using an app like lux?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there, I'm actually the developer of Lux. The main purpose of Lux is to replace your auto brightness system without the need for root access. That being said, there's no reason why this neat kernel module couldn't be added to a root plugin for Lux.

Cyb3rGlitch said:
Hey there, I'm actually the developer of Lux. The main purpose of Lux is to replace your auto brightness system without the need for root access. That being said, there's no reason why this neat kernel module couldn't be added to a root plugin for Lux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah cool.
I tried out Lux and I'm not sure if it's a limitation in the free version, but it only sets the backlight brightness (/sys/class/leds/lcd-backlight/brightness) to a minimum of 10 before it starts doing colour adjustment instead.
My module treats the value 1 as special for making the backlight super dark. Dragging Android's built in brightness slider uses the full range of values 1-225 inclusive.
There's no reason it couldn't just map the full 1-255 to a wider range, but I initially wanted to lean towards keeping things as stock as possible.

arararagi said:
Ah cool.
I tried out Lux and I'm not sure if it's a limitation in the free version, but it only sets the backlight brightness (/sys/class/leds/lcd-backlight/brightness) to a minimum of 10 before it starts doing colour adjustment instead.
My module treats the value 1 as special for making the backlight super dark. Dragging Android's built in brightness slider uses the full range of values 1-225 inclusive.
There's no reason it couldn't just map the full 1-255 to a wider range, but I initially wanted to lean towards keeping things as stock as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does that because some devices do silly things near 0 like putting the device to sleep. You can change the minimum brightness in settings to 1 which should fix this (although I suspect it might round 0.01*255 to 2. I'll have to check my codebase).

Cyb3rGlitch said:
It does that because some devices do silly things near 0 like putting the device to sleep. You can change the minimum brightness in settings to 1 which should fix this (although I suspect it might round 0.01*255 to 2. I'll have to check my codebase).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somehow overlooked that when I was skimming the settings. (And it does round to 2 ).
I could make 2 or anything less than 5 special so that Lux users can benefit. Or maybe just make it configurable with a parameter at insmod time...

arararagi said:
Somehow overlooked that when I was skimming the settings. (And it does round to 2 ).
I could make 2 or anything less than 5 special so that Lux users can benefit. Or maybe just make it configurable with a parameter at insmod time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever you feel works best. A parameter sounds like the most flexible solution though.

This is exactly what I was looking for!
Could I get a bit more explanation of how to install this though? Do I flash the kernel in recovery and then run the command from a shell on my phone, or on my computer?
Thanks for making this.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

I'll be watching this thread intently. I currently use lux as well.

rockingondrums said:
I'll be watching this thread intently. I currently use lux as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Nelsocracy said:
This is exactly what I was looking for!
Could I get a bit more explanation of how to install this though? Do I flash the kernel in recovery and then run the command from a shell on my phone, or on my computer?
Thanks for making this.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the kernel in whatever normal way you choose.
Extract and copy n5din.ko to your phone.
Use root and put it in /data so that apps with SD card access can't mess with it.
Run "insmod /data/n5dim.ko" on your phone. This can be with a terminal emulator or adb or script manager.
I'm probably gonna be making more modules so I might make an app to simplify the process.

Cyb3rGlitch said:
Hey there, I'm actually the developer of Lux. The main purpose of Lux is to replace your auto brightness system without the need for root access. That being said, there's no reason why this neat kernel module couldn't be added to a root plugin for Lux.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OhHai! Big fan of the app, it's saved my eyes when internetting in bed for many many months now! (Though I probably should just not internet at night)
I'll leave the plugin stuff to somebody who knows how to do that and rejoice when(if) it happens. :good:

arararagi said:
Flash the kernel in whatever normal way you choose.
Extract and copy n5din.ko to your phone.
Use root and put it in /data so that apps with SD card access can't mess with it.
Run "insmod /data/n5dim.ko" on your phone. This can be with a terminal emulator or adb or script manager.
I'm probably gonna be making more modules so I might make an app to simplify the process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked perfectly, thanks.
This is really dim! I'm impressed. If you ever decide to modify it like you mentioned earlier so that the full brightness adjustment was available I'd be interested. It would be useful to have access to all the brightness levels between yours and the ordinary minimum brightness.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app