Develop Bugs

Possible "auto-brightness" glitch?

When i select auto-brightness it takes my phone to the lowest possible setting regardless of the environment lighting and it stays there
wondering if i should take the phone back if it's just my phone...anyone else experience this?

Hmm mine seems t I slwsys be low by the I like it like thst.. Have not had a chance to take it outside yet due to the hurricane
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

thanks for the feedback...i compared it side by side to my gs3 and my gs3 works as it should...my Note 2 goes all the way down to the lowest setting..
BTW im in north east MD...the eye past directly over us here ..we are about 1 hour and 20 minutes from AC new Jersey...

Mine also appears to be a bit on the low side. It is not at the lowest, but auto never appears to hit the highest brightness. When i am in sunlight, i have to untick auto and move the slider to max in order to comfortably read the screen. Hopefully it will get fixed.
JD

I've always thought Samsung's auto brightness sucked regardless of phone. The note 2 is no exception.
Try some apps in the play store, they work better.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

shook187 said:
I've always thought Samsung's auto brightness sucked regardless of phone. The note 2 is no exception.
Try some apps in the play store, they work better.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
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SGIII didn't have any issue with brightness at all. At least for me.
Galaxy Nexus is absolutely horrible on the other hand. And I'm too lazy to play with AOKP adjustments so I have to do it manually everytime.
My Note II does appear a little darker than it should but I thought it might be only my perception. I'll take closer look at it.

meccadon123 said:
When i select auto-brightness it takes my phone to the lowest possible setting regardless of the environment lighting and it stays there
wondering if i should take the phone back if it's just my phone...anyone else experience this?
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Click to collapse
I thought I had the same thing. My phones brightness is all the way down with the auto box checked. I did however uncheck it and then the brightness dropped way down. I chalked it up to auto taking over and misrepresenting what the level of the brightness was on the screen. Dont know if you are seeing that or if you are seeing a true glitch.

i thanked all for your feed back...its obviously not just my phone...again my GS3 works very well...my note 2 not at all...I wonder if samsung set this up like this on purpose to save battery..either way auto-brightness is unusable for me...

[Q] Smart stay - yay or nay

so I have just recently purchased my note8 and Im still trying to get the hang of it. I notice that I frequently qet message saying that the smart stay can't detect my eyes.
I also notice that I rarely see the eye icon lights up (I assume its there to indicate that the feature is active).and one time, the screen went blank just right after the eye lit up.
maybe, speaking from my limited exp, just maybe, the smart stay works better on devices with smaller display as the variance of the eyes/ face orientation will be much smaller compared to on an 8"device.
While I understand the benefits, the question is how many of you find this feature reliable on this tablet? pls feel free to share your experience on how it performs on smaller devices.
Im thinking I might as well turn it off in exchange for some extra battery life.
thanks / Luke

Can't share any experience using this feature as turning it off was the very first thing I did after purchasing my device
I think the drain should be way too high since it uses the front camera all the time, doesn't it? Anyway, it happens maybe once a week that the display turns off when I'm actually looking at it - at most. And just before the display turning off it dims the screen, so there is still some time to react..
Gesendet von meinem GT-N5100 mit Tapatalk 2

I find it doesn't work as well in the dark as my GS3 did under earlier firmware and I do often get the icon. But smart stay does work well for me. Unless I'm laying down on my side.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk HD

It checks every 15 seconds of inactivity to see if you're still looking at the screen. If you're not according to your front camera, it'll dim/shut the screen.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

rani9990 said:
It checks every 15 seconds of inactivity to see if you're still looking at the screen. If you're not according to your front camera, it'll dim/shut the screen.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
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Mine only checks a few seconds before the screen is set to time out. Ie. If the screen is set to stay on for 2 minutes, it will check at about 1:50 of inactivity.
I kind of like it except, as posted above, it can be a little iffy in low light.
Sent from my GT-N5100 using xda premium

I really think it is almost completely useless and simply a waste of battery. I've also disabled lock screen. Nobody touches this tablet but me. When I use it I want it instant on, and when I'm done I turn the screen off myself. I hate my devices trying to decide for themselves when to switch off, and first thing I always TAKE THE POWER BACK!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. l have been trying it off and on but at the end I would have to agree that it doesn't work for me. I cant say how much power saving I get by turning it off but it feels good to know that some resources are relieved for something else.

I use it on my note 2 (8 months now) and note 8.... it doesn't burn much battery.... it works better on the note 2 because your face is exactly straight on the camera... On the tablet.. Usually we hold it slightly at an angle.. So the camera sometimes misses off
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

I think its a great (good) feature.

HANSB57 said:
I think its a great (good) feature.
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yeah I like it too. I usually only use it when reading on the kobo app but it does come in handy.

I really like it but not it is not as good on the note 8 as it is one the other Samsung galaxy devices I have
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

After reading this topic, I charged my Note 2 and disabled this feature to try to get more bvattery life.
The difference is like night and day. The screen consumes a lot less power (according to the JB's Battery widget) and the battery lasts much longer.

i've never used this on any of my devices. i always seem to have this odd habit of turning off electronics when i'm not using them

A big NAY for me, I just haven't been able to get it to work even a single time, keep getting the "Smart stay cannot detect your Eyes" message again.
Is it that bad, even in other device like the S3 or S4? S4 has so many features(like the smart pause based on it, makes me think I can't use it properly), any tips how to better the usability(other than the usual ones given by Samsung)?

(Q) Slow Autofocus

Hi guys,
I've noticed it's taking a good 2-3 seconds to focus before taking a picture - is there any way to speed this up? I thought the laser focus was meant to make it pretty instant?
Thanks!
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA-FORUM, powered by appyet.com

TheKrow said:
Hi guys,
I've noticed it's taking a good 2-3 seconds to focus before taking a picture - is there any way to speed this up? I thought the laser focus was meant to make it pretty instant?
Thanks!
Sent from my LG-D855 using XDA-FORUM, powered by appyet.com
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Click to collapse
I've noticed it too. It is a bit frustrating
When the conditions are good (nearly perfect), it takes the picture instantly with good focus/quality.
Often if I take a portrait of my girl, it takes a long time... OK, maybe it's because of her :laugh: Seriously, it seems that the autofocus doesn't know where to focus (background or foreground).

If it's having trouble. Does tap to focus not work?

Lorimere said:
If it's having trouble. Does tap to focus not work?
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That's the one I've been using, literally just tapping to shoot. Not sure what's causing the delay...

same here
my autofocus is off cant get faster shooting of camera... how to fix this?

Really need help with this too!!

Check to see if HDR is on. If it is, turn it off and try again.

Didn't work
Japultra said:
Check to see if HDR is on. If it is, turn it off and try again.
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Click to collapse
Tried that and no luck.. Even factory reset the phone and no joy..
Emailed LG support for advice.. I guess I am keen to know if anyone in low light can take several photos one after the other?? Mine has about 3 seconds gap between each photo for indoors shots!!
James

Is there a solution to this yet? I have tried the cyanogenmod camera on my G3 and the speed of focus is amazing, but photo quality is not good enough (I guess this does not use the laser autofocus either).
really just want the G3 stock camera to take photos quickly indoors in low light??
Any ideas?
James

+1

Note 4 - 4k Video Quality

This is for anyone looking to get the Note 4 and wanted a sample of the Video quality. The video is done though the Note 4, and nothing was modified or changed in anyway.
You can also get a few photo samples here: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Camera Samples So far the phones camera is awesome in my option.
Mod Edit: closed as a duplicate.

Those are sweet images! I can't wait to test mine out, just picked it up, doing all the fun set up and transferring data now.

jokesonme said:
Those are sweet images! I can't wait to test mine out, just picked it up, doing all the fun set up and transferring data now.
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what color you get?

I went with White. First time too. Had a black Note 3, Black iPhones, Dark red Galaxy S3. I guess we will see how it goes. Also depends on the case I end up with

I feel like with a stable camera mount and high quality external mic you could actually make a beautiful low budget film with this thing! If cameras are getting this good, I'm excited to see what the future holds in store for us all

Thermalwolf said:
I feel like with a stable camera mount and high quality external mic you could actually make a beautiful low budget film with this thing! If cameras are getting this good, I'm excited to see what the future holds in store for us all
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I tried using this in my room during low light and ew. haha yes if you had the proper lighting and a good mic then your right it can be. I dont have lighting like that but I do have a good mic and a stable camera mount for it.

blackout720 said:
I tried using this in my room during low light and ew. haha yes if you had the proper lighting and a good mic then your right it can be. I dont have lighting like that but I do have a good mic and a stable camera mount for it.
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True but there will never be a good low light phone camera unless the sensor is half of the phone.

If you were a profession, and has everything then I wouldn't see why you can't use this as a 4k video camera.

blackout720 said:
If you were a profession, and has everything then I wouldn't see why you can't use this as a 4k video camera.
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Because the 4k videos are limited to five minutes.

Gary02468 said:
Because the 4k videos are limited to five minutes.
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Really? I actually didn't know that. Didn't have to record longer than that so never realized it.

blackout720 said:
Really? I actually didn't know that. Didn't have to record longer than that so never realized it.
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They don't seem to advertise that aspect of it.
When you start recording in 4k, notice that it tells you how much time remains, and it says five minutes. At the end of five minutes, it stops recording.

Gary02468 said:
Because the 4k videos are limited to five minutes.
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It's not like any movie films scenes longer then five mins at a time. Film for a couple mins, then end scene and start again. I have never scene Hollywood roll camera for more then a couple minutes at a time. The only down side would be people who blog or do extended reviews but to be honest your better off at 1080p for stuff like that.
Sent from my AT&T Galaxy Note 4 using XDA Premium HD

Thermalwolf said:
The only down side would be people who blog or do extended reviews but to be honest you[']r[e] better off at 1080p for stuff like that.
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I don't think it'd be hard to chop a vlog into five-minute segments.
But I'll often be in a scenic situation where I want to record video with the camera unattended for half an hour and then edit it down to the interesting parts. With 4k video on the Note 4, that's not possible.

Gary02468 said:
I don't think it'd be hard to chop a vlog into five-minute segments.
But I'll often be in a scenic situation where I want to record video with the camera unattended for half an hour and then edit it down to the interesting parts. With 4k video on the Note 4, that's not possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not until we have root atleast

What would be the reason they made it limited to 5 minutes? Also when I do video I Stop each clip so nothing is longer than 3 minutes. Unless i'm doing something else that requires a constant video stream then i guess it wouldn't work.

blackout720 said:
What would be the reason they made it limited to 5 minutes? Also when I do video I Stop each clip so nothing is longer than 3 minutes. Unless i'm doing something else that requires a constant video stream then i guess it wouldn't work.
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Click to collapse
I had read a few months back for a prior Galaxy that this was done so the processor doesn't overheat.

blackout720 said:
What would be the reason they made it limited to 5 minutes? Also when I do video I Stop each clip so nothing is longer than 3 minutes. Unless i'm doing something else that requires a constant video stream then i guess it wouldn't work.
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If the file system is FAT32, any individual file is limited to 2 gigs. Might have something to do with it.

WarlockLord said:
If the file system is FAT32, any individual file is limited to 2 gigs. Might have something to do with it.
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No, it's exFAT. It's got videos of more than 2 GB. And if it were a file-size limit, the phone should just shoot until the limit is reached, rather than forcing the video to stop at 5 minutes (which turns out to be around 1.7 GB).

Gary02468 said:
No, it's exFAT. It's got videos of more than 2 GB. And if it were a file-size limit, the phone should just shoot until the limit is reached, rather than forcing the video to stop at 5 minutes (which turns out to be around 1.7 GB).
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I am not very knowledgeable on this part of android, however the overheating sounds like what was the reasoning behind it.

johnus said:
I had read a few months back for a prior Galaxy that this was done so the processor doesn't overheat.
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That makes since but I haven't felt any type of heat from the Note 4 yet.

[Q] Camera slow focus, and other questions

Ok I have noticed my Note 4 can take the LONGEST time to focus. I mean over a minute sometimes. The only settings I have on is HDR and have video set to record in full HD. Is this normal for the Note 4? Just curious as I am coming up on 30 days and if its got a camera issue I can exchange it at ATT.

Normal !
Lots of people having that issue, me included. I just choose to live with it.
One thing to make it focus properly is pointing it up and tap the screen, then it would focus normal (macro or not).
Hopefully it would be fixed in Lolipop.

Attempted to fix
Hello, I recently got the Note 4 myself about a month ago too. Since I purchased it from Best Buy, I thought I had 30 days to exchange it once I noticed and endured the camera issue. I waited too long. However if you go to the Samsung Repair Center and tell them your issue with your camera they will fix it. However, when they attempted to fix it, they ended up frying my motherboard and I had to wait 3-4 days while they received a new motherboard. Afterward though, everything works perfectly and its instantly focusing. The frying motherboard is probably independent of the camera so its a gamble if you want to risk it, make sure you back up all your data and go as soon as early as possible since all the Samsung Repair Centers get busy fast.
Google: "Samsung Repair Center Locations" and pick, I cannot post links as I just made an account to post this.

This is NOT normal. It should focus right away. The Note 4 is one of the first phones to have moving parts in the lens, and Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS). Apparently there is a problem with it sticking due to many factors, I'm guessing most of it is from shipping since there is no padding in the boxes. Once you load your camera app and it doesnt focus, try slapping the side of the phone, if it focuses then, return it. I had 2 replaced due to this issue. If you can return within your return period, do it. Everyone else can just do a warranty replacement.

I am having the same issue, but am able to correct it relatively quickly by rotating to potrait or landscape depending. Not quick enough for those "moments" necessitating instant response time though.

bluetoothless said:
I am having the same issue, but am able to correct it relatively quickly by rotating to potrait or landscape depending. Not quick enough for those "moments" necessitating instant response time though.
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Thanks for the info. For the moment, this works.

bluetoothless said:
I am having the same issue, but am able to correct it relatively quickly by rotating to potrait or landscape depending. Not quick enough for those "moments" necessitating instant response time though.
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Click to collapse
That does seem to help me also, at least its faster. Thanks for the tip!!

jpinks said:
Ok I have noticed my Note 4 can take the LONGEST time to focus. I mean over a minute sometimes. The only settings I have on is HDR and have video set to record in full HD. Is this normal for the Note 4? Just curious as I am coming up on 30 days and if its got a camera issue I can exchange it at ATT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using two phones - one personal (Note 4) and the new BlackBerry Passport for work. I do notice that Note 4 is pretty slow with focusing. The darker it gets the longer it takes to focus. I think it is pretty normal. Just the software is like that.

Happens when you're in auto night mode. To disable just set your ISO
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A

greekunit690 said:
Happens when you're in auto night mode. To disable just set your ISO
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A
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Nice thanks for the info. I couldn't understand why my note 2 took night pics so much faster. Now that I set the iso to 100 it works fast. What iso are you setting your to?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using xda premium

borijess said:
Nice thanks for the info. I couldn't understand why my note 2 took night pics so much faster. Now that I set the iso to 100 it works fast. What iso are you setting your to?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using xda premium
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Depends on the lighting. If it's dark I set it a bit higher (600 to 800)... Bright out I set it to 100 or 200. I also really like camera fv-5. Try it out if you want an amazing picture experience
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A

Thanks for all the tips!! I will be trying them!!

When I first got my Tmobile note 4, camera focused really fast, in a split of a second. Then one day, it suddenly slowed down to several seconds being unable to focus at all every time it started, sometimes up to 10 seconds. I had to tap it, shake it, or rotate it, then it starts to focus.
Today, I tried to reboot into safe mode to see if there's any downloaded app that might be the culprit, and no improvement at all. I started to disable pre-loaded apps, turning off GPS didn't help. But when I disabled/turned off S Health, the camera focused almost immediately just like new. Camera on and off, tested repeatedly, it worked very quick and smoothly. Afterwards, I turned on S Health again, seems the camera keeps working normally. Under low light, I do have to tap the focus ring one or two times to make it focus properly.
My testing results are when S Health is completely disabled, the camera focuses super fast. When S Health is turned on again, it slows slightly by maybe half to one second. I vaguely remember the focusing issue happened sometime after I turned on S Health. I suspect it'll slow down again after S Health has been running for a couple weeks. I'll keep an eye on it.
Maybe S Health keeps holding on some sensors until camera app asks for them, which may take a few seconds. S Health does slow down steadily when more and more data are accumulated. But at this point, I can't say for sure that S Health is the real problem. YMMV.

hz-zh said:
My testing results are when S Health is completely disabled, the camera focuses super fast. When S Health is turned on again, it slows slightly by maybe half to one second. I vaguely remember the focusing issue happened sometime after I turned on S Health. I suspect it'll slow down again after S Health has been running for a couple weeks. I'll keep an eye on it.
Maybe S Health keeps holding on some sensors until camera app asks for them, which may take a few seconds. S Health does slow down steadily when more and more data are accumulated. But at this point, I can't say for sure that S Health is the real problem. YMMV.
Click to expand...
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It helps.
Thanks

I think I should write a follow-up on this issue.
My previous method of turning off/on S Health worked only temporarily, unfortunately. After a few days, auto focus problem came back again. Basically the symptom is like this: leave the phone sitting on desk for a while, say 10+ minutes to half an hour, the camera app has focus issue that needs 10-20 seconds to start auto-focus, like something suddenly wakes up. When camera app is opened/closed several times in a row non-stop, there's no auto-focus problem.
Also tried the method of modifying /system/build.prop file, didn't work.
Eventually what worked for me is this: my phone has wallet cover, so I tried the method someone suggested, slapping the top back part of the phone against my palm. It took me three tries, once a day slapping 10-20 times. I thought it'll never work in the first two days, but still tried the method. The 3rd day, it suddenly worked. Now the phone auto-focuses properly.
However, there's one issue, initially the phone takes picture just like +1ev is set when the setting is actually at zero, and range of view showing on screen is like shrinking by about 5% on both sides. To take normal pictures, had to manually set to -1ev. What I did next is doing the opposite, slapping the top glass/screen part of the phone against my palm. It took several rounds of back & forth slapping, loosing fast auto-focus then getting it back, etc. Now it looks like it's only at +0.5ev, which is acceptable, photos are slightly brighter than normal. Most probably picture size is also back to original.
So my feeling is maybe there is a hardware defect with Note 4's camera module. Right now, I'm ok with it. But the final solution is probably buying a new camera module and replace it. If you're handy enough, that's not a bad idea. There're youtube videos showing how to replace, but I'd prefer not peeling off the screen from main board. Comments on videos showed how-to not taking off screen when replacing camera.

I have same issue with camera. Since getting the phone it's been so slow.
I finally just found that tapping the screen pretty hard right about where the camera is located jolts it enough to focus quickly.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app

I've had the same issue with the camera, it was pretty fast when I first got the phone and it slowed down over time.
Recently I accidentally dropped the phone as it slipped from my hand and the issue seemed to have gone away for good (knock on wood).

My brand new Note 4 (back in November, I think?) couldn't focus close up (& keep it), was slow to gain focus at all, and made me despise the camera. Had to use the warranty service to replace it (didn't get it at a corporate store --got it at an authorized retailer-- and the one I got worked a thousand times better. You have a hardware defect. I found people in the T-Mobile forums I think back then having similar problems. Nobody ever found a "fix" outside replacing the camera or the phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app

keithfrombm said:
My brand new Note 4 (back in November, I think?) couldn't focus close up (& keep it), was slow to gain focus at all, and made me despise the camera. Had to use the warranty service to replace it (didn't get it at a corporate store --got it at an authorized retailer-- and the one I got worked a thousand times better. You have a hardware defect. I found people in the T-Mobile forums I think back then having similar problems. Nobody ever found a "fix" outside replacing the camera or the phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app
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I had same problem with my note edge, I replace camera module and for last 3 days so fare so good. I think this is hardware problem since I had to shake or tap phone to get my focus to work.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N915A using XDA Premium HD app

keithfrombm said:
Nobody ever found a "fix" outside replacing the camera or the phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
You're right, the HW is defective. Eventually I bought a new rear camera, and replaced by myself. Easy fix. Worked like a charm, focused in a split second again.