Pixel 2 XL and Daydream VR 2017 - Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers

Have anyone else got a Daydream (2017) model for their Pixel 2 XL?
I have both of these, and I'm disappointed and annoyed with the setup.
Overall, it is a good setup and could work well; however I have a few issues.
- Blacks on the VR screen 'bleed/smudge' when you move. This is most noticeable when viewing a Game or Movie and it shows a large video screen (such as Netflix VR, although Netflix VR isn't work at the moment - the Virtual TV is still displayed.) When you move your head, the black smudges across the display, like it does when you're scrolling your phone in normal use under low brightness.
- The Pixel 2 XL seems to go into low brightness when connecting to the VR. This is when it's set to 'reduce blurring' in display settings. If I set it to 'reduce flicker' then the brightness is nice and bright, but the picture quality blurs when you move your head.
I've been playing around with the brightness setting, and for me, it's way too low in VR - which is causing the black bleeding/smudging issue.
I can adjust the brightness in VR mode, but it then keeps that brightness when I go back to normal use - which is annoying (it should switch back).
Has anyone else noticed this - I don't think I had this issue when I first got the phone and the VR - so not sure if I've messed too much, or one of the app updates/phone updates has changed something.
I've tried clearing the CACHE/DATA on Daydream app but that doesn't seem to make a difference.

Related

New SIII (former HOX) - Screen questions, etc.

So, I'm coming from an AT&T HTC One XL and I have a handful of questions. The screen and the camera on the HOXL were borderline perfection in my opinion, but the phone had a few flaws led me to an SIII.
1) The auto brightness on the SIII is laughable. The HTC One X was seamless and smooth with its auto brightness adjustment, and I never once turned auto brightness off. I have had the SIII for a day and I cannot stand it. Are there any solutions out there for the jerkiness and delay of the SIII's auto brightness function? If not, what do most of you keep your brightness at? Right now, I'm finding ~70% to be fair. Anything below that is a sacrifice and I don't do sacrifices for battery life.
2) Pentile.... I cannot stop noticing the pentile. Granted, I am coming from perfection in terms of screen quality I was hoping it wouldn't be this noticeable. To exacerbate the issue, I use my phone an awful lot as an e-reader. My eyes were playing games with me while using the Kindle App last night (same settings as One X). I kept blinking as I thought it was a result of my eyes, but it was the screen. The font simply does not have smooth, sharp edges. Will my eyes get used to this or is this going to be a constant battle?
3) I recall a setting on my GS2 where I could sync up phone call ringtone volume and notification volume when I adjusted the volume on the side of the phone. I did not find this setting on the SIII. Does one exist? I
4) One the One X, when I had headphones in, notifications and phone calls would be pumped through the headphones instead of the loudspeaker. Is there a setting I can enable where ringtone and notification tone flow through headphones when attached?
Thanks!
cfn87 said:
So, I'm coming from an AT&T HTC One XL and I have a handful of questions. The screen and the camera on the HOXL were borderline perfection in my opinion, but the phone had a few flaws led me to an SIII.
1) The auto brightness on the SIII is laughable. The HTC One X was seamless and smooth with its auto brightness adjustment, and I never once turned auto brightness off. I have had the SIII for a day and I cannot stand it. Are there any solutions out there for the jerkiness and delay of the SIII's auto brightness function? If not, what do most of you keep your brightness at? Right now, I'm finding ~70% to be fair. Anything below that is a sacrifice and I don't do sacrifices for battery life.
2) Pentile.... I cannot stop noticing the pentile. Granted, I am coming from perfection in terms of screen quality I was hoping it wouldn't be this noticeable. To exacerbate the issue, I use my phone an awful lot as an e-reader. My eyes were playing games with me while using the Kindle App last night (same settings as One X). I kept blinking as I thought it was a result of my eyes, but it was the screen. The font simply does not have smooth, sharp edges. Will my eyes get used to this or is this going to be a constant battle?
3) I recall a setting on my GS2 where I could sync up phone call ringtone volume and notification volume when I adjusted the volume on the side of the phone. I did not find this setting on the SIII. Does one exist? I
4) One the One X, when I had headphones in, notifications and phone calls would be pumped through the headphones instead of the loudspeaker. Is there a setting I can enable where ringtone and notification tone flow through headphones when attached?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1- I personally use a modded auto brightness but you can probably find a app that will do a better job at it than stock firmware. I believe there are some in here as well (in the app section of XDA).
2- Never had a android that didn't have a SAMOLED screen so I don't know what difference you're talking about. Although, I use my phone quite a lot as well and my eyes don't get tired. Keep in mind that screen brightness too high = damages your eyes, too low = hard on your eyes.
3- Settings -> Sound -> Volumes -> check link volume.
4- That should be on by default. If it's not, there's either a app that changed it or you did yourself.
Btw, what firmware are you running?
BWolf56 said:
1- I personally use a modded auto brightness but you can probably find a app that will do a better job at it than stock firmware. I believe there are some in here as well (in the app section of XDA).
2- Never had a android that didn't have a SAMOLED screen so I don't know what difference you're talking about. Although, I use my phone quite a lot as well and my eyes don't get tired. Keep in mind that screen brightness too high = damages your eyes, too low = hard on your eyes.
3- Settings -> Sound -> Volumes -> check link volume.
4- That should be on by default. If it's not, there's either a app that changed it or you did yourself.
Btw, what firmware are you running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply!
3 - Don't see this setting...
4 - Ya know what, maybe I did. The only setting I changed was unchecking "connecting earphones will enable audio applications in quick panel" in the Accessory menu as I didn't like all the apps being displayed in the notification area. I wouldn't think those are related though...
EDIT: I'm on stock ATT 4.1.1
EDIT 2: Just tried checking the box I unchecked for the audio applications and notifications still play through loudspeaker..

[Q] issues with autobrightness

Well the autobrightness wasn't working as I wanted it to. Never had issues with it before on other devices.
So I downloaded Velis auto brightness
I noticed the sharp brightness sensor was sometimes juming between 2 values like 552 lux and 12 lux causing a constant change off brightness. (flikkering)
Could someone check the brightness sensor, and check if it also fluctuate? My S3 keeps steady values...
I had a faulty pro8.4 (dead pixels) on the first day and the auto focus was also not working properly.So I would like to know wheter I have an other faulty tablet or it is just the sensor that reacts differently.
thanks in advance
I have noticed the same thing. When I am scrolling through a website I notice the flickering brightness. I ended up turning the auto brightness off.
My auto brightness just doesn't seem to work at all. It just defaults to lowest brightness. Funny thing is it worked on first boot, but stopped after the very first time I turned the screen off then back on.
Sent from my Slim Nexus 5 with smoothness by Faux.
I installed CM today and using auto brightness, I can confirm it just goes up and down, dim-bright-dim-bright. It's disappointing that such a nice tablet has a piss-poor brightness sensor.
From my Pro Tab 8.4
My Lux values were all over the place too. Luckily there's an application on the Play Store called Lux which fixes everything. Just set it to adaptive. That's what worked for me.
JaylanPHNX said:
I installed CM today and using auto brightness, I can confirm it just goes up and down, dim-bright-dim-bright. It's disappointing that such a nice tablet has a piss-poor brightness sensor.
From my Pro Tab 8.4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you go to Settings >> Display >> Brightness and then click the settings icon and then the Adjust button. That should tell you the value of the sensor as seen by CM.
Does it really fluctuate there? If so, can you maybe take a quick video so I can see what you are seeing?
I'm pretty sure this is a hardware issue. My sensor flips +/-1 when I leave the tablet sitting there. Covering the sensor drops in down to about 0 and then it bounces right back to the same value when I uncover the sensor.
mattskr said:
My Lux values were all over the place too. Luckily there's an application on the Play Store called Lux which fixes everything. Just set it to adaptive. That's what worked for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow Thanks so much for suggesting the Lux app. The stock auto brightness jitter was driving me crazy, especially when scrolling around in the playstore.
On a side note, samsung screens are hella bright when viewing at night. Going to put Lux on my phone too lol.
A autobrightness mod I use on my Nexus 10 is the XPosed framework and Gravity box module. Your can set the brightness and lux pair values then reboot. On my Nexus 10 it took three days (night/day) conditions of tuning values until I found the sweet spot. It was not too much of a bother and I've not had to make any adjustments since. Look in Gravity box for display tweaks then all settings can be modified but the pair values mentioned above are under autobrightness levels.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app

Adaptive brightness too dramatic?

I've seen a couple posts about delays with adaptive brightness, but this is a different item. I'm seeing that the adaptive brightness alters the brightness a little too dramatically. In a somewhat dark room (not pitch black) the brightness will be at absolute minimum even when the brightness is about 1/3 up on the slider. In a moderately bright room that same brightness setting will be near maximum.
Does anyone else notice this as an issue? I'm just wondering if it's normal (ie, software calibration issue) or if the brightness sensor might not be seated correctly.
It's normal. Or at least it sounds like it is working the same way mine is. And yes, IMO it is a little too sensitive. The Lux app works beautifully if you want an alternative. Also, the goog is known for tweaking this feature over time with updates.
I've noticed this too. The biggest thing for me is walking down the street at dusk (so not dark out yet) I can't read the screen as it turns it all the way down, then, when I walk under a street light, it turns it all the way up to full! It's one extreme or the other, there seems to be no middle ground.
In other words "adaptive brightness has mind of its own!"
This is why I have always kept this setting off. The brightness just changing on its own always annoyed me.
When it works properly (and it should) for ones uses, it's great, it's automatic, what's not to like? It's a pita to always have to change brightness manually just to see a phone display depending on ambient lighting which varies immensely for many users.
jbdan said:
When it works properly (and it should) for ones uses, it's great, it's automatic, what's not to like? It's a pita to always have to change brightness manually just to see a phone display depending on ambient lighting which varies immensely for many users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. I have it set to maybe around 15-20% (centered over the WiFi symbol below it) and I never need to touch it. Gets dark enough for night driving and bright enough to read outside. Never found it stuck on one or the other when it shouldn't be.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
If you buy the app Lux you can customize how it adapts your brightness. The free version is good to but you have to use mostly default settings. By default it only adapts brightness when the screen turns on.

HDR playback: is it working?

Hi everybody! I'll start by saying that this forum has been really useful in the last few years, so thank you to all users that keep it alive!
I just bought a new Galaxy S20, coming from a S8, and on my old phone, when I watched a HDR video (for example, on Prime Video), the blue light filter would automatically turn off and brightness would go to the max (only while playing). Now, on S20 it is no longer the case. Even if I turn off the blue light filter, brightness can be changed with no issue. That goes beyond the purpose of HDR, which needs brightness to be all the way up. In fact, I believe HDR itself is not working. I checked with my S8 side by side and the difference is pretty clear.
Why is that? Was it the same for S9 and S10, also?
I read somewhere that screen should be set to natural (or that it automatically uses natural when viewing HDR videos), but I see no difference at all. I guess that the brightness not going up is the main cue to see if HDR playback is working or not, and - in my case - it is not. Tried also Netflix, to no avail.
May you help me with this?
Thank you!

Question Auto brightness bugged

Is anyone having issues with auto brightness, jumping up and down every few seconds? Im currently sat in a dimly lit room with the TV on and my screen keeps changing brightness levels every few seconds, if I pull down the notification area I can see the slider jumping about. I'm guessing the phone is reacting to the TV changing brightness levels as the picture changes but it seems way too sensitive.
Yeah known issue afaik. I'm hoping it gets resolved on an update
rosso22 said:
Is anyone having issues with auto brightness, jumping up and down every few seconds? Im currently sat in a dimly lit room with the TV on and my screen keeps changing brightness levels every few seconds, if I pull down the notification area I can see the slider jumping about. I'm guessing the phone is reacting to the TV changing brightness levels as the picture changes but it seems way too sensitive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the fixes in the November update was "Improvements for auto-brightness response in certain lighting conditions.".
I think auto brightness has always been an issue with Pixels. Its a feature I always turn off at this point
rosso22 said:
Is anyone having issues with auto brightness, jumping up and down every few seconds? Im currently sat in a dimly lit room with the TV on and my screen keeps changing brightness levels every few seconds, if I pull down the notification area I can see the slider jumping about. I'm guessing the phone is reacting to the TV changing brightness levels as the picture changes but it seems way too sensitive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it is up and down like a brides nighty when the light it low on mine, it isn't smooth like it was on my Pixel 5. It feels a bit like the sample rate needs a longer delay because just an increase in brightness on my TV can send my Pro brightness shooting up, the adaptive display needs to wait a few seconds before acting.
MrBelter said:
Yeah it is up and down like a brides nighty when the light it low on mine, it isn't smooth like it was on my Pixel 5. It feels a bit like the sample rate needs a longer delay because just an increase in brightness on my TV can send my Pro brightness shooting up, the adaptive display needs to wait a few seconds before acting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah my pixel 5 and 4a 5G never had this issue (same room and lighting conditions) its crap we have to pay to be beta testers nowadays, guess we will have to wait for another "fix" in next update.
crucialcolin said:
I think auto brightness has always been an issue with Pixels. Its a feature I always turn off at this point
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should we really have to turn things off, considering the cost of this phone? Throw in a case and charger and your over £900 in for this phone, everything should work out of the box without having to turn off features.
It's horrible. When I sit at night in a dark room watching TV, it seems to react to the TV and jump all over the place. Never had this on a phone before. Why can't Google get auto brightness right? It's ridiculous.
Personally, I've always preferred Pixel's handling of auto-brightness to that of my recent Note 10+. I thought Samsung's auto-brightness didn't adapt very well (besides the dimmest not being as dim as the Pixel when using in the dark).

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