[Q] Light Sensor not working? - Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE

So I went into the HTC Function Test app to test my light sensor and it seems it only detects two lux values: 90 and 160. It only says 160 when directly pointed at bulb or outside. Does the evo only have two settings when using auto-brightness? The lowest brightness level works perfectly indoors for me and in auto-brightness I'm usually at 50% brightness inside, but its a pain to change brightness between outdoors and indoors. Is this how auto-brightness is supposed to work, or is something wrong with my sensor?

Just did the test on mine and got the same results on stock relocked jb. Basiclly its finding a difference low and high threshold in lighting and letting you know. Seems to be fine to me. Hope that helps.
Sent from my EVO using xda app-developers app

007math said:
So I went into the HTC Function Test app to test my light sensor and it seems it only detects two lux values: 90 and 160. It only says 160 when directly pointed at bulb or outside. Does the evo only have two settings when using auto-brightness? The lowest brightness level works perfectly indoors for me and in auto-brightness I'm usually at 50% brightness inside, but its a pain to change brightness between outdoors and indoors. Is this how auto-brightness is supposed to work, or is something wrong with my sensor?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do i get that test menu.. it never works for me on this phone??

Dial *#*#3424#*#* from the dialer and it should show up (assuming you have a sense rom). You don't have to click call: after you finish the sequence the HTC Function Test app will open.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE

007math said:
So I went into the HTC Function Test app to test my light sensor and it seems it only detects two lux values: 90 and 160. It only says 160 when directly pointed at bulb or outside. Does the evo only have two settings when using auto-brightness? The lowest brightness level works perfectly indoors for me and in auto-brightness I'm usually at 50% brightness inside, but its a pain to change brightness between outdoors and indoors. Is this how auto-brightness is supposed to work, or is something wrong with my sensor?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had posted on this a while ago - ever since ICS, our phone will never report a light value lower than 90 lux, even in total darkness, making it too bright in total darkness. As for nothing brighter than 160, that's not the case, at least for me. Try putting the phone a couple inches from a lightbulb - you should see higher numbers.
I use AndroSensor from the market to view this more easily.

Slappy_G said:
I had posted on this a while ago - ever since ICS, our phone will never report a light value lower than 90 lux, even in total darkness, making it too bright in total darkness. As for nothing brighter than 160, that's not the case, at least for me. Try putting the phone a couple inches from a lightbulb - you should see higher numbers.
I use AndroSensor from the market to view this more easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I'm seeing the same issue (never lower than 90, can go above 160 -- but most indoor values are either 90 or 160). My solution was to install Lux Auto Brightness (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1944921). Since our light sensor is basically useless, it really only works if you go to Settings -> Sample Collection -> Select light reading source, and switch it to Camera. It will then use the camera to determine brightness, which is more accurate. With that setting, you can only have it readjust on screen wake; most of the time, that's fine (there's a delay of maybe a quarter second after the screen wakes, for it to get its sample and change the brightness, but that's not bad at all). The only time that screen wake is a pain (for me) is if I get a call inside (so the screen is relatively dim) and then I go outside to talk (where it's much brighter): the app doesn't take a new sample after the call, so the screen is not as bright as it should be for outside use. All it takes is turning the screen off and on, and then it readjusts fine.
I presume that it may take more power to read from the camera than the light sensor, but it ends up paying for itself (in terms of battery life) because it then decreases screen brightness accurately, which saves battery in the long run.
I have no connection to the app or its developer, other than buying and installing it.

Related

Auto-brightness or manual

What gives you better battery life - keeping it on Auto or setting it manually to a lower setting?
People say auto brightness affects battery life because it utilizes CPU power. I call shenanigans on that though because it will use very little CPU power... I vote AUTO.. cause if your out in the sun and your settings are set to low... You are just going to tweak them to accommodate your needs.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
I have mine set on auto, but it doesnt dim or brighten up.
Bet it does! just when it needs to brighten and dim, you never notice. I thought the same thing until I played with it for a while thenI noticed it working.
auto eats more power, but it does what it needs to.
DDiaz007 said:
People say auto brightness affects battery life because it utilizes CPU power. I call shenanigans on that though because it will use very little CPU power... I vote AUTO.. cause if your out in the sun and your settings are set to low... You are just going to tweak them to accommodate your needs.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It uses more power to make the display brighter. Think of it like those 3-way light bulbs. The lowest setting is like 25 watts, the middle 50 watts and the brightest is 100 watts.
There is a widget that lets you change it manually between 33, 67, and 100% brightness with the touch of the button. I have that on my 2nd screen (along with WiFi, GPS, etc) and keep it at 33% most of the day every day.
I use auto due to ease and I easily get through the day without charging. I do use manual if I am in a dark room b/c auto just doesn't seem to dim the screen enough.
I like the 3 setting Brightness widget also. I like to set it where I prefer, didn't really care for auto. Don't know about battery savings with either one.
Is this a stock brightness widget or do I have to get it in the market?
I keep mine low...
24 hours later... 55% battery.
I use battery level its a small widget to change every 25% its great my battery is amazing Im at 58% after 12 hrs using 25% the brightness level and of course WiFi always on and turn in mobile network when I leave the house which saves me SO much battery
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
I always run mine at 100% brightness. I don't care about battery life. I prefer a bright screen.
Using a widget is probably no bad but I just auto , come on the phone was made with the sensor for it and it doesn't use much battery unless you have it a t 40% or lower all day long and struggle in the sun. I been using in auto since the iPhone I changed it for Android but i went back to auto cause it waste time just to change the setting everytime and annoying too
If you don't have an Evo3d well you don't have an Evo3d
Mine is manual and i see great results same with evo 4g.
Sent from a blazing fast 1.8 GHZ Evo 3D.
clankfu said:
Is this a stock brightness widget or do I have to get it in the market?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a stock HTC Widget, but they also put powerpanel in there. I just think the HTC widgets look nicer.
I wished the auto brightness function had user-defined options. I agree with it being way too bright at night.
I have been using the 3 setting brightness widget/button. Usually always leave it on medium till I'm at home with the wall charger then I use max brightness.
Sent from my EVO 3D
The best widget I've tried is Brightness Level made by Curvefish. You get easy access to preset levels, a slider to adjust brightness to any level, and enable or disable auto brightness.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
it would be nice to find a widget that sets a daytime and nighttime level. i use tasker but i think it's just too big of a program for just this one little thing.
I shut off my auto brightness off yesterday after a few hours to see if it made a difference and set my level to 40%. I don't know if it was a fluke or not but after 13 hours when I plugged my phone back in to go to bed, I was at 63%.
That is a huge difference from what I have been seeing. I am going to see how it turns out today with the same setting but I must say it is looking pretty good so far. After 2.5 hours with some texts, a little web surfing, some theme changes and emails and I am at 93%.
I will post back my results later tonight. I am also using power control plus which has a brighness widget that you can set to a percentage for each hit. So in case I need fill brighness, one click and I am there. Another click I am back to 40%.

[Q] SGS2 Eye Strain

I have ongoing problems with eyestrain. Back-lit screens seem to be the issue. Have you found the SGS2 better or worse in regard to eyestrain, if this is an issue for you. I would really like the SGS2, but I may go with the Sensation if its screen may be better for me. Is max brightness on the SGS2 bearable? Reducing brightness seems to increase flicker on LED screens.
Does the job very nicely,
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en
Regards.
Is it possible to keep SGS2 brightness at max and then use this app on top to make it appear darker? Or is Screen Filter just a replacement for the SGS2 brightness control that allows further dimming than minimum, or does it work differently?
Thanks
I havent noticed flicker on the S2's screen on normal usage unless I open up specific test patterns for flickering like this site
http://www.techmind.org/lcd/
It of course is to dimming it over min brightness for easier night reading without any sort of strain, haven't used with Max brightness as even 25% is too bright for me for normal usage and then that app with Auto brightness for night readings/browsing
Regards.
ithehappy said:
It of course is to dimming it over min brightness for easier night reading without any sort of strain, haven't used with Max brightness as even 25% is too bright for me for normal usage and then that app with Auto brightness for night readings/browsing
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh. I thought maybe it worked differently since on the app description it talks about applying a "shade" over the screen.
It might work for me if it did not actually dim the LED, but "filtered" the information to be displayed so that it came out less bright. I don't know how exactly that would work, and I guess if this "software" dimming was available then manufacturers would already be using it.
I've decided to go with the HTC Sensation. I figure that the SGS2 will either be the worst or the best phone in regards to eye strain, and it's not worth the risk. Kind of bummed out since I had my heart set on the SGS2 but hey everyone keeps saying that they're both great phones.
Both phone are great but i dont seem to experience eye strain on sgs2 seems good to me...imho

A suggestion to help with battery lifel, not cpu or radio related

Problem: For most of us, the big, bright screen eats up most of our battery power. One advantage of LED screens is the darker you make them (including using dark backgrounds), the fewer milliamps they use. So you could turn off auto-brightness and manually adjust the brightness to darker settings. Far from perfect since you must adjust it every time you go from a dark building to a bright sunny day - and vice-versa. A pain.
I recently installed Screen Filter by haxor industries. They only tout its ability to make the screen really dark for night-time viewing, with the side benefit that it will also save some battery. It works great for that. It will make the screen much, much darker than the lowest stock brightness level (even using apps which take it to its absolute lowest setting, which the stock brightness slider won't allow you to do). I've found going to 25% is perfect. It makes the screen a little gray when you go really dark but its a minor downside.
Solution: I realized it can also be set to only dim the screen a little, like 75%, or 80%. Not helpful at all in a dark room since it is still very bright. But I also noticed that it works along with the stock auto-brightness setting. So you can apply a fairly bright setting to Screen Filter and leave it on all the time, effectively lowering the stock auto-brightness level a few notches no matter what brightness it picks. You still get the benefit of auto, and you get to reduce the battery draw all the time, on the single-biggest battery user on the Note.
You can save multiple widgets on the home screen, each set to different levels, so you can turn off the 75% setting and apply a 25% setting at night with two button presses. Or turn it off with one button press in bright sun. And/or you can add it as an app shortcut which allows you to adjust the brightness from an "ongoing notification" in the notification bar.
I'm starting a test today, leaving mine on 75% all the time with auto-brightness on, and using 25% in dark situations which doesn't happen often. I expect this will produce a noticeable improvement in battery life.
are you representing the app ?...or for the company?......
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Look at my post count and how long I've been on this board. No.
The app has no ads and is free, BTW.
Looks promising. Ran mine down to 5%. 15 hours on battery, 4 hours of screen time. Most people here only report 3 to 3 1/2 hours of screen time.
I just maintain my brightness, im anal like that. Especially with that notification shortcut for increasing or reducing brightness someone recently posted. i am good to go.
Kony 2012 is Propaganda.
www.Facebook.com/freeyourmindcampaign
I use screen filter and did not think to use it all the time with auto brightness, I will give it a go thanks for the idea.
Simply setting my brightness down to about 25% and leaving it I get 4.5~5 hours screen on time.
This is still working well for me, with a noticeable increase in battery time.
I've adjusted my lowest setting from 25% to 30%, too much of a gray cast to the screen at 25%. 30% is still pretty dark in a dark room. The 75% setting is good most of the time but I've found in full sun I usually have to turn it off.
Lol at wish777, ya he is promoting a free app. Do some research before you assume and accuse someone of something.
Thanks to op for app suggestion, it works great. I downloaded it, you must of brainwashed me with your deceiving free app propaganda
<--- that's me I don't know what happened I read your review then I blacked out, when I came to I had this strange FREE app on my phone
Sent from the only smartphone designed by Chuck Norris
Yes, the screen is almost always the biggest battery hog in these devices. Thanks for sharing that app.
Here is another, https://play.google.com/store/apps/...XJ2ZWZpc2gud2lkZ2V0cy5icmlnaHRuZXNzbGV2ZWwiXQ.. It is FREE, so no acusations. I am not the dev and I didn't even play one on TV. This one is nice because you have a single widget that pops up a window with several options of screen brightness.
ANd if you are using Juice Defender Ultimate, There is Brightness feature built in that do the same thing.
kimtyson said:
Yes, the screen is almost always the biggest battery hog in these devices. Thanks for sharing that app.
Here is another, https://play.google.com/store/apps/...XJ2ZWZpc2gud2lkZ2V0cy5icmlnaHRuZXNzbGV2ZWwiXQ.. It is FREE, so no acusations. I am not the dev and I didn't even play one on TV. This one is nice because you have a single widget that pops up a window with several options of screen brightness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at the reviews for that app, someone said that Dimmer takes the screen down farther. I tried Dimmer before Screen Filter (only for night time viewing) and can confirm it will take the Note down to the lowest allowed 10/255 where the stock brightness only allows you to go to 30/255. However, Screen Filter will make the screen even darker than Dimmer. Something to consider - not bashing any of the above. Just sounds like Screen Filter is better both for daytime and nightime use.
I use screen filter to read at night. I'm not sure about the battery savings but with screen filter set at 12.5% the screen is unreadable unless you are in a dark room. In a dark room at that level white text is more gray than white as well.
wish777 said:
are you representing the app ?...or for the company?......
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
asking a question is now the same as accusation?
good thread. i installed S.F. in Feb, def works great for me. but i prefer manually adjusting screen brightness via the shortcut "Slider" at top of the Gnote's screen
I use this app for night time reading. It works great and I didn't know about having multiple widgets with different darkness settings. Thanks for the pro tip!!!
Which app did he promote? I don't see any mention :-\
techntrek said:
Looks promising. Ran mine down to 5%. 15 hours on battery, 4 hours of screen time. Most people here only report 3 to 3 1/2 hours of screen time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting just shy of and over 4 hours screen time, depending how long I'm actually talking on the phone for that day. Not using this app btw, wifi at home, LTE everywhere else
Actually, for me, the screen is the number 3 item for killing battery, trumped by phone calls at number one. And I dont even spend that much time on phone calls, usually less than an hour per night (I wish I could find a solution for this besides not making / taking calls).
Under Settings->Display->Auto Adjust Screen Power, I have this DISABLED.
This helps significantly with the 'greys' on a dark screen (to the best of my limited comprehension, this is being called black crush?) AND virtually eliminates the 'banding' I was seeing initially. Strangely however, I had to disable this option and it took a day or two before the banding almost completely disappeared (I was seeing it ALOT on the Google Market initial grey screen before it loads in the ads).
I use Auto Brightness.
I also have Settings->Power Saving->All Options are DISABLED.
Anyway, you might try disabling the power saving and auto adjust screen power and see if that helps with black appearing grey using the app you are mentioning.
Use the 15 toggle mod to turn of all cellular data when you don't use your phone. You can still receive messages/calls but there is no reason to leave mobile data on while at work or you're not using the phone.
I usually leave school with around 90% battery left and I'm on school from 8-1. All because I leave data off while not in use.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium

Best brightness app?

If you have an Amaze then you know that the secret to long battery life is minimizing screen brightness. Problem is the default auto-brightness levels are brighter than needed and there is no way to adjust.
I recently installed Lux which allows you to customize the auto brightness curve. This should theoretically extend battery life. I'll report what I find here on this thread.
Meanwhile one thing I noticed.... In Lux you can monitor the level reported by the phones built in light sensor. On my Amaze I get really strange readings. There are four levels: 90, 320, 640, 11000. Really? With careful shading of the sensor I was able to get a reading of 2400 once. 11000 was reported even in shade on a cloudy day.
But it seems like the sensor doesn't read light levels well at all. There isn't enough granularity and the calibration is way off.
Anyway if we can fix it or address it, that should make a real difference in the battery life of the device.
Sent from my HTC Ruby using Tapatalk 2
I use elixir 2 and the personal add on.. I set my icon/widget to whatever percentages I want.. Then tap it till its right for my environment
e-Sex.. All of the carpral none of the tunnel
Use screen filter from play.. works great..
Sent from my Amaze using xda app-developers app
This one is pretty awesome.. "Display Brightness".. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rubberbigpepper.DisplayBrightness&hl=en
You can put a 'slider' anywhere you want and simply slide it up and down to change the brightness to the exact levels you want.
Works great an you can customize it quite a bit. :good:
It's shown in on the top in the screenshots at the link, but I always put it on the right hand side, a little higher than mid-way, and I make it translucent grey so you cant even really see it unless you're looking for it.
That's the free version, I have the Pro version and it's worth it. lol

Is anyone happy with the brightness Auto setting

Though I feel Brightness setting 1 (presumably the lowest brightness setting) is too bright, the Auto setting is a drasticly lower brightness level over all, washing out the sharpness and vibrancy of the display in both ambient on and ambient off modes. It seems a shame to have to settle for the flat tire watch face when the overall effect of the light sensor living in that area does not seem to provide a worthy purpose.
stevemw said:
Though I feel Brightness setting 1 (presumably the lowest brightness setting) is too bright, the Auto setting is a drasticly lower brightness level over all, washing out the sharpness and vibrancy of the display in both ambient on and ambient off modes. It seems a shame to have to settle for the flat tire watch face when the overall effect of the light sensor living in that area does not seem to provide a worthy purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just purchased this watch and was wondering that same thing. It's too early to come to a conclusion as I've literally only had it for a few hours. I'm going to try auto with "always on" and see how that does with battery, then maybe try number 1 on the same setting. Far as the flat tire that everyone is upset about, I can already say I would have rather had manual adjustment only with a full circular screen. Oh well I did all my homework between this watch and the Huawei. The one thing that gave this an edge was the 400 battery and the ability to switch bands at will. After a week or so I should have a good idea if this was a good purchase.
I got mine last week. For mr it was the 400 mAh battery and the watch face size. Anything under 46mm or a band less than 22mm would look silly on me.
On autp thr active screen is practically unreadable while the ambient screen OK.
Strange thing: my battery just went ftom 92% to practically 0 in what seemed to be less than 2 hours. And the screen was off the entire time.
Battery is great for me. Only lost 20% in 12 hours, about half that time I was using the "always on" screen mode or it would have been even less. I am not going to be a heavy user so that makes a difference, if you're someone who is using it all the time it's going to be a different story I'm sure.
stevemw said:
I got mine last week. For mr it was the 400 mAh battery and the watch face size. Anything under 46mm or a band less than 22mm would look silly on me.
On autp thr active screen is practically unreadable while the ambient screen OK.
Strange thing: my battery just went ftom 92% to practically 0 in what seemed to be less than 2 hours. And the screen was off the entire time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your graph say that your screen stay ON 62% of the time, so it drop the battery in 2H. Maybe something touch the screen and your watch stay ON ?
I sometimes notice while wearing short sleeves that the screen comes on and never goes off even though Always on is set to Off. I usually notice when the watch or watch face becomes warm. But generally battery life is fine, requiring a charge every other day.
Another reason I chose the Moto over the Huawei watch or any other is wireless charging. No more corroded pogo pins for me!
I am at 33% and still haven't charged since I got the watch on Thursday. I do turn it off at night like I do my phone, but nonetheless that is great far as I'm concerned.
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA-Developers mobile app

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