This app was designed to improve upon the backlight management capabilities of the Omnia (*May* also work on HTC models). Currently the "auto backlight" function on the Omnia i910 is too sensitive, and ends up cranking the backlight up even in low-light situations where it isn't needed. This results in wasted battery power.
Mode 1 (Hi-Low Manual) - If the current light level meets or exceeds the set threshold, the backlight will be set to 12 (maximum). If the current light level falls below the threshold, the backlight will be set to 1 (minimum).
Mode 2 (Manual / Auto) - Same as above, but if the light meets or exceeds the threshold, the backlight will be set to auto. If the light level falls below the threshold, the backlight is set to manual (whatever value is currently set for manual backlight will be used).
The Threshold setting has 4 marks -- dark, dim, normal and bright. These are pretty subjective, but "bright" has been working pretty well for me in bright light.
Status shows the currently active mode, the approximate light level in lumens and the current brightness (dark, dim, normal, bright), which is essentially just a translation of lumen level.
The UI and installation process is crap. This is not meant to be anything close to a finished product -- just a proof of concept to see if this interests anyone and solves the problem. Backlight management will continue if the app is minimized. Shutting down the app will cease backlight management.
This was developed on an Omnia i910 using Adryn's 6.5 / 2.0 CF03. It should work on any flavor of Omnia i910. It may work on HTC models as well, though I haven't been able to test.
Installation: Unzip the attachment. Copy the two files to any spot on your Omnia. Launch Smartbacklight.exe.
Please let me know how this works for people. So far it seems to be doing a decent job of saving my battery and eyesight in and out of sunlight.
I proposed something like this over at modaco a while back but didnt (and still dont) Have the knowlage of prgramming for mobiles required to do anything about it of course this was back when the supid screen wouldnt auto rotate if you force dimmed the screen (lower than the lowest setting) the backlight on the omnia is quite frustrating to say the least It really makes you envy the AMOLED display on the omnia2 but then again iphone zelots will even envy that
Ill give it a spin myself but i reccomend you bring this project over to omnia.modaco.com or samsung-omnia.org you will probbly get a better response.
Ps sorry have to go no time to fix spelling or puncuate
A very useful app for Omnia. The concept is definitely smart. Please continue the project. The current UI is not that bad, just need a little more work on settings.
can we have a screenshot ?
How is this different from LUMOS?
Nagrom Nniuq said:
How is this different from LUMOS?
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Does LUMOS support the Omnia?
normally yes
Interesting. Didn't get that from the readme.
- supports HTC Raphael, Diamond, Blackstone and Topaz
- should support Rhodium
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I'll pull it down and take a peek.
"Can't find PInvoke DLL HTCUtil.dll"
Related
Hi all.
Dont flame me for this strange request.
My bed side clock is about to die so instead of getting a new one, I am thinking of using my universal as a replacement. My problem is that having the display on even with the backlight set to minimum is too bright for night time use.
With the backlight turned off the display is useless when pitch black so does anyone know of an application I can use that'll allow me to have the backlight on all night whilst charging on a very low setting so that it can be seen in the dark but not light up the whole room.
I assume the built in alarm function will wake me in the morning so dont need to replace that...
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Good luck trusting any Windows Mobile-powered device to wake you up reliably. I thought my Exec was better than my XDA2 but no. It still fails from time to time.
However, if your machine is to be left turned on all night (on charge) then there's a possibility it might be reliable. I'd run it alongside your alarm clock for a while though before trusting it.
I like the idea of the app you request. vijay555 managed to get the screen backlight to respond to settings above the normal control panel range with his VJLumos app - perhaps it can also be set lower using a similar method.
You'll still need a large enough clock display to be readable with blurry eyes at night though.
Incidentally, you can set your Exec to turn the backlight off after (say) 30 seconds of inactivity, but then use the backlight hardware key (next to the volume slider) to turn the screen backlight on again when you need to know the time in the dark.
Just a suggestion
ptravelalarm is an app that displays big clock digits, in landscape mode too. Perhaps worth checking out in conjunction with the backlight hack? oh, and it features loud alarms with volume override too.
Pocketclock is another app but is only 2003 compatible though i kow there is a beta wm5 version available. Not sure when it will be released fully, or if it will support landscape mode (which the beta didn't).
Have a look at 'stoptime'....
And yes it's reliable ! I used it for months for taking my medication (and it's dosing was quite time-dependant !)
jpiek said:
Have a look at 'stoptime'....
And yes it's reliable ! I used it for months for taking my medication (and it's dosing was quite time-dependant !)
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are u using this app on a wm5 pda? I checked out the site and it seems to mention 2003 and earlier, plus no updates since 2004?
No, on a WM2003 ...
jpiek said:
No, on a WM2003 ...
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According to the thread title it's for use on a Universal, therefore wm5 (unless he's seriously tweaked his roms ). Shame, because it looked interesting...
Here's what I have as my Alarm.....
It is SPB Time v.1.1 which you can find here :
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/time/?en
In the picture below, it is set as BLACK CLOCK and also displays the calendar aside from the time in Digital format.
There a lot of diffeent skins available for free and also you can choose between analog, digital or world clock....
phupton said:
My problem is that having the display on even with the backlight set to minimum is too bright for night time use.
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seconded. The minimum backlight brightness setting is way too bright. Is there any way to influence this in the registry?
the big clock display looks great with that spb product. Just need a hack to sort out the bright display at night time now.
Its not something I can do but if anyone knows of someone that might be able to help then point me in their direction...
I use the ptravel alarm on a daily basis, as commented above though, the dim setting is still bright enough to light the room. If that can be dimmed further then will be fantastic.
As for relibility, the only time it has failed when on mains was due to finger trouble...
I'd suggest something like that Big-Clock from SPB, if you run the Exec while it's plugged in the backlight will stay lit - all you need is a black background with dark coloured numerals so that the light output isn't that much (on lowest backlight obviously).
You'd ALSO need to turn off the flashing LEDS - I've discovered these are really very bright in a darkened room and very irritating.
Chronos is also very good, only analogue clocks though, although it says it is skinable and I would like it in digital...
Anyone know how to skin Chronos???
http://www.activekitten.com/en/games/detail.php?ID=351
Regards Simon
I wonder if somebody can give a solution of automatic backlight adjusting.
I think as a phone Athena need to be bright enough to use outdoor as well as in house. But it is a pity that the screen looks poor outdoor if the environment is already light.
My idea is to check the brightness via its built-in camera and adjust the backlight setting automatically. But it is again a pity that I am not able to develop on WM...
Can anybody give a solution? I would appreciate very much!!!
I have this feature on my Dell D620 notebook (dim sensor) and can tell, it's not significantly useful - at least I can see no difference, since the display itself is too dark for regular outdoor use.
Regarding your solution: I think the permanent camera-use would consume quite some power, wouldn't it? So the costs would be a faster leeching of the battery while the benefits are to automate a rather simple backlight-slider changing...
Any good? Camera+program vs. eye+hand?
will_990 said:
I have this feature on my Dell D620 notebook (dim sensor) and can tell, it's not significantly useful - at least I can see no difference, since the display itself is too dark for regular outdoor use.
Regarding your solution: I think the permanent camera-use would consume quite some power, wouldn't it? So the costs would be a faster leeching of the battery while the benefits are to automate a rather simple backlight-slider changing...
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Hello will_990,
I totally disagree with you. Form view points of benfit and battery.
I agree with you that the display itself is too dark. It is dark even if I manually turn it to max when I stay in sunlight. But won't software help a little bit? For me at least this will enable me to dail. Then the question is how to make a dail faster.
I do not see any clue it will drain larger power. If I move from a light place to a dark place, then the reduced backlight can then save some power. In addition, the camera does not have to stay on and keep acquiring brightness all the time. The use case could be:
1. User activate on screen.
2. Due to the event camera is on and light is acquired.
3. Software caculate brightness and suitable backlight.
4. The program set backlight and switch off the camera.
You have to check if a while of camera-on consumes more or lighting backlight high does. Assume that P1 is camera power and P2 is backlight power. t1 is calculation time and t3 is manual adjust delay. t2 is the duration you use it then. I expect
(P1+P2)*t1<(P2-P2')*t2.
Certainly, you can use your finger energy to adjust and thus save battery. Then P1=0 but P2*t3 is existing yet. Especially, in case you hold a device already dark, you have difficulty to find the slider so t3 becomes a consuming factor. I expect optimally even
(P1+P2)*t1<P2*t3.
I still looking for solutions...
Your opinion is well founded, however, in my opinion it is lacking at a certain point: I simply don't think that (P1+P2)*t1<P2*t3 could ever become true, unless you'd spend a really long time in changing the slider - or calculation time (and therefor CPU power consumption) would be set rather low...
I have to admit, though, that I don't know the variables' true values, therefor I can't verify or falsify your equations.
Anyway, it would certainly be interesting to test it, google is somewhat lacking on this topic.
Suppose a Case
The later equation deduces to
P1/P2 < t3/t1 - 1.
The battery is 2200mAh. I assume it lasts 3 hours with simple taping operation. So I suppose then 733mA is drawing normally without camera. Suppose the camera(the upper camera) boost the current double, addition 733mA, and calculation time is 10 seconds, and if you spend more than 20 seconds on handling the setting, you make it true.
Nevertheless I have to say, the number is just my estimation.
Even if the later one is false the feature is still attractive.
Looking for somebody to go on with this idea...
Could anybody to go on with this idea?
I've just bought a Touch 3G and as far as I can tell the Auto setting for the Backlight doesn't seem to do anything. As my last phone (P3300) didn't have this, what should I be expecting to happen? I've tried putting a finger over what I think is the sensor (right hand "LED", beside speaker) and nothing changes.
Thanks, W.
Did you set Auto adjust backlight in system menu?
Imho it is a really subtle effect. You can see it a bit when holding the light sensor (right to the speaker) to a bright light source. The display then gets a little bit brighter.
If you would like to increase the effect or customize the stepping, try g-light ( http://www.ageye.de/index.php?s=glight/about ), it lets you set specific values for each reported value from the sensor, and set the polling interval
Jade auto adjust is poor
I had the diamond prior to purchasing the jade. The diamond auto light adjust was very noticeable compared to the jade. In fact I didn't think the Jade even had a light sensor until one of the other users pointed it out.
After a little research I found this thread. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=450318
I used it on my Jade and it works great. One of my problems with the diamond was the fact that the light would not automatically dim enough in low light conditions.
Thanks for the link. Now using G-Light which works pretty well. Not perfect as its sometimes a bit erratic but certainly makes better use of the light-sensor than HTC!
Hi!
I wonder if there is a way to lower the backlight levels on auto adjust (or increase for those who think its still not bright enough). Point is I think having the backlight on generally lower levels will naturally increase battery life. I know I can change the the brightness to a fixed level that suits me - but that would just be right for the current situation. I still want it to adjust to different lighting situations. Ideas?
It would be nice if it was possible to change how dim the backlight gets on total darkness and how bright it gets on your average sunny day.
I've been messing around with the reg to see if I could find max and min values but I can only change manual settings, not auto mode using the light sensor.
One note though: The sensor itself uses battery to measure ambient light. That being said, if you spend most of the day under a constant light source (say an office) manually dimming the device should consume less energy since the sensor is not doing much good for you anyway.
I guess it's not your case. I had this app on my Cruise to change backlight intensity. never used until now. it works on leo (running 1.48 but that should not matter) and changes backlight in 25% increments. You can copy a shortcut to the startmenu and add a quick link to your home tab or map it to a hard or soft button somehow.
I wold really like to know how to change max and min levels on auto backlight.
Try Lumos - it's a backlight replacement that allows you to customise how you want your auto backlight to work, ie. what the minimum/maximum brightness is, how fast the backlight changes, etc.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=450318
Seems to work fine. Still some tunning to do. Thanks!
I'm using Lumos now and it works great! Simple to set up and easy to customize. Thanks for the hint!
lumos is great but I found it was draining the battery quite fast on the leo.
Admittedly I was using it with the wm6.5 Check for active programme only setting. I never tested it to see if it worked without checking that box.
As far as I can tell by now the batterylife appears to be rather better than before. I haven't put in any application exceptions and didn't check the one checkbox in the settings tab. I also use a custom curve where the backlight stays at 30% until the sensor hits about 400 (30% is plenty in my opinion and still brighter than my friend's iphone in normal light condition inside).
you should try AutoLight http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=548402
it works fine on Leo
Htc Hd2 has only one flaw: outdoor display contrast. in the bright day contrast is not on the iphone display level.... if there is a possibility to increase display light and contrast?? i try lumos but result is same as before... I dont want to use antireflect foil or anything similar ....
I suppose that's very subjective. I use lumos with my own settings for the brightness curve (linear with a deep slope) and I can use it in daylight with no big issues.
In case you wanted to test, you probably could set the screen brightness to 100% manually from manila preferences to see if that suits your need, and then agjust lumos curve to your needs
I try again with lumos .... probably something I was not well set up ...
hey! -------> this time it's better and brighter!
But isn't the auto-backlight feature doing the same thing? Making Backlight bright when outdoors?
How is it compared to lumos?
Dadaism said:
But isn't the auto-backlight feature doing the same thing? Making Backlight bright when outdoors?
How is it compared to lumos?
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Lumos gives you control over the backlight. You can set up minimum and maximum backlight as well as the backlight intensity curve (vs external light intensity).
The built in auto backlight feature is very weak. It is fine for indoor use but it does not seem to get any darker in the pitch black and does not get much brighter in direct sunlight.
I find myself manually adjusting it everytime...
Agree - the automatic backlight is not working sufficiently. You all need to log this with HTC customer support so they can add it to the next firmware release. Issues really need to be logged sooner rather than later as this phone is going to soon be too old to warrant HTC spending any more time fixing things.
I've been trying to report everything I can before windows 7 comes out and everyone forgets about the Leo.
Hm, well I recognized that the Auto-Backlight is sometimes "slow". But not always. If I walk from a bright room into a dark room the display gets darker. But sometimes it stays quite bright.
Perhaps I give lumos a try. At least to compare.
But when Lumos has so many options to set a brightnes curve, won't you find yourself setting up an adjusted brighnness curve everytime because there is no curve that fits to every situation?
Sometimes there is bright sunlight and shadowy corners, sometimes there is a thunder-storm and barely light.
The light gradient won't be a linear one .
Ok, I played around a little bit.
What are your Max values with HD2? 1178 at mine.
0 is Min value but thats clear. Only thing that is wierd: When I move to a place not directly near a lightbulb the sensor goes very fast down to zero.
It shows zero but it is not dark in the room at all.
Is it the same at yours?