Database Users

Change keyboard backlight brightness?

Is it possible to one day change the keyboard backlight brightness? Under normal lighting conditions the backlight on the bronze G1 washes out the letters making it extremely difficult to see the keys.
The backlights under the keyboard and the chin buttons seem to be very dim and I would guess that there is a way to adjust the brightness as can be done with the display backlight.
Hopefully someone can look into seeing if it's possible or an official patch is released to raise the brightness. A different color would have been better, too bad the whole "put blue LEDs in every damn consumer product" trend is over, I think blue LEDs would be much more visible.

i haven't had any problems with the brightness, but what really bothers me is that the backlight turns off so damn fast. On my old Dash, the keyboard light was controlled directly by the screen's backlight. If the screen was lit up, so was the keyboard.
I'm getting really tired of hitting the menu button to turn the lights back on without messing anything up.

chefgon said:
I'm getting really tired of hitting the menu button to turn the lights back on without messing anything up.
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It annoys me too, but tip: nudge the trackball a tiny bit, not enough to move the cursor. You'll get used to it until there is some type of fix.

Auto screen brightness doesn't work?

When I have my nexus one set to automatically adjust brightness, it doesn't seem to do anything.
I can move it between dark and bright environments and the screen brightness doesn't seem to change at all. Am I missing something or is this feature not working on my phone?

It works fine with mine. I just clicked auto in the brightness setting. Make sure you didn't accidentally change it to a different setting with the settings widget that is by default on the first home page to the right.

works fine on mine yet not a feature i use....i just set it statically.

I find the auto-brightness to be too dim for my liking. It would be great if you could adjust the overall brightness while still maintaining the automatic scaling.

Turns out it does work, it just need to be *really* bright to make it change.
It doesn't change really at all in my office between switching the lights on and off (even though that's a really big change in light levels to me). However, if i go outside, it does get brighter.
As you say though, it does seem to be set a bit low (hence it not brightening up when my office lights are turned on I guess).

If I enable auto-brightness on mine, it seems to constantly vary the brightness in my office. It's annoying as crap and I turned it off. Am I the only one?

It's probably taking a look at the available APIs to see if it's easy to write a quick app to do auto brightness with settings to be able to tweak it.

The auto-brightness feature changes constantly for me as well.

I 'm also having issues of the varying brightness when using auto-brightness -- even though the lighting in my environment has not changed and I avoid contact with the light sensor. It's VERY annoying.
I've since switched to using a static setting for the brightness.

auto brightness was one of the first things i turned off. it was way too dim for me

Not bright enough for me. Doesnt seem to change much.

I do see the variability occasionally. Most of the time it's stable, but it will take spells of shifting up and down repeatedly. Glad to know I'm not alone.

Auto bright annoyed me as well when I first got the phone. Then I realized where the sensor is (top left) and what it was responding to. Depending on where I'm sitting, what light sources are behind me, in front of me but reflecting off of me. It's usually just responding to a light source that's just withing view of its sensor. Also, my hand has shielded the sensor more than just a few times, confusing the sensor.
Now I leave auto bright on all the time, and it more often than not does a good job.

IMHO this is one of the few broken features on the phone. In continuous lighting it jumps from bright to dim to everything in between like a jack rabbit on speed. I still use it to save battery life but it pisses me off regularly.

am also having this problem. it constantly goes much brighter, and then, suddenly goes back to dim.. very annoying... however, the light sensor for calling works well... so, is it a software issue.. hope it gets google's attention and gets fixed in next update...

Bicster_ said:
If I enable auto-brightness on mine, it seems to constantly vary the brightness in my office. It's annoying as crap and I turned it off. Am I the only one?
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+1 so I also manually go between three on the widget

Note that the light sensor is under the glass on the front of the phone. Some cover-all cases cover this, and if you use one of these I assume your phone will remain on the dimmest setting.
In general, while indoors it will remain on the dimmest setting (for me anyway), but rise to the necessary full brightness when in sunlight.
w00yee said:
am also having this problem. it constantly goes much brighter, and then, suddenly goes back to dim.. very annoying... however, the light sensor for calling works well... so, is it a software issue.. hope it gets google's attention and gets fixed in next update...
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There are two sensors, one is a light sensor and the other is a proximity sensor to detect when you've taken the phone from your ear. I think you're referring to the second.

w00yee said:
am also having this problem. it constantly goes much brighter, and then, suddenly goes back to dim.. very annoying... however, the light sensor for calling works well... so, is it a software issue.. hope it gets google's attention and gets fixed in next update...
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+1 constant occiliation on dimmness levles under consistant light. It goes from way too dim, to just right then back dark again. I too hope that google will correct this with the next update. Hopefully the patch gets pushed soon, i'd like that extra memory

Brightness adjustment fail

I installed a battery booster app from the market, and it had an option to dim the screen, it was on 11%, well i tried to adjust it, and i guess i went way to far and it turned my screen black, i cant see nothing.
im on the Darkstone build.
is there a way to either delete that app or what, i know the phone works as i feel the vibration from me sliding it to unlock from home screen.

aznsHD2 said:
I installed a battery booster app from the market, and it had an option to dim the screen, it was on 11%, well i tried to adjust it, and i guess i went way to far and it turned my screen black, i cant see nothing.
im on the Darkstone build.
is there a way to either delete that app or what, i know the phone works as i feel the vibration from me sliding it to unlock from home screen.
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The LCD still light up but very dim, so try going into a dark room and wake up the phone. Then you will be able to see the contain on your phone.

10507 said:
The LCD still light up but very dim, so try going into a dark room and wake up the phone. Then you will be able to see the contain on your phone.
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no its literally black, i cant see anything.

aznsHD2 said:
no its literally black, i cant see anything.
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Not even in a totally dark room?

10507 said:
Not even in a totally dark room?
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Like i said it is BLANK. seriously blank. its not dim or nothing.
Is there a way to restore the brightness on here, because i cant see anything im doin on it.

what you can try to do is, grab a friends phone and try to immitate the same touches on both devices, the best way to do it is by unlocking it, pressing the menu key, click on the corner to make sure u go to the settings, scroll all the way up and find your way to "display" tipically the 4th (or 5th in my case because i have cyanogen mod) and brightness (should be the one at the top) and just try to drag ur finger from left to right to increse it (as it should over pass any 3rd party app) and see if it works, but..... keep in mind these things dependeding on what phone you use to guide you....
screen size
DPI scale
sense??? or not! as settings are different
and other things, also..... when you unlock it make sure its on the home screen
i also believe if you go outside you can see the screen a little bit under the sun, but not completely sure
hope this helps, oh and by the way, if you have a build based on sense go to a sprint store and use an EVO lol, or if u have stock froyo grab a nexus one from a friend and use that (but like i said before, keep in mund the screen size)

yea thats what i was tryin to do. no luck.

I had this problem twice and rejoice, I have a solution!
Simply download "DroidExplorer" for windows.
Boot your phone in android.
Once booted (when your screen turns black), plug in USB, and launch DroidExplorer.
In DroidExplorer, look for the "Screencast" icon (little android icon).
Run that, you will see your screen. Reset brightness to a normal level.
You are saved

aznsHD2 said:
I installed a battery booster app from the market, and it had an option to dim the screen, it was on 11%, well i tried to adjust it, and i guess i went way to far and it turned my screen black, i cant see nothing.
im on the Darkstone build.
is there a way to either delete that app or what, i know the phone works as i feel the vibration from me sliding it to unlock from home screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When this happens, try shining a bright light on the screen, make sure the device is woken up (i.e. press a hard button) and view your screen from different angles. Even if the backlight is completely off, the LCD display is still active and the graphics elements just about visible.
With this method, you should be able to make enough of your screen to navigate to the brightness settings.
Screencast in Droid Explorer (for your PC) is also a good last measure.
Most apps that control brightness has this problem on HD2, so be careful about going too low in all of them. In Tasker, for example, 30 is the lowest setting that works.
Even the standard screen dimming that occurs a few seconds before screen timeout is not calibrated correctly. In all Android builds/kernels I have tried, the backlight is turned off when it should be just dimmed. Cyanogen(mod) has a setting for the dim level, but the maximum you can use is 26, which still turns off the backlight.
Curiously, sometimes (very seldom) after waking my phone up from standby, the backlight is in a much dimmer state than usual. When sliding the standard brightness from min to max, the actual brightness range varies from barely visible (but still on) to the regular dimmest level. So the device *can* support incredibly dim levels, but I've have found no way of getting into this state predictably. It has happened only 3-4 times over the past 2 months. A reboot fixes it, but I've also gotten out of this state after a locking/unlocking cycle.
So there seems to be several layers to the backlight brightness:
- the actual hardware (which supports much lower brightnesses than we're usually allowed access to)
- the Android API (which probably is the layer turning backlight off below 30, and which occasionally is fooled into using a much dimmer range than usual)
- whatever app providing the GUI (usually showing a range of 0-100% or 0-255).
Does anyone know if there's a reason for the threshold? Is it somehow risky for the LCD display hardware to be very dim?

[Q] Light Sensor disable

who knows how to turn off the light sensor? should that be always at maximum

Is it that thing that make my screen going dark sometimes and then bright again ?
I thought it was a bug in Android about the screen light management...
I'm very interested in turning it off me too.

I didn't look very hard, but from what I can see, you can't.

Is it that thing that make my screen going dark sometimes and then bright again ?
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Yes, it does just that hinders and tired eyes!

The above sentence makes absolutely no sense.

sorry,I mean ,that light sensor kills my eyes

Still it makes no sense at all!
N.

Ok guys, we all agree that his english is horrible, but it is understandable that he is saying that the changing / blinking of light, all the time, is not confortable for eyes.
I admit... for once, I understand his words...

huliqan said:
sorry,I mean ,that light sensor kills my eyes
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Turn the brightness down if it is uncomfortable? The reason why it changes automatically is to adjust to the amount of light in a given place. Otherwise, you'd have to constantly change the brightness yourself in order for the screen to be visible in all conditions.

Yes, I think we all know what is that function for, that's not the point.
The problem is that, in the same place with the same light, if, for example, your head make a shadow over or if you put your finger on the little hole up right the phone, the light of the screen will change as if you where in a place darker.
So according how you move the phone or hold it, your eyes will have to accomodate very often and it's very uncomfortable.
Maybe covering permanently that little hole will be the solution... but I would prefer just to turn it off.

Covering it permanently will also permanently place the backlight in the darkest mode. Personally I like this feature, once you know it's there it doesn't give a 'wth is happening'-feeling anymore and I believe it saves battery (no need for full brightness in dark places). Also for me it kinda gives that viewing-on-paper feeling, the device is quite okay in maintaining a balance between minimum visibility and overlighted eye-blasting power
Though yes an off-feature would be welcome sometimes ^_^

I would also Love to Disable this sensor.. More Brightness! MORE more more i tell ya! lol

Notification light

anybody working on or considering making notification light using the capacitive buttons on the bottom? is it possible to use those leds as a notification?

That would be an awesome solution...
To use as notifications OnLY the capasitive buttons and not all Screen as "NoLED" app...
+1 from me...

+1 I also agree
and maybe a stretch and maybe you guys dont agree but you could also have each button be a different notification, ie:
text message the back button would light up, email the menu button so on and so fourth

+2 for this idea

It's already been done for the galaxy s's, BLN requires a custom kernel though.
I prefer NoLed, in the market, works great for notifications. NoLed

Im thinking about getting a Nexus S.
The only thing stopping me is the lack of notification LED.
It would be pretty good if this could work.
And being able to tell if its sms or email etc from which button lights would be very cool. But i would think the backlight is just one big light.
I've had a look at NoLed, but it doesnt seem ideal. If i get a notification while im asleep, the screens going to stay on for up to 8 hours non stop? That doesnt sound good.
Also it seems to mess with the lock screen and wake up of the phone.

So i just noticed today when pressing the capacitive button, it turns off. that likely means each one is lit independently from a separate LED correct? so if thats the case, theoretically each led should be able to flash independently?

terryhau said:
Im thinking about getting a Nexus S.
The only thing stopping me is the lack of notification LED.
It would be pretty good if this could work.
And being able to tell if its sms or email etc from which button lights would be very cool. But i would think the backlight is just one big light.
I've had a look at NoLed, but it doesnt seem ideal. If i get a notification while im asleep, the screens going to stay on for up to 8 hours non stop? That doesnt sound good.
Also it seems to mess with the lock screen and wake up of the phone.
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From what I read... the NOLED app works well with the AMOLED screens because blacks dont use power. It basically turns on for that single notification or something like that.
You should read more about it from the vibrant sub forum.... with both having AMOLED screens.

azn2050 said:
From what I read... the NOLED app works well with the AMOLED screens because blacks dont use power. It basically turns on for that single notification or something like that.
You should read more about it from the vibrant sub forum.... with both having AMOLED screens.
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Correct, in amoled screens the only pixels drawing power are the ones that are being lit for the notification. You can also set the notifications to timeout after a certain amount of minutes, and can also set a "sleep time" so there no notification while you're sleeping at night. Another awesome feature is the use of the proximity sensor, so that if the phone is in your pocket it doesn't turn on the notification but once you take your phone out of your pocket the notification shows up on the screen.
Check the devs thread for more info:

integra891 said:
So i just noticed today when pressing the capacitive button, it turns off. that likely means each one is lit independently from a separate LED correct? so if thats the case, theoretically each led should be able to flash independently?
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This is EXACTLY what I hoped was going to be possible.

integra891 said:
So i just noticed today when pressing the capacitive button, it turns off. that likely means each one is lit independently from a separate LED correct? so if thats the case, theoretically each led should be able to flash independently?
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You would think this would've the case but not exactly. The galaxy s does this also but it is not possible to activate the leds separately
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

matt_stang said:
You would think this would've the case but not exactly. The galaxy s does this also but it is not possible to activate the leds separately
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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Yes, I was also thinking this too but could there be some sort of app written making it believe all other buttons were "pressed" so their lights were off once a notification came in? I strongly believe ANYTHING can be changed with a few smart edits I mean people here on XDA bring multi-touch and FM radio's to devices that shouldn't have those features!
Even if you could have each notification have a different light dimmed as if it were being "pressed"
As in: Text message= all lights lit BUT the home
Voicemail=all lights lit BUT the back button ETC...

If they could be seperate that would be great but honestly even if it's all of them it's good enough for me, I just wanna see SOMETHING if my phone is just sitting there

ikon8 said:
It's already been done for the galaxy s's, BLN requires a custom kernel though.
I prefer NoLed, in the market, works great for notifications. NoLed
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NoLED is ok except for 2 things for me.
1 - I don't like the dots/icons hopping around the screen. I would rather they were just lined up across the top or the side.
2 - It plays around a bit much with turning the screen on and off.
Looking at NoLED there is NO reason why he couldn't make it act exactly like the Notification LED for the Ball on the Nexus One. Just have different colors for different notifications and rotate them on the same cluster of 4 LEDS on the top right of the phone.
Boom you have rotating colored notifications simple and effective
I wish I was better at coding stuff...haha

I'm glad there is a thread going about this!
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

You couldn't be anymore on point man. The jumping about is slightly unprofessional.

hopefully well see some work towards this once some custom roms start coming out

The reason the notifications move around the screen is so that it doesn't burn out those pixels.

dudeimgeorge said:
You couldn't be anymore on point man. The jumping about is slightly unprofessional.
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Yes I agree, it would be amazing if they just slid around your screen or drifted all over. OR a pulsing light pops up on the screen just like a virtual trackball like the nexus one!

sassyness77 said:
Yes I agree, it would be amazing if they just slid around your screen or drifted all over. OR a pulsing light pops up on the screen just like a virtual trackball like the nexus one!
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clearly you guys do not understand why it jumps around so unprofessionally
do you want burned out pixel?