Display brightness low in dark environment [Update: SP21.B.048.20230215]

I see that the expectations for display brightness are different. - For me now the automatic brightness is giving automatically my preferred brightness for the first time after this update. - Before it was far too bright all the time.

I have set my display to extradark for nearly all conditions (have to switch that off for use in direct sunlight) and I am glad, this change was implemented.

Hello together,
the "Extra Dark " option seems to work like an overall ā€œdarkerā€ function.
Why not putting a slider here? Instead of this button
Left ā†’ Fā€¦ dark (Slider left + extra dark active)
Right ā†’ 50% (As an anti ā€œFear of the darkā€)
So the Main Slider or automatic adoption in the pull down can only choose between these two values (proportionally) and is then (hopefully) suitable for each mankind (womenkind also of course) :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hi @Yasen_Tomov, whatever you do please do not increase the minimum brightness, I find it is already sometimes too bright when viewing a page with white background in a dark room.
Cheers :slight_smile:

1 Like

Hi @Yasen_Tomov, whatever you do please allow each user to set his/her own minimum/maximum values.
Itā€™s definitely too dark for me, even with glasses on.

3 Likes

For me tooā€¦
I just got out of the car in the dark and you just canā€™t see anything. In one hand a bag in the other the FP4. It feels like Iā€™ve set the slider 20 times higher, but the software doesnā€™t remember it exactly. The dark setting is so useless because even in total darkness itā€™s just way too dark. I donā€™t mind you building something like that. PLEASE build a switch to turn this feature on or off. Or a minimum brightness or something. Find it really bad that a feature that wasnā€™t there on Android 11 is built into Android 12 in a flash by a few people who complain.

2 Likes

Well, there is already a switch to make this problem even worseā€¦
I insist, allowing to set upper/lower limits is the only way to satisfy all people, the Darkers and the Brighters, before they start slugging it outā€¦ :roll_eyes:

1 Like

Me again. Being curious by nature, I tested the output of the FP4ā€™s brightness sensor, and noticed it doesnā€™t fare too well in dark situations.
In a fairly (but not totally) dark room (only one small nightstand light burning) it indicates total darkness, unless you turn the selfie camera (thatā€™s where the brightness sensor is) towards the light. If the selfie camera canā€™t see the light directly, the sensor reports total darkness and the screen goes dark, darker than (for instance) the (white) walls of that room. :slightly_frowning_face:
This could just be a bad calibration, since the camera does manage to take photos at that illumination level. Unless itā€™s a hardware limitation (low resolution sensor) in which case it canā€™t be fixed.

Anyway, if you donā€™t want your screen to arbitrarily switch to the darkest possible setting, keep the selfie camera well illuminated! Wear a headlamp! :crazy_face:

1 Like

Or just turn off automatic brightness and set the brightness to a value which is best for you. Then you also donā€™t have to fear that it will change without your consent. :wink:

1 Like

Sure, but automatic brightness is very useful, especially when you move a lot between very differently illuminated places. I admit Iā€™m too lazy to swipe down twice and change brightness each time I move from one room to anotherā€¦
Probably like the vast majority of users, else this thread wouldnā€™t existā€¦ :grin:

2 Likes

Just to add:
There are three sensors to the right of the selfie camera, the camera itself isnā€™t used to measure the brightness.
They are hard to see, just directly below the cut for the upper loudspeaker. The left sensor is the proximity sensor, the middle one the lux sensor, I think.
You can see the corresponding spots in the display here, for example:

1 Like

Frankly the ā€˜modernā€™ solution is to recognise that there is NO one and only solution. Thus, if we could all set a min and a max and the stupid phone went between we might be happier as the phone becomes usable. Much as all the evangelists will all complain about this post, all Iā€™ll say to them is this, ā€œWhy do other makes not have the same issue?ā€ Itā€™s possible and FP have got it wrong. Sort it.

1 Like

Iā€™m about to repeat myself again :slight_smile: Phones can already adapt to your preferences for almost a decade. The technology behind it isnā€™t that advanced, in relative terms. The phone can learn what you prefer. There is no need at all to set some values by FP or by yourself. When you adjust your phone a few times, the phone will learn.

Are you sure about that? I tried obscuring various parts of the screen searching for the sensor(s), and IIRC coming from the left, I only had to cover the selfie lens to get the reading drop to 0. IIRC, Iā€™ll check again (but it will have to wait till tonight!).

Mine is kind of stupid. It didnā€™t learn anything so far. :frowning_face:

Iā€™d like to think it will learn one day. I am manually correcting it each time, err, each evening, but so far it keeps stubbornly switching off the screen backlight as soon as the room isnā€™t brightly illuminated. :frowning_face:

Yes, I can confirm this - when covering these sensors, the display gets darker, eventhough the camera itself is still uncovered.

Perhaps if you removed your sunglasses youā€™d have more chance of being less patronising and might see the world as it is instead of through those FP4 tinted onesā€¦

Iā€™m about to repeat myself too. ā€œIt does not work on a FP4ā€ Seemingly if you need it to work you have to buy a Samsung or other make right now.

I apologise for the personal nature of the gibe but Iā€™m tired of your constant put downs and attempts to undermine peopleā€™s genuine concerns.

You may give ā€œVelis Autobrightnessā€ a try:

This app will install itself as accessibility extension, adjust the brightness based on the light sensor of the device and you can set a permanent additional brightness, so the display will not get darker as you want to.

As I understand it, the idea is that the app will not control the background light but it applies a filter on top of all other content to darken the display content. So you first disable the auto brightness of Android, set a desired maximum brightness manually and then use Velis Auto Brightness to adjust the content brightness using one of the provided adjustment curves. Since it uses the light sensor of the device it works quite well, at least when I did a quick test with it.

There is also an extensive documentation for it: Velis' thoughts: Velis Auto Brightness manual

1 Like

Thatā€™s due to how FP implemented this, Iā€™m also surprised they didnā€™t use the modern approaches.

@YorkshireDave you replied to me in this thread, to a comment where I already explained the technical details. Iā€™m just pointing out that Iā€™m not referring to a personal solution by FP, or something you have to adjust yourself in the settings. Your phone can already understand what you like with some basic input by adjusting the brightness slider when you need to. Please read my comments in this thread a bit better. Otherwise it becomes an echo chamber :sunglasses:

Will, can, might. Some day.
My A12 upgrade is now about 17 days old, for others itā€™s even older, and yet my brightness adjustment didnā€™t learn anything. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:
Clearly the brightness issue wonā€™t be solved by conversations about what might be expected or otherwise considered as ā€œnormalā€.

Now to be honest, all recent Pixels use an AI training CPU (Tensor), and as you all know, for a man with a hammer everything looks like a nail. Google is trying to make everything ā€œAIā€, because not only is AI very hip right now, but it also allows them to emphasize the only perk of their otherwise rather unremarkable CPU.

IMHO (but thatā€™s me), brightness adjustment does not warrant AI, the values a given user would consider as optimal are pretty much immutable, you just need to set them once.
What is too dark/too bright for you today will most certainly be too dark/too bright tomorrow just the same. IMHO.

FP never implemented the AI mechanism. It worked very well on my Pixel 3. I donā€™t see why it wouldnā€™t work for you on a FP4. Of course, FP still needs to implement this AI mechanism. It would solve all the complaints about this, because it will then be custom made for everyone.

I had the issue for 1.5 years, my eyes burned every time I needed my phone in a dark environment. If FP doesnā€™t improve their development then there will always be a group of people suffering.