Display takes up to 7 seconds to adjust to a readable level outside (Video included) Android 6.01 REDUX

I am “reviving” this old post because I have this problem again since the last update to 6.0. With Android 5.0 the app called YAAB solved the problem. With 6.0 this doesnt work anymore because 6.0 works differently (overlay issue). I can’t find any app that can help me with Android 6.0. Maybe the community has a solution to this?

Device
FP2 with OpenFP 18.04
Display settings: Adaptive Brightness on, brightness set to 50%

Core problem
When outside or in a bright environment, It takes up to 7 seconds after pressing the power button to adjust to the display brightness settings to a readable brightness.

What happens?
Especially when I am outside and the sun is out, I turn on the phone, the screen is at like 10% brightness and then it takes up to 7 seconds until the brightness of the display is bright enough to do anything. This means it takes up to 7 seconds until the screen is readable.

Video
This video has been made in the office, so it’s not exactly “outside conditions”. But the first couple of seconds, the screen is so dark you can’t see anything when you’re outside.

Since when does this happen?
Since the update to Android 6.0, the old solution (YAAB) does not work anymore.

Why is this a problem?
My phone is never ready for anyhting, unless i keep the display on or use manual brightness which eats the battery like nothing else.

You know, it’s like:"Let me quickly look this up for…

0s - darkness

1s - 10%

2s - 10%

3s - 10%

4s - 20%

5s - 30%

6s - 40%

7s - ready for usage

What does this do to me mentally?
Put yourself into these situations:

  • Every time you want to accelerate in your car, it takes 7 seconds for it to even register that you pressed the pedal.
  • Every time you push the button on the remote of your TV, it takes 7 seconds to change the channel
  • Every time you hit “play” on your music player, it takes 7 seconds to play the track

How do these things make you feel? I feel annoyed. Very much so.

Often I don’t even take my phone out. I think “I can do that when I am inside”. You know, I don’t even want to use my phone because I know I will have to wait “a long time” until I can see what’s happeneing.

It should be like:
“Gotta check this real quick”

  • whip out phone, press power button, unlock, check “that” real quick, press power button, put phone back in pocket

But now it is like:
"Gotta check this real qui…
1

2

3

4

5

6

7 okay, unlock…

What i tried

  • Re-Calibrate the proximity sensor, which i thought maybe has something to do with the brightness sensor - No change
  • I do use GravityBox and it does have a brightness settings enhancement, but It changes nothing. It does even say “activate only if the stock auto brightness works without problems”. It doesn’t so it makes sense to keep that off.
  • Played with the brightness settings. It does not matter if you have your brightness settings at 0 or 100%. It ALWAYS starts at a very dark state, going up in the last two to three seconds.
  • When I turn adaptive brightness off, it will go to the set brightness immediately
  • Read in the Forum, many problems with adaptive brightness but never quite the same. Also, no real solutions.
  • used YAAB until Android 6.0. Now that doesnt work anymore

What I need
I need to find out how to fix this. In all my phones, this was something that was never an issue.

2 Likes

Just for the records: the issue is the same with Android 7 (LineageOS 14.1).

3 Likes

If you have the Play Store … How about Lux?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.lux&hl=en

I don’t use it myself, but that would probably be my first try if I would see this issue as a problem so vehemently.

Edit: I just installed the YAAB APK from

https://bitbucket.org/gyrussolutions/yaab/downloads/

… and it seems to work as intended.
I’m on LineageOS, which currently is based on Android 7, which Fairphone Open OS will be based on soon.

Edit 2:

Can you check whether YAAB has the permission to “draw over other Apps” (is called differently in other languages)?

This problem is real. Coincidentally, I have a flow for Automate that fixes it, I was about to post on the Developing page, so there you go, I just did it, here is the link. Works perfectly on my Fairphone 2 with FP Open OS.

1 Like

Can you check whether YAAB has the permission to “draw over other Apps” (is called differently in other languages)?

I just downloaded YAAB again to check.
The app has no permission settings at all. Settings → Apps → YAAB → Permissions → nothing here
YAAB just works now as it did with 5.0. The system doesn’t complain about the overlay thing anymore as it did before. This is very strange as I uninstalled and installed this many times before and the software hasnt been updated since 2014, so between the last uninstall and install, something changed with my FP. Maybe the last FPOS update?

I will test if YAAB works as soon as the sun is out (very cloudy at the moment). Thank you :slight_smile:

Thank you for your reply, Dr. Cool. I never have heard of automate before and it sparks my interest. Thank you for the link. I will look into this interesting software and your flow!

1 Like

EDIT: YAAB works on Android 6.0 now. Outside at full sun, it takes only one second for me to be able to see the screen contents. I guess whatever messed up the overlay thing in the first 6.0 update was fixed by one of the subsequent updates.

It does overwrite other app’s brightness settings though.

  • Youtube app “NewPipe” has manual brightness control during fullscreen playback. That doesnt work anymore.
  • VLC player has the same functionality, YAAB does not let you have that.
  • Swiss Train Ticket app “SBB” sets brightness to 100 % when the Ticket (QR Code) gets displayed. That doesnt work either, but the train ticket checker still can read it so it’s cool.
1 Like

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I realized that version 1.1 of my Automate flow worked erratically due to the way the lux sensor stores light intensity levels when the screen is turned off. Typically, the screen will turn on too dark under sunlight if it was previously turned off under low light. Version 1.1 wouldn’t really fix this behavior.

So here’s a new version, even simpler, this one is 100% functional. Screen on brightness is adjusted according to the time of the day to avoid night bursts of light. It changes the mode back to auto after one second, and the adjustment to actual ligh levels happens almost instantly.

Here’s the link to the flow: https://forum.fairphone.com/t/fp2-screen-on-brightness-fix-flow-version-2-0-for-automate/57073