Display Modes - Manual and Automatic

[sbpraveen]

Hello,
I am wondering if Google/Android has plans to introduce a Manual and Automatic mode under brightness settings.
Settings->Sound & display->Brightness

Manual mode would be as it is today with user enforced brightness.

Automatic mode would be the case Android would dim or brighten the lights based on the surrounding lighting conditions.

So if phone is in bright and sunny environment, the lights would be brighter and if the phone is in a dark room, then automatically android would lower the brightness.

Any rumors/plans?

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[Troglodad]

I'd like to see an app that would let me, from the main menu mode, rotate the screen around, like the Palm T/X. Or maybe adjust screen brightness like my own Palm E2. Maybe an icon in the notifications bar.

 

[cred05]

Would obviously need to have some kind of light sensor which the G1 doesnt have, unless someone comes up with an app that would adjust the brightness based on sunrise/sunset times based on your location, but that would not be as good.

 

[DarkTLRrider]

The iPhone uses the camera which the G1 does have, so it could be done similarly.

 

[justjimjpc]

The iPhone uses the camera which the G1 does have, so it could be done similarly.

I think that a reasonable app could be done using the camera...
rough outline below without menu and calibration options

1.) Start app then wait for the phone to be turned over (face down)
2.) use the ambient light level that the cam has availlable (assume this is measurable)
3.) Beep when measurement is finished,
4.) Flip the phone over to close app and fix new screen intensity

Anyone know if you can can get this light level info from the cam drivers ?

 

[Ageless Stranger]

2.) use the ambient light level that the cam has availlable (assume this is measurable)

If you take a photo of a solid colour and convert the RGB values in to YUV values, you can look at the luminance value (Y value) to see the effective amount of light that was captured. although you would have to use an average and take into consideration any shadows to get an effective value. In theory if the hardware can not give you a direct reading, the above might be the best alternative.

 

[cout]

Anyone know if you can can get this light level info from the cam drivers ?

AFAICT, all that's available from the camera is the preview and the image that is snapped:

Camera | Android Developers

There's no low-level access to the camera device at all.

 

[dkaufman1]

If you take a photo of a solid colour and convert the RGB values in to YUV values, you can look at the luminance value (Y value) to see the effective amount of light that was captured. although you would have to use an average and take into consideration any shadows to get an effective value. In theory if the hardware can not give you a direct reading, the above might be the best alternative.

Ageless - I think you may have solved the theoretical. If a user could be in bright sunlight, tap the app shortcut which would snap a photo to clipboard, analyze and adjust brightness that might work. On my sk3 we had an ambient light sensor to conserve battery. Unlike the original request it was a toggle on/off for the backlight and was automatic.

So the question is: is having an "un-automatic sensor" that adjusts as you outlined good enough?

 

[Ageless Stranger]

So the question is: is having an "un-automatic sensor" that adjusts as you outlined good enough?

Well on an average single core PC, analysing 25 frames per second (720x576 D1 resolution) and taking the average pixel values (similar to what I mentioned in the post you quoted) takes a LOT less than 10 milliseconds and a few % CPU.

Now consider that video capture will be possible soon, a few frames could be captured, pixel values averaged over a few frames and the result calculated in less than a second (these are arbitrary times, I have no idea how slow it would be in java, but it shouldnt be that slow).

 

[dkaufman1]

Well on an average single core PC, analysing 25 frames per second (720x576 D1 resolution) and taking the average pixel values (similar to what I mentioned in the post you quoted) takes a LOT less than 10 milliseconds and a few % CPU.

Now consider that video capture will be possible soon, a few frames could be captured, pixel values averaged over a few frames and the result calculated in less than a second (these are arbitrary times, I have no idea how slow it would be in java, but it shouldnt be that slow).

Two thoughts - apparently Apple has a proximity sensor in their phone and when it is near your ear the phone knows. That api is only supposed to be used by apple. Google used it on voice search apparently.

Blackberry's have a magnet sensor in them to let the device know it is in/out of the holster. Settings affect ringtone, etc when it is in or out.

There might be some other phones people know about it.

Secondly the phone could take a very low res photo (which would process faster. Think big pixelated chunks. It's goal is to get an average. Here's the "fail" in all of this thinking. If the phone is on your desk and and dusk is approaching, you need to actually pick it up and turn it over to queue the sensor.

As I typed that I had an idea....Oohh...I just recalled the app that silences the phone based on accelerometer. If the phone is laying face down on the table it shuts the ringer off. Face up and it rings. If a similar idea was implemented you could have the phone face down and it would know to take ambient light readings every 15 min or something.

 

[GSGreg]

DimBot automatically brightens and dims your display based on Sunrise/Sunset. It even shows you sunrise/sunset, recalculates based on change in location, DST changes, and time changes. Allows for additional adjustment via notification and is fairly configurable. It also has a quick toggle shortcut which toggles between your minimum and maximum configured settings, configurable day and night display timeout, and select how long it takes to transition from configured max to configured min brightness settings. Best of all, it always slowly changes brightness so as to minimize eye fatigue.

It's $1.00 on the market.

 

[mistahd33]

How about an app that controls brightness depending on weather the phone is plugged into a charger or running off battery? Is there anything that does that?