Help Keyboard / button lights?

[SpecialEd]

Has anyone else noticed the lights on the keyboard and buttons seem flaky?

The keyboard backlight works sometimes, but it seems to shut off on me occasionally, but come back on. Similar for the buttons, they are not always on when I need them.

Am I flaky? Did I miss a setting? Do I have a short in my D3? Or is this a software oddity?

 

[Frisco]

Those lights seem most reliable in either very dim light (remain on) or very bright light (remain off) on my D3.

 

[SpecialEd]

Thanks, I was worried I had issues.

The only times I have noticed it were in semi-dark rooms when I needed backlight, but it came and went. Glad to know it should not be all on all the time.

 

[Frisco]

There's a sensor.

I remember a similar issue with the Fascinate a while back. After the root exploit was made known, ROMs began showing up with a fix for that about the same time that an OTA addressed it.

Something similar may happen with the Droid 3. As it is, I find it predictable now when the lights will go on or off. Not an annoyance to me.

 

[aostang]

I hate my devices trying to "predict" whether I want backlighting or not. I always disable the ambient light detection where ever I can, whether it be through software, or simply covering/blocking the sensor with a tiny square of electrical tape. I've noticed the original poster's issue myself a few times, I just haven't been bothered enough to do anything about it "yet".

 

[Bobarazzi]

Does anyone have a software fix for the D3 yet...this is annoying and don't want to tape my Droid. For now, I have to cover the face of my phone to activate lights when hey go off...annoying.

 

[aostang]

Odds are, that setting may be in the build.prop file, but I haven't looked at it yet. Regardless, where ever that setting is to say what % of light triggers the backlight, it will be somewhere we can't modify without root.

 

[Frisco]

I hate my devices trying to "predict" whether I want backlighting or not. I always disable the ambient light detection where ever I can, whether it be through software, or simply covering/blocking the sensor with a tiny square of electrical tape. I've noticed the original poster's issue myself a few times, I just haven't been bothered enough to do anything about it "yet".

Yes, a three-choice menu item for the lights would be nice: - Always On, - Always Off, - Auto.

 

[Frisco]

I've discovered a sort of "fix" for the wiggy light sensor (at least this works for me):

Very simple, I dropped my screen brightness down to a level I can use, but dimmer than I used to have it. I became suspicious that perhaps the screen brightness was influencing the light senser, after all the screen is right there within a fraction of an inch of the sensor.

It works. The lights remain on now unless I am in quite a well lit area.

Give it a try.. feedback about this would be interesting.

 

[aostang]

I've discovered a sort of "fix" for the wiggy light sensor (at least this works for me):

Very simple, I dropped my screen brightness down to a level I can use, but dimmer than I used to have it. I became suspicious that perhaps the screen brightness was influencing the light senser, after all the screen is right there within a fraction of an inch of the sensor.

It works. The lights remain on now unless I am in quite a well lit area.

Give it a try.. feedback about this would be interesting.

That would be quite an unfortunate design flaw lol.. but I'm sure you're right. I refuse to lower my screen brightness for this. I'd rather open the phone and cover or jump the sensor lol.

 

[beowulf7]

I noticed this, too, but thought I was going crazy or that there was some annoying sensor trying to save light if it wasn't needed. I agree that a 3-choice menu would be nice as Frisco described.

 

[Frisco]

Well, take heart, beowulf7, ROM developers notice this stuff (especially if you submit a request to them ).

Got to wait for that big, first announcement of root being gained for the Droid 3, of course.

Still not sure if I'll root mine.. it's already fast, etc. Boatware doesn't bother me much, and I feel like I've resolved the light sensor behavior.

 

[beowulf7]

Well, take heart, beowulf7, ROM developers notice this stuff (especially if you submit a request to them ).

Got to wait for that big, first announcement of root being gained for the Droid 3, of course.

Still not sure if I'll root mine.. it's already fast, etc. Boatware doesn't bother me much, and I feel like I've resolved the light sensor behavior.

I hope so. And did you alert a ROM developer about this? Just curious.

Well, rooting would be nice, but I'd mainly like to see a firmware update to fix a few of the stability issues and couple other minor annoyances and not so minor (like the blue of the camera) issues. I wonder if only Android upgrades, like to 2.4, would address them, or if they'd push minor updates as requested.

 

[aostang]

I hope so. And did you alert a ROM developer about this? Just curious.

Well, rooting would be nice, but I'd mainly like to see a firmware update to fix a few of the stability issues and couple other minor annoyances and not so minor (like the blue of the camera) issues. I wonder if only Android upgrades, like to 2.4, would address them, or if they'd push minor updates as requested.

The next update will likely just be app bug fixes. They *could* add 2.3.5 to the update, but I'm not sure they'll mess with it for the first update since 2.3.4 itself seems to be stable. Unfortunate, because 2.3.5 has some OMAP enhancements and fixes in it.

 

[beowulf7]

The next update will likely just be app bug fixes. They *could* add 2.3.5 to the update, but I'm not sure they'll mess with it for the first update since 2.3.4 itself seems to be stable. Unfortunate, because 2.3.5 has some OMAP enhancements and fixes in it.

I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed to see when VZW and Motorola release the next FW update, whether it's a minor one or major one. I read somewhere that in general, Android updates are available every quarter or so, after the manufacturer and provider do thorough testing on them.

 

[aostang]

I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed to see when VZW and Motorola release the next FW update, whether it's a minor one or major one. I read somewhere that in general, Android updates are available every quarter or so, after the manufacturer and provider do thorough testing on them.

I wouldn't say they're that frequent. Generally speaking, updates only come for bug fixes and then for a few "minor" version OS updates (2.x). By the time a few minor OS versions have been released, manufacturers generally consider the hardware EOL and you're left to dev support for updates. That's why an unlocked bootloader and root are so important.

 

[dansby660]

Is there anyway to keep the backilght on the touch buttons for the home screen , refresh, etc stay on? I was on the browser reading a article in the dark and the lights went out on those buttons and the screen stayed on and I could see to use the back butoon. Thanks

 

[aostang]

Is there anyway to keep the backilght on the touch buttons for the home screen , refresh, etc stay on? I was on the browser reading a article in the dark and the lights went out on those buttons and the screen stayed on and I could see to use the back butoon. Thanks

Not without root. I'm sure that can be adjusted when we do get it.

 

[Frisco]

I did a search in Market, under things such as, "keyboard lights," "back lights," etc for quite a while. I did download a few free apps just on the chance they might work.. .. nope.

So, as aostang says, once the Droid 3 system is root exploited we'll probably see that issue addressed. I remember when it was an issue with the Fascinate soft keys and a ROM developer came out with the alternative settings of, "always on," "always off," and "auto."

As a side note, I have noticed that the keyboard lights stay on much better once the display setting for screen brightness is tweeked down quite a bit.

 

[aostang]

I did a search in Market, under things such as, "keyboard lights," "back lights," etc for quite a while. I did download a few free apps just on the chance they might work.. .. nope.

So, as aostang says, once the Droid 3 system is root exploited we'll probably see that issue addressed. I remember when it was an issue with the Fascinate soft keys and a ROM developer came out with the alternative settings of, "always on," "always off," and "auto."

As a side note, I have noticed that the keyboard lights stay on much better once the display setting for screen brightness is tweeked down quite a bit.

Yep, that toggle is what we need once root is obtained. Also, the keyboard backlight is susceptible to the same turning off with the screen brightness all the way up. Maybe what we really need is an adjustment to the ambient light sensor that may fix both.

 

[Frisco]

Dang it. I've completely turned around on this (as far as my Droid 3's keyboard lights being ok once the display is set dimmer.. turns out the lights still go off unexpectedly at times).

Hm... it annoys me, because I want those lights on all the time.

I've tried several Market apps (none of which mention the Droid 3, obviously as it's so new) to no avail; they just do not work at all.