Display Birghtness (and adjustment)

drexappeal · Jul 14, 2014

One of my big concerns about the display, prior to purchasing the phone, was the ability to see the screen in direct sunlight. After going through the initial setup, I went to check the brightness slider. With Auto Brightness on, I noticed the similar thing that other reviewers had mentioned (where the screen didn't get that much more bright, when using the slider). Then, while testing the slider out, I noticed that the entire time (even when manually adjusting), that the toggle for Auto Brightness never got un-clicked. So, after noticing that, I un-toggled Auto Brightness and brought the Brightness up to as bright as possible. After doing that, I noticed a huge difference!

So, here's the explanation of what was happening:
W/ Auto Brightness toggled, the screen can be dimmed or brightened, but will still remain on "Auto" mode (to adjust accordingly). The difference isn't that significant from the lowest setting to the highest.

w/o Auto Brightness toggled, the adjustment from low to high is much more noticeable and the screen can get quite bright (more than enough to serve its purpose under direct sunlight).

Bottom Line - The highest brightness setting (w/ the auto brightness toggled) is not the same as the highest brightness setting (w/o the auto brightness toggled). The auto does not turn off when adjusting the slider manually. One has to actually un-check the box, in order to achieve the much brighter setting.

I don't know why LG designed it that way (probably to help general consumers, who aren't tech savvy, not eat up their battery life), but it is a big difference that I noticed.

Albie999 · Jul 14, 2014

It was like this on my S3. It allows you to adjust the level of brightness within the auto adjustment

drexappeal · Jul 14, 2014

Albie999 said:
It was like this on my S3. It allows you to adjust the level of brightness within the auto adjustment

I see. Wasn't like that on my Note 2 or Note 3, so at first I was a little disappointed in the brightness level that the phone could get to. As soon as I started switching back and forth on the toggle and moving the slider in both scenarios, that's where I discovered what the reviewers had been complaining about. With the auto-brightness still toggled, there's not much difference from really dim to bright, so I could see how, if they didn't turn that toggle off...they'd think that the brightness wasn't great at 100%.

parapluie · Jul 14, 2014

drexappeal said:
I see. Wasn't like that on my Note 2 or Note 3, so at first I was a little disappointed in the brightness level that the phone could get to. As soon as I started switching back and forth on the toggle and moving the slider in both scenarios, that's where I discovered what the reviewers had been complaining about. With the auto-brightness still toggled, there's not much difference from really dim to bright, so I could see how, if they didn't turn that toggle off...they'd think that the brightness wasn't great at 100%.

That's good to hear! In comparison to other phones, how does it compare once you have taken off the auto-brightness (do you have any to hold it next to)? I have an old S3 right now and it gets really bright, which is nice in bright sun (though sometimes almost too bright at night even turned down all the way).

drexappeal · Jul 14, 2014

parapluie said:
That's good to hear! In comparison to other phones, how does it compare once you have taken off the auto-brightness (do you have any to hold it next to)? I have an old S3 right now and it gets really bright, which is nice in bright sun (though sometimes almost too bright at night even turned down all the way).

I'd say that it's at least comparable to my Note 3, which is my daily driver phone, where it gets almost "too" bright, for my liking.

Maine Coon · Jul 14, 2014

drexappeal said:
I see. Wasn't like that on my Note 2 or Note 3, so at first I was a little disappointed in the brightness level that the phone could get to. As soon as I started switching back and forth on the toggle and moving the slider in both scenarios, that's where I discovered what the reviewers had been complaining about. With the auto-brightness still toggled, there's not much difference from really dim to bright, so I could see how, if they didn't turn that toggle off...they'd think that the brightness wasn't great at 100%.

great news..tomorrow mine should be here..can't wait..

I ALWAYS uncheck auto brightness and use 100% on my phones. battery life is non-issue for me w/removable battery.

drexappeal · Jul 14, 2014

Maine Coon said:
great news..tomorrow mine should be here..can't wait..

I ALWAYS uncheck auto brightness and use 100% on my phones. battery life is non-issue for me w/removable battery.

I saw that you mentioned that (in the pre-release thread), but didn't see if there was any sort of delay that caused you not to be getting it until tomorrow.

Well, at least you'll have it tomorrow. I honestly would make this my primary phone of choice, if it had some sort of wacom digitzer integrated (like the Note series). Seeing as they were able to incorporate the TV antenna on the Korean version, maybe their "prime" version can replace the TV antenna with a wacom digitizer. Then, I'd be fully on board with switching from the Note series. LG got it right with the overall form factor. The G3 is so much more comfortable to hold than the Note 2 or Note 3.

As for battery life, I found it to be just "ok" in comparison to the Note 3, but then again, that was after using it consistently for the entire day.

Maine Coon · Jul 14, 2014

drexappeal said:
I saw that you mentioned that (in the pre-release thread), but didn't see if there was any sort of delay that caused you not to be getting it until tomorrow.

Well, at least you'll have it tomorrow. I honestly would make this my primary phone of choice, if it had some sort of wacom digitzer integrated (like the Note series). Seeing as they were able to incorporate the TV antenna on the Korean version, maybe their "prime" version can replace the TV antenna with a wacom digitizer. Then, I'd be fully on board with switching from the Note series. LG got it right with the overall form factor. The G3 is so much more comfortable to hold than the Note 2 or Note 3.

As for battery life, I found it to be just "ok" in comparison to the Note 3, but then again, that was after using it consistently for the entire day.

dunno man. ordered minutes after getting email from tmo, thought it would be waiting for me when I get back home. tmo order fulfillment is strange, but whatever.

don't know what to do w/my Z Ultra now.

drexappeal · Jul 14, 2014

Maine Coon said:
dunno man. ordered minutes after getting email from tmo, thought it would be waiting for me when I get back home. tmo order fulfillment is strange, but whatever.

don't know what to do w/my Z Ultra now.

I'd hold it as a backup phone. I typically have at least 1 backup phone at home, for "worst case scenario" situations.

And, before I had my Note 8, I used to have two (2) Note 2 phones. I used the international one as a dedicated media device, while in my car.

Maine Coon · Jul 14, 2014

drexappeal said:
I'd hold it as a backup phone. I typically have at least 1 backup phone at home, for "worst case scenario" situations.

And, before I had my Note 8, I used to have two (2) Note 2 phones. I used the international one as a dedicated media device, while in my car.

That's what my thought too. And actually my wife had problems w/her Nexus 5 when I was overseas, so Z Ultra was really handy.

thing is, I have two F6 and I thought they could be a good backup phones..

drexappeal · Jul 14, 2014

Maine Coon said:
That's what my thought too. And actually my wife had problems w/her Nexus 5 when I was overseas, so Z Ultra was really handy.

thing is, I have two F6 and I thought they could be a good backup phones..

If you have 2 F6's, you could probably get good money back for the Z Ultra...but at least you have some options.

Maine Coon · Jul 14, 2014

drexappeal said:
If you have 2 F6's, you could probably get good money back for the Z Ultra...but at least you have some options.

Not good, just some money..I paid $430 for it in Feb, I will get something around $300 after ebay/paypal fees. It is not a bad phablet, don't know whether to keep it or not.

TheAlmightyDrew · Jul 15, 2014

You sir have just completely put my mind at ease. The display brightness was the only thing keeping me on the fence between the G3 and the S5. I actually just tried this with the auto brightness on my G2 and noticed the exact same thing.

john_g · Jul 15, 2014

My experience is different. I have a UK (International?) D855 model and have found the following:

1. In non-auto mode, the brightness slider acts just as expected, changing the brightness from 0-100%. In auto mode, the slider biases the auto-brightness algorithm to favour a lower or higher brightness response to any given incident light.

2. With the brightness slider set to 100%, the screen brightness in strong direct sunlight doesn't change when I check/uncheck the auto box. In both cases it is, in my opinion, very legible.

3. With the auto box ticked, the slider shifts the autobrightness curve, although this is only noticeable for lower intensities. I've used the slider to set an appropriate, but power-conserving, brightness for indoor use - in this relatively low incident light environment, the 'auto' slider has a very noticeable effect.

So I keep the auto box ticked, and the slider set to around 75%.

grdh20 · Jul 15, 2014

TheAlmightyDrew said:
I actually just tried this with the auto brightness on my G2 and noticed the exact same thing.

It's a feature. Makes sense to me. On the other hand, with both auto's turned off on a G2 and a G3, I feel like the G3 has to go about 10-15% brighter in settings to match the brightness of the G@ and even then it is more yellowish looking than the G2. At least was the Sprint G3 that I handled.

drexappeal · Jul 15, 2014

I know that this is important to a lot of people, so I will try to take a video, to show the differences (if I have a chance).

zipred · Jul 16, 2014

Maine Coon said:
great news..tomorrow mine should be here..can't wait..

I ALWAYS uncheck auto brightness and use 100% on my phones. battery life is non-issue for me w/removable battery.

Great to hear you'll have yours soon!

I too always uncheck auto brightness on all my phones, never to use it. I prefer to set my brightness to the ambient conditions, find it so fast and easy to do that I may adjust it twice a day when needed.

Now several days with my G3 reveals this to be an exemplary phone for my usage. I'm very glad I decided to try one.

Maine Coon · Jul 16, 2014

zipred said:
Great to hear you'll have yours soon!

I too always uncheck auto brightness on all my phones, never to use it. I prefer to set my brightness to the ambient conditions, find it so fast and easy to do that I may adjust it twice a day when needed.

Now several days with my G3 reveals this to be an exemplary phone for my usage. I'm very glad I decided to try one.

Already here.

And hopefully will be rooted tonight.

Gremlin256 · Jul 16, 2014

I use an app called Lux to set up my brightness automatically.. Using it on S4 now until I get my G3 tomorrow

jimbo1mcm · Jul 26, 2014

I played with the G3 at Verizon, right next to my G2. I had my G2 brightness set to 54%. I seem to recall that it took about 65% on the G3 to equal it. Just sayin.

lexluthor · Jul 26, 2014

I've been trying to figure out this auto brightness thing myself and their implementation is definitely a little unique.

So with auto on, the slider still has a slight effect in that auto with slider at 100 favors a slightly higher brightness than auto with slider at 0? So with auto on it always adjust to the environment but the scale is slightly different depending on the slider? Auto 100 will use more battery then auto 0?

Has anyone actually tested that? Is there any way to see the actual current nominal brightness level because I'm not positive that's what's happening. The other thing that I suspect could be occurring is that moving the slider when auto mode is on has a temporary effect and then auto re-kicks in again.

JD06ctsV · Jul 26, 2014

Not sure if it was mentioned but while keeping the brightness at 100% and unchecking the auto feature, I noticed my video's were dark. There is a brightness option in the video player that over rides the brightness setting in the main menu!!!

Bring up your movie or LG G3 video and go into settings within the video player. You will find a brightness setting in there. Mine was set low.

Maine Coon · Jul 26, 2014

JD06ctsV said:
Not sure if it was mentioned but while keeping the brightness at 100% and unchecking the auto feature, I noticed my video's were dark. There is a brightness option in the video player that over rides the brightness setting in the main menu!!!

Bring up your movie or LG G3 video and go into settings within the video player. You will find a brightness setting in there. Mine was set low.

You are absolutely correct.
MX Player brightness was set at 50%.

UBRocked · Jul 26, 2014

Maine Coon said:
You are absolutely correct.
MX Player brightness was set at 50%.

It is with the stock video player as well. Why not have an option to use system brightness? That's silly...

And hearing a lot about not having good sunlight visibility. Been looking at my phone outdoors all day and on auto brightness...it has pretty damn good visibility in sunny conditions. My Droid DNA and Galaxy Nexus before that were not usable outside...the G3 certainly is.

iazybandit · Jul 27, 2014

The contrast/brightness is a little weak compared to my old Galaxy S3 but I can live with it.

Display Birghtness (and adjustment)

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