Backlight manager

veggie-man · #1 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009, 02:56 PM

I generally don't need my backlight as I am in the office, metro, or bus all day. And since it absolutely drains the battery, I just turned it off(and I think most people do too). This has worked out quite well with increased battery time, however I do run into problems with it. When I go outside or am by a window, it gets quite hard to see the screen as the glaring light makes the screen look way too dark.

I recently installed a program which reads the angle, and more applicable to this idea, the brightness of the surroundings when you have a call, so it will lock your screen when you are mid-call(when you push the phone up to your face, it will become much darker which will then cue the screen to lock, so you don't push any buttons).

With this brightness concept in mind, does anyone know of a program that reads the brightness of your surrounding area, and when it is very bright out(a brightness level which would be modifiable) the backlight will turn on so you can actually see the screen?

I've searched and couldn't find one, but if someone knows of a program that does this, please let me know!

**greenskeeper805** · #2 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009, 04:23 PM

The Omnia has this feature built in. I'm just now noticing that it's not working...In settings/backlight, it's set to auto by default. The bar will move when you cover the light sensor, but the backlight doesn't dim. Anyone know what's going on here?

Anthrax79 · #3 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by veggie-man

I recently installed a program which reads the angle, and more applicable to this idea, the brightness of the surroundings when you have a call, so it will lock your screen when you are mid-call(when you push the phone up to your face, it will become much darker which will then cue the screen to lock, so you don't push any buttons).

What is this brightness lock program called?

veggie-man · #4 (**permalink**) 07-29-2009, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anthrax79

What is this brightness lock program called?

http://www.modaco.com/content/i9x0-o.../#entry1046319

boolieman · #5 (**permalink**) 07-30-2009, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenskeeper805

The Omnia has this feature built in. I'm just now noticing that it's not working...In settings/backlight, it's set to auto by default. The bar will move when you cover the light sensor, but the backlight doesn't dim. Anyone know what's going on here?

It doesnt make much of a difference in the backlight that way but if you actually take it to a dark room vs outside you can see that blue bar move lower to higher letting you know that it is actually adjusting. I use it myself by the way and my battery life is a bit better and i dont have to worry about if i can see the screen generally, just have to make sure you dont get mirror screen protectors.

zman818 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-01-2009, 08:08 PM

Good idea. Actually looking for something to cut my teeth on in terms of app development for the omnia. May play around with this.

zman818 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-02-2009, 09:10 AM

Working nicely. Will post a proof of concept shortly.

zman818 · #8 (**permalink**) 08-02-2009, 04:17 PM

This app was designed to improve upon the backlight management capabilities of the Omnia (*May* also work on HTC models). Currently the "auto backlight" function on the Omnia i910 is too sensitive, and ends up cranking the backlight up even in low-light situations where it isn't needed. This results in wasted battery power.

Mode 1 (Hi-Low Manual) - If the current light level meets or exceeds the set threshold, the backlight will be set to 12 (maximum). If the current light level falls below the threshold, the backlight will be set to 1 (minimum).

Mode 2 (Manual / Auto) - Same as above, but if the light meets or exceeds the threshold, the backlight will be set to auto. If the light level falls below the threshold, the backlight is set to manual (whatever value is currently set for manual backlight will be used).

The Threshold setting has 4 marks -- dark, dim, normal and bright. These are pretty subjective, but "bright" has been working pretty well for me in bright light.

Status shows the currently active mode, the approximate light level in lumens and the current brightness (dark, dim, normal, bright), which is essentially just a translation of lumen level.

The UI and installation process is crap. This is not meant to be anything close to a finished product -- just a proof of concept to see if this interests anyone and solves the problem. Backlight management will continue if the app is minimized. Shutting down the app will cease backlight management.

This was developed on an Omnia i910 using Adryn's 6.5 / 2.0 CF03. It should work on any flavor of Omnia i910. It may work on HTC models as well, though I haven't been able to test.

Installation: Unzip the attachment. Copy the two files to any spot on your Omnia. Launch Smartbacklight.exe.

Please let me know how this works for people. So far it seems to be doing a decent job of saving my battery and eyesight in and out of sunlight.

**blazingwolf** · #9 (**permalink**) 08-02-2009, 05:42 PM

Nice. I'll give this a shot.

SilverPony2001 · #10 (**permalink**) 08-03-2009, 01:58 AM

Sweet, will test this out!