One of the most frustrating things about using a smartphone or tablet is getting the screen brightness just right. It’s a Goldilocks thing.
You can try the first setting, but it’s too dark!
You can try the second setting, but it’s too light!
And then eventually you find the setting that’s just right!
If you like, you don’t have to reset the screen’s brightness at all. There are two ways to do that: Set the screen to the brightest setting all the time, which both wastes battery power as well as draws attention to you in a dark room. Or you can employ the Auto option.
In my mobile gizmo books I describe how to use the Auto option: You touch the Auto setting button when configuring the brightness setting. That way the phone detects the amount of ambient light and then adjusts the brightness automatically.
The problems with the Auto setting are that it can be slow. Sometimes when I take out my phone in bright daylight it takes the thing a while to brighten up so that I can see the screen.
Another problem is covering the phone’s light sensor with your thumb or a phone case. That also inhibits the action of the Auto function, rendering the phone dim in bright light or too bright in a dark room.
The Auto option is truly the answer for screen brightness. In a few months. there will be an answer for another automatic setting that the phone should have: the screen timeout.
There is no reason the phone can’t detect your face when you’re looking at it and, like the Auto brightness setting, assume that because you’re looking at the phone it shouldn’t automatically lock itself.
The algorithms for such software already exist, so my guess is that it’s only a matter of time before a phone implements the “you’re looking at me” unlock feature. In fact, it’s rumored that the Samsung Galaxy III — which is supposedly the most anticipated phone in a long time — has such a feature.
And to answer that question: Unfortunately, no, I will not be doing a book on the Galaxy III. 🙁
I actually use a different method for my phone that doesn’t have a light sensor – I change the brightness based on location. If I am connected to my house or workplace wi-fi, I keep the brightness low (I am mostly indoors). If I am on 3G, I must be outside, so the brightness is higher. Of course, it wastes some battery at night, but it works most of the time.
Comment by sriksrid — May 31, 2012 @ 5:56 pm
There’s a feature on the Droid 4 called Smart Actions. It’s really cool. You can use to do things like set the brightness of the phone based on your location. For example, I use a Smart Action that puts my phone into Vibration Mode when I’m at the Library. I just wish other phones had such a feature.
Comment by admin — May 31, 2012 @ 6:16 pm