Update on screen dimming

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by weatherman

I thought Blossom (or maybe it was someone else) ran in to an issue with SuperDim that required her to reboot at some point. It was in a different thread.

Nope. I did run into a issue that with the new app enabled you loose the left screen swipe ability in Mantano to change the brightness of the book but once disabled you get that feature back. So it's not a huge issue. Just fix the book to your liking then enabled the app and fix the screen to your liking. You'll be able to tweak it faster once it's in notification bar area.

Maybe you meant Screen Filter. I encounter issues with it. The first time it happen I restarted not knowing what was going on. It seems Screen Filter causes you not to be able to install apps if the settings are too low. The Install button is not clickable. Some buttons have to hit twice but once I figure it was the cause I just disable it as needed so it's no longer a issue.

I didn't test that with the new app. I guess I can do that.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by pruss

Thanks for the kind words. I was very happy to get this working, since there are a lot of users who for legal or technical reasons don't root their device and for whom my SuperDim, which requires root (but it's free!), isn't helpful. I rolled ScreenDim together quickly yesterday by re-using much of SuperDim code.

Something I'd like to add if I could figure out how would be a screen tint feature. I know it can be done because there is a paid version of something in the Market like the Fader utility (or whatever it's called) that does it. (But it also doesn't adjust brightness, just contrast.)

It's nice that on the Kindle the notification bar shows up in most apps. On my Archos 43, it disappears in most apps.

I don't think it's needs a tint feature. Simple is best when it comes to the Fire not knowing how Amazon has modified things or will in the future.

The reason you have access to notification bar on the Fire is how Amazon has their menu set up. You have to be able to change the volume and other setting while in a app. So apps that put themselves in that area and really nice to use. I have a WiFi app that does that so I can turn WiFi on and off with a single click while in any app. Screen Filter also does this.

Once thing that's great about Pruss's app it has presets! Something I wanted for a long time.

[pruss]

I posted a pre-release of the trial version (it says 3 day trial, but this one is a 7 day trial :-) ) here.

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by pruss

I posted a pre-release of the trial version (it says 3 day trial, but this one is a 7 day trial :-) ) here.

Just downloaded it. Where do I buy it if I like it.

Carol

[salsaguy]

I had installed screen filter a while back and somehow accidentally turned it all the way down so i couldn't see anything!!!. I was locked out and couldn't do anything. Had to hard boot to clear it back to normal. Quickly uninstalled that. You'd think they would have a min setting so you could still see the screen just enough to still do stuff without having to freak out as i did.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by salsaguy

I had installed screen filter a while back and somehow accidentally turned it all the way down so i couldn't see anything!!!. I was locked out and couldn't do anything. Had to hard boot to clear it back to normal. Quickly uninstalled that. You'd think they would have a min setting so you could still see the screen just enough to still do stuff without having to freak out as i did.

I install Screen Dimm on my phone and did the same thing. I have to figure out with a blank screen where to touch to get my phone to restart. That was fun! It works great on the Fire no so much on my phone.

Screen Filter I never take down more then 30% However if you do just restart the fire and clear the data for the app to fix it. This works with Screen Dimm too if you using another device where it does make the screen go black. Clearing the data will fix the problem.

[pruss]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I install Screen Dimm on my phone and did the same thing. I have to figure out with a blank screen where to touch to get my phone to restart. That was fun! It works great on the Fire no so much on my phone.

Tell me more about it, and if you can try the latest version, I'd really appreciate it. It is meant to work on all devices. There are a few devices where settings below about 4 or maybe even 8% turn off the display. However, you should be able to keep your finger on the slider and shift it up.

Also, one of the betas I sent you had a bug that resulted in black screens in some circumstances. The latest version doesn't do that.

Screen Filter I never take down more then 30% However if you do just restart the fire and clear the data for the app to fix it. This works with Screen Dimm too if you using another device where it does make the screen go black. Clearing the data will fix the problem.

I made ScreenDim so that with minimum contrast and brightness settings, you can still just barely see the screen on the Fire and my Archos. I limit how low the contrast can go, but I don't limit how low the brightness can go. But there is a menu option to limit how low the brightness can go. It's buggy right now, though (it takes its inputs in x/255 units, even though the slider is calibrated in percent).

[pruss]

Originally Posted by sadievan

Just downloaded it. Where do I buy it if I like it.

Before I release, I really want to make sure that I have fixed Blossom's issue with it on her phone. Most of the market is still phones, even though I developed this with the Kindle in mind.

I just put up another beta that lets you set a minimum to the brightness slider safely. I also added a safety feature which keeps brightness+contrast above a certain minimum internally. On my Archos, that minimum makes the text illegible but I can see where the on-screen buttons are. I can't really set a higher minimum, because devices differ a lot from each other.

As another safety measure, I set it to disable completely after a reboot. Sorry, that means that if you reboot and you want to turn it on, you need to not only run ScreenDim but press "Active". C'est la vie.

On most devices, if you set your screen brightness too low, you can fix it up with the volume buttons since they move the brightness slider. The Kindle doesn't have volume buttons.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by pruss

Tell me more about it, and if you can try the latest version, I'd really appreciate it. It is meant to work on all devices. There are a few devices where settings below about 4 or maybe even 8% turn off the display. However, you should be able to keep your finger on the slider and shift it up.

Also, one of the betas I sent you had a bug that resulted in black screens in some circumstances. The latest version doesn't do that.

I made ScreenDim so that with minimum contrast and brightness settings, you can still just barely see the screen on the Fire and my Archos. I limit how low the contrast can go, but I don't limit how low the brightness can go. But there is a menu option to limit how low the brightness can go. It's buggy right now, though (it takes its inputs in x/255 units, even though the slider is calibrated in percent).

It's 0.05 I am using. My phone goes black anything below 6.3 It is a LG Vortex with Android 2.2

I tried putting in the min bright setting to 7 but it doesn't work. However the min setting of 6.3 isn't lower then my default minimum brightness setting. So only the contrast settings does anything more on my phone. So it varies by device.

The black screen isn't a bug I just messed up by sliding it too far and then didn't know what to do. Restarting fixed it but then when I started SD back up I had a black screen again and had to restart it then clear the app's data. Afterward I was able to play with the settings which on my phone doesn't do much with the brightness control. Contrast works okay.

I just spent the night with SD on the Fire and I had it once kick out but when I went to the notification bar and brought up SD's settings then hit the back button it was dim again. Screen Filter sometimes does the same thing on the Fire. I'm not sure if it's fixable but I am use to being blinded when Screen Filter kicks out so it's not a real issue for me.

I am using the min setting on the Fire to read at night. The contrast slider works great when trying to read on the Kindle app. The min brightness by itself it not dim enough for the Amazon's ideal of reading colors but using the contrast slider really helps and is much better then Screen Filter because the text doesn't look as washed out.

It really is a great app.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by pruss

On most devices, if you set your screen brightness too low, you can fix it up with the volume buttons since they move the brightness slider. The Kindle doesn't have volume buttons.

I should have tried that.

[sadievan]

Originally Posted by pruss

Before I release, I really want to make sure that I have fixed Blossom's issue with it on her phone. Most of the market is still phones, even though I developed this with the Kindle in mind.

I just put up another beta that lets you set a minimum to the brightness slider safely. I also added a safety feature which keeps brightness+contrast above a certain minimum internally. On my Archos, that minimum makes the text illegible but I can see where the on-screen buttons are. I can't really set a higher minimum, because devices differ a lot from each other.

As another safety measure, I set it to disable completely after a reboot. Sorry, that means that if you reboot and you want to turn it on, you need to not only run ScreenDim but press "Active". C'est la vie.

On most devices, if you set your screen brightness too low, you can fix it up with the volume buttons since they move the brightness slider. The Kindle doesn't have volume buttons.

New link doesn't work

Carol

[pruss]

Originally Posted by sadievan

New link doesn't work

Carol

Now it should.

[pruss]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I should have tried that.

But it's still a bug if by default it started out in low brightness mode.

You can also just randomly tap places on the screen. Pretty good chance you'll hit a slider or a pre-set button.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by pruss

But it's still a bug if by default it started out in low brightness mode.

You can also just randomly tap places on the screen. Pretty good chance you'll hit a slider or a pre-set button.

Yes after I did it twice and stop panicking I realized that.

It didn't start out that way It started out fine I moved the slider down and then hit enabled and it went black. By default it's okay.

I keep my phone at minimum brightness. Anything more then that is too bright unless I am in the car. So it didn't take too much sliding for me to put it in the black.

[pruss]

I uploaded 0.09 with a slightly prettier UI.

I also benchmarked things on my Archos 43 with AnTuTu. Bigger numbers are better. Each number is an average of six tests, but with the No Dimming test having some extreme outliers removed.

No dimming:
2D: 432
3D: 678

ScreenDim, 2% brightness, 100% contrast:
2D: 435
3D: 702

ScreenDim, 2% brightness, ~50% contrast:
2D: 426
3D: 684

Screen Filter, ~50%:
2D: 336
3D: 625

There is a fair amount of variability in the tests, so take them with a bit of a grain of salt. In any case, ScreenDim imposes no significant loss of graphics speed, while Screen Filter imposes about a 30% decrease in 2D graphics speed, and a small decrease in 3D graphics speed.