[APP][2008/12/01 v0.5.1] G-Light: save some battery...

ageye · Oct 29, 2008

Dear comunity,

it's me again.
Because I wasn't satisfied with the automatic backlight adjustment of my Diamond (it was always too bright for my needs), I made G-Light.

With this tool you can adjust your backlight levels according to the values your light sensor measures...
You can also change the interval how often the light sensor should be accessed.

With those two features you may save some battery power (still need some benchmarking if this is true...)

As always when I release new software please be aware of the very early state of this tool... It may not work the way you imagine but you can help me by suggesting new features or submitting bugs.

Donations are also welcome...

Download from www.ageye.de

http://www.ageye.de/?s=download

Thanks for using G-Light

AppToDate users:

Prof.Kamil · Oct 29, 2008

u have such a great battery status no.

thankx

downloading ... .. .

aBE-One · Oct 29, 2008

Thank you so much! I've waited for this kind of an app ever since I got my Raphael. Always felt the screen was much too bright in low light conditions. Gonna test this right now...

Thanks again!

aBE-One · Oct 29, 2008

Ok, it's working on my Touch Pro!

Some suggestions/requests:

I'm seeing a little more "pumping" up/down than I would like - maybe you could implement some hysteresis to the program (so that e.g. if light level is decreasing, it will switch to level 1 when light decreases to below 10, but if the light then increases, it would only change up to the next level when light exceeds 15)? What do you think?

Also, is it possible to add backlight level 0 to the options? I find it is more than enough in many occasions.

Thanks again!

yoohoo · Oct 29, 2008

Thanks. This is a fantastic tool.
May I request to allow the "Dim backlight to level" to start from 0 instead of currently at 1.
Level 1 is still too bright at total darkness when I'm reading an ebook.

colonel00 · Oct 29, 2008

For some reason, if I walk into sunlight, it will turn off the backlight. It seems to work fine in normal indoor lighting. I tried different settings, but it didnt change the behavior

helpme · Oct 29, 2008

I just wonder if the there is a actually a light level higher than 10. Under direct sun light, the default brightest level is still not bright enough.

colonel00 · Oct 29, 2008

Well, one thing I notice is my phone (Sprint Diamond) is reporting light levels averaging around 450. Outside in the sun it is easily over 800. So, perhaps this is causing some of the problems.

RavenY2K3 · Oct 29, 2008

I was trying to play with registry settings to sort this problem out just last night, quite spooky really, thanks greatly and nice work dude.

del4 · Oct 30, 2008

annoying fluctuations?

aBE-One said:
Ok, it's working on my Touch Pro!

I'm seeing a little more "pumping" up/down than I would like - maybe you could implement some hysteresis to the program (so that e.g. if light level is decreasing, it will switch to level 1 when light decreases to below 10, but if the light then increases, it would only change up to the next level when light exceeds 15)? What do you think?

Another great app idea! I agree with aBE-One about the fluctuations. Wasn't too bad during the day, but this evening, using the default configuration of the app, I found my backlight almost constantly cycling from low to medium to bright and back again, with no change in the light reaching the sensor (that I could tell; wasn't watching G-Light at the time). Looks promising and can't wait for v0.2!

Panamaaa · Oct 30, 2008

Please, tell me your settings, guys, for example:
1: 1-60
2: 61-100
...

heartwork · Oct 30, 2008

runs fine when first starting it with AZTOR7-rom (german) but crashes when trying to save the settings (message said something about an error with cfnet3.5, as far as i remember).

afterwards i wasn't able to start g-light again (even after soft-resetting the device...).

ageye · Oct 30, 2008

heartwork said:
runs fine when first starting it with AZTOR7-rom (german) but crashes when trying to save the settings (message said something about an error with cfnet3.5, as far as i remember).

afterwards i wasn't able to start g-light again (even after soft-resetting the device...).

try deleting settings.xml in the installation folder and post the FULL error details here if an error occurs again...

expo7 · Oct 30, 2008

really good and simple app. works perfect for me

ageye · Oct 30, 2008

New version released: v0.2

Thank you all for your feedback. I could test it more thoroughly and experienced the same problems you did (e.g. level 1 is not the lowest level, etc.)

I could fix all those bugs and recommend new standard values (either you delete your settings.xml or you take my recommendation):

Level 1: "0,1"
Level 2: "2,20"
Level 3: "21,40"
Level 4: "41,80"
Level 5: "81,120"
Level 6: "121,200"
Level 7: "201,300"
Level 8: "301,400"
Level 9: "401,600"
Level 10: "601,1000"

Changelog: http://www.ageye.de/index.php?s=glight/changelog
Download: http://www.ageye.de/index.php?s=download

Have fun and save some battery power...

aBE-One · Oct 30, 2008

Now you've done it, ageye! I guess I'm just gonna have to buy you a cup of coffee...

Just one more minor niggle: I see the backlight doesn't obey the "Turn off backlight if device is not used for..." setting anymore. It seems to me that after the set time is up, the backlight turns off for a second or so, and then G-light kicks in and sets the light level back to what is was...?

Here's my (initial) settings, they're geared more towards battery saving than bright screen:

level 1 [0 15]
level 2 [16 30]
level 3 [31 100]
level 4 [101 199]
level 5 [ 200 299]
level 6 [300 399]
level 7 [400 499]
level 8 [500 599]
level 9 [600 699]
level 10 [700 1000]

Update interval: 5000 ms.

I haven't tested these on bright conditions though, so I don't know how's the performance in sunlight etc.

ageye · Oct 30, 2008

aBE-One said:
Just one more minor niggle: I see the backlight doesn't obey the "Turn off backlight if device is not used for..." setting anymore. It seems to me that after the set time is up, the backlight turns off for a second or so, and then G-light kicks in and sets the light level back to what is was...?

I also noticed that and I'm already looking for a reliable solution...

gobmonster · Oct 30, 2008

I was going to post this somewhere else, but i decided it would be best to let the actual dev know.

What makes the installed backlight sensor adjuster work so well is that it works in steps, if it senses a bright environment it will work its way up, this just automatically goes to the level, its quite annoying seeing it go from brightness levels 1 to 10 to 1.

Maybe my complaint is more in the light sensor, this thing gives readings so fast that simply waving it by a dark area breifly may be the wrong instant that dictates whether it goes dim or not. If you watch the input values in this program, its constantly jumping all over the place. 750 one moment, 200 the next, 800, after that, 300 after that (especially in daylight). There needs to be a buffer inbetween the values being sent and the values being read so that it adjust to the over all lighting and not the lighting at that instant. Maybe have the values be the average over a the last couple tenths of a second, i think that would help this program out a lot.

ageye · Oct 30, 2008

gobmonster said:
I was going to post this somewhere else, but i decided it would be best to let the actual dev know.

What makes the installed backlight sensor adjuster work so well is that it works in steps, if it senses a bright environment it will work its way up, this just automatically goes to the level, its quite annoying seeing it go from brightness levels 1 to 10 to 1.

Maybe my complaint is more in the light sensor, this thing gives readings so fast that simply waving it by a dark area breifly may be the wrong instant that dictates whether it goes dim or not. If you watch the input values in this program, its constantly jumping all over the place. 750 one moment, 200 the next, 800, after that, 300 after that (especially in daylight). There needs to be a buffer inbetween the values being sent and the values being read so that it adjust to the over all lighting and not the lighting at that instant. Maybe have the values be the average over a the last couple tenths of a second, i think that would help this program out a lot.

do you use v0.2? this issue is resolved in v0.2
and why did you want to post it somewhere else? I'm not somewhere else...

gobmonster · Oct 30, 2008

ageye said:
do you use v0.2? this issue is resolved in v0.2
and why did you want to post it somewhere else? I'm not somewhere else...

Theres a thread on ppc geeks, i just thought i should post it where i could possibly make a difference

I'll try the new one now, i didnt even pay any attention to the title lol, thats a very fast update

[APP][2008/12/01 v0.5.1] G-Light: save some battery...

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