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How the hell does Auto-Brightness work?

WhySoSerious

WhySoSerious

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
1,450
68
Dallas, TX
Seriously, how do you get it to work? I have it turned on and the slider is all the way to the right (most bright). However, when I'm sitting in the living room where it's really dark at night and turn my phone on, it stays at 100% brightness.....it doesn't "auto" down.
 
xraydoc

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,771
5,228
192.168.1.1
WhySoSerious said:
Seriously, how do you get it to work? I have it turned on and the slider is all the way to the right (most bright). However, when I'm sitting in the living room where it's really dark at night and turn my phone on, it stays at 100% brightness.....it doesn't "auto" down.
Click to expand...

Not sure it does at full brightness.
 
D

draz

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2010
889
0
It is not as automatic as say a MacBook... But it does do it eventually. I noticed it usually has to be a huge change in the light for the screen to adjust minor changes don't effect it like a MacBook.
 
spblat

spblat

macrumors 6502a
Jun 18, 2010
968
0
The range is not enough IMHO. It dims somewhat, but never as much as I would like. Last phone I had with an adequate auto-dimmer was a Sidekick. But on the other hand, my battery life with iPhone 4 has improved to the extent that I don't feel the same need to micromanage brightness.
 
M

_Matt

macrumors 6502
Aug 24, 2005
440
0
It really does suck. Especially when traveling through rooms in my house with different light atmospheres.

It looks the best on full brightness but I don't want my vision to get any worse.
 
WhySoSerious

WhySoSerious

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
1,450
68
Dallas, TX
thx for the replies, but i'm not seeing ANY changes in the brightness scale. it's still at 100% in a dark room. this is the same things I saw on the 3G and 3Gs.
 
D

doboy

macrumors 68040
Jul 6, 2007
3,765
2,932
WhySoSerious said:
thx for the replies, but i'm not seeing ANY changes in the brightness scale. it's still at 100% in a dark room. this is the same things I saw on the 3G and 3Gs.
Click to expand...

It's not working for you because you set the slider all the way to the right, which is max brightness. You need to move it to about 1/3 to 1/2 way. I think that sets the minimum for the brightness. Try that.
 
M

maddux2005

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2010
417
0
100% brightness?!! Inside?!

Turn that down man! Lol your killing your eyes and more importantly draining the hell out the battery :)
 
omgitscro

omgitscro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
576
91
Auto-brightness changes take effect when one changes apps or when one enters the springboard.
 
sparrky

sparrky

macrumors 6502a
Oct 23, 2008
689
10
California
mcdj said:
I would kill for a shortcut to the brightness slider in the subdock.
Click to expand...

You would kill.... but would you jailbreak? ;) SBSettings provides a nice shortcut to the brightness slider. I really wish this sorta stuff was built in, though.
 
Eso

Eso

macrumors 68020
Aug 14, 2008
2,032
937
WhySoSerious said:
thx for the replies, but i'm not seeing ANY changes in the brightness scale. it's still at 100% in a dark room. this is the same things I saw on the 3G and 3Gs.
Click to expand...

You do realize that the brightness slider in settings will not actually move, right? The screen still gets darker. On the iPhone 4, the screen can get brighter too (on all previous models, auto-brightness will only darken the screen or do nothing).
 
WhySoSerious

WhySoSerious

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 30, 2007
1,450
68
Dallas, TX
maddux2005 said:
100% brightness?!! Inside?!

Turn that down man! Lol your killing your eyes and more importantly draining the hell out the battery :)
Click to expand...

do you not comprehend the original post?

I have the brightness set to 100% with auto-adjust set ON.

So, i assume that when i turn my phone on in a dark room, the auto-adjust will lower the brightness down to....say...50%; however, it won't. It stays at 100% by no choice of my own.

That's the problem, Mmm-kay pumpkin.
 
M

_Matt

macrumors 6502
Aug 24, 2005
440
0
This might be the stupidest thing I've ever said, but is this how auto-brightness works?

In high light conditions (sunny day), the iPhone screen gets dimmer.

In low light conditions (dark room), the iPhone screen gets brighter.

So, unless I'm completely crazy, the software is not designed to dim the screen in a dark room. Ever. Even if it's set to full brightness.

When set at 50% the auto-brightness works best because it has the room to change the brightness based on lighting conditions.

Try sliding auto-brightness off and back on?

Sorry if this was stupid but that's all I got. I've just never seen my iPhone dim in a dark room or get brighter in a light room.
 
P

pablo7

macrumors 6502
Nov 10, 2008
319
0
LOS ANGELES, CA.
_Matt said:
This might be the stupidest thing I've ever said, but is this how auto-brightness works?

In high light conditions (sunny day), the iPhone screen gets dimmer.

In low light conditions (dark room), the iPhone screen gets brighter.

So, unless I'm completely crazy, the software is not designed to dim the screen in a dark room. Ever. Even if it's set to full brightness.

When set at 50% the auto-brightness works best because it has the room to change the brightness based on lighting conditions.

Try sliding auto-brightness off and back on?

Sorry if this was stupid but that's all I got. I've just never seen my iPhone dim in a dark room or get brighter in a light room.
Click to expand...

Works opposite of what you described.....its dims in low light cause you can see it better and brightens in the sunlight or brightlight so its easier to see...:apple: try this with autobrightness set to on, at about 50% lock then unlock your phone in a semi dark room and then walk over to a lamp and watch it get brighter then see the difference as you go back to the darker part of the room it takes about 4-5 seconds for it to brighten up while your holding it under the light bulb of the lamp.
 
M

maddux2005

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2010
417
0
WhySoSerious said:
do you not comprehend the original post?

I have the brightness set to 100% with auto-adjust set ON.

So, i assume that when i turn my phone on in a dark room, the auto-adjust will lower the brightness down to....say...50%; however, it won't. It stays at 100% by no choice of my own.

That's the problem, Mmm-kay pumpkin.
Click to expand...

No reason to be rude. I was messing around (hence the emoticon) mmm k pumpkin

Still. 100% brightness isn't needed indoors. But it's your phone. Not mine. Just my 2 cents
 
D

doboy

macrumors 68040
Jul 6, 2007
3,765
2,932
WhySoSerious said:
do you not comprehend the original post?

I have the brightness set to 100% with auto-adjust set ON.

So, i assume that when i turn my phone on in a dark room, the auto-adjust will lower the brightness down to....say...50%; however, it won't. It stays at 100% by no choice of my own.

That's the problem, Mmm-kay pumpkin.
Click to expand...

Read my post above. The slider is to set the minimum so by setting the slider at 100%, it'll stay close to max even when you are in the dark. Lower the slider to 1/3 to 1/2 and it should work fine. You mentioned you tried 3G and 3GS, did you own those models and you still don't know how to use auto-brightness?
 
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