Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

pelicanflip

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2009
802
0
NYC
Auto brightness can help/worsen your battery.

Think about it this way:

In bright light, it'll be dimmer, which saves battery life.
In low light, it'll be brighter, which drains battery life.


If you're that concerned about the brightness draining your battery life, just set it to a low brightness all the time, and turn up the brightness whenever you need it.
 

sgiles1

macrumors newbie
May 23, 2008
20
0
Auto brightness can help/worsen your battery.

Think about it this way:

In bright light, it'll be dimmer, which saves battery life.
In low light, it'll be brighter, which drains battery life.


If you're that concerned about the brightness draining your battery life, just set it to a low brightness all the time, and turn up the brightness whenever you need it.

I see what your saying, but isn't it the other way around? Gets brighter in bright environments and dims in dark environments? I find that it dims too much in the dark and I turn it up a bit.
 

pelicanflip

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2009
802
0
NYC
I see what your saying, but isn't it the other way around? Gets brighter in bright environments and dims in dark environments? I find that it dims too much in the dark and I turn it up a bit.

Really? I dunno, when it's cloudy outside or been in my pocket and I take it out, my iPhone brightens up to compensate. When it's nice and sunny out, I don't notice it getting any brighter.

Maybe that's just me...
 

actorkid

macrumors 6502
Feb 26, 2008
401
0
Really? I dunno, when it's cloudy outside or been in my pocket and I take it out, my iPhone brightens up to compensate. When it's nice and sunny out, I don't notice it getting any brighter.

Maybe that's just me...

yeah you do have it backwards

think about it. When its dark, you don't need very much light to see something since everything around it is dark, but when something is drowned out by a bright light, you need a super bright back light source to compensate
 

pelicanflip

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2009
802
0
NYC
yeah you do have it backwards

think about it. When its dark, you don't need very much light to see something since everything around it is dark, but when something is drowned out by a bright light, you need a super bright back light source to compensate

Ah, fair enough.

I guess when I take my iPhone out of my pocket, it was darkened because it was in a dark environment (my pocket). In turn, it brightens up due to the outside light, which is much brighter.

Tadaa, logic ftw :)

Thanks for clearing that up :D
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
Auto brightness can help/worsen your battery.

I think you're wrong.

From what I can tell, putting auto on lets it adjust the light up to the level you've set. It can dim it lower, but it can't raise it brighter then you've set.

Thus, it can either help (if it dims) or not help (if it doesn't dim) but it can not hurt battery life since it can't go above the point you've set.

Has anyone seen otherwise? I just played with it for a minute and couldn't get auto-brightness to ever make it brighter than my current setting.
 

-aggie-

macrumors P6
Jun 19, 2009
16,793
51
Where bunnies are welcome.
I think you're wrong.

From what I can tell, putting auto on lets it adjust the light up to the level you've set. It can dim it lower, but it can't raise it brighter then you've set.

Thus, it can either help (if it dims) or not help (if it doesn't dim) but it can not hurt battery life since it can't go above the point you've set.

Has anyone seen otherwise? I just played with it for a minute and couldn't get auto-brightness to ever make it brighter than my current setting.

I think you're right, but my head hurts after reading through this thread. :)

I just took it into a closet and then out and then under a lamp and I didn't notice it getting brighter than my setting. Does the manual explain this?

Because of this thread, I lowered my brightness setting to 50%, since I had thought that having auto would lower/higher it as needed. I had it at about 75% b4.
 

pelicanflip

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2009
802
0
NYC
Hmm, never noticed that.

Still, the brighter you set your brightness setting, the more of a chance you have of increased drains on your battery life.


To conserve battery life, you can keep auto-brightness on, but lower your original brightness settings.

Better?
 

bbydon

macrumors 6502a
May 18, 2005
587
94
ATL
wow this is confusing....
mine is just on a low setting with auto brightness. They only time it sucks is when i try and use it like a flash light....its just a tad to dim. I need to download one of those apps i keep hearing about.
 

Nanook

macrumors regular
Dec 26, 2008
163
0
LA, CA
I have auto-brightness off just because I find the fluctuation annoying, same as my MBP. I always have brightness at about 25% or a tad lower, and hardly ever need to turn it up, except if it's in direct sunlight. In fact, in really dark environments, I wish both went a little dimmer, as the light hurts my eyes. I do have lighter eyes which tend to be more light-sensitive, though.

I suppose having it on would impact battery life a little, as the light sensor needs power, but I would think it would be negligible.

Of course, being JBed, SBSettings makes adjusting brightness on the fly a snap... ;)
 

Vidder

macrumors regular
Jan 10, 2008
165
0
New Jersey
Does anyone's battery really every completely drain? I mean, i find it odd that people even worry about it unless they are using it like ALL day. It always seems that I am close enough to a possible charger to not have to worry about the battery depleting.

With that said, I lower it all the way at night so I don't hurt my eyes when I wake up in the morning. During the day, i keep it at about 90% because the colors and clarity are so much better at a higher brightness and wouldn't want to NOT have that for a fear of draining the batter, which in MY case is almost impossible.


EDIT:
1 - To answer the thread question: I keep my auto-brightness off. Its annoying.
2 - It gets brighter in more light, and darker in less light.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.