Nexus 4 Screen is washed out Fix

**badbrad17** · 12-28-2012, 09:09 PM

I have read a lot of people mentioning that they find the screen on the Nexus 4 is too washed out. I found that my SwiftKey light theme was very hard to see. I came across this great new app called the Nexus 4 display control. It really makes the screen much better. You need to be rooted and it does cost a couple of bucks but I think it's well worth it.

I'm using these settings
238 / 228 / 240 which looks really great.

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**Qbancelli** · 12-28-2012, 09:19 PM

I just purchased it. Lets see if it is worth it.

**Qbancelli** · 12-28-2012, 09:32 PM

Well, Maybe my sight is not very good, but I really cannot see any difference.
Did I just wasted $2.49?

Edit: Yeah, I'm starting to notice that images look sharper, more pleasant to look at.

**DirkBelig** · 12-28-2012, 09:41 PM

I tried it and refunded it; it's too limited.

There's a massive thread at XDA with an accompanying spreadsheet of settings from people using an app called (it's $4) which is a kernel tweaker and does a bunch of other stuff, but also accesses the color settings - not only the usual RGB, but two sets of gamma amps for a total of 9 controls. There's a lot of discussion and my massive post discussing my issues with the N4 screen and the settings I used is here:

You need to be rooted, but it works with the stock kernel (which I have) and to get gamma changes to register, you need to shut off the screen and turn it back on; a slight hassle, but wah, First World Problem. People use to check gamma. It's a free app (with Pro version available which takes out the splash screen delay), but tends to crash a lot, especially when doing the gamma stuff.

**badbrad17** · 12-28-2012, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by Qbancelli

Well, Maybe my sight is not very good, but I really cannot see any difference.
Did I just wasted $2.49?

Edit: Yeah, I'm starting to notice that images look sharper, more pleasant to look at.

You can adjust it to how ever you want. It's definitely much more detailed for me. Switch it back to stock and you will see it.

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**badbrad17** · 12-28-2012, 11:08 PM

Dirk is definitely into it more than I am. I didn't hate the display so a few tweaks was all I needed.

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**Qbancelli** · 12-28-2012, 11:15 PM

Yeah, I played around with the settings a little bit more and saved a bunch of color profiles.
Right now I'm rocking 218, 220, 240 and loving it.
Definitely worth it.

**heroman24** · 12-28-2012, 11:47 PM

are there any apps that does this without needing the device to be rooted?

**badbrad17** · 12-29-2012, 12:07 AM

Not that I could find.

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**badbrad17** · 12-29-2012, 12:48 AM

Originally Posted by heroman24

are there any apps that does this without needing the device to be rooted?

You can try this one

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**DirkBelig** · 01-09-2013, 12:58 AM

Bumping this up because a user on the XDA thread, MasterJam882, submitted these settings and I think they're the best yet for my phone. Give 'em a shot if you're rockin' the FauxClock beats:

Settings:
All stock, stock kernel, just FauxClockApp
LG presets
R: 255
G: 255
B: 255
AMP1
R: 24
G: 22
B: 21
AMP2
R: 0
G: 0
B: 0

**badbrad17** · 01-09-2013, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by DirkBelig

Bumping this up because a user on the XDA thread, MasterJam882, submitted these settings and I think they're the best yet for my phone. Give 'em a shot if you're rockin' the FauxClock beats:

Settings:
All stock, stock kernel, just FauxClockApp
LG presets
R: 255
G: 255
B: 255
AMP1
R: 24
G: 22
B: 21
AMP2
R: 0
G: 0
B: 0

Do I need to do anything funky to make that app work? Or just install and go?

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**DirkBelig** · 01-09-2013, 02:22 AM

Just be rooted (natch) and after making gamma changes, you must cycle the screen off then on for them to take effect. Color changes occur in real time.

**orangeman** · 01-09-2013, 05:19 AM

My Nexus 4 is still a few weeks away. Has anyone created a before and after video or screenshots of this fix?

It sounds really interesting and it would be my only reason for rooting. I just wanted to make sure that it is worth the effort.

**badbrad17** · 01-09-2013, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by DirkBelig

Just be rooted (natch) and after making gamma changes, you must cycle the screen off then on for them to take effect. Color changes occur in real time.

Looks really great. It may be a bit hot on the blue side but the saturation and overall tones look fantastic.

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**badbrad17** · 01-09-2013, 10:32 AM

I did some fiddling and am using these settings with Faux clock. Your settings seemed too blue and the gamut was too dark for my phone. I was losing darker grays.

R255
G247
B225

#1
28
29
31

#2
17
17
17

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**DirkBelig** · 01-09-2013, 09:27 PM

Your settings are WAAAAAAAAY too bright. The AMP2 gamma makes dark areas in my photos so bright that it's really shocking the difference it makes. I'd just put together a gallery of favorite photos I've taken from my Flickr so I could check settings against photos I'm really familiar with and your settings radically affected how they looked. They didn't wash the colors out as much as flatten the contrast between foreground and background objects so they didn't pop the same way.

Did you check the gamma of your settings? My latest aren't exactly 2.2 for everything, but most of the sins of the panel in rendering skin tones have been mitigated.

**badbrad17** · 01-09-2013, 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by DirkBelig

Your settings are WAAAAAAAAY too bright. The AMP2 gamma makes dark areas in my photos so bright that it's really shocking the difference it makes. I'd just put together a gallery of favorite photos I've taken from my Flickr so I could check settings against photos I'm really familiar with and your settings radically affected how they looked. They didn't wash the colors out as much as flatten the contrast between foreground and background objects so they didn't pop the same way.

Did you check the gamma of your settings? My latest aren't exactly 2.2 for everything, but most of the sins of the panel in rendering skin tones have been mitigated.

ya I checked the gamma. Yours were totally different. I wonder if our screens are different.

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**ConTejas** · 01-11-2013, 02:05 PM

why not just use Trickster for free? I tend to use Franco's app but I use this for other kernels not supported by his app. Offers more options than most paid apps.

**badbrad17** · 01-12-2013, 03:40 AM

Originally Posted by ConTejas

why not just use Trickster for free? I tend to use Franco's app but I use this for other kernels not supported by his app. Offers more options than most paid apps.

Trickster doesn't give you as many settings.

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