Polarized sunglasses + HTC Inspire in car=can't see a thing?

**skiracer123** · 07-15-2011, 11:33 PM

I just noticed i can't see a damn thing on my HTC Inspire 4G screen when i'm driving in daylight with my polarized sunglasses on. I notice the same problem when i go to gas pumps, ATM machines, etc... Surprisngly i didn't have this problem with my old Garmin GPS unit. Anyone have the same problem? Anybody try it with sunglasses that are not polarized?

**dylan808** · 07-15-2011, 11:43 PM

Yeah I have the same problem with my phone. I used non Polarized sunglasses and i have a harder time seeing the display in the sun. The display isn't so great in direct sunlight so when outdoors i turn my brightness up all the way. Makes things much easier to read even thought it hits my battery really hard.

**skiracer123** · 07-16-2011, 12:26 AM

Originally Posted by dylan808

Yeah I have the same problem with my phone. I used non Polarized sunglasses and i have a harder time seeing the display in the sun. The display isn't so great in direct sunlight so when outdoors i turn my brightness up all the way. Makes things much easier to read even thought it hits my battery really hard.

So, you have problems seeing your screen with your "non polarized" sunglasses? I'm having problems with my "polarized" sunglasses.

**repligator** · 07-16-2011, 07:03 AM

Polarized sunglasses work by filtering out some specific type of polarized light which reflects off of many smooth surfaces around us (glare). The glare light can be vertically, horizontally, or circularly polarized.

LCDs of all sorts produce almost exclusively polarized light from their liquid crystals. LCD displays as seen through polarized sunglasses will change in appearance as you rotate the lens (or instead your head) because the LCD light is polarized in a certain direction.

You can see this effect clearly by rotating the lenses of a pair of polarized sunglasses at right angles to each other. Since both lenses are perhaps horizontally polarized, one of them will then be vertically polarized and they will together block out almost all the visible light.

The new full color 3d movie technology (either at the theater, or at home) works by using two channels of circulary polarized light that are polarized in opposite directions. (As opposed to the old anaglyph red-blue system which produces 3d essentially in black and white by using color filtering)

Non polarized glasses just have a dark tint which filters all sources of light more or less equally.

**raver_returns** · 07-16-2011, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by skiracer123

I just noticed i can't see a damn thing on my HTC Inspire 4G screen when i'm driving in daylight with my polarized sunglasses on. I notice the same problem when i go to gas pumps, ATM machines, etc... Surprisngly i didn't have this problem with my old Garmin GPS unit. Anyone have the same problem? Anybody try it with sunglasses that are not polarized?

I've noticed the same thing. You can try an anti-glare screen protector. I haven't tried it, but with the way polarization works, it should help significantly. you mentioned it didn't happen on a Garming. Don't those already have a matte type anti-glare screen?

**dylan808** · 07-16-2011, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by skiracer123

So, you have problems seeing your screen with your "non polarized" sunglasses? I'm having problems with my "polarized" sunglasses.

yes but i do work in direct sunlight so it maybe just glare and not the glasses itself.

**repligator** · 07-16-2011, 06:12 PM

Ok, so the point behind my longwinded post was that you should be able to position your inspire such that the polarization of the screen is not orthogonal to the polarization of your sunglasses.

Experiment with the angle of your phone relative to your lenses. Most likely you will notice that a 45° angle (diagonal positioning) produces maximum filtering (or blackout).

**skiracer123** · 07-16-2011, 11:34 PM

Originally Posted by RaverReturns

I've noticed the same thing. You can try an anti-glare screen protector. I haven't tried it, but with the way polarization works, it should help significantly. you mentioned it didn't happen on a Garming. Don't those already have a matte type anti-glare screen?

I don't recall my Garmin GPS having an anti-glare screen that i was aware of. I could be wrong though.

**skiracer123** · 08-10-2011, 07:17 PM

Anybody got any ideas on how to resolve this? Will an "anti-glare" screen protector be helpful?

**sfyosick** · 08-10-2011, 09:24 PM

The anti-glare screen protector does not help. I have one on mine and I have the same issue.

However it only seems to apply to when the phone is horizontally positioned.

**skiracer123** · 08-11-2011, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by sfyosick

The anti-glare screen protector does not help. I have one on mine and I have the same issue.

However it only seems to apply to when the phone is horizontally positioned.

Ok, after searching forever on Google, i can't find a definite answer on how to fix the issue of viewing the screen with polarized sunglasses on. However, after your recommendation, i flipped the phone to "landscape" position using the GPS and i can view the phone in my car at almost any angle.

So now the only issues i have to deal with is glare from the sun. Any good anti-glare screens someone recommends?