Auto Brigtness sensor

[chanchan05]

Yes, forgot about that, haven't tested that scenario specifically again, but I'm quite sure that's what I've noticed too. Natural lighting (?sunlight), or a relative lack of it, seems to trigger the auto-brightness to dim no matter what angle you're holding the phone. All a bit strange.

I'll make sure to test that scenario (going from bright natural light to a dark environment) specifically and post back my results. You do realise you could easily test it by just covering the light sensor with your finger/thumb. No need to move from place to place or switch lights off.

Regardless, I think this is the "problem" with a phone having so many different sensors?:
Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2

Yeah but I wasn't sure if I was covering it properly hence it not responding. Lol.

I think the brightness sensor is more sensitive to UV light hence the natural lighting thing.

 

[ssj100]

Yeah but I wasn't sure if I was covering it properly hence it not responding. Lol.

I think the brightness sensor is more sensitive to UV light hence the natural lighting thing.

Okay, so it's all rather complicated but I think I've got to the bottom of this. Perhaps this might be the first description of this mechanism on the public internet? Essentially, the auto-brightness always seems to work with auto-brightening in all conditions. It's only with auto-dimming that it becomes rather complicated:

I've concluded that it's nothing to do with natural or artificial light. It's all to do with how bright the phone is displaying at. When in natural light, the auto-brightness tends to push the brightness to fairly high levels - at least ~60%, often ~80% or even 100% (or even higher in direct sunlight - yes I'm quite certain there's a "100%" brightness level, and then something beyond this when in direct sunlight or I guess any direct really bright light). If the phone is displaying at >~60% brightness (which is almost a certainty when you're outside in natural light, unless it's really cloudy etc), and you go into a darker environment, the brightness level will auto-dim as expected, even if you're holding the phone vertically. However, if the phone is displaying at <~60% brightness (say a sunset environment or a room with typical artificial lighting), and you go into a darker environment, the phone will only auto-dim if it's in a horizontal position. As noted in previous posts, you can also force it to auto-dim by turning the auto-brightness icon off/on or by turning the phone off/on.

So it's nothing to do with the type of lighting, only the brightness level the phone is displaying at. It actually makes good sense if you really think about it. You'll notice that the phone rarely displays at >~60% brightness in artificial light, unless the room you're in has really bright artificial lighting. Of course, shining a torch directly at the light sensor will likely trigger 100% brightness, and you can test my theory above - switch off the torch and the phone will auto-dim even if held vertically. On the other hand, the phone often already displays at >~60% brightness in natural light, even if it's an overcast day. And therefore going to a darker environment will trigger the phone to auto-dim (even if held vertically), just like you've observed already.

What do you reckon?