Keyboard Backlight Issues

[roadsidememorials]

I've been experiencing the same issue which is why I came to this forum which I found by searching for the issue.
I have tried the suggestions listed and I still have the on again off again issue with my keyboard illumination. There isn't any consistent way to get the keyboard to light.
I hope they come up with a fix for this because this is really a pain.
I'm using the Motorola Droid 4 (not MAXX) just the 4.
I'd have to say I can't recommend this phone to anyone while this is still an issue.

 

[sportzPT]

I've been experiencing the same issue which is why I came to this forum which I found by searching for the issue.
I have tried the suggestions listed and I still have the on again off again issue with my keyboard illumination. There isn't any consistent way to get the keyboard to light.
I hope they come up with a fix for this because this is really a pain.
I'm using the Motorola Droid 4 (not MAXX) just the 4.
I'd have to say I can't recommend this phone to anyone while this is still an issue.

 

[sportzPT]

i also have this problem. went to verison store and they think its due to some app iv3 downloaded...but, the guy was just reaching and trying to get me outta there as the placed was packed. gonna try best buy mobile...

 

[mupi]

I have had a Droid, a Droid2, and a Droid3. I'm considering the 4 as my next upgrade.

This is a "problem" that the Droids have had from the very beginning. I personally don't find it to be a problem. In well-lit situations, the backlight shuts off. For the most part, on the D3, it's pretty accurate, but it can easily be manipulated by angling the phone towards or away from ambient light sources. If you are one of those that tends to move your hands a lot, "wiggling" the phone as you type, you're going to experience the issue more.

This is the same sensor that controls the backlight level; I have noticed that if you set the backlight to a fixed level, it tends to do this less.

I can confirm that using the backlight constantly will drain your battery faster; that's a decision you're going to have to make for yourself.

 

[lautschm]

Sensors are halfway between the earpiece and the camera. No need to block the camera with tape.

This is a picture of my D4 with the sensors circled.

You are 100000% right. I have run all the tests & blocked all the other stuff these yayhoos have said was the light sensor and nothing has worked. I tried blocking the sensor you circled in your pic and it HAS worked 100% of the time. Its actually fairly easy to do and doesn't cause the need for any tape. No one's phone has to look all ghettofied with tape on it. Thanks for your breat idea!

 

[Ali Fazel]

Typing this in a dark room right now, and the back light can't decide whether or not it needs to stay on. Just went off as I typed that.

Need a root solution to keep it on always.

 

[intrimazz]

A friend just went from Sprint and non-smartphone QWERTY to Verizon and D4 and after 2 days is now going through this and she is very unhappy. She loves Android and Verizon's service is superior to Sprint in her area, but she is an extensive texter and this just won't cut it for her. I had no idea what she was referring to *sensor this and sensor that* - I have an LG Ally that is over 2 yrs old whose kb has always been lit each time I slid the kb out to type. I can't believe how crappy they make QWERTYs (the only reason I am getting a new phone in 2 weeks is due to the limited onboard space of my Ally - I was one of the early adopters of the phone and managed to get one that worked virtually flawlessly. I still use it as a remote for VLC on my computer and get to watch videos from my computer on my Ally via the VLC android app. They need to make reliable high-end QWERTYs for people like us that are mega texters.

 

[silverfang77]

Mine is usually reliable in the dark or low light. If not, I just put my finger over the sensor and the keyboard lights up.

Tappin' and talkin' with Tapatalk.

 

[Luce2012]

OMG, I can't belive that in 3 pages not ONE person told you a correct solution to this issue. It is the reason I am returning my Droid 4 for an iPhone as you shouldnt have to go through this.

First, your backlight issue is a KNOWN bug. It is NOT supposed to randomly turn/off and on and it is NOT supposed to only work with certain lighting.

Yes, you do have the OPTION to set it to auto dimmer, which then (if you like the fact the auto dimmer doesnt work) could leave it there but m ost people want the auto dimmer to work.

Here is what you do. go to SETTINGs/Display/Brightness and UN-CHECK the auto dimmer. Then take the brightness setting and move all the way to right (full brightness) then save. THAT should do it for most people.

I say most because it worked for me for 2 whole straight days but on my 3rd day I have yet another issue of now my Droid 4 has a hardware /software issue behind the scenes which confuses the dimmer setting. For some odd reason, even though I have mine unchecked and have the brightness set to full it is not coming on at all now after a re-charge.

It will "evetually" start to work later in day but today it took hours.

some people suggest if your dimmer starts to act again after you have made the setting change a simple check/un-check of the auto dimmer will "reset" it back. Or turn your phone off/on or re start. None of those worked for me.

So to answer your thread, Change the Brightness setting to NOT be on auto. This dimmer setting should work for you. It did me short term. But I think random Droids have further issue that I am having. Hopefully you will not have the extended issue I am having.

It was suggested to me I may have apps running preventing my dimmer setting to be effective. The setting is a soft setting (meaning it is not a button to "reset' but a simple code behind the software check box). Its possible apps can cause the setting to not take "root". However in my case I have no apps. I am 4 days new with this phone and have only made minor "setting"changes. No apps installed.




Hope this will help you with the auto dimmer though.

 

[cthunder]

Here is what you do. go to SETTINGs/Display/Brightness and UN-CHECK the auto dimmer. Then take the brightness setting and move all the way to right (full brightness) then save.

Won't that drain the battery by having the Brightness on full?

 

[da3311]

Anyone having any issues with their keyboard backlight? Mine is very inconsistent, goes off, comes on, goes off, etcetera, while I am typing on it. Very irritating. I've tried figuring out if there's a light sensor somewhere I am blocking / not blocking but can't seem to find any consistency in when it comes on, or goes off.

Anyone else? Any thoughts?

yes i have and was gonna return. Cell but through trial and error realized that sensor for keyboard lights is found right next the "a" in motorola on screen so if you cover that light sensor the keyboard light stays on. Too bad there is not a software patch for this. My cell is less than a week old and when i asked the verizon salestech she had no idea what was wrong. So that tells me that motorola has not had enough complaints yet.

 

[dhg388]

As mentioned earlier, the light sensor is above and to the right of the A in Motorola. Using a flashlight you can see it.

What people are missing is that there is a delay. I would imagine the delay is designed to prevent the kb light from flashing on and off.

There is a 3 second delay to turn the KB light on.
There is a 6 second delay to turn the KB light off.

Also the the menu, home, back and search button lights work the same but they are on a 1 second delay for turning on and off.

Once you are aware of the delay times you can see that it is not random. There are apps to control the kb light but your phone must be rooted.

 

[silverfang77]

I'm testing Keyboard Backlight and will report back with results later tonight.

addendum: The app worked properly, but I uninstalled it because it was draining my battery.

 

[judyn#WP]

Very frustrating! I'd almost rather have no light than not know when I can see the keys. Yesterday mine upgraded itself to ICS (without my permission -- I was in a hurry and answered the question wrong and it was all over...). I haven't worked with the keyboard yet -- trying to get the phone back to usable for me with ICS -- but I just tried it out and it went out once in variable light. Maybe I always used it before in variable light? But I did easily prove that it still goes out while you are typing in ICS.

I hadn't thought before that it might be responding to light level. If so, it's way too sensitive and/or should have a setting to leave it on when the keyboard is pulled out.

 

[LAZiegler]

I do a lot of reading on my phone in very low light (probably not good for me, I know), so I'm actually looking for a way to manually disable the keyboard backlight when I'm in low light conditions and using the screen only, but have the keyboard pulled out for ease of holding the phone.

I'd also really like to see if the screen can go any dimmer than it normally does on the "lowest" setting in the Display menu. I had a Droid 2 Global prior to this, but before that an iPhone 3GS and I still miss how much better the dimming was with the iPhone than it has been with either of the Droids. When I use the ereader app Aldiko I can get the screen to go a little darker, but if I'm reading in the browser it's slightly uncomfortable.

I am rooted, but so far the apps I've browsed in the store don't seem to do what I want. Does anyone know if the lowest setting on the slider in the Display menu is actually the absolute lowest possible light output? I don't think it is!

EDIT: I just ran through about a dozen apps and finally found exactly what I was looking for. It's called "Night Mode" and it does in fact allow you to turn the display brightness all the way down to nothing (with a handy button you can tap to restore when you realise you can't see anything!). It also controls the keyboard backlight. I wish it had a notification icon that displayed the battery percent that also allowed for quick toggling of functionality, as another app did A number of apps simply did not work on the D4, even though superuser was detecting and granting their access. The other app I loved (that worked, there were some great ones that just didn't work) was "Backlight Off" by Anders Aavgaard. This app worked, and all it did was when you tap the icon it flashes a little notification and turns backlight off, when you tap it again the notification flashes again and it turns on. No other interface required. Now that's application design I can appreciate!

 

[John Scott2]

Hello everyone, having had a MOTOROLA DROID 2 for 4 years and now a DROID 4, I have run into the backlight problem before. I found the cause and the solution. The cause; the sensor detects light from the underside of the glass when the display is too bright and determines back lighting is not necessary. The solution; turn off AUTO brightness, slide the brightness lever to the middle not far right as others have said, this works.