Can Brightness be Hacked to go even Lower? ROOT

geoandroiddaddy

Well-known member
Oct 18, 2010
49
1
0
Visit site
I noticed that even at 0% my screen is super bright. way brighter than my evo4G at 0% Is it because of the AMOLED screen? well anyway,... Is there anything I can do to Bring the screen to almost Dark? no app in the market helps and dont say it does, becaused it doesnt. Hack? anything? I am rooted
 

NOsquid

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2010
539
70
0
Visit site
There is some app to do it that someone mentioned they were using on another forum. Cant remember off the top of my head.

Be very careful with brightness apps on this phone, they've caused quite a few "soft" bricks, i returned one when my screen went pitch black and i couldn't get it back. It's because the amoled isn't backlit like an lcd i think.

Edit: it was called "dimmer"
 
Last edited:

Chris3D

Well-known member
Sep 21, 2010
646
179
0
Visit site
iirc the brightness toggle in extended controls let you set a minimum that's lower than stock minimum...

WARNING: I just tried a custom brightness setting with Extended Controls, and my screen went totally black. Can't to anything to get it back, and I had temporarily turned off USB debugging, so I can't even get into the phone with ADB, so I'm pretty much screwed. About to do yet another Odin restore to fix it...

You have been warned... don't screw with custom brightness apps.
 

NOsquid

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2010
539
70
0
Visit site
WARNING: I just tried a custom brightness setting with Extended Controls, and my screen went totally black. Can't to anything to get it back, and I had temporarily turned off USB debugging, so I can't even get into the phone with ADB, so I'm pretty much screwed. About to do yet another Odin restore to fix it...

You have been warned... don't screw with custom brightness apps.

Been there buddy, sorry :(

That app soft-bricked my phone like the first week the Fascinate came out, can't believe its not fixed or at least they could put a warning up on the market page. I've heard of this happening at least a dozen times now. There should be a sticky.

Curious to know if Odin will fix it. If not, I'm sure Verizon will give you a new one.
 

Chris3D

Well-known member
Sep 21, 2010
646
179
0
Visit site
Been there buddy, sorry :(

That app soft-bricked my phone like the first week the Fascinate came out, can't believe its not fixed or at least they could put a warning up on the market page. I've heard of this happening at least a dozen times now. There should be a sticky.

Curious to know if Odin will fix it. If not, I'm sure Verizon will give you a new one.

I had heard of other widgets doing it, but 'm surprised Extended Controls did it considering how popular it seems to be. And yea, there should definitely be a warning...

I *just* got the phone working again. Odin restored System, still black. Reflashed the kernel, still black. Reflashed the recovery, still black. Did all sorts of cache clears, battery pulls, more cache clears, nothing, screen still black. I couldn't use Clockwork recovery because my SD card is shot. I figured I'd have to get Verizon to replace it, but just for the hell of it, I tried flashing Clockwork recovery (even though I can't actually use it), restarted and surprisingly, it worked. Go figure.
 

NOsquid

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2010
539
70
0
Visit site
Dude, strong work!

I'm a little upset I wasted a return on that app instead of when I really brick it :) I don't know how many of these Verizon is willing to give me over the course of the warranty period lol. I think the least the devs could do by now is put up a warning in the market. They've known about it for a long time. Make sure to leave a bad review.
 

Chris3D

Well-known member
Sep 21, 2010
646
179
0
Visit site
Agreed, considering how long this issue has been around, there's no excuse for not having a warning at minimum. Still won't leave a bad review though, because the app is great otherwise.
 

NOsquid

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2010
539
70
0
Visit site
I made sure to mention that it was a model-specific problem. I left a bad review yesterday, more than anything to warn people because I keep seeing these stories pop up. It's one star mostly to get people's attention when they're scrolling down. I'll change it when they fix it if I remember.
 

Adiliyo

Well-known member
Oct 17, 2009
2,412
49
0
Visit site
oops, sorry about the recommendation then! :p

personally i just use autobrightness, but i agree that it's pretty bright at night.
 

packerbacker

Well-known member
Sep 20, 2010
733
22
0
Visit site
I had heard of other widgets doing it, but 'm surprised Extended Controls did it considering how popular it seems to be. And yea, there should definitely be a warning...

I *just* got the phone working again. Odin restored System, still black. Reflashed the kernel, still black. Reflashed the recovery, still black. Did all sorts of cache clears, battery pulls, more cache clears, nothing, screen still black. I couldn't use Clockwork recovery because my SD card is shot. I figured I'd have to get Verizon to replace it, but just for the hell of it, I tried flashing Clockwork recovery (even though I can't actually use it), restarted and surprisingly, it worked. Go figure.

Congrats on getting it to work! That is some patience. I'm not sure I would've lasted that long before cursing at it and taking it into Verizon. :cool:
 

geoandroiddaddy

Well-known member
Oct 18, 2010
49
1
0
Visit site
I had heard of other widgets doing it, but 'm surprised Extended Controls did it considering how popular it seems to be. And yea, there should definitely be a warning...

I *just* got the phone working again. Odin restored System, still black. Reflashed the kernel, still black. Reflashed the recovery, still black. Did all sorts of cache clears, battery pulls, more cache clears, nothing, screen still black. I couldn't use Clockwork recovery because my SD card is shot. I figured I'd have to get Verizon to replace it, but just for the hell of it, I tried flashing Clockwork recovery (even though I can't actually use it), restarted and surprisingly, it worked. Go figure.

i have officialy bricked my fascinate with the brightness widget. Clock work recovery? how do i do that? please help
 

Sta11i0n

Well-known member
Oct 22, 2010
958
151
0
Visit site
I'm a little upset I wasted a return on that app instead of when I really brick it :) I don't know how many of these Verizon is willing to give me over the course of the warranty period lol.

As long as they assume it's a problem with the phone vs something you did modifying it, they should always give you a replacement. I've had 4 replacement BB Storms in the past 2 years.
 

drparty

Member
Dec 19, 2010
6
0
0
Visit site
Just wanted to post this here, because when I was googling "screen brightness android" looking for a way to decrease the brightness on the amoled screen of the fascinate this page came up, but it didn't have the answer I was looking for.

I have pretty sensitive eyes like most of you on this thread (otherwise you wouldn't be looking for a dimmer), so reducing the brightness on the Fascinate was a must.

I found this app, called screen filter. Don't really know too much about it other than it works fantastically well and its free. Reduces brightness to almost nothing if you want, and the app functions as a widget for toggling as well.

So anyway, just wanted to post this for other people like myself, looking for a way to dim the lights. I don't have enough reputation to post a link, but just look up screen filter in the app market and you'll be good to go. For some reason it doesn't come up when you search for "dimmer" or "brightness", which is a shame.
 

Chris3D

Well-known member
Sep 21, 2010
646
179
0
Visit site
Yup, apps like these are the only way to reliably dim the screen on these phones. Basically, they just overlay a solid color over the entire screen and let you adjust the opacity of that color, essentially dimming everything behind it.

Here's a link to Screen Filter: Screen Filter

And here's another, called Privacy Filter: Privacy Filter

Privacy filter costs about $2, but I prefer it to Screen Filter. It lets you choose your own color for the overlay or use an image instead of a solid color and it doesn't put any icons in the status bar (or more precisely, it lets you turn it's icon off). But both apps basically do the same thing.
 

NOsquid

Well-known member
Sep 15, 2010
539
70
0
Visit site
I have screen filter set to a swipe action in ADW. just swipe up on my screen and it's dim, swipe again and it's back to normal
 

Jodiuh

Well-known member
Apr 6, 2010
211
2
0
Visit site
...screen filter...
Thank you VERY MUCH. I've been looking for something like this since picking up the original DROID more than a year ago. The lowest brightness setting on that phone was like a flashlight to the face in the dark.

Screen Filter - Android app on AppBrain

Privacy filter buries the dim setting whereas screen filter's just a tap away. Both of these however could stand to use a GUI lesson from brightness level.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
942,996
Messages
6,916,805
Members
3,158,767
Latest member
dumpsterrentals37