Dark vs Light - Is Microsoft changing their minds

[ncbenr]

When Windows Phone first came out, one of the interesting features was the preference for the Dark theme. Microsoft seemed to be behind all things dark. They even released Visual Studio with a default dark Theme. Recently, they have release the series of excellent Bing apps. Curiously, they seem to force a Light theme with no option for a Dark theme. Is this a change of direction or just specific to the Bing apps in an attempt to foster a consistent experience with the Windows 8 apps? I think it would be nice if they offered us a choice for a dark theme for the Bing apps.

 

[anon(7900571)]

you are right ; they should bring an option to enable dark or light theme from settings , bright white colours sometimes hurt eye , specially when you just woke up or in a dark room , my Lumia 920 drains more battery when set on light theme , nice suggestion , will mail them about this

 

[foxbat121]

my Lumia 920 drains more battery when set on light theme

Are you sure about that? Lumia 920 has a LCD screen which has the same battery drain rate regardless of the screen color (dark v. light). Dark theme is better for other Lumias and Samsungs with AMOLED screen as those screens do drain less battery on dark theme.

 

[Ian Too]

I used to restrict myself to the dark theme on my 920 because of battery use, but since GDR2 have had no problem lasting a day - sometimes two - using the light theme.

It will be interesting to see what MS have for us in WP8.1.

 

[xandros9]

On an LCD equipped phone like the 1520 and 920, the dark or light background has zero impact on power usage.

It is in the case on AMOLED phones like the other flagships.

 

[Laura Knotek]

On an LCD equipped phone like the 1520 and 920, the dark or light background has zero impact on power usage.

It is in the case on AMOLED phones like the other flagships.

I just find dark background easier to read, especially since I use my mobile more at night.

 

[illidanx]

When Windows Phone first came out, one of the interested features was the preference of the Dark theme. Microsoft seemed to be behind all things dark. They even release Visual Studio with a default dark Theme. Recently, they have release the series of excellent Bing apps. Curiously, they seem to force a Light theme with no option for a Dark theme. Is this a change of direction or just specific to the Bing apps in an attempt to foster a consistent experience with the Windows 8 apps? I think it would be nice if they offered us a choice for a dark theme for the Bing apps.

I think light is much nicer. Dark background combined with big white text looks very amateurish.

 

[Jupast]

Hell, there's not even a Metro style look offered in Bing Weather, for the App or the Live Tile, as there is say in the Weather Flow App (which looks beautiful).

This sort of thing does make one wonder what Microsoft is doing sometimes. So yes, at least the option of a dark theme would be appreciated.

 

[anon(7900571)]

On an LCD equipped phone like the 1520 and 920, the dark or light background has zero impact on power usage.

It is in the case on AMOLED phones like the other flagships.

Lol call me orthodox but sometimes I still feel that it might drain or impact on battery life. And as Laura said it very well , it's not easier to read when in a dark room or just woke up and bright white light hurting your eyes
Ps dark theme matches my black Lumia 920

 

[michail71]

From a usability perspective dark backgrounds produce less eye strain and make devices easier to use at night. Especially if you have blue eyes (which are more sensitive to bright light).

People just get psychologically hung up on the paper look.

As much as I don't like AMOLED displays, hopefully they will drive adherence to the system themes.

 

[michail71]

When Windows Phone first came out, one of the interesting features was the preference for the Dark theme. Microsoft seemed to be behind all things dark. They even released Visual Studio with a default dark Theme. Recently, they have release the series of excellent Bing apps. Curiously, they seem to force a Light theme with no option for a Dark theme. Is this a change of direction or just specific to the Bing apps in an attempt to foster a consistent experience with the Windows 8 apps? I think it would be nice if they offered us a choice for a dark theme for the Bing apps.

I used the Visual Studio Theme editor to make a black theme and it looks amazing while having better usability over the defaults. The dark one that shipped with VS2012 AND VS2013 is just too depressing with all the greys. Now when I see my coworkers screens it's like looking into the sun or some sort of depressing grey sky depending on which default they have chosen.

 

[Ray Adams]

Personally I think MS must drop dark/light support as this is very hard for developers to support it.

 

[michail71]

No! Perhaps make it easier for development but user usability should never suffer because it is hard. That's like when my developers complain to me about how hard it is to fix a certain bug. It still needs to be done.

 

[jfa1]

I mostly use the light background with my 920 I also used it with the 900.

 

[polaroceanfire]

Does anyone know just how much the light background impacts AMOLED phone battery length? I'm using an Icon and I'm just curious, because I think I prefer light backgrounds.

 

[foxbat121]

Each pixel of an AMOLED screen is composed of 2 to 3 tiny LEDs (depending on screen type). When that pixel is dark, there is no light and virtually no energy is consumed by the LEDs of that pixel. When it is white, all LEDs of that pixel lights up to full brightness. So you are seeing a pretty big jump in energy usage. Not to mention the second problem comes in to play on white pixels. Each pixel's blue channel has a very limited life span (half brightness life is a few thousands of hours). When you burn it bright, you also burn it out fast which results in the common effect called screen burn-in.

LCD screen has a uniform backlight and controls the LCD cells to block the light for darkness. The backlight source is on constant brightness so there is no difference on LCD display white or dark.