Screen brightness/dimness update possible?

[c1oudrs]

I love how bright the redfly screen can be in direct sun daylight. However, I do alot of reading and surfing at night and the lowest setting is a little too bright. I know support is very busy but if on a future update we could have a dimmer setting on low on the screen that would be nice. I know hardware-wise it ought to be possible as the "dim screen after" power setting will kick brightness down further than the low screen setting. So it ought to be a software fix that is doable. Mostly I leave my redfly one or two notches up in bright flourescent, the lowest setting in normal indoor lighting and it would be helpful to be able to kickit dwn one more in the dark. Thanks in advance and thanks for the updates we have already gotten.

 

[ckj]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll pass your idea along to our engineers and see if it's possible. I bet it's something that could be worked into a future firmware update.

 

[mknollman]

Glad you mentioned this. I will second it as I had the same request.

 

[c1oudrs]

Even if we (the end user) could go in manually and change the "dim screen" settings to 'always' (as opposed to 10 minutes, 5 minutes, etc) it would help those of us that read/surf with the redfly in the dark. And it would seem to be quick fix for those that read ebooks (in the dark). I realize everyone at Celio is very busy. Thank you for the updates you have given us.

 

[mknollman]

While we are talking about use in the dark - I had an idea. I constantly use my RF in low or no light conditions and have to tilt the screen down to see the keyboard. Although backlit keys would be nice, they may not be cost-effective or even fit in the case.

My idea involves using good old glow in the dark lettering for the keyboard. My guess is the screen would be bright enough to keep them glowing at least dimly - any chance or am I a mad man?

 

[laurieny]

Back-lit keys are something we have discussed, but that would be relatively expensive. We are highly focused on bringing the REDFLY price down and the features up, but besides adding to the cost, this would require a re-design of our board and form factor. Something for another day I think. But, the ability to adjust the granularity of the dimming is something we can do in firmware. It was a little too late to make the change to SP2, but I do have an internal dev build that I would be happy to get to a couple of you. I think the settings are what you had in mind. Email me and we can figure out the logistics.

Thanks,
Laurie

Director of Engineering
Celio Corp | REDFLY

 

[c1oudrs]

Oh yes! I'm extremely interested! Thank you. Personal message with my email has been sent to you. Thank you so much!

 

[c1oudrs]

I just updated to the 163 general build--no more beta. Still looking forward to the screen dimness update. I'm very impressed with the speed these software updates are coming out. I would love to have the internal dev build. (But don't let me get in the way of the cooks/programmers.) Just knowing a screen dimness update is coming helps.

 

[c1oudrs]

laurieny--I received the beta 167 brightness-dimness dev-build. First impressions: Oh laurieny, this is really good! This is the deluxe version, much better than what I would have been happy with! The light scale has been totally reworked so that it touch responds to the keyboard buttons to the new scale. There are not one, but two settings that go dimmer [than what they had been able to before in prior software updates]. When it's pitch dark, the lowest setting seems best to me for surfing and e-book reading. There's no 'stab' to the eyes anymore. Nice, mellow, peaceful light comes out (time to turn on some mood music). Several hours of reading via a browser or e-reader produces no eyestrain headaches (which it did before). However, if there is any light at all--say its dark but there's a four-inch sliver of dawn light gap showing through a blackout curtain, then I'll move the brightness scale up one notch. Very nice! I don't intend to test it, but I imagine that battery life extends a little with the dimmer settings as well.
Conversely, as near as I can tell, there seems to be no loss of light on the highest setting. We've had a late spring where I live, which means another overcast day, so I CAN'T test the Redfly outside in direct sunlight at its highest setting. Even so (cough, cough), I've been known to crank the Redfly up to the highest light/brightness setting so as to read old-fashioned paperback books at night. So I turn the freeware screen-flashlight utility up to high and then I crank the Redfly up to the highest setting, then situate the Redfly forty-five degrees so that the Redfly screen overtops the paperback book--ah--there seems no loss of light in the highest setting as near as I can tell as I can still read paperback books at night by the light of my Redfly!
I'll go ahead and retest the beta at work under flourescent lights. I'll also live with the settings for a couple of days. But my first impressions are that this is really, really good! For me this is a major update. Thank you so much laurieny!

 

[laurieny]

I am very glad that you like the changes! We did tweak it a couple different ways, and play with different timings to step the changes, but we thought this implementation would be the best choice for both aspects of the spectrum -really low light and very bright (which was a bias in our original design focus).

Thanks for the feedback,
Laurie

Director of Engineering
Celio Corp | REDFLY

 

[c1oudrs]

You've done a very, very nice job on it (the dimness/brightness beta update). It makes me want to buy something.

Again thank you!

 

[laurieny]

Well, you could get your friends to buy one...



I will be posting a new build next week for a new group of beta phones and this change will be included if others would like to try it.

Thanks,
Laurie

Director of Engineering
Celio Corp | REDFLY

 

[mknollman]

Will beta updates for existing phones be there as well, or just new models?

 

[anon159272]

Yes, would like to see the change.

Actually, I use the Logitech Illuminated Keyboard and I have to say that I would LOVE to see backlit keys on the Redfly...but I understand it's a nontrivial engineering effort.

 

[c1oudrs]

I tested In brightly lit flourescent environment and 3 or 4 from the bottom works fine (which I kind of figured). Another advantage to the 167 brightness/dimness dev build (aside from battery life and improved personal experience) is that the ext power/battery power setting goes down further which may save wear and tear on the Redfly screen if your like me and you never turn your Redfly off or into sleep mode as the dimmer screen isn't likely to burn an afterimage.

 

[c1oudrs]

Another great experience: my spb windows mobile alarm goes off. I turn it (the alarm clock) off via the redfly. My spb alarm clock goes into 'clock mode' in about 6 minutes or so which means this beautiful clock takes up the entire screen until next I push a button. I leave the clock on all the time but I don't have to worry about screen burn because in ten minutes the redfly turns dim (and its a proper dim now). But as I come out of the shower, I can still see the white spb clock on the black background even in the redfly imroved 167 dev build 'dim' mode. Again laurieny--very nice.

 

[c1oudrs]

I don't see any down sides to this (the 167 dev build dimness/brightness beta) at all. Thank you so much!