# Help me understand "backlight" vs. "brightness"



## jangelj (Dec 13, 2011)

I have been struggling with this on/off for weeks. 
I had cm7 on my TP and used an app (not sure which one) as my screensaver while charging in the touchstone dock. It diplayed time/date/weather. I am 99% sure that the screen turned black except for the time/date/weather. In my very dark bedroom, the light that was emitted was minimal. There was no "backlight" or glow coming from the screen edges.

Now I put CM9 on the TP. I can't get the screen to go dim enough with any screensaver (kaloer clock, night clock, etc) for my dark room. If the TV is on, the glow from the TP is not distracting, but in a dark room, the whole screen glows...even if the brightness is turned down as far as it will go. The numbers/letters are barely legible, but the whole screen glows.

I've tried a several of the brightness apps out there. They work, they turn down the brightness, but there is still a glow to the screen that is very bright (in a very dark room).

Are backlight and brightness just interchangeable terms? Can you turn off (or down) the backlight, but still have letters/numbers visible on the screen? If I turn down the brightness, and you turning down backlight?


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## nevertells (Oct 29, 2011)

jangelj said:


> I have been struggling with this on/off for weeks.
> I had cm7 on my TP and used an app (not sure which one) as my screensaver while charging in the touchstone dock. It diplayed time/date/weather. I am 99% sure that the screen turned black except for the time/date/weather. In my very dark bedroom, the light that was emitted was minimal. There was no "backlight" or glow coming from the screen edges.
> 
> Now I put CM9 on the TP. I can't get the screen to go dim enough with any screensaver (kaloer clock, night clock, etc) for my dark room. If the TV is on, the glow from the TP is not distracting, but in a dark room, the whole screen glows...even if the brightness is turned down as far as it will go. The numbers/letters are barely legible, but the whole screen glows.
> ...


In CM7, there were a ton more setting that one could use to control screen brightness. At the moment, those setting are not in CM9. Hopefully they will be included once the developers have more pressing issues under control. And to answer your question, YES.


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## Redflea (Jun 7, 2011)

They are all there... Settings/Display/Automatic Backlight

info on using the advanced settings:

http://rootzwiki.com/index.php?/topic/626-CM7-AutoBacklight-Settings---customize-your-phone-backlight-settings#entry11432

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk


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## jangelj (Dec 13, 2011)

Thanks for the replies. I'll play around with those Automatic backlight settings some more. I feel like I have tried every setting possible. Seems no matter what I do, the TP glows in a dark room. Maybe i missed something in my limited testing


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## nevertells (Oct 29, 2011)

Redflea said:


> Thanks for the replies. I'll play around with those Automatic backlight settings some more. I feel like I have tried every setting possible. Seems no matter what I do, the TP glows in a dark room. Maybe i missed something in my limited testing


The link is for CM7, not CM9.


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## Tpizzle (Jan 23, 2012)

Try the app RootDim from the market. Be careful though, setting the brightness at 1 turns the backlight off and if you reboot it, you'd need to do a wipe my friend.


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