Question Activate low brightness DC dimming in custom ROMs? - ASUS ZenFone 8

Hi,
like other OLED phones, the ASUS Zenfone 8 suffers from PWM flickering in lower brightness. If you ever wondered why your phone seems flickery, unsettled or straining to the eyes in low brightness, this comes exactly from PWM flicker in the OLED display. (It's high frequency flicker so you won't notice immediately, but might be able to cause fatigue or eye strain, it is different from person to person) Dxomark had an article about this issue.
The ASUS Zenfone 8 has an option to enable DC dimming to mitigate PWM flickering in low brightness, according to reviewers and the display manufacturer. Stupidly, however, it is an option, not enabled by default. (Also only available in 60 Hz, but that's a minor restriction IMHO) In can be found under settings in stock ROM. But in my custom ROM (LineageOS), this option is not available anymore.
I am wondering if anyone found out a way to enable the DC dimming option in custom ROMs as well, maybe programmatically via. a control file, from command line, adb or whatever. Would be great to get this feature to non-stock-ROM usages as well.

I found out something, at least a workaround.
Dimming is actually quite straightforward in OLED displays, since there is no backlight. A grey value of 20% RGB in full brightness is the same as a white value (100% RGB) in 20% brightness. Literally. They are the same. In regular LCD displays, this would not be the same; there would be a huge difference in contrast between full backlight and reduced backlight.
Now, since PWM flicker only occurs in lower brightness settings, we can "trick" the display, set it to max. brightness and instead dim the display by just reducing all the RGB values by the percentage the display should be dimmed. The result will look exactly the same just without PWM. At least I haven't found any differences, also the colors are still very accurate despeite OLED displays are said to have lower color accuracy when dimmed via. DC dimming.
There exists some apps to replace the "hardware dimming" with "software dimming":
* [APP]OLED Saver (flicker free backlight dimming, no PWM)
* [APP] AMOLED PWMfree
I tried the first one (OLED Saver) and I am quite satisfied. I even found the custom brightness adaption way better than stock Android, since it reacts faster. And the difference between PWM and no PWM is really noticeable. Reading text in low light is much more pleasing now, much easier to the eyes, I can recommend you to try it out.
A drawback is that both of these apps reduce brightness via. a full screen overlay. Since most of us here have rooted phones, a much better solution would be to dim the display by modifying the system color settings. Similar to apps like CF.lumen which use this to implement night sight. Unfortunately, I haven't found an app doing this for brightness regulation. If there exists one, please let me know, it would be the ideal solution!
If custom ROM developers are reading this, would be a great feature to add to any ROM It is very straightforward to implement: Just decouple brightness regulation from the display driver; and reuse the brightness signal to alter the system color settings. I am sure that the ASUS DC dimming option does something like this as well.

Related

Can you damage the AMOLED by using over-brightenning software such as DSP manager?

My phone has alwasy had a dimmer display with a lot less punch and a blue hue to it, when compared to my friends i-9000. I dont know what it is down to, most likely different manufacturing process?
So I used DSP manager and went to the RGB colour profiles. I set them all to max, and viola it seemed my phone was much much brighter and display a pure bright white just like my friends phone.
Now changing back to other roms and just leaving the phone stock, it seems like the display is even dimmer and duller in stock form. I dont know if I am just used the dsp tuned way, or if the display can really burn out a little from what I have been doing but it really seems worn out in stock form, even on max brightness.
For example.
My stock phone on maximum brightness from the normal settings menu= Blue hue, not that bright.
Friends stock phone also on maximum brightness in the normal settings menu= Pure whites, strong vivid brightness
(side by side displaying same image)
So I used DSP manager after installing MIUI. Cranked up BOTH the RGB profiles in the dspmanager AND the brightness from the settings menu. Display looks great.
I cant even imagine what my friends phone would be like with DSP manager as well, whether it look even brighter better or reach a similar level as mine and stop, but there is no need to change his one, so it wont be done.
Now I dont wanna know general info about burning out displays etc, I just wanna know, does using the DSP manager overwork/damage the display in a way normal use does not?
And is if safe to keep the color profiles on max because I like the way it makes my colour balance look.
splendidtry said:
My phone has alwasy had a dimmer display with a lot less punch and a blue hue to it, when compared to my friends i-9000. I dont know what it is down to, most likely different manufacturing process?
So I used DSP manager and went to the RGB colour profiles. I set them all to max, and viola it seemed my phone was much much brighter and display a pure bright white just like my friends phone.
Now changing back to other roms and just leaving the phone stock, it seems like the display is even dimmer and duller in stock form. I dont know if I am just used the dsp tuned way, or if the display can really burn out a little from what I have been doing but it really seems worn out in stock form, even on max brightness.
For example.
My stock phone on maximum brightness from the normal settings menu= Blue hue, not that bright.
Friends stock phone also on maximum brightness in the normal settings menu= Pure whites, strong vivid brightness
(side by side displaying same image)
So I used DSP manager after installing MIUI. Cranked up BOTH the RGB profiles in the dspmanager AND the brightness from the settings menu. Display looks great.
I cant even imagine what my friends phone would be like with DSP manager as well, whether it look even brighter better or reach a similar level as mine and stop, but there is no need to change his one, so it wont be done.
Now I dont wanna know general info about burning out displays etc, I just wanna know, does using the DSP manager overwork/damage the display in a way normal use does not?
And is if safe to keep the color profiles on max because I like the way it makes my colour balance look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damage hmm, depends what you mean by damage.
Fact is, the amoled is one of the fastest aging displays. Just read some wikies.
As you didnt give any parameters. Great dull bla bla cant make out of this much.
My answer is. Yes you can damage it, if you take damage as "not so bright" in the end (which can be months/years again no idea) "can be yellowish ?
My answer is. No you can't damage it, you can just simply "wear it out" as "not so bright" in the end (which can be months/years again no idea) "can be yellowish ?
Now as you use brighter settings and more blueish (where blue ages faster) your phone can "wear out" or "be damaged" sooner as for the ones not using such bright settings.
what exactly do you mean by parrametres...
I told you I slid the RGB bars to max and put the phone to max brighntess as well. Doesnt this give you the parrametres?

How to avoid the AMOLED flickering?

I've recently bought the 9.7" version of the Tab S2. I was aware of how unrealistic and oversaturated the AMOLED display is on default setting, but luckily this can be turned off, so it was the very first thing i did (though now the white balance is off, but at least it is not oversaturated).
Unfortunately i wasn't aware the fact that the display at below ~75% brigthtness flickers. The lower the brightness the more disturbing it is. And it drives me crazy. I hate the flickering cheap cr*p LED light bulbs, i hate that most notebook screens with LED backlight are non PWM free, and are flickering And after having this tablet for three days, i am hating it too. I frankly believe these products should be banned, because it hurts your eye, and your brain. I thought when we said good bye to CRT monitors, flickering screens will never be an issue again. Unfortunately they are :/
After googling the internet i found this article gs5.wonderhowto.com/how-to/eliminate-screen-flicker-lower-minimum-brightness-android-0157760 but the solution unfortunately requires a rooted device, wich would trip the knox and void the warranty, so it's a no no for me. Then I found several other apps on the play store which are doing the same without requiring root access: drawing a black overlay over the screen and you can set the transparency of it, so you can get a lower brightness without the flickering, because your screen brightness is around maximum, the lowered transparcy of the black overlay makes it less bright. Unfortunately none of these apps work like the one for the rooted devices, wich has a second slider at status bar, so instead of the brightness you can change the transparency at the notification screen. The non rooted apps i found do not work this way, they don't have the extra slider, you need to tap them, so you can get to where you can change the trasnparency and that's very uncomfortable. I tried so far Darker and three other Screen Filter apps, but none of them works with a second slider :/ Also using the Screen Filter apps when there is a smooth color transition on the dipslay (default background picture for example) gives ugly end result. Using a Screen filter app might reduce battery life so i might need to charge it more often (i don't care), but since the display is not flickering, it is always on, it might will burn in faster (i do care, i intend to use this tablet for 3+ years) So i am currently in debate wether i should return this product and get my money back or not. It is a really great device, but this terrible flickering of the AMOLED screen makes me super unhappy, wish it had an IPS display :/
If this is an issue for you too, and you found a Screen Filter app with a second slider at the notification area (without requiring root permissions) please let me know.
Is this just an s2 thing, nothing of the sort on my tab s?
Sent from my SM-T280 using XDA-Developers mobile app
It's not an S2 issue, I've seen several other phones and tablets in low light conditions set to a low brightness flickering like mine.. But you can test it, set a low brightness and start waving your finger in front of the screen like crazy. If you see ~10 seperate fingers -like in the picture attached- instead of one blurry (what you should see if there was a constant backlight), than yours is flickering too.
asdfh said:
It's not an S2 issue, I've seen several other phones and tablets in low light conditions set to a low brightness flickering like mine.. But you can test it, set a low brightness and start waving your finger in front of the screen like crazy. If you see ~10 seperate fingers -like in the picture attached- instead of one blurry (what you should see if there was a constant backlight), than yours is flickering too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see what you mean, but it doesn't bother me as there is no perceivable flickering at all and it only happens when the brightness is below a certain level.
If that certain level would be around 20% brightness i wouldn't care. I haven't tested out yet, but that certain level is somewhere below 70% So -for me- it would flicker all the time.
Eh, there is no screen flickering but your finger is flickering over a light source aka *screen*. It's an optical illusion you are referring to.
I am also very sensitive to pwm on displays, it takes me less than a minute to feel sick from the display having pwm.
Any further solutions to this? Thank you.
I'm using the the app 'Night Screen' it does the job on Android 7.0 on my LG G6 which uses pwm under 35% of brightness even though this is an ips screen. Hope it helps.
asdfh said:
I've recently bought the 9.7" version of the Tab S2. I was aware of how unrealistic and oversaturated the AMOLED display is on default setting, but luckily this can be turned off, so it was the very first thing i did (though now the white balance is off, but at least it is not oversaturated).
Unfortunately i wasn't aware the fact that the display at below ~75% brigthtness flickers. The lower the brightness the more disturbing it is. And it drives me crazy. I hate the flickering cheap cr*p LED light bulbs, i hate that most notebook screens with LED backlight are non PWM free, and are flickering And after having this tablet for three days, i am hating it too. I frankly believe these products should be banned, because it hurts your eye, and your brain. I thought when we said good bye to CRT monitors, flickering screens will never be an issue again. Unfortunately they are :/
After googling the internet i found this article gs5.****************/how-to/eliminate-screen-flicker-lower-minimum-brightness-android-0157760 but the solution unfortunately requires a rooted device, wich would trip the knox and void the warranty, so it's a no no for me. Then I found several other apps on the play store which are doing the same without requiring root access: drawing a black overlay over the screen and you can set the transparency of it, so you can get a lower brightness without the flickering, because your screen brightness is around maximum, the lowered transparcy of the black overlay makes it less bright. Unfortunately none of these apps work like the one for the rooted devices, wich has a second slider at status bar, so instead of the brightness you can change the transparency at the notification screen. The non rooted apps i found do not work this way, they don't have the extra slider, you need to tap them, so you can get to where you can change the trasnparency and that's very uncomfortable. I tried so far Darker and three other Screen Filter apps, but none of them works with a second slider :/ Also using the Screen Filter apps when there is a smooth color transition on the dipslay (default background picture for example) gives ugly end result. Using a Screen filter app might reduce battery life so i might need to charge it more often (i don't care), but since the display is not flickering, it is always on, it might will burn in faster (i do care, i intend to use this tablet for 3+ years) So i am currently in debate wether i should return this product and get my money back or not. It is a really great device, but this terrible flickering of the AMOLED screen makes me super unhappy, wish it had an IPS display :/
If this is an issue for you too, and you found a Screen Filter app with a second slider at the notification area (without requiring root permissions) please let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So here is the app( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.js.oledsaver ) to avoid pwm & use the phone with low brightness.
App name is OLED SAVER
It's simple. You install it & follow the instructions & use it. Enjoy! ?
---------- Post added at 07:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:58 PM ----------
Babakkardan said:
I am also very sensitive to pwm on displays, it takes me less than a minute to feel sick from the display having pwm.
Any further solutions to this? Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.js.oledsaver
harigavara said:
So here is the app( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.js.oledsaver ) to avoid pwm & use the phone with low brightness.
App name is OLED SAVER
It's simple. You install it & follow the instructions & use it. Enjoy!
---------- Post added at 07:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:58 PM ----------
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.js.oledsaver
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for answering this 3 years old post I used Darker in the last three years to eliminate the flckering and was happy with it. I checked OLED Saver now, but it's permissions says to me it's a big no no.
Unfortunately, since Android 8 apps cannot draw a an overlay over system areas (notification bar etc., thanks google! ), so i guess i'll never have an OLED screen phone/tablet again.

Max brightness bugged, help me pls

I am experiencing automatic dimming of my screen when set to maximum. The big thing is Adaptative Brightness is Off. I also set Power Mode to High Performance to make sure power management would not dim. I even bought an app that supposedly cranck up brightness beyond system limits (did not work)
I first noticed this when taking pictures of my garden in bright daylight, the screen was dim and even going over the orange marker on the dial I still struggled to view the screen (sun was almost 90 degree angle).
However when I placed my hand over the screen I could see well but then I noticed a sensible dim. At first I thought it was some king of optical trick, so I tried to repeat the experiment in different conditions to the point that I would simply crank up brightness and have a strong light over my phone then I used a black sheet of paper just above sensors. If I take the sheet off the brightness ramp up a bit, if I put the sheet over the screen dims. And again no auto Adaptative Brightness is turned on neither Power Mode in save.
I guess this wasn't supposed to happen, if I want to ramp up brightness as much as I want I should be allowed and the system should not interfere with my preference? I don't need to justify my use to anyone but as a courtesy to those that are inclined to help me, here it is: I work a lot with gardening and construction all day, including strong daylight, and I need to take a lot of pictures for my work.
What can I do to squeeze this bit more brightness from my Note 9?
Thanks a lot.
felcas said:
I am experiencing automatic dimming of my screen when set to maximum. The big thing is Adaptative Brightness is Off. I also set Power Mode to High Performance to make sure power management would not dim. I even bought an app that supposedly cranck up brightness beyond system limits (did not work)
I first noticed this when taking pictures of my garden in bright daylight, the screen was dim and even going over the orange marker on the dial I still struggled to view the screen (sun was almost 90 degree angle).
However when I placed my hand over the screen I could see well but then I noticed a sensible dim. At first I thought it was some king of optical trick, so I tried to repeat the experiment in different conditions to the point that I would simply crank up brightness and have a strong light over my phone then I used a black sheet of paper just above sensors. If I take the sheet off the brightness ramp up a bit, if I put the sheet over the screen dims. And again no auto Adaptative Brightness is turned on neither Power Mode in save.
I guess this wasn't supposed to happen, if I want to ramp up brightness as much as I want I should be allowed and the system should not interfere with my preference? I don't need to justify my use to anyone but as a courtesy to those that are inclined to help me, here it is: I work a lot with gardening and construction all day, including strong daylight, and I need to take a lot of pictures for my work.
What can I do to squeeze this bit more brightness from my Note 9?
Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the the twilight blue app filter. It works wonders with the bulb features on your phone
jd14771 said:
Do you have a screen protector? Could something be obstructing the sensor on top?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no screen protection at all

Contrast settings and manual brightness issues

The first issue regarding contrast settings is that on 10.2.28 at least, if I set the phone to "standard contrast", sometimes upon waking it, it forgets that setting and looks exactly as if set on "automatic contrast", even though standard is still checked. Just confirmed this as my screen looked rather blue, changed to "automatic" and it remained identical, then I changed it back to standard and it finally got the desired white balance.The point of "standard contrast" is that it should be CONSTANT, not ever changing... I've got the phone 4 days ago (enjoying it overall) and I've got to ask if this has been an ongoing issue or is it new in 10.2.28?
The second issue is that with auto brightness OFF, the phone still bumps to max manual brightness when the sun shines directly on the sensor. It's not as annoying as the first issue but I'd rather it would not do that. This is how the mi 9 behaved since release or just a new bug?
Ultimately, can you guys point me to the most effective way of reporting bugs to xiaomi?
I'm on the same rom version... I don't have any issues with contrast changing like you said but I'm on increased contrast at all times... There's no way of disabling the screen boosting brightness in sun light regardless of auto brightness settings... It's sunlight 2.0 mode and actually boosts the brightness higher then the max on the brightness slider.

Google pixel 5 green tint issue

Bought Pixel 5 form Aliexpress a month ago and now I'm facing a green tint issue. On low brightness and dark colors (especially gray shades) the screen becomes green. Moreover, while switching refresh rate from 60Hz to 90hz the screen is bliking. Sometimes this thing pisses me off.
I've been searching the whole week and found some people solved this by switching to popular custom kernel. But I couldn't find what kernel exactly.
Maybe someone out here know what kernel to choose (or maybe there is another way to solve this?) A new display cost half the price of the phone, which is not the solution I want (
I have a similar problem. My P5 has a uniform green tint, regardless of the brightness. I recommend flashing any kernel with RGB control and lowering the green channel until you are satisfied.
As for the blinking problem when switching refresh rate, I suggest enabling Developer Options and toggling "Force peak refresh rate". That way your phone will stay at 90Hz.

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