1. mem0ryburn's Avatar
    I have the auto dimming set to off but it still does it. If I'm on the bus and there are windows all around my screen goes to full brightness and there's no need. I agree that it can be a handy feature if you want it but for somebody who's as paranoid about conserving battery life as I can be, I want this turned off. It's off in the settings but it persists and it's driving me mad.
    03-19-12 05:52 PM
  2. robsteve's Avatar
    It has always been that way. I don't think that is the auto dimming you see in the settings, just an automatic bright mode. Picture the PlayBook used in a setting where it goes from bright to dim and the users doesn't want to fiddle with the brightness to see the display, such as use by Police, EMS, Military and etc. It is quite handy in day to day use except for when using it as you described where you could put up with a dim screen.

    You could try putting a bit of black tape over the light sensor if you want to disable the feature, but you will loose the notification LED. You could just stick a piece of tape on the bezel and when it is giving you a problem, move the tape over the light sensor.
    03-19-12 06:01 PM
  3. mem0ryburn's Avatar
    no i totally get why it's useful, i just don't want it and can't believe that the automatic dimming setting doesn't change it :/
    03-19-12 06:02 PM
  4. mem0ryburn's Avatar
    also, the sensor is also the led so i'm not into covering it up
    03-19-12 06:03 PM
  5. mem0ryburn's Avatar
    when i used to have a blackberry phone it was one of my favourite things about it actually, i just don't want it on my playbook :/
    03-19-12 06:04 PM
  6. mem0ryburn's Avatar
    What the heck is the auto dimming setting for then???
    03-19-12 06:21 PM
  7. Fuzzballz's Avatar
    Welcome to the world of Blackberry. My Tour phone does this and drives me nuts. There are two types of auto-dimming, the one that happens when it's pitch-black at night -- this is somewhat useful but can be turned off. There's another that happens in sort of half-sunlight and is never useful. If it's sunny but the BB or PB happens to be partially in the shade (ie in a car), it dims slightly. This of course can't be turned off.

    I've been steaming about it since I got my first BB in 2009.
    03-19-12 08:13 PM
  8. robsteve's Avatar
    What the heck is the auto dimming setting for then???
    It is to keep a relative brightness with respect to changing ambient light.
    03-19-12 09:01 PM
  9. FF22's Avatar
    But I think the original poster understands what it is suppose to do but there's supposedly an option to TURN IT OFF and it does not stop the automation.
    03-19-12 10:38 PM
  10. dugggggg's Avatar
    There are two distinct behaviors---auto-dim, which is controllable, and auto-bright, which is not. Auto-dim functions in a dark environment, further dimming the screen to reduce glare. Auto-bright functions in a bright environment---completely overriding the user's low brightness settings---and forcing power consumption to nearly four watts. Its usefulness notwithstanding, it needs to be controllable.

    One fix I found---use a semi-opaque material (like a PostIt) to cover up the sensor/LED. It stops the auto-bright, but still lets the light from the LED shine through. Ugly though!
    Last edited by dugggggg; 03-20-12 at 01:56 AM.
    03-20-12 01:35 AM
  11. Princepia's Avatar
    Sorry to necro this, but man I agree with you all. It's summer, and I've been sitting in our sun room lately. I noticed my battery drain skyrocketing...why? Because it's forced to full brightness when I'm out here. This makes me so sad... Booooooo.
    04-05-12 02:08 PM
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