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Help Browser Screen Brightness Dims KITKAT

G

ggranath

Lurker
Verizon just told me there was a software update for my Note 2 (4.4.2 - named kitkat I believe) and I foolishly installed it without looking on these forums to see if it was clean.

Now when I open the default browser, screen brightness decreases to about 50%. I have manually set the brightness to max.

While in the browser, if I touch the Menu icon (lower left) and select Brightness, it tells me that brightness is manually set to max.

While in the browser, if I then press the Home key, brightness momentarily reverts to max before I'm taken to the home page.

I find nothing similar in other threads about browser brightness. Is this a known problem? Have I stepped in something unpleasant?
 
Clearing data and cache didn't help. I have a little more detail.

If I directly open the Google app and enter the search term for a video, Google opens at max bright and the video I searched for plays at max bright.

But if I open the browser, the display goes dim as soon as it's open, and then if I access google.com by entering that URL in the browser's address box, the display stays dim after the Google Web site opens and stays that way as I enter the search term.

Only after I click Go and the target video starts do I get max brightness again. So it appears that the dimming happens every time the browser is involved.

Any further ideas?
 
Just noticed that this also happens on my wife's Note 2.

Did some research and I only understand 50% of the android-expert lingo, but it sounds like at some point (4.4.2 - KITKAT?) the default browser stopped being used. Now there's something about Chrome WebView and HTML5 that I don't care to understand, but it clearly means something to sombody somewhere.

I googled and found that both the Dolphin and Opera browsers are highly rated by users so I installed both and am evaluating. There'll be a learning curve but at least the screen stays bright enough for me to see in outdoor light.

Here's a link to one of the sites where I found clues:

Android 4.4 KitKat, the browser and the Chrome WebView | Breaking the Mobile Web

GGR
 
You'd think the providers of this browser would have done some usability testing before GAing the product. This bug "floats on the surface," really hard to miss.
 
This is because your phone is power saving mode. Just turn it off by going to Settings > My Device > Power saving mode. Option also available when you pull down the notifications bar.
 
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