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Help S4 - Sunlight screen legibility?

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wunay

Android Enthusiast
I understood prior to purchasing the Galaxy S4 that the screen was more readable in sunlight than the Galaxy S3. I have not found that to be the case. Any suggestions as to how to improve legibility in direct sunlight?
 
wunay said:
I understood prior to purchasing the Galaxy S4 that the screen was more readable in sunlight than the Galaxy S3. I have not found that to be the case. Any suggestions as to how to improve legibility in direct sunlight?
Click to expand...


Mine sux in the sunlight too!
 
wunay said:
I understood prior to purchasing the Galaxy S4 that the screen was more readable in sunlight than the Galaxy S3. I have not found that to be the case. Any suggestions as to how to improve legibility in direct sunlight?
Click to expand...

If it's in direct sunlight, and not diffused light (like in the shadow of buildings or trees, etc), then the auto setting in the display section of the main menu will give a different and higher brightness to the screen than the max user (non-auto) setting.
 
Frisco
Do I understand you to say that to correct the problem in direct sunlight - use auto brightness?
 
For my eyes, the auto-brightness setting fixes it. It's more than readable in direct sunlight. Without it on, I can't make out anything on my screen, but with it on it's very clear even with sunglasses on.
 
I had read a report somewhere that with auto on coupled with some other adjustments the sunlight issue can be overcome.

I will try it out tomorrow i.e. if we (UK) have sunshine.
 
If that's the case it would be a major disappointment. One of the strong points of my GNex is its usability in direct sunlight. I was hoping the S4 would be the same.

Just for reference, I use my GNex at max brightness, not auto, and it's perfectly visible in direct sunlight.
 
wunay said:
Frisco
Do I understand you to say that to correct the problem in direct sunlight - use auto brightness?
Click to expand...

Yes. And as you see from subsequent posts, it's not the same experience 100% across different devices.

But Samsung Note 2 and S4 have shown that the auto setting in display brightness makes the screen brighter than the max manual setting. :)
 
This is a disappointing aspect of the S4. In the sun (direct or bright), I can not use the phone even with brightness on auto or set full strength. If anyone knows a work around of perhaps screen saver that addresses this, I'd love to hear.
 
In my experience, both the GS4 and the GN2 are hard to see in direct sunlight. I was hoping the GS4 would improve on the GN2 in this area, but I can't tell any difference.
 
The GS4, like the GS3 and N2, uses a S-AMOLED screen. AMOLED is terrible in sunlight (IMO). I personally don't think any settings will help other than maybe high contrast color themes. What makes it worse than anything is wearing polarized sunglasses (given that you ARE outside in the sun).

I wish Samsung would offer their awesome Galaxy devices with hi-res IPS LCD panels instead of S-AMOLED. IPS is way better in bright light.
 
Turn off screen tone adjust, use auto brightness and +5 if you can, manual max brightness is not as bright as auto.

I don't have any problems in sunlight.
 
Shocky said:
Turn off screen tone adjust, use auto brightness and +5 if you can, manual max brightness is not as bright as auto.

I don't have any problems in sunlight.
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What is this "screen tone adjust" and "+5" you speak of? I'm still in the noob-user transition phase with my S4.
 
speedlever said:
Screen tone adjust is under settings/my device/display/more settings. I'm not sure about the +5 part.
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International version has toggle to adjust auto brightness slightly within a +5/-5 range. Basically you can make a bit brighter or dimmer depending on your taste.

Why other versions lack this option I don't know.
 
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