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Screen goes dim until touched after sleep

Crosbie

Crosbie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2010
613
12
Brighton, UK
Anyone have this little issue?

If the iPad has slept for a while, and I open up the smart cover, it will sometimes come to life with a dimmed screen. As soon as I touch it, normal brightness is resumed.

I can't consistently recreate this - I think it has to have been asleep for a while, and I think it only happens with the smart cover.

I'd welcome any solution. It's a distraction for a fraction of a second, so not something I'll be storming to the genius bar about - but I'm intrigued to know whether it's only me.
 
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S

steve10172

macrumors regular
Apr 13, 2009
107
13
London UK
This has something to do with the Smart Cover.
Sometimes it can get dislodged accidentally, so the display does't come on full brightness and goes to sleep again.
I think its normal behaviour.
Anyone think otherwise?
 
Crosbie

Crosbie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2010
613
12
Brighton, UK
'Normal' - meaning it happens to everyone?

It's odd, though, don't you think? I can't see a rationale for dimming the screen in this way until touched. Seems like a bug of some sort to me.

It's not a biggie but it's not expected behaviour.

(Thanks for responses, btw. :))
 
Crosbie

Crosbie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2010
613
12
Brighton, UK
c14nhl said:
Happens to me, but have never thought of it as an issue.
Click to expand...

It's no biggie, but to me it's more of an issue than, say, the backlight bleed that you only notice when looking at a black screen on full brightness in the pitch dark - because I actually notice this in day to day use, and it distracts me into taking an action: touching the screen to brighten it (with the thought that maybe I need to go into the multitasking tray to fix the brightness setting...).
 
M

mareyeka

macrumors newbie
Apr 20, 2011
15
0
happens here

I received my iPad last Monday. I noticed the dimming too. Doesn't bother me though.
 
Y

yegon

macrumors 68040
Oct 20, 2007
3,417
1,987
Done this a couple of times to me. Unrelated to auto-brightness I think as it was the first thing I disabled when I got my iPad.
 
T

thaialism

macrumors member
Mar 21, 2011
45
0
san diego
since you said that it's not consistent, i think it has a lot to do with the amount of light in the room, and a slow "light" sensor on the ipad2, same on the iphone, sometimes it just takes a while for the ios to change brightness (a lag so to speak)?

oh yea, next time you notice it being dim, don't do anything to it, see if it'll get brighter on it's own.
 
Crosbie

Crosbie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2010
613
12
Brighton, UK
thaialism said:
since you said that it's not consistent, i think it has a lot to do with the amount of light in the room, and a slow "light" sensor on the ipad2, same on the iphone, sometimes it just takes a while for the ios to change brightness (a lag so to speak)?

oh yea, next time you notice it being dim, don't do anything to it, see if it'll get brighter on it's own.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea. Will test.

I also want to try and figure whether this only happens on the home screen. Anyone?

It's not just the light sensor behaving normally; I do sometimes notice that happening, and it's not the same behaviour. For instance, this responds to a touch in the same way that, say, a MacBook might brighten up when the touchpad is operated when it's dimming ready to sleep.
 
RobT

RobT

macrumors 6502a
Dec 20, 2007
665
113
Ohio, USA
This happens to me a lot. Just about every time I open the smart cover on my iPad 2 the iPad turns on then immediately dims. Just turned off auto brightness to see if that resolves it.
 
phluid13

phluid13

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2007
53
5
This happens because as soon as you peel back the first part of the smart cover, the light sensor is still covered. This makes the iPad think it is in a dark situation until you peel back the entire smart cover and the sensor finally sees how bright the room is.
 
Mlrollin91

Mlrollin91

macrumors G5
Nov 20, 2008
14,125
10,114
Happens to me as well. Not every single time I open up the smart cover, but several times a day. Doesn't really bother me though.
 
Crosbie

Crosbie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2010
613
12
Brighton, UK
phluid13 said:
This happens because as soon as you peel back the first part of the smart cover, the light sensor is still covered. This makes the iPad think it is in a dark situation until you peel back the entire smart cover and the sensor finally sees how bright the room is.
Click to expand...

If this is the case, and it's at least reasonable speculation, then it's a bug Apple should address.

Does auto brightness work by polling the sensor at fixed intervals? That might explain the erratic behaviour; sometimes you open it at polling time, sometimes you don't...
 
D

Dlanod

macrumors 65816
Jul 11, 2008
1,000
96
UK
I'm using a Piel Frama case with sleep function and it does the same. Not bothered personally.
 
C

Capt T

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2010
970
251
Here is a theory for you.

I noticed last night if I rolled the case open, so I would put it into the stand position that it would do this. It may be that the light sensor took the read from the case blocking any room lighting and then once you touched it the light sensor took another reading.

It seems if I open the cover quickly or the room is very bright it just brightens up.

Just a thought to check out as you are trying to replicate it.
 
D

djon41

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2007
133
6
Capt T said:
Here is a theory for you.

I noticed last night if I rolled the case open, so I would put it into the stand position that it would do this. It may be that the light sensor took the read from the case blocking any room lighting and then once you touched it the light sensor took another reading.

It seems if I open the cover quickly or the room is very bright it just brightens up.

Just a thought to check out as you are trying to replicate it.
Click to expand...

I've noticed this issue as well, and the above quote is essentially what I've been chalking it up to. I think the ambient light sensor takes a reading before the cover is completely out of the way, even when you're swinging it open like a book, and takes a few seconds to re-read and adjust accordingly.
 
C

Coukos34

macrumors 6502
Mar 20, 2009
339
0
phluid13 said:
This happens because as soon as you peel back the first part of the smart cover, the light sensor is still covered. This makes the iPad think it is in a dark situation until you peel back the entire smart cover and the sensor finally sees how bright the room is.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the reason. You can tell too, by quickly removing the cover, it won't be dim (as opposed to peeling at a more normal speed). It has to do with the light sensor being in the middle of the ipad, and still being half covered when you start to peel back the smart cover. I dont think it is really a "bug" that apple can fix. It has to do with the placement of the sensor, and where the smart cover folds. The only thing Apple could do would be to delay the sensor from making an adjustment, and that would make people using it without a smartcover complain that the light sensor is slow to respond to ambient light. They are kind of stuck with it at this point. I don't know, it doesn't really bother me that much anyways...
 
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