Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

I was just wondering what brightness setting people are using on their Prisms. To conserve battery life, I try to set mine at around 25%, but I often find that at some point during the day, I have to crank it all the way up to 100% (when I'm outside) and then forget to lower it later (that may be why I get such lousy battery life on my Prism). At what brightness setting do you think your Prism is usually set? Can anyone get away with not charging their Prism every day or two?

Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 347

I use 100%. I've only had it for about 2 weeks but I've never even come close to running the batteries down.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 604

I leave mine cranked pretty much to full (90%+), and I do have lousy battery life. That said, it looks so pretty at that setting.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 23

I tend to use mine at about 75% brightness. I turn it all the way down if I'm in a dark room (typically at home at night), and all the way up when I'm indoors, but daylight is coming in everywhere (at home during the day, or conference rooms).

However-- I tend to turn brightness ALL THE WAY DOWN when I'm outside in direct sunlight. Why? If you tilt your handheld so that the sunlight hits the screen and reflects the LCD contents through the glass, you can see what amounts to a monochrome rendition of your prism screen.

I wouldn't characterize this as "easy to read", but it's as sure-fire a way as any I've found to read what's on my Prism when I'm out in bright daylight. To be honest, brightness doesn't seem to have any helpful affect at all in that environment, and I'd rather conserve battery life than stubbornly try to view a color screen in direct sunlight.

-kirb

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All Children Are A Gift From God...

...return unopened for a full refund.

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 49

In normal use, my Prism spends 90% of the time sitting in its cradle on my desk at home or my desk at work (I have two cradles) so I leave it cranked at 100% Similarly, when I go away I take my travel charger with me, so again it stays pegged at 100%, but if for some reason I do need to eke out a longer run time, then I'll drop it back to about 25% and squint.

At night, I crank it all the way down to minimum to avoid going flashblind when playing solitare, or crank it back up to 100% when I want to use it as a flashlight to find my way around.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Michigan
Posts: 8

quote:

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...or crank it back up to 100% when I want to use it as a flashlight to find my way around.

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And I thought I was the only one who used my Prism for a flashlight. Worked great when I needed to get the serial number off my Zip drive!

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

I use it as a flashlight during the night as well. Works great. Works too well actually, since even at the lowest brightness, the bright white screen can be distracting when trying to read in the dark. I usually invert the screen in PeanutReader (PalmReader), so that at least the background is black.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

60-70%. I don't perceive enough addditional brightness at 100% to justify the additional battery drainage.

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 714

I'm at school for at least 8 hours a day, while I'd love to leave it at 100% thats not technically possible if I want to use it the whole day. Plus, since I'm at school, I really can't charge it during the day - just in case I keep the TCL battery charger in my glove box, though.

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Matt Nichols
[email protected]

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Sacramento, Ca
Posts: 35

I'm ressurecting this thread because NOW thanks to Daniel Seifert (the guy who made Easy Lock), he's come up with "Energy Dimmer" which dims your Prism (and other color devices I assume) to a low level after a given amount of time. You can set the level it drops to, and the amount of time it takes before it dims.

I have been beta testing this, and it's been a HUGE help for me in meetings. I tend to leave my Prism on for hours in meetings typing here and there, but now I don't have to worry about the battery at all. wooo hooo I can run for hours and have no worries.

Energy Dimmer Works great with my stowaway so I have it set to dim in 20 seconds and soon as I start to type it brightens up.

This is my new favorite Must Have app (Actually its a hack for an app like hack master). And No I do not work for this guy, I just really really needed this app and I assume others do too.

James

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Houston
Posts: 34

Where can one download the "Energy Dimmer/"

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Sacramento, Ca
Posts: 35

Its not out quite yet... It should be coming soon as I understand it (I've not seen any bugs with it) So I think he's finishing up beta soon.

I'll let everyone know when it he releases it... I'm sure you'll love it.


James

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Sacramento, Ca
Posts: 35

http://www.dseifert.com/dimmer.html

This page describes it, and he has the beta publicly available. So you can try it out.

James

Registered: May 2001
Location:
Posts: 26

Wow, everyone really likes the display bright. For me, I actually prefer putting the brightness at 30-50% with normal use and then for reading an ebook, I put it all the way down to 0%!!! Even at the dimmest setting, I find the brightness to be adequate. Having it on too bright hurts my eyes. I think I'm the only one who does this.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Arlington, TX
Posts: 334

I set mine at 25% or less. Mostly less, but not quite 0%.

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Rick

www.visorsolutions.com

Registered: May 2001
Location:
Posts: 26

Try sitting in the dark with your prism on at 0%. Your eyes will get used to it, and after a while you wish you could dim it even more!

Well, at least that's how I've felt when I read an ebook at night.
Now that I think about it, I do keep it on at about 25% or less too most of the time. I think you save on the battery power tremendously. I haven't charged my batteries for 2 weeks and it's still at 60%!

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Sacramento, Ca
Posts: 35

Good news you can now download EnergyDimmer at Palmgear or http://www.dseifert.com/dimmer

This program is soooooo sweet for saving batteries. If you didn't like to use it bright because you would drain your batteries fast but wanted to use it bright, then this is totally something you'll love. I highly recommend it.

As for using the prism in dim light, I agree I don't run it bright either. But when I use it at work the lights are bright so I have to turn it up but then it used to eat batteries fast until that little program came out.

One of my most favorite hacks. I rank it up with McPhling, and EasyLock (coinsidently Easy Lock is made by the same guy who makes the Dimmer).

James

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 106

quote:

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Originally posted by Kintama
Good news you can now download EnergyDimmer at Palmgear or http://www.dseifert.com/dimmer

This program is soooooo sweet for saving batteries. If you didn't like to use it bright because you would drain your batteries fast but wanted to use it bright, then this is totally something you'll love. I highly recommend it.

James

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