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Backlight! is an Android program that changes the system backlight intensity through 4 incremental brightness levels with one click. Android recognizes brightness values from 0-255. Default brightness levels for Backlight! are 0, 55, 150, and 255 respectively.

News

(7-10-09) Backlight 1.2.0 is released. Changed setup access to use a widget instead of setup file. Added intensity popup timeout selection. Optimized app to be slightly quicker in cupcake. Refactored code to use strings.xml for everything.

(6-8-09) Backlight! 1.1.0 is released. I have found a way to make this app work using the new brightness API with a slight performance hit. I’ve also added user customization and a popup of intensity.

Android Market
QR Code

Download (1.2.0)

To download this application for Android 1.5+, search for “backlight” in the Android Market or use a QR bar code scanner and scan one of the images on the right.

If you’re interested in how this application worked pre-cupcake, I have posted pre-cupcake source code here.

Instructions

Click on the icon to change the brightness level of the system. The brightness will be increased from your current setting to the next highest predefined setting. Click multiple times to cycle through the 4 brightness levels.

A setup page is provided upon first run. It allows users to set the default preferences (0,50,150,255 and no popup) and start using the app. It allows users to customize their own brightness levels, turn on the popup if desired, and set the popups timeout.

Backlight! setup can be accessed again by installing the setup widget on the home screen or by uninstalling then reinstalling the app.

Features

• Change brightness with one click.
• Cycle through 4 different backlight intensities instead of just one. Switch between darkest and lightest setting depending on your environment.
• Allow user to modify brightness settings to define their own brightness levels.
• Show the current brightness value in a notification or popup.
• Specify the intensity popup timeout.
• Default Settings:
  • Brightness levels:0,50,150,255
  • No intensity popup
  • Short popup timeout

Tested Devices

• G1 (1.5) – OK
• G1 (1.6) – OK
• G1 (CyanogenMod 4.2.8-) – OK
• G1 (CyanogenMod 4.2.9 – 4.2.12) – Broken
• G1 (CyanogenMod 4.2.13+) – OK
• Nexus One (2.0.1) – OK
• Cliq (?) – OK
• Droid (2.0) – OK
• Hero (1.6) – Broken

Planned Features

1. Add dialog to prompt user to email dev of crashes.

Tips

1. You can create a Keyboard shortcut to Backlight! to increase brightness while your in an application.

Bugs

• Error message when user types in an invalid number displays a long string of numbers and not the actual error message. This means you typed a sequence of brightness intensities that were invalid like 0,50,155,255,300 or 0,,50,150,255.

Kudos

Thank you to the following people for assisting or providing guidance in the creation of this app.

Michael Miranda (Haiku)

Donations

Backlight! is free! If you want to help the development of this app or just want to say thanks, click on the donate buttons below.