My eyes thank you, Google: Android to get dark mode scheduling in future update During the heady beta days of Android 10, Google showed off a feature that would allow users to automatically activate Dark Mode depending on the time of day. Sadly, despite an enthusiastic reception, it never made it into the finished product, due to several technical hurdles. However, according to a company representative, …
I wonder if they are answering "What time will the sun cross the horizon line?" rather than just "What time is sunrise/sunset for this location?" That's a significantly more challenging question to compute for fixed point, much less for a device that is mobile. And that's just with physical terrain - if they are also including weather and/or man-made structures it gets pretty crazy.
It does seem like Google (originally?) chose the most complicated way possible.
"Apps have to request location permissions"? No. The system knows where it is, and just needs to broadcast a "go to dark mode now" message to applications whenever the user has explicitly, or via sunset scheduling, requested it.
Why on Earth would Google do it in the way described in the article, which must be the most permissions-profligate, privacy-invasive way... oh. Never mind.
Indeed. Where I am now, the sun set today at 13:24. The dark mode would make zero sense since people are not hibernating for most of the day so who cares about blue light in the afternoon - later in the evening, perhaps.
Further north the Sun doesnt rise at all for several weeks... Will their RGB displays be just RG displays during that time?
When it's obvious problems like this, I assume either:
1) There is a seriously obvious patent out there that prevents people actually doing the proper sensible thing (unenforceable, but a billion dollar company sitting on it and trolling people with it).
2) Someone somewhere is proving their worth/time/bonus by making it over complicated!
The answer is 2) because Google are desperate for your fine-grained location and this person is good at coming up with bullshit excuses:
Want to use an app which scans for WiFi APs or Bluetooth devices? "Oh, we need you to activate location because the app could harvest MACs and talk to its mothership to work out where you are (even though it may not have the Internet permission)" -> You turn location on to allow device scanning in the app to work -> Google gets your location.
What to use a dark mode app? "Oh, we need you to activate location because when we tell the app to go to or leave dark mode, the app could use that sunrise/sunset time as a way of working out where you are." -> You turn location on to allow dark mode in the app to work -> Google gets your location.
That would be really infuriating and what we have light levels for. Dark mode only makes sense on OLED screens and only for certain applications. In general, however, it doesn't matter if it's right on the money and the screen is usable in both modes almost equally well. I tend to have all my messaging apps in dark mode all the time but dark mode for maps can mean less visible detail so I let OsmAnd manage this for me. My Kobo Reader switches from blue to orange the same time everyday.
Lighting conditions can change very quickly so even with the kind of delay you get with light-level adjustments, which is graduated, you could easily flip between light and dark modes, which is most certainly not graduated.
Dark mode is largely personal preference, with some potential energy savings and then some woo about blue light levels. I've always hated it for computer screens but I've had it for messaging apps and e-mail on my phone since it's been available.
>Lighting conditions can change very quickly
I think people are confusing two different adjustments.
Firstly, my laptop has an ambient light sensor and can dynamically adjust the brightness of the display accordingly. I seem to remember that many phones also have this setting.
Secondly, there is the issue of circadian rhythms and the effect, specifically of blue light on the brain. iOS since whenever has had 'night shift', originally it was just a user defined schedule, but has in recent editions gained 'dark mode' which can be auto switched at 'sunset'.
I suspect Google were trying to be too clever with their scheduling, rather than simple run it off the user set timezone setting.
What? Use the light sensor? Why, what a concept. Except this has always been in place. Up until Android 9, it worked really well. On my LG V40, it is useless. The display darkens so much that it is unusable in low light situations and won't adjust up. As a result, I manually set the brightness.
Hey, Google, How about you fix shit you broke before introducing new features? Or are you just trying to be like Microsoft?
what the literal actual fuck, an engineer at google is claiming that writing a sunrise/sunset calculator is tricky and would inevitably be/is buggy? WHAT?
is this the quality of google? DUDE. I would expect a google engineer to be able to derive from first principles the time of sunrise and sunset for any latitude and longitude on earth at any date, and maybe if they're smart they'd know the difference between civil and nautical and astronomical twilight and might suggest an os wide way of linking that to the blue light reduction mode.. like.. if you schedule one you probably might want both working in sync together
but no.. he's some kind of literal muppet who can't write a 'calculate sunrise at long,lat' function without a bug
cretin
What is this Dark Mode that they are talking about ? I can't find any Dark Mode in my Galaxy A3 menu. I do have a blue-light filter. I also have a phone that modifies its brightness following the ambient lighting, so why should I need a Dark Mode ?
My phone also has Always On, so I get the time on screen without blasting my middle-of-the-night eyes with the full effect of the unlocked screen. It adjusts its brightness automatically as well - during the day it is nice and readable, in the dark it is subdued and largely readable as well.
So what use is this Dark Mode scheduling to me ? I can't see that it has any.
FYI:
Less 'Blue light' [Blue Light Filtering] is not the solution it is made out to be.
Latest research has found that the shift to 'less' blue light is not necessary rather simply dim the display !!!
(In fact, the shift towards the yellow end of the spectrum is at odds with the dimming, as Yellow or White light is 'better for staying awake and alert'.
See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50807011
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