Introducing Brightness Rocker, my first Android app
Sep 23, 2010, 12:50p - Technology
I'm going to post some conclusions from my semi-starvation experiment, but before that I wanted to share a new Android app that I just released yesterday. It's called Brightness Rocker, and it let's you control your screen's brightness from any app just by clicking the volume rocker buttons on the side of your phone.
 
More details available at brightness.superfacts.org
Maybe I'm a bit overly sensitive, but when I first got my HTC Evo I found the built-in automatic brightness feature far from sufficient. It was way too bright when it was dark out, and not bright enough when I was trying to show photos or videos to friends. I guess it would be better if I could calibrate it, but it didn't have that feature.
So instead I installed a bunch of the Android widgets that let you change brightness with one click from your home screen, but again found that if I was looking at pics or videos or something, I pretty much had to leave the app to change it's brightness. This is annoying, especially if I'm trying to tune the brightness to fit that exact object that I'm looking at (e.g. a pic with lots of white looks brighter than a screen with more muted colors, even at the same brightness setting).
I just kept itching for a dedicated brightness button, like the old-school Palm and other handheld electric organizers used to have. I kept itching for that "ancient" dial, which seems to have lost favor with hardware designers these day. Modifying hardware is a bit beyond me, but modifying software isn't, so I set out to make an app that would solve this screen brightness problem I'd been having.
Hence, Brightness Rocker was born. The software overloads the existing volume rocker buttons to not only still change the volume but also display a brightness slider which you can touch to brighten or darken your screen. The app also includes a home-screen widget and notification icon to view and ajust brightness level.
This is my first Android app, and overall it was fun to learn more about the platform, and even more fun to solve this problem I'd been having. It's still in its first release, but if you've got an Android phone and would like to test it out, you can either search for it on the Android Market or download it directly from brightness.superfacts.org. There's a Lite (free with ads) version and a Pro ($1.99 without ads) version, if the ads bug you too much. Note that it works best in Android 2.2, and more slowly in Android 1.5-2.1.
I'd love to hear any feedback or other ideas you might have for Android apps.
Read comments (7) - Comment
nikhil
- Sep 24, 2010, 9:26a
I just wrote a review of Brightness Rocker on helloandroid: http://www.helloandroid.com/apps/brightness-rocker
nikhil
- Sep 28, 2010, 10:07p
A brief mention on Droid-Life.com:
http://www.droid-life.com/2010/09/28/app-roundup-voice-plus-abduction-2-padmapper-brightness-rocker/
"Ever been stuck in an application and want your brightness adjusted? This is your ticket. Allows your volume rocker switch to act as a volume up/down switch. Brilliant right?"
nikhil
- Sep 30, 2010, 11:38a
And another review, this time from Android-Apps.com:
http://android-apps.com/articles/reviews/brightness-rocker-android-app-review/
Mention #3: Droid Apps.org
http://www.droidapps.org/brightness-rocker-lite-control-screen-brightness-from-any-app-2/
nikhil
- Oct 1, 2010, 9:40p
Mention #4: Android Central.com
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-central-editors-app-picks-oct-1-2010
Mention #5: Droid Dog.com
http://www.droiddog.com/android-blog/2010/10/app-review-brightness-rocker/
nikhil
- Oct 3, 2010, 6:18p
Mention #6: Androinica.com
http://androinica.com/2010/10/03/android-apps-alert-35-no-clever-theme-edition/
Mention #7: Productive Organizer.com
http://www.productiveorganizer.com/android-productivity/android-set-your-brightness-via-your-volume-rockers/
nikhil
- Oct 6, 2010, 1:48p
Mention #8: Android Trek.com
http://www.androidtrek.com/index.php/brightness-rocker-rocks
nikhil
- Oct 9, 2010, 12:19a
Mention #9: XDA Newsgroup
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-798777.html
Mention #10: Thai Android App.com
http://thaiandroidapp.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1505:brightness-rocker-lite&catid=48:tools&Itemid=68
Translation (via Google):
"I left on the program this year Robert gram that will allow you to control screen brightness from any app, just press the volume buttons rock slide that shows the brightness. Or use at home or on the icon notification."
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