Backlight, can it stay on while docked?

Nice short question here, there is an option in the control panel to make the backlight stay on, there is also the option to have it only stay on while connected to a car kit.

What I want is to have the backlight stay on while in the data cradle? Is there a way to make the phone think it's connected to a car kit while it's connected to the computer? Or can it be done with software?

Thanks

[Delta737]

I would like that as well! But I'm afraid it's not possible :S

[mat.phillips]

I recall that a Nokia handset detects a car kit or handsfree kit by shorting certain pins, or by using a certain value of resistance between them. I recon the docking unit could be modified a little to make the phone think it's a car kit. Anyone know what pins are responsible for this with the P900 ?

[Bigfeat]

Could you just not change the light setting for the backlight to ON and turn off the power save when docked? If you think about it, chances are your phone will be docked in the docking station longer then it probably would it a car. With that said, you have to think about the amount of energy that these pixels burn with each usage. You burn one pixel you burn them all. I've seen this happen to one of my laptops twice. If the backlight was forced to stay on when docked to a pc imagine what the lifespan of your phone screen light pad would deminish to after leaving it on for a few days straight. I just think its in efficiency measure that the manufacturer takes with the assumption that the customer will always forget to turn off the light when their phone will not be in use for an extended amount of time.

This is indeed possible.
Tap on the battery icon, select Settings, Power, and then Light: On.
The light will stay on in the craddle, and it will have a longer timeout when out of the craddle.
And to save power and/or the light source, the backlight dims a bit when it normally would go off.

-J

[mat.phillips]

Hmm, setting the backlight to 'on' as you suggest does indeed provide the functionality I want, the extended timeout when not receiving a charge is a little annoying and I'm sure this is gonna have an impact on my battery life - but I can put up with this. Thanks 'J' I confess that I simply assumed that ON meant ON and it would remain on at all times

On a related note, is there any way to change the brightness of the backlight? The handset itself is capable of this, look at the way it fades to a lower level when idling in the cradle in this way - and the way the light fades to off, rather than just turning off. The hardware supports a varying level of backlight, but we dont seem to be able to adjust it in software. Any thoughts?

As for the comment about damaging the pixels by doing this, that's irrelevent. The pixels are inuse constantly, regarless of the state of the backlight. The natural state for each pixel is transparent, they are actually 'on' when black. Just think of all those activated pixels when the flip is closed! The horror!

The life of the backlight indeed is an issue and over time it will run dimmer than the day it was new, but this is barely noticable unless you hold it next to a brand new unit, and I guess the backlight can be replaced simply should the need occur.

[Bassey]

Mat,

You might want to turn the backlight to auto when not in the charging cradle. I tried doing as suggested above and the battery drains like no-body's business. You'll be lucky to get much more than half a day out of it.

It's a pain, but I just switch backlight to on when it's in the cradle at work, and set it back to auto as I'm leaving to go home.

[Bigfeat]

Mat,

I guess I'm getting my terminology screwed up. But either way I don't think the pixel integrity is entirely irrelevant.

Isn't the pixel dependent on the functional integrity of the transistors that controls backlighting? If the transitor that is placed at each pixel which controls the backlight shining through the given pixel gives out it will result in a burned or dead pixel right? So being that the lcd acts in a passive mode the pixel's shelf life is dependent on what drives it. With that said, I think the backlighting issue does tie into possible black or white spots one may experience overtime with these screens.

[mat.phillips]

The backlight just provides a bright white light behind the screen and is not linked in anyway to the activity of the actual LCD panel. Having the backligh on or off has no bearing on the lifespan of the lcd display. It will deteriorate the actual backlight faster of course, but these things have a very long lifespan anyway. (I think the backlight on these phones is provided by LED's rather than a tube as I cant hear an inverter going anywhere. LED's have a halflife of around 100,000 hours)

But yes, the individual pixels can indeed fail, but this is a more random occurance than the manufacturer likes to admint to.

Either way, colour lcd technology is pretty good these days and these screens can last plenty long enough.

So...... I guess I'm looking for someone to write a 'brightness control' program for the P900