Customise Your Backlight Timeout Settings

[Darius Wey]

Windows Mobile offers users an easy way to customise backlight timeout settings, but it doesn't offer much choice with regard to preset values. By opening the Backlight applet (Start > Settings > System > Backlight; the exact sequence may vary from device to device), you'll notice a set of options as shown in the image below. You can tweak the timeout settings for battery power and external power, but the fact is, the range of values in the drop-down box is meagre at best. What if you wanted 5 seconds, 15 seconds, 45 seconds, or even 30 minutes?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060202-Backlight1.gif" /><br /><br />With a registry editor, you can change all that. <!><br /><br />In this guide, I use <a href="http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/explorer/default.asp">Resco Explorer 2005</a>. Remember, you're on your own with registry hacks, so proceed at your own risk.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20060202-Backlight2.gif" /><br /><br />• Navigate to <b>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Backlight</b>.<br />• You'll notice two DWORD entries present: <b>ACTimeout</b> and <b>BatteryTimeout</b>. The former refers to the backlight timeout setting on external power, while the latter refers to the backlight timeout setting on battery power. These two entries are highlighted in the image above.<br />• Open either of the two entries and modify the value to a number of your choice. It stores the information in seconds, so if you want a timeout setting of 15 seconds, enter 15. If you want a timeout setting of 1.5 minutes, enter 90.<br />• Save the changes. You won't need to soft-reset your device as the changes will come into effect immediately.<br /><br />The aforementioned steps should work on most Pocket PCs. If not, your OEM has your device's backlight settings assigned to a different set of registry keys.

[papasula]

Awesome! Anyone know a hack to extend the keyboard backlight timeout on a Samsung i730? Currently the longest is 8 seconds. :?

[SteveHoward999]

I've been trying to find a way to customise the screen brightness settings. My E800 is way to bright for reading in bed with th elights off ...

[ctmagnus]

It should be noted that a setting of 0 for either value means that the corresponding box in the Backlight Settings applet will be unchecked.

[snoop244]

I've been trying to find a way to customise the screen brightness settings. My E800 is way to bright for reading in bed with th elights off ...

Yes, my Audiovox 6700 goes from too bright all the way up to waaaay too bright for night time reading. I am no expert, but I did check the registry and I can't see anything that could help. The only thing that helped me was to change the page colour of my e-reader to light grey type on a black page. It still burns the retinas.

If anyone can help with this, there are at least 4 eyeballs that would thank you.

S.

[Darius Wey]

Awesome! Anyone know a hack to extend the keyboard backlight timeout on a Samsung i730? Currently the longest is 8 seconds.

Is there an option in Settings which allows you to tweak the keyboard backlight settings? If so, where is it located?

I don't have an i730, so I can't plough through its registry. Hopefully, with your help, we can find the hidden setting (if it exists).

Edit: Fixed quote.

[Darius Wey]

I've been trying to find a way to customise the screen brightness settings. My E800 is way to bright for reading in bed with th elights off ...

In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Backlight, do you have an entry titled "BacklightLevel", "Brightness", or something along the lines of that?

[SteveHoward999]

In HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Backlight, do you have an entry titled "BacklightLevel", "Brightness", or something along the lines of that?

Pretty sure I looked at these before, but here's what's there

ACBacklightLuminance
ACBacklighhtOnTap
ACTimeout
ACTimeoutUnchecked
AutoDim
BacklightLuminance
BacklighhtOnTap
Timeout
TimeoutUnchecked

BackLightLuminance is set to 1 (minimum) for both. But I see no way to hack it so that the lowest setting is dimmer than it appears now.

[ctmagnus]

In my experience, setting the backlight to automatic will drop the backlight lower than the lowest setting you can get from the plugin in Control Panel, which is much more granular than Spb's today plugin item. But I'm sure you all knew that already. ;)

[SteveHoward999]

In my experience, setting the backlight to automatic will drop the backlight lower than the lowest setting you can get from the plugin in Control Panel, which is much more granular than Spb's today plugin item. But I'm sure you all knew that already. ;)

Not on my Toshiba. The auto setting is brighter ths minimum in total darkness. :?

[Darius Wey]

Not on my Toshiba. The auto setting is brighter ths minimum in total darkness. :?

If you've already got it tweaked to the dimmest setting, and the registry data reads back as 1, then I think that's as far as it will go.

[SteveHoward999]

If you've already got it tweaked to the dimmest setting, and the registry data reads back as 1, then I think that's as far as it will go.

That's the conclusion I reached before, but you never know what some bright spark or other might come up with 8)

[papasula]

Using PHM Regedit on my Samsung i730 I found the following on the keyboard backlight:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Backlight\KeyBacklightTimeout

The value is set to 8 when I set it to 8sec in the power settings
The value is set to 4 when set to 4sec, 2 for 2sec, and 1 for 1sec.

When I try other values nothing changes. I tried 16, 32, 64, 120 and they all timeout at 8sec.

What am I missing?

[Darius Wey]

The value is set to 8 when I set it to 8sec in the power settings. The value is set to 4 when set to 4sec, 2 for 2sec, and 1 for 1sec.

Do me a favour and try a number within 1 to 8, but outside the preset values. So, say, 3 or 6. Does it timeout exactly after the number of seconds specified?

I'm seeing if Samsung has locked the keyboard backlight to respond only to 1,2,4, and 8 in the registry. If so, that's probably why anything greater than 8 does not work.

[papasula]

I tried 3 and 6 with success. It appears to be fine with any number 1-8 and that is all!

[Darius Wey]

I tried 3 and 6 with success. It appears to be fine with any number 1-8 and that is all!

Hmm, it could be hardware locked to 8 seconds as the maximum. I can't think of any other possibility. I do wish I had an i730 to explore this further though. :(

[Menneisyys]

A similar subject: arbitrary suspend timeout: http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/index.php?blog=3&amp;title=tutorial_arbitrary_suspend_timeout_how_t&amp;more=1&amp;c=1&amp;tb=1&amp;pb=1