After 4+ years of searing retinas, Google finally agrees that dark modes help battery life (and saves your eyes)

[tealghost]

@LinusTech 

#wanshow

 

o.p. :

The Verge - Google confirms dark mode is a huge help for battery life on Android

https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/8/18076502/google-dark-mode-android-battery-life

 

Up to 60% difference in power drain in white vs dark app background utilization on OLED displays.

 

 

 

 

[mariushm]

I would say duh.. Black OLED means the organic cells that form a pixel aren't generating light therefore not consuming power.

 

The whole thing would not be valid with other LCD based displays as those rely on backlight - if the pixel is black, it's simply blocking the backlight from shining through, the backlight is still running.

[D13H4RD]

If you're like me, one of the things we disliked ever since Material Design first rolled off was the heavy use of bright UX elements. It tended to cause the display to draw more power than necessary on OLED panels and also make it harder to read comfortably in very dark settings, even on some phones with very low luminance when set to their absolute minimum brightness .

 

Well, after 4 years of searing everyone's retinas with bright elements and even adding much more insult to injury by adding more and more white, Google has finally admitted that dark modes do actually help save battery.

Quote

During the Android Dev Summit 2018 that was just held in Mountain View, Google admitted something we all basically knew anyway: it may have been wrong to use so much much white in its apps as it drains smartphone batteries faster than duller, darker colors. Thankfully, dark modes can alleviate the problem and lead to better battery life, and Google wants more devs to add one to their apps.

 

Using an OG Pixel with an OLED panel, Google engineers ran some tests to see how much display brightness and color affects battery life. Unsurprisingly, there was a pretty linear correlation between display brightness and battery drain. More interesting was the fact that different colors cause different amounts of power usage, with white and then blue accounting for the biggest draw.

 

Googler Chris Banes went as far as to say they "kinda shot themselves in the foot slightly in terms of power" when they moved away from the mostly black Holo theme to Material Design and the heavy use of white as a base hue. Every recent Google app update we've covered has introduced seemingly more white space than ever before, much to the chagrin of commenters.

 

Banes went on to laud the introduction of dark modes, using the recent YouTube update as an example of the power benefits. This can save up to 43% battery usage during video playback and 60% when paused (with the phone set to 100% brightness). Even using a dark theme in Gboard can reduce power consumption significantly, by up to 21%.

And what's the result of all this? Google is encouraging other developers to implement dark modes in their apps and has issued some instructions on how to do so. Expect more apps to come with a dark mode in the future (hopefully)

 

Source: Android Police

 

D13H4RD's opinion

Spoiler

Wow, Google. It's been 4 fucking years and you finally have grasped onto the idea that darker UX elements are very beneficial to OLED panels, huh? Even after making stuff even more retina-searing on Android Oreo. Well, better late than never I guess (you still should've known way earlier). I'm happy to see that dark mode is finally getting some much needed attention and that we might see more apps updated to include a dark mode option.

 

One more thing, though. Please use actual black as the baseline next time. It's incredibly efficient on OLED because no pixels are lit up on areas of the display showing actual black. It also makes for a really nice effect when looking at the display. Those using black themes on Galaxy phones know what I'm talking about.

 

[Godlygamer23]

The topic title should state which display technology it's actually mostly useful for. Any user with a non-OLED based panel wouldn't see that much benefit from this.

[LukeSavenije]

yasss. finally

[Jurrunio]

Weird because Google Maps navigation has dark mode for ages. I guess their offices are too bright to notice the eye sore problem

[elfensky]

FINALLY! Thank god.

I don't/can't root my Pixel 2 because I want the extra security given various banking apps, and Substratum doesn't have a rootless option for Android Pie, so I'm glad Google is finally accepting the need for a true dark mode.

[D13H4RD]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

Weird because Google Maps navigation has dark mode for ages. I guess their offices are too bright to notice the eye sore problem

They also had a dark mode in the Marshmallow beta

 

I still think Google has some sort of allergy against anything that isn't white in color.

[79wjd]

Now if only Apple would release a dark theme on iOS.....

[Shoob]

This seems to be the first time Google does a UI/UX design change that users actually want.

[suicidalfranco]

GEE

I  WOULD HAVE NEVER GUESSED!?!?!?

 

took them long enough

[Shally]

Were coming into the dark ages boys.

[Shally]

Just now, Pandalf said:

This seems to be the first time Google does a UI/UX design change that users actually want.

Everyone I know at the office enjoyed the chrome change not long ago

[Zando_]

3 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

They also had a dark mode in the Marshmallow beta

 

I still think Google has some sort of allergy against anything that isn't white in color.

GoOgLe iS RaCiSt?

[WkdPaul]

* Threads merged *

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

GoOgLe iS RaCiSt?

aLL c0L0Rs mATter

[JuztBe]

3 minutes ago, Shally said:

Everyone I know at the office enjoyed the chrome change not long ago

that's because they barely did anything.

[Shoob]

2 minutes ago, Shally said:

Everyone I know at the office enjoyed the chrome change not long ago

I did too, because it looks like Firefox now and I much prefer that tab layout, but a ton of people at the office and on r/chrome bitched about it.

[D13H4RD]

42 minutes ago, tealghost said:

This shouldn't be surprising.

 

OLEDs consume very little to no power when black elements are displayed, because the lack of a backlight due to the self-luminant nature of the diodes mean that they can shut themselves off entirely, which also gives you that extremely deep contrast ratio that's characteristic of OLED displays. However, the power consumption increases significantly when it is displaying an entirely white-colored element, sometimes moreso than an equivalent LCD (LCDs are most efficient when it is displaying a white image). This is especially true when the brightness is increased.

 

This has been known for an extremely long time already. The fact that it took Google 4 years since they released Material Design to realize that their aesthetic choices are wrecking battery life is flabbergasting.

[PianoPlayer88Key]

Am I the only one who doesn't really care all that much about dark mode vs light mode?

I'd like to know what is it exactly that people like so much about dark mode, too. 

 

If the display isn't too much brighter than what you might see when reading a book in southern CA, NV or AZ outside in summer in the middle of a sunny day, I think it's fine.  Now if it's nighttime, or I'm in a dimly lit (or unlit) room, I'll probably turn my display's brightness down.  (I think all my PC / phone displays are LED-backlit IPS panels, which wouldn't take advantage of the power savings from dark mode like OLED/QLED would.)

Generally though, unless I'm trying to go to sleep, I like my environment to be fairly well lit.  (For example, for photography buffs, be able to take a picture or video with a fast enough shutter speed to freeze average human or animal motion - without using flash, and without having to open the aperture all the way or crank up the ISO.)

I also don't like a big contrast between the brightness of my display vs the ambient brightness of my surroundings.

 

I use light mode pretty much almost all the time, with some exceptions.  (For example I have all but 1 of my discord accounts set to dark mode.  In that case I think it makes things readable, but I think it's due to the way the UI is designed.)  Also, if I'm editing a document or something intended for printing, light mode is how it will look when printed, usually.

[Brooksie359]

10 minutes ago, PianoPlayer88Key said:

Am I the only one who doesn't really care all that much about dark mode vs light mode?

I'd like to know what is it exactly that people like so much about dark mode, too. 

 

If the display isn't too much brighter than what you might see when reading a book in southern CA, NV or AZ outside in summer in the middle of a sunny day, I think it's fine.  Now if it's nighttime, or I'm in a dimly lit (or unlit) room, I'll probably turn my display's brightness down.  (I think all my PC / phone displays are LED-backlit IPS panels, which wouldn't take advantage of the power savings from dark mode like OLED/QLED would.)

Generally though, unless I'm trying to go to sleep, I like my environment to be fairly well lit.  (For example, for photography buffs, be able to take a picture or video with a fast enough shutter speed to freeze average human or animal motion - without using flash, and without having to open the aperture all the way or crank up the ISO.)

I also don't like a big contrast between the brightness of my display vs the ambient brightness of my surroundings.

 

I use light mode pretty much almost all the time, with some exceptions.  (For example I have all but 1 of my discord accounts set to dark mode.  In that case I think it makes things readable, but I think it's due to the way the UI is designed.)  Also, if I'm editing a document or something intended for printing, light mode is how it will look when printed, usually.

I have gotten eye strain from looking at my monitor even with lower brightness so I would say I have to disagree. Flux helped alot but dark mode just feels better on my eyes personally. 

[MoonSpot]

2 hours ago, D13H4RD said:

 

Spoiler

 

That picture kills me , though it is still under-representing the feels of an assault by bright displays with day themes.  Pure white backgrounds are criminal, off white are vastly superior to white.  Greys and blacks are gifts from the gods. 

http://blackle.com/ has been a thing for...what.  10 years?  more?  Bout time there was inhouse options as stylish add-ons leave a fair bit to be desired; been quite happy with blackedout gmail & youtube for the last few months.

[mynameisjuan]

Meh, ill stick with a white GUI. 

[GoodBytes]

In other 4 years, Google will recognize that dark theme helps with contrast, allows users to use their phone under lower brightness settings outside, saving even further battery life and finally make Android fully support Dark Theme, and then I'll get to say: Welcome to 2007 Google. Microsoft research which proven that water is wet in 2007, was indeed correct.

[Mira Yurizaki]

I think every OS should ask which theme you want to use on initial startup. In fact, it should be the first question asked. And to avoid people getting offended of being defaulted to one or the other, just blast a random color at you.