Smartphones at Launches: Sunlight viewability

[jderimig]

Like many of you I try and use a smartphone for various rocket launch activities like GPS and developing apps etc. However unless I am in a very shady spot I find the screen close to useless on my device (Samsung S4).

Do others share my same difficulty and if so what do you do to make the device more usable?

If others have bright viewable screens in sunlight what devices are you using?

--jd

 

[rharshberger]

Like many of you I try and use a smartphone for various rocket launch activities like GPS and developing apps etc. However unless I am in a very shady spot I find the screen close to useless on my device (Samsung S4).

Do others share my same difficulty and if so what do you do to make the device more usable?

If others have bright viewable screens in sunlight what devices are you using?

--jd

I generally have to turn the screen Brightness all the way to max, and then still use my hand to shield the screen a bit. The max Brightness though is a hefty drain on the battery. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

 

[DavidMcCann]

My iPhone self adjusts. It's usable in direct sunlight, but it's not as clear as I like. I typically use my body as a shade. You can also toss it in a small box, or even a hat in a pinch.

 

[o1d_dude]

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 here and as Rich posted above, I crank the brightness to the max. When in the shade, I just click the autobrightness control to dim the screen.

 

[cerving]

My iPhone 5s works fine at Lucerne Valley, where the sun is about as bright as you're ever gonna get. I DO shade it when I'm entering GPS data, but the MotionX screen is quite visible in full sunlight. I think a lot of the visibility issues are due to the color choices on the screens rather than the inherent brightness of the device. Dark objects on a light background tend to work better in sunlight than dark backgrounds and light objects, which tend to get washed out. That's the reason why I chose the black-on-yellow/green display for the Eggfinder LCD receiver; the neat white-on-blue LCD's were virtually unreadable outdoors.

 

[jderimig]

That's the reason why I chose the black-on-yellow/green display for the Eggfinder LCD receiver; .

Yes the EA display you use (I think) is actually a transreflexive display and actually gets MORE readable as the ambient light intensity increases. I wish smartphone displays and/or app writers would include a sunlight mode for those apps (gps, compass etc) which is white flood fill and black for markers, fonts and graphics. In the world of silicon valley greatness how come no one has thought about this?

 

[ksaves2]

I use a small "semi-deep" cardboard box I paint the inside of with flat black paint for tablets as a shade. The other thing that's useful is a matte screen protector. I have that on a Nexus 7 and Winbook. No matter what one does, these maneuvers
help but nothing beats a screen like John mentions. My old handheld mapping Garmin GPS 60CsX, held at the right angle with respect to the sun is very readable. I wished my tablets were that way. Kurt