Display Basics: Know Your Screen’s Settings

Displays are getting to be bigger and bigger parts of our mobile experience and, as our phone screens are becoming primary selling points, it seems reasonable to get to know our displays and settings better. Most screens will come with a standard set of features and tweaks that can help you personalize your viewing format and phone interaction. Let’s take a closer look at some typical settings that your phone’s display holds and ways to change them to suit your needs better.

Brightness

Brightness is probably one of the most “popular” setting changes on the screen and the one that can alter more than the look of your device. You can set your brightness level personally by scrolling the mark to any point between the minimum and maximum limits allowed or choose to use the automatic setting. You can even download an app that will help you adjust your brightness beyond the default possibilities of your device. You can read more about this in our post Three Tools To Reduce Eye Strain From Smartphone Displays.

When changing the brightness level of your screen, there are a few factors to consider: your eye comfort (reading in the dark is said to put a heavier strain on your eyes), battery life (the lower the brightness level – the longer your battery will last) and simply individual preferences.

Wallpaper

Wallpaper is a pretty straightforward setting and an easy way to personalize your device. You can set various wallpapers for your home screen or install an app that will change them automatically. There are minimalistic options, as well as live animated ones and it all depends on your stylistic preferences. You can take a look at a few fun options in our post Awesome Wallpaper Apps For Your Android Phone.

Sleep Mode/ Screen Timeout

This setting will determine how long your display will stay active or lit once you stop using it. Once again, when you screen times out (becomes inactive) less battery power is consumed. On the other hand, setting the sleep time at frequent intervals can get annoying over time.

Daydream

Daydream controls what your phone will display during time-out or simply when the screen is turned off. By default, your screen will be blank when it’s not active. But if you would like to use it for something, there are other options, like a clock, colours (to relax your eyes), photo frame or photo table – these typically come preset on Android devices. But the beauty of an open platform is that you can always go beyond and download tools to give yourself more Daydream scenarios.

Cast Screen

Cast screen setting allows you to display the content of your phone screen on another device – think Chromecast or Android TV Box and is also known as “mirroring your device”. It is a popular feature for presentations, sharing photos or basically any occasion when you would prefer to see your phone’s display on a bigger screen.

When device is rotated

By changing this setting, you can tell the system whether to automatically rotate the screen when the device is turned.

In addition to default settings, you can significantly increase your tweaking possibilities by rooting your device (more on the process here) or downloading a few applications specifically for this purpose. Apps like, Screen Resolution and Density, Display Brightness, Lux or Twilight can help you modify your screen’s settings beyond the preset limits, as well as set the appropriate brightness levels for your eye and various times of day.