Z5 Compact with "Adaptive Brightness" generates color distortion when unlocking

[SebastianD]

Hi,

I'm having an issue with my Z5 Compact when unlocking the screen. (Specially in dark rooms). The colors are totally "washed" for a few seconds, until adaptive brightness starts to work. 

Sometimes in a dark room (like the bedroom) there is a 50% chance or more of this to happen.

To reproduce this: You need to use "adaptive brightness" under settings. And you need to unlock your phone a few times. I'd recommend you to do this using Tapatalk (Dark theme). 

Anyway,

I'm posting this because I've received an update yesterday from 32.0.A.4.11 to 32.0.A.5.32 and the issue is still here.

Should I replace my device? Or just wait for another firmware? 

Regards,

Sebastian. 

[dd23]

I have the same issue with my black Z5 Compact running 32.0.A.4.11.

Seem to be quite similar to a problem on the Z3:

/t5/Xperia-Z3/Auto-Brightness-affecting-darker-color/td-p/913872

I hope there will be a fix soon...

[SebastianD]

Yes, it seems to be a "software" issue. (Not a hardware issue). 

Probably a "side effect" that was generated between the original aosp behaviour and the Sony customizing in Android. Or, just a display's driver issue that needs to be fixed. 

[TyeZ5]

Have this issue on a Z5 as well. Annoying especially when running darker wallpapers / themes. Seems like a sharpening filter as well as a brightness issue.

[Webalistic]

I see this as well (using dark background).

I guess the phone assumes bright daylight for the auto brightness until it has a reading from the sensor.

I can imagine they reasoned: starting dark would make the screen illegible outside and ok inside/darker condition. Starting bright will make the screen legible outside, but overly bright inside/darker conditions.
They could have started half-way of course...
I guess I can turn adaptive brightness off.

[SebastianD]

I'm starting to think that Sony have no idea how to fix this.

It's the worst bug discovered so far. For me it's a "1st priority" issue since the very first firmware. 

Every time I unlock my screen (And I unlock my device a lot of times per day) I need to "re-adjust" the brightness to fix the "washed/pixelated screen" because of this. (Or "tap" the light sensor, but this sometimes doesn't work). 

Disable Auto-Brightness is not a good "workaround" because when you are behind the sun you can't see the screen (with a low manual brightness setting) to reach the "brightness controll" and finally increase the brightness temporarily for that moment. 

If Sony doesn't fix this in the next firmware, I'm going to star an RMA process. It's very easy to reproduce since it is generated in 90% of unlocks. 

[Ali99]

My wallpaper seems to take a couple of seconds to fade-in after unlocking the screen - i.e. as soon as you unlock, the wallpaper's really pale, then fades in after a second or two. I get this whatever wallpaper I use. It really takes away from the sleek look of the phone!

I tried setting animator duration scale to 0 in developer options but it hasn't made a difference.

Any ideas?

[Uliwooly]

@Ali99

What about while on safe mode ?

[Ali99]

Thanks - yep, it still happens in Safe mode.

Just to add, I'm using the Xperia default themes and don't have any wallpaper apps or custom wallpapers installed.

[Uliwooly]

@Ali99

What if you clear the Xperia Home launcher app data, settings > apps > all > xperia home > clear data , keep in mind that it will remove all the widgets and shortcuts