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Google Says Adding Dark Mode To Apps Saves Battery (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

Dark Mode is not just more aesthetically pleasing to many people, there are real battery-life boosts to be had -- and Google has the numbers to prove it. From a report: Touting the benefits of Dark Mode, Google showed that with screen brightness set to 50 percent, using YouTube with Dark Mode enabled resulted in 14 percent less battery usage. With screen brightness set to 100 percent, the saving jumps to 60 percent. These are not numbers to be sniffed at, but the biggest savings are to be seen on phones with AMOLED screens as anything that is black does not require pixels to be powered. Slides from the event show Google comparing the power usage of its own Pixel phone with an LCD iPhone 7. It shows a 63 percent battery saving when displaying a screenshot of Google Maps in normal and night mode.

9 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. Here's my question by slashmydots · · Score: 2

    Aren't normal screens backlit by an LED array and they're on constantly and black pixels just blocks and absorb or reflect the light? So making an app all black would simply make your phone warmer and the only solution is dimming it?

    1. Re:Here's my question by slinches · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They are backlit, but many new displays will dim or turn off the backlight in darker regions of the screen.

      --
      Knowledge Brings Fear
    2. Re:Here's my question by EvilSS · · Score: 2

      They are backlit, but many new displays will dim or turn off the backlight in darker regions of the screen.

      Are there any phones doing local dimming? Aren't the majority of LCD screens on phones edge lit?

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    3. Re:Here's my question by ceoyoyo · · Score: 5, Informative

      LCD screens yes. Google is talking about their phone with an OLED screen. In OLED screens each pixel actually emits light, so turning it off (or down) saves energy.

    4. Re:Here's my question by infolation · · Score: 2

      Therefore we should watch films on our devices that are set predominately at night like Michael Mann's The Keep & Collateral, David Fincher's Se7en, Alien Vs Predator and The Evil Dead '91.

  2. Whoooo...Caahh... by xsspd2004 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Behold, the lack of power of the dark mode.

    --
    This is not an illusion, a rip-off, or a ninja technique!
  3. Duh by azcoyote · · Score: 2

    Now why has Google been burning my eyes and draining my batteries for years with their excessive use of all-white UXs?

    --
    Incipiamus, fratres, servire Domino Deo, quia hucusque vix vel parum in nullo profecimus.
  4. Google late to the party by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    Google finally realises what Samsung users have known about for over 8 years thanks to a long history of using OLED displays.

    Seriously the energy saving benefits on not lighting the screen up actually made it into Samsung's variant of Eclair back in the day which gave you the option to use a dark mode or invert the display.

  5. Google Homepage by WankerWeasel · · Score: 2

    And yet their homepage is still white. A blog post some years ago calculated that a black Google homepage would save 750 megawatt-hours a year. http://ecoiron.blogspot.com/20...