6 ms·

Google details just how good dark mode is for your battery

31 points by gmiller123456 8y ago

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
We've been saying this for years. My Windows Mobile phone ran for days with it's flat black UI on an OLED screen. And Google had a great UI design that was mostly black/dark pixels in Holo, which still looks better today than Material. In the world where Google claims energy efficiency is a key goal of theirs, their white UIs should be thrown out as even an option, as the waste of energy powering big fields of white light on billions of devices being charged in billions of homes is just wasting electricity on a massive scale.
- scoot 8y ago
  The Material Desigb spec has a dark mode, and sites and apps implemented with material-ui can support it. Click the click bulb icon on the app bar: https://material-ui.com/demos/cards/ https://material-ui.com/demos/cards/
  - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
    Sure it does, but that's neither the default scheme that Google has pushed, nor one it even offers on most of it's apps. (Similarly, Holo had a light theme. The difference is that dark was the default look of it.) And Google's apps have been going more white, instead of less white: https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/09/25/google-testing-colorless-shapeless-play-store-redesign-large-install-button/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/09/25/google-testing-colo...
- ISL 8y ago
  The Pixel 3 XL has a battery capacity of ~3400 mAh. At 4V, that's ~50 kJ of stored energy. A 100W light bulb consumes that in 500s -- 8 minutes. Does an extra-bright screen unnecessarily consume power? Most likely. However, one can probably find much-greater efficiency gains by being careful to turn out the lights before leaving home, moving the thermostat closer to outdoor temperatures, or by being careful with hot-water usage.
- arghwhat 8y ago
  Important things to point out: 1. The vast majority of devices are LCD, which does not use less power when displaying dark images. In fact, it might increase power consumption slightly. Not only are all discount devices LCD due to lower price, but OLED (as a stop-gap technology akin to plasma) has many shortcomings that lead to even premium devices not including it. 2. Average power consumption of an OLED is significantly higher than that of an LCD, due to poor efficiency of the OLED technology itself compared to standard LED backlighting of LCD's, so OLED devices do not have a power advantage. Thus, claiming that dark mode would make a difference on global power consumption is false, as it only applies to a relatively niche technology, and suggesting that the technology should be adopted to allow for this saving mechanism would be counter-productive as the technology is less efficient for average workloads. Your windows phone ran for days due to low screen/wake time (lacking apps, perhaps), not because of dark mode.
bitxbitxbitcoin 8y ago
Anyone else noticing more apps also providing a dark mode as an option?
- TwoNineA 8y ago
  Doubt that has to do with preserving battery but more with being much easier on the eyes, especially at night.
mtgx 8y ago
Funny how Google only realized this a few years after started to sell its own phones with OLED screens. It's also funny how Google has only made Android "whiter" since then.
- azurezyq 8y ago
  Phones have to be charged everyday anyway. I personally prefer prettier UI rather than better battery life.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    I prefer to have a mobile device I can use for longer while, uh, mobile than a pretty UI that requires being tethered to the wall for longer.
cr4zy 8y ago
Related and life changing, the Dark Reader extension that enables dark mode for every web site, including PDF's, with adjustable contrast. Almost every site looks better with this on. https://darkreader.org/ https://darkreader.org/ Make sure to check out the More tab and change the filter type on sites that it doesn't work in Dynamic mode for.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dustinmr 8y ago
  Thanks. Just tried it. Pretty awesome.
llampx 8y ago
I like dark mode, mainly as an eye-saver when reading at night. Of course, most websites are blinding white, including this one. However, in the daytime I would definitely prefer to use light mode, with a brighter screen. So over the course of a day I might have 80% of my usage in light mode and 20% in dark mode.
Eridrus 8y ago
Do people often have their screen set to 100% brightness? I never set my screen above 40% brightness on my Nexus 5X, and often turn it lower at night. I ask since the numbers seem to indicate that dark themes have a much smaller impact at 50% brightness.
- MrEldritch 8y ago
  Yes, I always have my screen at 100% brightness, unless I'm in a room with the lights out or something. ...should I not be doing that?
  - Eridrus 8y ago
    According to the stats in this article, you save more battery just setting your brightness to 50% than using a dark theme. More than a 60% reduction in power usage for the screen.
xemoka 8y ago
I've always wanted to love dark background + white text themes; for the longest time I thought it was worth it because it was cool. About a year ago I switched back to light themes, and later found out that there's a reason why I had a more difficult time reading with dark themes: I have an astigmatism. "People with astigmatism (approximately 50% of the population) find it harder to read white text on black than black text on white. Part of this has to do with light levels: with a bright display (white background) the iris closes a bit more, decreasing the effect of the "deformed" lens; with a dark display (black background) the iris opens to receive more light and the deformation of the lens creates a much fuzzier focus at the eye." - Jason Harrison – Post Doctoral Fellow, Imager Lab Manager – Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, University of British Columbia
- _Schizotypy 8y ago
  That's strange, I also have an astigmatism but I'm just the opposite. I can't stand light themes.
  - xemoka 8y ago
    Hmm, perhaps not quite as black and white as first presented...
    - MrEldritch 8y ago
      I also have mild astigmatism, but I find I prefer dark themes nonetheless - I think it is legitimately a little harder to read, because I just tabbed over to Discord to check and realized I was using a larger font size than I'd usually use in other applications, and that the text definitely was a little harder to focus on compared to white-on-black text of the same font size. It's just that I like having my backlight blasted in my face even less, so it adds up to a sufficiently more pleasant reading experience that I switch everything to dark theme when I can.
garysahota93 8y ago
I really wish Android had a global dark mode theme or API where developers could tie it in. I hate having to go into individual apps to enable and only be disappointed that not all devs add this feature. It'd be great if it was just one switch! Glad they're finally shining light on the situation ;)
stcredzero 8y ago
Those guys who were selling the fake smartphones on Shark Tank should make a 2018 luxury model of their product out of a dark, rounded slab of gorilla glass. (Which, for no reason has a "notch" decal on the top.)

31 points by gmiller123456 8y ago

We've been saying this for years. My Windows Mobile phone ran for days with it's flat black UI on an OLED screen. And Google had a great UI design that was mostly black/dark pixels in Holo, which still looks better today than Material. In the world where Google claims energy efficiency is a key goal of theirs, their white UIs should be thrown out as even an option, as the waste of energy powering big fields of white light on billions of devices being charged in billions of homes is just wasting electricity on a massive scale.

scoot 8y ago
The Material Desigb spec has a dark mode, and sites and apps implemented with material-ui can support it. Click the click bulb icon on the app bar: https://material-ui.com/demos/cards/ https://material-ui.com/demos/cards/
- ocdtrekkie 8y ago
  Sure it does, but that's neither the default scheme that Google has pushed, nor one it even offers on most of it's apps. (Similarly, Holo had a light theme. The difference is that dark was the default look of it.) And Google's apps have been going more white, instead of less white: https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/09/25/google-testing-colorless-shapeless-play-store-redesign-large-install-button/ https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/09/25/google-testing-colo...
ISL 8y ago
The Pixel 3 XL has a battery capacity of ~3400 mAh. At 4V, that's ~50 kJ of stored energy. A 100W light bulb consumes that in 500s -- 8 minutes. Does an extra-bright screen unnecessarily consume power? Most likely. However, one can probably find much-greater efficiency gains by being careful to turn out the lights before leaving home, moving the thermostat closer to outdoor temperatures, or by being careful with hot-water usage.
arghwhat 8y ago
Important things to point out: 1. The vast majority of devices are LCD, which does not use less power when displaying dark images. In fact, it might increase power consumption slightly. Not only are all discount devices LCD due to lower price, but OLED (as a stop-gap technology akin to plasma) has many shortcomings that lead to even premium devices not including it. 2. Average power consumption of an OLED is significantly higher than that of an LCD, due to poor efficiency of the OLED technology itself compared to standard LED backlighting of LCD's, so OLED devices do not have a power advantage. Thus, claiming that dark mode would make a difference on global power consumption is false, as it only applies to a relatively niche technology, and suggesting that the technology should be adopted to allow for this saving mechanism would be counter-productive as the technology is less efficient for average workloads. Your windows phone ran for days due to low screen/wake time (lacking apps, perhaps), not because of dark mode.

bitxbitxbitcoin 8y ago

Anyone else noticing more apps also providing a dark mode as an option?

TwoNineA 8y ago
Doubt that has to do with preserving battery but more with being much easier on the eyes, especially at night.

mtgx 8y ago

Funny how Google only realized this a few years after started to sell its own phones with OLED screens. It's also funny how Google has only made Android "whiter" since then.

azurezyq 8y ago
Phones have to be charged everyday anyway. I personally prefer prettier UI rather than better battery life.
- craftyguy 8y ago
  I prefer to have a mobile device I can use for longer while, uh, mobile than a pretty UI that requires being tethered to the wall for longer.

cr4zy 8y ago

Related and life changing, the Dark Reader extension that enables dark mode for every web site, including PDF's, with adjustable contrast. Almost every site looks better with this on. https://darkreader.org/ https://darkreader.org/ Make sure to check out the More tab and change the filter type on sites that it doesn't work in Dynamic mode for.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
dustinmr 8y ago
Thanks. Just tried it. Pretty awesome.

llampx 8y ago

I like dark mode, mainly as an eye-saver when reading at night. Of course, most websites are blinding white, including this one. However, in the daytime I would definitely prefer to use light mode, with a brighter screen. So over the course of a day I might have 80% of my usage in light mode and 20% in dark mode.

Eridrus 8y ago

Do people often have their screen set to 100% brightness? I never set my screen above 40% brightness on my Nexus 5X, and often turn it lower at night. I ask since the numbers seem to indicate that dark themes have a much smaller impact at 50% brightness.

MrEldritch 8y ago
Yes, I always have my screen at 100% brightness, unless I'm in a room with the lights out or something. ...should I not be doing that?
- Eridrus 8y ago
  According to the stats in this article, you save more battery just setting your brightness to 50% than using a dark theme. More than a 60% reduction in power usage for the screen.

xemoka 8y ago

I've always wanted to love dark background + white text themes; for the longest time I thought it was worth it because it was cool. About a year ago I switched back to light themes, and later found out that there's a reason why I had a more difficult time reading with dark themes: I have an astigmatism. "People with astigmatism (approximately 50% of the population) find it harder to read white text on black than black text on white. Part of this has to do with light levels: with a bright display (white background) the iris closes a bit more, decreasing the effect of the "deformed" lens; with a dark display (black background) the iris opens to receive more light and the deformation of the lens creates a much fuzzier focus at the eye." - Jason Harrison – Post Doctoral Fellow, Imager Lab Manager – Sensory Perception and Interaction Research Group, University of British Columbia

_Schizotypy 8y ago
That's strange, I also have an astigmatism but I'm just the opposite. I can't stand light themes.
- xemoka 8y ago
  Hmm, perhaps not quite as black and white as first presented...
  - MrEldritch 8y ago
    I also have mild astigmatism, but I find I prefer dark themes nonetheless - I think it is legitimately a little harder to read, because I just tabbed over to Discord to check and realized I was using a larger font size than I'd usually use in other applications, and that the text definitely was a little harder to focus on compared to white-on-black text of the same font size. It's just that I like having my backlight blasted in my face even less, so it adds up to a sufficiently more pleasant reading experience that I switch everything to dark theme when I can.

garysahota93 8y ago

I really wish Android had a global dark mode theme or API where developers could tie it in. I hate having to go into individual apps to enable and only be disappointed that not all devs add this feature. It'd be great if it was just one switch! Glad they're finally shining light on the situation ;)

stcredzero 8y ago

Those guys who were selling the fake smartphones on Shark Tank should make a 2018 luxury model of their product out of a dark, rounded slab of gorilla glass. (Which, for no reason has a "notch" decal on the top.)