How to use phones in bright sun
How’s this for irony: you reach for your phone to capture fun summer moments outside, but you can’t see the screen clearly enough to take the photo.
Or you get an important email from the boss while walking the dog, but you’re squinting horribly just to make out the words.
Worse, your phone overheats while at the beach, so you can’t use it at all until it cools down.
Bottom line: Smartphones and tablets don’t generally work well in bright environments. But there are a couple of things you can do to make it easier
Increase brightness
The brighter you can make your screen, the better. Both iOS and Android have a ‘‘quick settings’’ feature to enable it – by swiping up from the bottom on iPhone or swiping down from the top on Android – and you can then slide the brightness bar all the way to the right.
Note: the brighter your backlight, the worse it is on the battery and the more it could cause eye strain, so don’t keep this on all the time. Those who wear polarised sunglasses may have an added disadvantage, so play with brightness settings that work best for you.
Alternatively, you can enable ‘‘auto brightness’’ on your device, so that it recognises the amount of light around you and automatically adjusts the screen brightness.
Anti-glare covers, screens Some smartphone users – especially those who work in the field – like to use an anti-glare cover. Around $20 or so, these small covers physically shield the phone’s screen from sunlight.
Just like when you buy a smartphone case, you’ll likely need to buy one that fits your exact model, though some are adjustable to fit models anywhere from 4.5 to 5.2 inches.
Also, while you’re likely aware of screen protectors meant to reduce the odds of a scratch or crack, some products claim to reduce sunlight glare, too. Starting at about $10 for older models and $20 for newer ones, these ‘‘matte’’ screen protectors stick on top of your existing screen, so you’ll need to buy one that fits your exact phone.
Play with ‘accessibility’ settings
When in direct sunlight, some phone users find it easier to read text – such as emails, text messages, or ebooks – when it’s white words on a black screen. It’s worth a shot, if you haven’t tried it. Enter your phone’s Accessibility settings to reverse the text colour. It might be a tab you can touch called White on Black On/Off.
There are other Accessibility settings you may want to experiment with, such as Colour Tint and other visual tweaks, plus the option to have text read to you if you’re having trouble reading it in the sun.
And don’t forget: you can dictate messages using your voice – utilising personal assistants like Siri or Google Assistant – if you’re having trouble seeing the phone’s keyboard. Just be sure to doublecheck what’s transcribed on the screen before you hit ‘‘Send’’.
Get out of the sun
From the ‘‘duh’’ department, sit in a shaded area if you want to see your phone’s screen clearly. If there’s an important email you must respond to, sit under a tree or lean against a building and under an awning until you’re done.
On a related note, if you’re looking at photos or videos you took on your smartphone, never delete unwanted ones from the phone when you’re out.
Why? Wait until you see the shot bigger on a computer monitor as it may be better than you think. Plus, deleting media from your phone eats away at the battery. Since you likely have lots of room on your phone, just do it later from home or the hotel room. – TNS