
Google details just how good dark mode is for your battery - gmiller123456
https://www.androidauthority.com/google-dark-mode-battery-923359/
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cr4zy
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.

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dustinmr
Thanks. Just tried it. Pretty awesome.

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mtgx
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.

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azurezyq
Phones have to be charged everyday anyway. I personally prefer prettier UI
rather than better battery life.

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craftyguy
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.

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llampx
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.

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xemoka
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

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_Schizotypy
That's strange, I also have an astigmatism but I'm just the opposite. I can't
stand light themes.

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xemoka
Hmm, perhaps not quite as black and white as first presented...

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MrEldritch
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.

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garysahota93
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 ;)

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stcredzero
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.)

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ocdtrekkie
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.

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scoot
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/)

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ocdtrekkie
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-
colo...](https://www.androidpolice.com/2018/09/25/google-testing-colorless-
shapeless-play-store-redesign-large-install-button/)

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Eridrus
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.

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MrEldritch
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?

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Eridrus
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.

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

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

