topic Re: Illumination bar in Other/General

Illumination bar

jdoctor — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:48:31 GMT

The main reason I got this phone was the illumination bar, however since upgrading to 12.0.A.2.245 earlier today it no longer works when I have a notification. The only way it will constantly blink to alert me to a notification is to turn stamina mode off which halves the battery life of the phone. It will blink once when stamina mode is on but this is of no use to me as I want a visible notification when the screen is off.
Please address this issue in the 4.3 update and revert to the illumination notification of the previous software

Re: Illumination bar

Tejinder — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:58:19 GMT

STAMINA MODE itself says that it increases the battery life when turned ON and how will it achieve this? Offcourse by disabling those things which are not essential. I do not think this is any error so I assume will not be considered to rectify in next upgrade. This is offcourse my opinion.

Re: Illumination bar

Er_Kannan — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:20:05 GMT

Please check Settings >> Display >> Light Effects

Re: Illumination bar

jdoctor — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:27:24 GMT

The notification light effect settings are as they were before I updated. I now get one flash of the light for a notification, where as before it would flash until I checked what the notification was.
In regards to stamina mode, I don't think the light effects made much difference to battery performance before the update.
I would rather have the light flashing notification instead of having to turn on the screen to check if I had a notification

Re: Illumination bar

gadgetman1 — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:13:15 GMT

Sad fact is, the notification you got of an SMS with stamina mode on seems to have been a bug in the original firmware. I agree that it is (was) incredibly useful and is the reason I'm not upgrading firmware. I've even found a workaround which (sometimes) does the same for missed calls.

The only way to revert back to original firmware is probably by "rooting" your phone and finding a copy of the original. Both are possible, but it's quite involved if you're not experienced with that sort of thing. You'll find all you need to know at the xda-developers forums.

Re: Illumination bar

Alexander1 — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:44:09 GMT

@jenniferpaton wrote:
The main reason I got this phone was the illumination bar, however since upgrading to 12.0.A.2.245 earlier today it no longer works when I have a notification. The only way it will constantly blink to alert me to a notification is to turn stamina mode off which halves the battery life of the phone. It will blink once when stamina mode is on but this is of no use to me as I want a visible notification when the screen is off.
Please address this issue in the 4.3 update and revert to the illumination notification of the previous software

Could you please send me your details in a PM, and I will forward this.

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Re: Illumination bar

gadgetman1 — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 13:16:06 GMT

Alexander,

If it's not rude of me to suggest it, and if you have the power to influence Sony's next firmware for the SP, it would be great if some notifications (missed calls, sms, emails) could be allowed in STAMINA mode by flashing the LED bar.

Maybe the flashing frequency and length could be reduced a brief flash every few seconds to conserve battery?

STAMINA mode with its built in firewall is great. Flashing notifications are also great (even essential?). Such a shame we can't have them both working at the same time (unless you keep the original firmware).

Re: Illumination bar

Rickard — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 14:12:12 GMT

I have received more information and this is not a bug. LED will not continue to notify you when Stamina is enabled to save as much power as possible.

I have forwarded your feedback regarding this but i can't say if any change will be made or not.

Re: Illumination bar

Amey — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:32:35 GMT

A temporary solution would be:

Settings -> Stamina mode -> Activation -> Move Battery level slider to 50% or 60%

Enjoy notifications till your battery reaches upto 50/60%, after that enjoy stamina mode.

Re: Illumination bar

jm15 — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:18:53 GMT

That is completely ridiculous. I have the same problem as OP when I updated firmware from 257 to 245. The problem was still not fixed for the New update to 254. The notification bar should light up and fade in and out when it is on stamina mode or not. Now, even when stamina mode is off, all it does is blink like a regular LED found on other phones.

Also, to another comment above, the fading in and out light for unread sms was NOT A BUG. Look up the SP promo videos and reviews and see for yourself. Even videos on YouTube FROM SONY showed the fading in and out effect.

If this effect is gone for good then that is false **bleep** advertisement and I will **bleep** sue your **bleep**.

Re: Illumination bar

jdoctor — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 07:04:03 GMT

Poor show Sony.
What is the point of the illumination bar now then if this is permanent!

Re: Illumination bar

deepak_TU — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 10:50:34 GMT

I find an option to add exceptions in STAMINA MODE to exclude certain apps or processes. Is there a way i could have these LED notification to be an exception so that I could enable STAMINA mode and continue to use LED Notification ?

Re: Illumination bar

OaKy — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 21:14:23 GMT

Sony, I am sorry to say this but I am disappointed , I was o proud user of Sony Xperia SP , a grate phone , best notification I had ... And now is gone , I want that notification back , if you wont solve this I will root my phone , I don't want to do this but I want , that notification , even in stamina mod like it was , a led dosent drain much battery and if its drain I want to exclude it in stamina mode , to be on my own battery .

Why would you remove the only option that differentiate Sony Xperia SP to other phones. ........ .. .. .. .. ... ..

I want back my 3 LED NOTIFICATION.

Re: Illumination bar

cw82 — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 14:03:19 GMT

I've just updated and my illumination doesn't work even out of stamina. Just spent two hours of my time having done the repair to be told by customer services that there might be a fault in my phone!! Which I know is lies! I wish so much that I hadn't updated my phone, actually gutted with this and even more upset by being fobbed off by customer services.

Re: Illumination bar

cw82 — Sat, 28 Sep 2013 14:12:50 GMT

Come to think of it. It probably makes perfect sense that Sony Xperia have a cut of the money for the illumination bar pro app! Reel us in and make us pay! Especially after that cagey interaction with customer services who deny all knowledge of the problems with the illumination bar!!

Re: Illumination bar

LTMB — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 23:04:27 GMT

Yeah after messing around with the settings having to run my phone not in stamina mode just to have the illumination bar running (the reason I got the sp) is pretty annoying, wish Sony would roll back to the previous illumination bar settings or at least give the option to change it myself

Re: Illumination bar

tstiller — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 06:21:26 GMT

You have to install the app Illumination Bar if you want to use it during stamina mode. Choose as the device Xperia U and you can change the colors of the illumination. I have enabled WhatsApp in the task list of the illumination bar app and also added illumination bar and whatsapp in the tast list of the stamina mode.

Re: Illumination bar

yatthamzah — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 11:37:33 GMT

Why I can't activate my illumination bar? It can be used only when you download an application. This shouldnt happen. What is happening? It is not upgrading but downgrading sony handphones

Re: Illumination bar

cqcoraltrout — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 08:10:04 GMT

Mate that was great advice ,thank you.LED bar working in Stamina Mode now ,that was a very useful App..Cheers

Re: Illumination bar

857077 — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 09:16:42 GMT

"I have received more information and this is not a bug. LED will not continue to notify you when Stamina is enabled to save as much power as possible." Rickard, Xperia Support

This is a completely ridiculous and laughable response. The whole unique selling point of the phone is the LED notification bar and the software in the Xperia SP pushes the user towards using Stamina Mode when the battery gets low which I'm sure happens to most people by the end of a day! By taking this stance, Sony are taking a phone which is supposed to have a more attractive feature than other phones, and making it less attractive and more useless. Other phones have small LEDs to alert the user of messages when the screen is off, Sony put a whopping snazzy LED bar and then have it disabled half the time, utterly counter-intuitive. And the "saving power" argument doesn't hold up, unless Sony have used the most power-hungry LEDs on earth!