I've flown with Samsung phones and XCSoar for years, mostly the Note 4. I wanted to document a comparison of three inexpensive Samsung phone screens. Brightness levels at high, adaptive/automatic turned on. Taken just next full sunlight at noon.

The photo is at groups.google.com/g/rasprime/c/RNTkVEvx6Xo

The Note 4 and S9 seem about the same, with the A51-5G brighter than the other two.

On 7/15/2023 2:39 PM, Bret Hess wrote:
> I've flown with Samsung phones and XCSoar for years, mostly the Note 4. I wanted to document a comparison of three inexpensive Samsung phone screens. Brightness levels at high, adaptive/automatic turned on. Taken just next full sunlight at noon.
>
> The photo is at groups.google.com/g/rasprime/c/RNTkVEvx6Xo
>
> The Note 4 and S9 seem about the same, with the A51-5G brighter than the other two.
>

Looks like the phones in the photo are in the shade, while the bottom
edge of the photo is in sunlight? Can you take a photo with the phones
in direct sunlight? Of course it would not look as good - the question
is, it it good enough?

I use Nook and Kobo e-readers with e-ink screens to maintain contrast in
sunlight.

On 7/15/2023 2:39 PM, Bret Hess wrote:
> I've flown with Samsung phones and XCSoar for years, mostly the Note 4. I wanted to document a comparison of three inexpensive Samsung phone screens. Brightness levels at high, adaptive/automatic turned on. Taken just next full sunlight at noon.
>
> The photo is at groups.google.com/g/rasprime/c/RNTkVEvx6Xo
>
> The Note 4 and S9 seem about the same, with the A51-5G brighter than the other two.
>

BTW, XCsoar runs on recent versions of Android, but Tophat (which I
prefer, based on XCsoar, but has not been updated in 6 years) cannot run
on some recent versions. I am not sure what version of Android is the
cut-off, I think I've heard Tophat still runs on Android 10? I have it
installed on Android versions 6 and 7. So if you plan to use Tophat on
a phone, get an old-enough phone.

I've recently re-compiled Tophat with some minor changes: to keep FLARM
traffic data for a bit longer after the signal drops out, and to allow
it to connect (wirelessly) to XCvario and use the data arriving in the
XCvario protocol. This re-compilation is in the old environment, so it
does not make it run on too-recent versions of Android. Ideally the
Tophat UI should be re-built on top of a recent version of XCsoar, but
that is a major undertaking.

Yes, it's good enough for me...I've done lots of XC flights with the Note 4.. In direct sunlight you can't see all the details, but I find it's not an issue as I'm turning often enough that I can also see it in shade. That's why I took the picture just next to full sun.

I agree you can't beat e-ink for contrast. Is there a good color one available?

On Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 12:10:11 PM UTC-7, Bret Hess wrote:
> Yes, it's good enough for me...I've done lots of XC flights with the Note 4. In direct sunlight you can't see all the details, but I find it's not an issue as I'm turning often enough that I can also see it in shade. That's why I took the picture just next to full sun.
>
> I agree you can't beat e-ink for contrast. Is there a good color one available?

I have been flying with TopHat on a Samsung Galaxy S10 for the past couple years and no issue at all in extreme sunlight. Battery also lasts about 5-6 hours

On Monday, July 17, 2023 at 1:30:25 PM UTC-4, soaringjac wrote:
> On Saturday, July 15, 2023 at 12:10:11 PM UTC-7, Bret Hess wrote:
> > Yes, it's good enough for me...I've done lots of XC flights with the Note 4. In direct sunlight you can't see all the details, but I find it's not an issue as I'm turning often enough that I can also see it in shade. That's why I took the picture just next to full sun.
> >
> > I agree you can't beat e-ink for contrast. Is there a good color one available?
> I have been flying with TopHat on a Samsung Galaxy S10 for the past couple years and no issue at all in extreme sunlight. Battery also lasts about 5-6 hours

Any overheating issues with the Samsung?

> Any overheating issues with the Samsung?

I never had a problem with overheating in the air. Waiting to launch on a hot day in a closed cockpit you should protect it from the sun. I suppose a light colored case can help.

> BTW, XCsoar runs on recent versions of Android, but Tophat (which I
> prefer, based on XCsoar, but has not been updated in 6 years) cannot run
> on some recent versions. I am not sure what version of Android is the
> cut-off, I think I've heard Tophat still runs on Android 10? I have it
> installed on Android versions 6 and 7. So if you plan to use Tophat on
> a phone, get an old-enough phone.
TopHat runs great on my Pixel 5a phone with Android 11 (screen visibility in sunlight is a different story but this is just a backup). BUT--you have to give the app permission to access files:
Settings>Apps>All Apps>Top Hat Soaring>Permissions>Files and enable Allow files access. You might have to enable Locations the same way, I can't remember. Thx to Roman Michalowski for this tip; he assured me this spring that TopHat still runs fine on the latest versions of Android.

Yeah, TopHat could use an update but it still does what I need it to do. FWIW, I run it on a Kobo connected to my Portable FLARM for location and FLARM target data.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"