Fairphone 5: Low maximum brightness on /e/OS (HBM inactive + wrong RGB calibration)

/e/OS Devices /e/OS SmartPhones
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On the Fairphone 5 with Murena running /e/OS 3.6.x (Android 15, kernel 5.4.3.x), the maximum screen brightness is noticeably lower than on the stock Fairphone OS Android 15 build. Outdoor visibility is significantly reduced, even with the brightness slider set to 100%.

Summary of Issues

  1. High Brightness Mode (HBM) does not activate
  • No outdoor brightness boost in strong light
  • No brightness increase when opening the Camera app
  • Screen remains at normal maximum brightness, much dimmer than on Fairphone OS

  1. LiveDisplay RGB calibration behaves incorrectly

    • The default RGB values are set to 100%, but the resulting brightness is still too low for normal use.
    • The setting RGB to 100/100/100 increases effective brightness noticeably, which suggests the default calibration is not applied correctly.
    • Manually Reducing RGB to 50/50/50 provides acceptable brightness at night, indicating the minimum brightness curve is not scaled properly when RGB gain is high.
    • Overall, this points to an incorrect or overly conservative color calibration profile for the Fairphone 5.

  2. Minimum brightness becomes too bright when RGB = 100%

  • In dark environments (night/bedroom), the screen becomes excessively bright
  • Indicates the minimum brightness curve is not scaled correctly when RGB gain is at 100%

Reproducible: Always
Device: Fairphone 5
/e/OS version: 3.6.x
Kernel: 5.4.3.x

Request

To improve brightness behavior on the Fairphone 5, please consider:

  1. Enabling High Brightness Mode (HBM) so the device can reach proper outdoor luminance.
  2. Correcting the default LiveDisplay RGB calibration, as the current values reduce effective brightness.
  3. Adjusting the minimum brightness curve when RGB is set to 100%, since low‑light brightness becomes too high.
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