Logo Questions Linux Laravel Mysql Ubuntu Git Menu
 

What is the best background color to conserve battery life?

Tags:

mobile

colors

I'm developing a web based mobile application and I was thinking about the default background color.

Do different color backgrounds use different amounts of battery life? For the best battery life should I choose black or white or some other color?

I would assume that because there's a back light behind the LCD then white would use the least amount of power because no pixels would have to be turned on, is this assumption correct?

like image 665
Fredrick Pennachi Avatar asked Jul 15 '10 14:07

Fredrick Pennachi


People also ask

What color background uses less battery?

We can observe the same behavior with a slight difference: this time, white consumes the most (44% more than Black), just before Blue. Overall, observations are the same: Black is much less consuming, and White and Blue consume more than other colors.

Which color scheme is best for battery life?

According to the research that has been done, colors have a different effect on battery life on devices with OLED displays. Black uses the least energy, red comes in second, green is third, blue is forth and white uses the most energy.

Does background color affect battery life?

Darker backgrounds use up less battery than light ones and still pictures use less than live wallpapers. but a 5:1 loss in battery runtime is probably more than that.

Do darker backgrounds save battery?

Dark mode can save battery, but only if your device has an OLED screen. Phones, computers, and other devices with LCD screens won't save battery with dark mode on. If you're not sure what type of screen your device has, check the manual or contact the manufacturer.


3 Answers

For most devices the background colour you use has no effect on the battery usage. The backlight intensity isn't changed.

However on AMOLED displays the power consumption can vary "significantly". See the wikipedia page for details:

"For example, our measurement shows that a commercial QVGA OLED display consumes 3 and 0.7 Watts showing black text on a white background and white text on a black background, respectively."

like image 102
Mike Weller Avatar answered Feb 24 '23 00:02

Mike Weller


With ordinary LCD displays, the back light will consume far more power than any number of pixels. If your device has fixed brightness, you can pick any color you want, the difference in power usage will be miniscule.

On the other hand, if you can adjust the brightness, then what you want is the color scheme that gives the best contrast/visibility at the lowest possible screen brightness.

If it's an embedded device and you're in total control of features like screen brightness, this might be worth investing a little time. But if you're writing an app to run in an existing OS framework, something like overall display brightness probably won't be something you will be allowed to control.

like image 29
JustJeff Avatar answered Feb 24 '23 00:02

JustJeff


For LED displays the background color does not matter.

For AMOLED displays, which are used in many of the newer smartphones, a black background saves a significant amount of energy.

If battery life is the only concern, use a black background.

like image 45
Mad Scientist Avatar answered Feb 24 '23 00:02

Mad Scientist