Reducing glare and reflections

I've been using m'tablet a bit more and I find the screen to be too reflective, especially when there's a window behind me (even if the light is largely defuse), does anyone have any recommendations to make the screen easier to see?

Oh, and OMT, how do I adjust the brightness? the Fn+Light-bulb keystroke doesn't do anything.

This is one of the reasons the only tablet I'd consider buying is the Motion Computing one (with the "Display Anywhere" screen). They just need to get their resolutions up a bit.

I've always wondered why the "nice" high-res laptop screens were shiny...  it seems like they spent so many years trying to get rid of glare and now they're intentionally causing it with all the shiny LCDs out there.

I'd wait for this display technology to make it into the Tablets. (works in bright sun light -- just like paper)

Buy polarized glasses. Or if you find something like it, buy polarized sheets and crop them, then fix them somehow on your tablet. But since that'll mess up sensitivity and all, you might just go for polarized glasses.

Tom Servo wrote:

Buy polarized glasses. Or if you find something like it, buy polarized sheets and crop them, then fix them somehow on your tablet. But since that'll mess up sensitivity and all, you might just go for polarized glasses.

When I'm at college next week I'll pop into the physics department and ask if I can borrow their polaroid sheets to try out your theory.

Actually, screen protectors have minimal if any impact on the Tablet's active digitizer - I had one on my M200 for years with no issues. I haven't put one on my new Gateway (with one of the really shiny screens) because I haven't found a widescreen protector made for it yet.

Not sure why your Fn+Light Bulb key isn't working - you don't say which Tablet PC you're using. Works fine of my M200 and my new Gateway S7200c. At the risk of being obvious, have you checked at your OEM's site for a driver update?

mochant wrote:

Not sure why your Fn+Light Bulb key isn't working - you don't say which Tablet PC you're using. Works fine of my M200 and my new Gateway S7200c. At the risk of being obvious, have you checked at your OEM's site for a driver update?

I'm using a Toshiba Tecra M4, and I just checked: none of the Fn keys are working at all, this probably due to my purging of the budleware when I fired up the thing for the first time. I did reinstall the drivers but the Fn keys still don't work.

W3bbo wrote:

I'm using a Toshiba Tecra M4, and I just checked: none of the Fn keys are working at all, this probably due to my purging of the budleware when I fired up the thing for the first time. I did reinstall the drivers but the Fn keys still don't work.

I think it's the Toshiba hotkeys utility that provides this functionality - it's definitely one of those bundled tools. Get it from the Toshiba site directly if its not available outside the Ghost Image provided for system restore.

W3bbo wrote:

When I'm at college next week I'll pop into the physics department and ask if I can borrow their polaroid sheets to try out your theory.

The glasses thing works, whether that with the sheets works, I don't know. I concluded from one to another. Why put the polaroids on your glasses, if you could on the screen.

Then again, it might just turn your whole screen black. Lightrays get polarized one way when the rays enter, polaroid first, then get reflected by the LCD backdrop, thus turn angle, and get blocked by the polarized filter.

Yeah well, just get polaroids for your glasses. I have sports glasses here that are polarized for summer tours, to prevent being blinded by reflections on cars.

Tom Servo wrote:

Yeah well, just get polaroids for your glasses. I have sports glasses here that are polarized for summer tours, to prevent being blinded by reflections on cars.

I've got polarized sunglasses. Last summer, in France, I saw one of those text LED displays, and commented to my friends that it sure had a lot of letters that didn't work. They looked at me as if I had gone mad!

Turns out, all of the letters on the sign worked, only the glass in front of each letter polarized the light, but apparently not all in the same direction, causing me not to see some of those letters. When I rotated my head (or just the glasses) 90 degrees, I would see the previously invisible letters, but all the others were now invisible.

Tom Servo wrote:

Then again, it might just turn your whole screen black. Lightrays get polarized one way when the rays enter, polaroid first, then get reflected by the LCD backdrop, thus turn angle, and get blocked by the polarized filter.

After rereading, this make absolutely no sense

W3bbo wrote:

I'm using a Toshiba Tecra M4, and I just checked: none of the Fn keys are working at all, this probably due to my purging of the budleware when I fired up the thing for the first time. I did reinstall the drivers but the Fn keys still don't work.

I just went through that with my notebook...what was nice is that it came with a restore CD which I had assumed would just restore it to factory defaults...instead all it did was install WinXP...nice. Bad thing...no drivers...all I wanted was my Wireless back so I had to hop on my Lan to get it. Maybe that's something Toshiba has?

Ooh, ooh!  You could get one of those foot-deep EGA glare reducers from the 80's and affix it to your two-inch-deep tablet.  That'd be a blast.  I'm suprised nobody's mentioned this one.

W3bbo wrote:

I've been using m'tablet a bit more and I find the screen to be too reflective, especially when there's a window behind me (even if the light is largely defuse), does anyone have any recommendations to make the screen easier to see?

Oh, and OMT, how do I adjust the brightness? the Fn+Light-bulb keystroke doesn't do anything.

If you want the pre-installed tools back, they might be on that extra partition of your harddrive.  You didn't wipe that did you?  I have the same model and was in the same situation as you not long ago.

Minh wrote:

I'd wait for this display technology to make it into the Tablets. (works in bright sun light -- just like paper)

Nice idea, but the refresh rates are way to slow to be used in computers, not to mention its black OR white.