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Screen glare is always a problem, but there are ways to reduce it

Brighter days can make it harder to see what is on your phone, but it’s not too difficult to change.

WITH LONGER AND BRIGHTER days before us, it means the likelihood of you looking at your phone or laptop while it’s bright, for work or other reasons, is higher.

When it’s brighter, it can also mean it’s that little bit harder to see what’s happening on screen but you don’t have to make major adjustments to solve the problem. Here are a few quick changes that can help.

Adjust your positioning

If you’re trying to see something on your phone or tablet, this is the easiest thing you can do. Basic things like making sure the sun isn’t shining on the screen or an overhead light is shining down on it. Holding your phone a little closer to you works too as it’s small enough to be covered entirely by your shadow.

Most of the above can still be applied for laptops although the best thing to do is make sure the screen is facing away from any light sources like windows so there’s no chance of glare.

Invert colours

This one is pretty simple and chances are you’ll recognise it once you do it. Inverted colours is an accessibility option and changes the colours to the exact opposite of how they’re displayed (white becomes black and so on).

Both iOS and Android can find it in settings, under accessibility, while Windows users can press Alt + Shift + PrtScn to activate it. Mac users can hit Cmd + Option + Ctrl + 8 or go into accessibility options by hitting Cmd + Option + F5.

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Turn up the brightness

Doing this will place a greater strain on your battery so keep that in mind before you do this. Laptops usually have a brightness toggle that you can adjust while smartphones hide it in the command centre (for iOS, swipe up from the bottom while Android users swipe down from the top, twice if necessary).

Just remember to turn it down or change to auto if you no longer need it.

Adjust display contrast

While it can be mixed up with brightness, contrast refers to the difference between the brightest and darkest image a screen can create. Both Windows, Mac and iOS have it filed under accessibility and it’s relatively easy to find. If you own a monitor, you can also adjust the contrast for it too.

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Depending on the type of Android device you have, you may not have access to such a feature. You do have the option of using third-party apps but many of them have not been updated in a while so use them at your own risk.

Read: Facebook Messenger flaw allowed hackers to secretly alter messages >

Read: The title that made the Game Boy a massive hit is 32 years old >

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Author
Quinton O'Reilly
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