Rick's World

Ok, this has to be the first time I've ever had a bug in my iPod caused by the case!

A while back, I ordered a silicone case for my iPod Touch from eBay. Last night it arrived and I put it on the iPod. Today, I turned on my iPod and started listening to it. I noticed an odd problem. As soon as the iPod comes on, the screen lights up, but then a second or so later, the screen dims, but it still visible. It was never doing this before. What the hell? Now my stupid screen isn't lighting up like it used to? This damn iPod is nothing but trouble! Grumble, grumble.

Turns out it wasn't a bug in the iPod. The iPod has built into it an ambient light sensor. In other words, it detects how dark the room is and depending on how dark it is, it dims the screen brightness. I think what is happening now is that since the entire iPod is in this case, it blocks the light sensor, so the iPod thinks it's dark outside and it dims the screen! It's still usable, but I'm wondering whether this problem will cause me to have to not use this case. I'm not sure where on the iPod this light sensor is located, so I don't know how I can fix the problem by cutting a hole in the case or something.

Weird.

Update: I found a solution. If you go to Settings and click on Brightness, there is an Auto-Brightness setting. If you turn this off, I think this turns off the light sensor, and the iPod works as before. Of course, now you'll have a really bright iPod all the time.