I was just looking at my phone and realised the backlight didnt seem as bright (im sitting in a mood lit room) so was playing with it... and turned it to my laptop screen which is bright.. and low and behold the backlight brightens up.. turn it back and after a few seconds it goes dim again.

pretty cool.. but is there a way to manually change this?

The sensor is located in the same place as the LED. This is meant to be a battery-saving feature, but many find the dim screen annoying and wish to disable it. RIM used to provide control over this feature in older OS versions, then took it out, and then added it back in the newest versions.

If you go to Options -> Screen/Keyboard and do not see an "Automatic Backlight" option above "LED Coverage Indicator", you'll need to upgrade the OS on your phone.

This has been discussed a lot. Enter "autodim" in the BBF search box and the threads will pop up.

That is the "autodim" feature. The original operating systems [back in Sept.] had the option to, as you say, "manually" turn autodim off.

Later operating systems took away that option.

Some on here have said that even later operating systems, or certain ones [?], put the feature back in, meaning you can again turn autodim off.

You may want to ask "Which operating systems have returned the autodim off option back into the Pearl" and see who says what.

thanks. i think its a cool feature but i'll see how i get on with it.

no i havent got that feature in the options menu... but am a bit reluctant to upgrade at the moment as ive heard the new version introduces new problems.

I'm pretty sure it fixes more than it introduces. I've been using it since the day it came out and haven't discovered any new bugs. Usually you get improved speed and stability. These aren't Windows updates.

dido^

Back up your stuff, and install the new version, if you are not happy with it and notice any difference or performance change, then go back to the old one!

Doesnt hurt to try, it just takes some time to reload/reboot

The feature is replaced in all 4.2.1 versions of the OS. Install the latest 8100 OS (from Vodafone but will work on all Pearls.) There is a sticky at the top of this forum with all the info. I would NOT downgrade to the original 4.2.0.42 version. The latest 4.2.1.101 version of the OS is quite stable and relatively bug free.

I know some other people find it annoying but in high light conditions it helps when the bl is dimmed...I didn't like it at first but now I love it. Again it really helps when out in the sun or situations like that.