Sound Rise II - Display Brightness Control

User criticism

First message:

So this morning I woke up again to your annoying default alarm rather than using the Bluetooth that was all set up. This happens way too often since I got the device where your Sound Rise II doesn’t play my Bluetooth that is all set up. And it makes for a bad morning.

I don’t understand why you can just add an option to read from a USB folder and play songs from that. You have the ports. Keep it simpler that way I don’t have to worry about setting up my phone every night.

And also speaking of problems when you shut off the alarm it’s stupid that you then have to re-lower your brightness setting if you adjusted it.

With that being said I will be finding an alternative to your product even though the form factor is good as well as the sound quality, physical buttons, and screen brightness adjustability with it going to max brightness when the alarm is on.

Second message:

I always have the screen at the lowest brightness or second lowest during the night. The alarm goes off and plays music on the good days or sounds on the bad day. It can be 15-30 minutes before I hit the button to turn it off. But the screen stays on. I only hit the button once but it shuts off the music right away.

PRD Definition

The behavior is the same for both the Home version and the Hotel version of the Sound Rise II.

The DIMMER button controls the brightness of the LCD backlight. There are six levels of brightness control for the LED backlight.

Level	Brightness
5	100% (Brightness Maximum)
4	75%
3	50%
2	25%
1	5%
0	0 (Backlight turned off)

The supplier has been advised to refer to that of SFQ-08 for the actual brightness of each level for Sound Rise II development.

UI Operation

1. Press the DIMMER button to cycle through the dimmer levels (5 → 4 → 3 → 2 → 1 → 0 → 5 → 4...)

2. Special Display Brightness Control (when brightness is set at low levels, namely Level 0 or Level 1)

   Scenario 1: (User Interaction) When the unit is in Standby Mode, if the dimmer is set to Level 0 or Level 1, and there is any user interaction such as pressing any key, touching the SNOOZE button, or turning the rotary knobs, the LCD backlight will temporarily turn on and stay on at Level 4 for 8 seconds.

   Scenario 2: (During Alarm Going Off) When the unit is in Standby Mode and the alarm goes off and sounds, if the dimmer is set to Level 0 or Level 1, the LCD backlight will temporarily turn on and remain on at Level 4 until further user interaction (i.e. to press SNOOZE or turn alarm off).

Actual Testing Summary

Level	Brightness
5	Remains at Level 5 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
4	Remains at Level 4 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
3	Remains at Level 3 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
2	Remains at Level 2 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
1	Remains constant at Level 1 when not under any user operations. Pressing any button temporarily switches the brightness to Level 4 for eight seconds and returns to Level 1 eight seconds after user's last operation.When the alarm goes off, the brightness temporarily goes to Level 4, and returns to Level 1 eight seconds after the SNOOZE button is pressed.When the alarm goes off, the brightness will go to Level 4 and will ==NOT== return to Level 1 after the alarm has been manually silenced.
0	Remains constant at Level 0 when not under any user operations. Pressing any button temporarily switches the brightness to Level 4 for eight seconds and returns to Level 0 eight seconds after user's last operation.When the alarm goes off, the brightness temporarily goes to Level 4, and returns to Level 0 eight seconds after the SNOOZE button is pressed.When the alarm goes off, the brightness will go to Level 4 and will ==NOT== return to Level 0 after the alarm has been manually silenced.

Recommended ECN

Modify the brightness behavior as according the original PRD definition, as follows, highlighted in ==YELLOW==:

Level	Brightness
5	Remains at Level 5 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
4	Remains at Level 4 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
3	Remains at Level 3 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
2	Remains at Level 2 regardless of any user interaction other than brightness reset.
1	Remains constant at Level 1 when not under any user operations. Pressing any button temporarily switches the brightness to Level 4 for eight seconds and returns to Level 1 eight seconds after user's last operation.When the alarm goes off, the brightness temporarily goes to Level 4, and returns to Level 1 eight seconds after the SNOOZE button is pressed.When the alarm goes off, the brightness will go to Level 4 and will ==NOT== return to Level 1 ==eight seconds== after the alarm has been manually silenced.
0	Remains constant at Level 0 when not under any user operations. Pressing any button temporarily switches the brightness to Level 4 for eight seconds and returns to Level 0 eight seconds after user's last operation.When the alarm goes off, the brightness temporarily goes to Level 4, and returns to Level 0 eight seconds after the SNOOZE button is pressed.When the alarm goes off, the brightness will go to Level 4 and will ==NOT== return to Level 0 ==eight seconds== after the alarm has been manually silenced.

Quick Turn Around

I will suggest the customer to try setting on brightness level 2, as it will not return to max brightness.

This brightness behavior — the display automatically lights up to level 4 when at level 0 and level 1 and after the alarm being manually turned off — is a well thought-out design and considered an improvement on the original Sound Rise SFQ-08. However, for the very same feature, some troll it, and others appreciate it.

Customer praise

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are very pleased with our new Rise II, and we are enjoying the additional features it offers over the original Rise. We are loving the ability to turn the display off when ready for sleep, and having it automatically illuminate when the alarm is activated, as my wife is very sensitive to light while sleeping. That was great thinking, on someone's part. —Duane F.