Android 16 QPR1 can stop the ‘Flashbangs’ HDR with improved shine controls

When you use your smartphone at night, you probably prefer to keep your brightness low to avoid blinding or altering your partner. However, if you meet HDR media at night, your phone can automatically increase your brightness to show the content correctly. This sudden brightness change can be discordant, so some applications offer options to disable HDR media support. Google Now aims to address this problem at the system level in a next version of Android 16.

Google is currently trying a “Improved HDR shine“Configuration that will allow you to control how much HDR content illuminates the screen of your pixel phone. This configuration is expected in an upcoming version in Configuration> Display & Touch> Improved HDR BrightnessIt will include both a lever to disable HDR support completely, as well as a sliding control to adjust the intensity of the HDR effect.

Demonstrating this characteristic in the camera is a challenge, but it is easy to describe what it does. Basically, with the disabled function, a “standard” image (SDR) and an HDR image will look the same on the screen. When enabled, adjusting the slider will dynamically alter the brightness of specific elements within an HDR image, such as sky or water. This control is possible because the HDR screen mode improves compatible images and videos by increasing its brightness and expanding its color and clarity range.

If you have ever bothered the applications of social networks such as Instagram Flash that hits you when you find an HDR image, it is likely that you appreciate this new feature when it unfolds. The “improved HDR” shine configuration is not available on Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1, but could arrive in a future beta or the stable version. However, Samsung telephone users will not have to wait; The Korean technological giant has already implemented a similar characteristic in its launch of UI 7.