BackWhat HDR 10+ on the OnePlus 7 Pro means for users
By providing HDR10+ support on its display, OnePlus is basically proving that it has chosen a very high quality panel for the deviceWhile HDR10+ is certainly a feature worth having, it has more implications for the future than right now
_1554315697757_1557229397616.png "OnePlus 7's case render. (GSMArena)")
PremiumIf the in-display fingerprint sensor was major talking point of the OnePlus 6T, the upcoming OnePlus 7 Pro’s display is creating a buzz for supporting HDR 10+ (High Dynamic Range) resolution and higher refresh rate.
Usually a feature seen on televisions, HDR 10+ is a more advanced version of the open sourced HDR10 standard, which is found in smartphones like the Asus ROG Phone, Samsung Galaxy S10 series, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Google Pixel 3 series and Apple’s newest iPhones. The OnePlus 7 Pro, though, will be the first smartphone with an HDR 10+ screen.
To understand the benefits of HDR10+ over SDR and HDR10 you need to understand dynamic range, the ratio between the darkest black and brightest white a display panel can produce. HDR enhances this property, leading to better contrast and colours.
HDR certification is available in three formats. HDR10 was developed by the Consumer Technology Association, while HDR10+ was developed by Samsung and Amazon. However, both are open formats, promoted by the UHD Alliance, a consortium of tech companies, and are available for adoption without licensing fee. The third format, Dolby Vision, is Dolby’s proprietary format supported fully by them, and has a licensing fee.
The other major difference between HDR10 and Dolby Vision is that the former supports 10-bit colours, whereas, the latter requires 12-bit, leading to slightly better colours (at least theoretically). Bit size determines the number of colours in each pixel.
Another thing that differs between HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision is the peak brightness of a panel. HDR10 and HDR10+ bring peak brightness of 4000 nits, and Dolby Vision does peak brightness of 10000 nits.
With similar peak brightness and 10-bit colour support, HDR and HDR10+ seem similar, but the latter is still considered better. In an official post on its blog, Samsung explains, “Traditionally, in order to approximate the appearance HDR, TVs with limited dynamic range have utilized a process known as ‘tone mapping’ to amplify images’ color. However, unlike previous HDR10 iterations, which utilized static tone mapping, in which color enhancement is uniform from scene to scene, HDR10+ employs dynamic tone mapping, which allows scenes to be optimized individually."
What this means is that theoretically, HDR10+ allows screens to preserve the creator’s intent in dark scenes and produce brighter highlights, resulting in better depth and realism. It works by embedding content with dynamic metadata, which is basically the information embedded in the video signal. This is what makes HDR10+ and Dolby Vision better than HDR10.
However, all of this finally comes down to what your eyes are tuned to see. For users who are used to SD screens, or even the regular HD, FHD and QHD screens, simple HDR can make a big difference. Moreover, they may not even be able to tell the difference between HDR content and HDR10+ content unless viewed side-by-side.
Furthermore, while HDR10+ is certainly a feature worth having, it has more implications for the future than right now. Content has to be shot in such quality for you to actually see it on screens that support HDR, HDR10+ or Dolby Vision. And such content is scarce at the moment. Netflix, for instance, offers quite a bit of HDR content, but the company only streams up to that quality when it detects Internet speeds of 25 megabits per second or higher, something few of us ever have.
By providing HDR10+ support on its display, OnePlus is basically proving that it has chosen a very high quality panel for the device. So, if the phone turns out to be more expensive than you expected, the display is one of the primary reasons for that.
In an interview to Verge, CEO Pete Lau had said OnePlus 7 Pro's screen will be super-smooth and very crisp. While he didn't confirm the exact refresh rate, leaks suggest it can be a 90Hz or 120Hz screen.
The OnePlus 7 Pro is available for pre-booking on Amazon.in at ₹1,000. It is expected to launch with the OnePlus 7 on May 14 at ₹49,999.
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