Not too long ago, there were only a trio of smartphone devices that come with support for Netflix’s HDR streaming feature -- namely LG’s G6 and V30 flagship handsets, as well as Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium. This week, however, two other new handsets join this rarefied company -- Samsung’s newest phablet offering, the Galaxy Note 8, and Sony’s Xperia XZ1.
One of the first to notice was Android Police, who reported that the Galaxy Note 8 and the Xperia XZ1 were included in Netflix’s official frequently asked questions (FAQs) web page. For those not familiar with the Netflix HDR feature, it basically delivers higher than usual quality picture resolution for a certain group of films and TV programs. The feature was first made available on the LG G6 back in May earlier this year. In the three months or so since then, support for the functionality had eventually arrived for the V30 and the Xperia XZ Premium.
It should be noted though that the G6 has remained the only handset to utilize the Dolby Vision spec. For all the other devices, Netflix has support for another standard -- the Ultra HD Premium. Regardless of the specific standard, users get to enjoy access to high resolution video content.
But wait -- why is the Netflix HDR feature not supported in Samsung’s other flagship offering for this year, the Galaxy S8? Well, despite the fact that the Galaxy S8 is also fitted with an HDR ready display, it is quite possible that it has support for a third HDR format, namely Mobile HDR Premium. For now, the Galaxy Note 8 is the first and only Samsung smartphone to have official support for HDR.
Remember the Galaxy Tab S3, the Android powered tablet device that the South Korean tech giant had debuted during this year’s Mobile World Congress tech show back in February early this year, and subsequently launched about a month later? That tablet also comes with support for HDR, but to date, the device does not support the Netflix HDR feature.
Now for Sony’s Xperia XZ1 -- although the smartphone is equipped with a smaller 1,080 p screen compared to the Xperia XZ Premium’s, one of the newest additions to the Xperia XZ family of devices happens to be HDR10 compatible, which made it a whole lot easier for Netflix to grant the device support for its HDR feature. To know more about the Netflix HDR feature, it would be a wise decision to pay its official web page a visit.
