[Honor Play Guides, News, & Discussion] leahcoo:
Honor Play obtains Netflix HDR Certification, see the news here https://www.xda-developers.com/netflix-hdr-oneplus-7-razer-phone-2-huawei-p30-pro-honor-play/

Netflix! We all watch it obsessively. Some of us actually pay for it. Others… not so much. That’s what roommates and parents are for.

I’m sure that you’ve watched your fair share of Netflix in general, and at least some Netflix on your phone. Your mobile viewing has probably been restricted to the occasional episode or two of your favorite series, with the binge-watching reserved for your laptop or home Roku. That makes sense. There’s no substitute for a larger screen, especially for content as visceral as Black Mirror or Stranger Things. No substitute, perhaps, but some phones are endowed with the capability to make Netflix viewing well worth it on a smaller screen. Maybe not binge-worthy, more like binge-adjacent.

HDR (not to be confused with simple HD or HDR photography) stands for high dynamic range, and in this context refers to improved display quality in high dynamic range frames. When activated on Netflix, HDR mode brings to life details that lurk in the excessively bright and dark areas on screen. Without HDR, a dark room is shown as essentially pitch-black, lacking subtle degrees of darkness. HDR, on the other hand, retains the creepy hue that the director intended to invoke, with background objects visible to you as if you were standing in the room. When available for a horror or action movie in particular, HDR can be a life-changing experience, lifelike and immersive beyond comprehension.

That’s why I was thrilled to learn that my Honor Play phone recently got HDR-certified by Netflix, a revelation that has profoundly upgraded my mobile viewing experience. Previously, I’d mostly avoid watching Netflix on my phone, except for an incident of profound boredom, like a delayed flight, when my laptop wasn’t available for whatever reason. Now I feel empowered to do some dedicated Netflix viewing on my phone, which keeps me occupied when I have a lot of downtime away from home. It’s not as though I’ll spend an entire afternoon watching several episodes in a row, even with HDR. Rather, I no longer feel like I’m cheating myself by opting for the instant gratification of watching something in HDR on my phone, in the moment.

I’m also interested to see if the Netflix seal of approval for Honor Play comes with any new perks in the coming months. After all, the list of HDR-supported devices is pretty select, as is. Netflix is getting some serious heat from Hulu and Amazon Prime, so it’s possible that it will continue to upgrade the display experience, and use the handful of HDR-supported devices to test out the enhanced display! We’ll see!

The irony is that when I bought my phone about six months ago, I didn’t really consider how well it would stream movies or TV shows. I was mostly drawn in by the price and the gaming experience, in particular the haptic touch, which is truly unique, and came highly recommended. The Netflix HDR is kind of like the cherry on top. It’s cool to think that my phone is equipped with some unique utility that has nothing to do with gaming.

You might have seen that the Honor 20 came out recently. I mention it mostly to speculate about the possibility that it will also be fast-tracked for Netflix HDR certification. I’ve seen that Netflix tends to cluster its certifications by brand, the Honor 20 specs are largely similar to the Honor Play, for whatever that’s worth. I have a couple of friends that are interested in getting a new phone, and if the Honor 20 does get Netflix HDR, I’d definitely recommend it on that basis.