This new Android Canary feature will let you stop HDR photos from blinding you at night
TL;DR HDR content can really stand out on a screen of SDR images, especially in low-light environments .
In order to limit distractions like that Google's been working on an new set of 'Enhanced HDR brightness' options.
After first spotting them in Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1, they're now usable in the new Android Canary release.
Google just opened the door on a brave new world of Android development, extending its existing program of Developer Previews and Beta releases to now offer a Canary track, bringing the most curious Android fans early access to its latest in-development features. Of course, we haven't wasted any time installing one of those Canary builds on our Pixel hardware, and are already crawling through to identify what's new. One of the first concrete changes we've spotted concerns a find we initially identified last month in the code for Android 16 QPR1 Beta 1.
We're talking about that new 'Enhanced HDR brightness' settings option, which includes both a toggle for choosing whether or not you want to see HDR content at all (or if it should just be displayed at SDR levels), but also a slider for adjusting the intensity of the HDR effect.
You might think that HDR is always better, but when you're viewing a single HDR pic amidst a screen of normal content, that one super-bright image can look a little odd. These controls let you avoid that situation entirely, or at least dial it back to a place where it feels a tad less jarring.
While we were able to bring you an early look before, this wasn't yet user accessible in QPR1 Beta 1. But now we're in Canary territory, and not only are the settings present, but the feature appears to be operational, changing the HDR effect based on our choices.
Everything looks just like we saw it before, except now it's ready for you to actually try out. Of course, running Canary means a much higher risk for running into phone-breaking bugs, so feel free to sit this one out and wait for the team at Android Authority to share the rest of what we find with you.
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