Here is Ultra HDR, the new photo format that will revolutionize Android

There are only a few months left for the launch of Android 14, and Google I/O 2023 has served to anticipate many of the new features it will bring; In addition to new functions in applications such as the Magic Editor of Google Photos or the immersive routes of Google Maps, Android 14 will bring important innovations in various aspects such as photography.

Perhaps the new feature in Android 14 that has the biggest potential to change things up is Ultra HDR; the new aspect ratio was announced at one of the Google I/O developer conferences as a way to take advantage of the new cameras and screens of the latest Android phones.

Ultra HDR is a new format, compatible with classic JPEG, which will capture and display images with a greater range of brightness, color and contrast; The end result should be more realistic and impressive in every way, improving photos that previously may have looked too “flat” or lacking in emotion. The new format allows images to be stored with a color depth of 10 bits, a leap from the 8 bits possible with a conventional JPEG image.

Ultra HDR and Android

Although the format is new, the idea of ​​putting more color and contrast information into the image is not. In fact, there are already several mobiles capable of achieving this level of quality, both in their cameras and screens, since 2020, when Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 processor was launched with color depth support. 10 bit. But until now, manufacturers had to implement this support themselves.

With Android 14, by default all mobiles will be able to take photos in Ultra HDR, in addition to displaying them with precision and even editing, sharing, saving and downloading them. Google Photos will gain compatibility with Ultra HDR and will allow us to make changes to the photos, and show them with the high brightness levels that they must have and that are normally lost in non-compatible systems.

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Of course, to take advantage of Ultra HDR, it will be necessary to have compatible hardware, that is, mobile phones with cameras and screens reaching a color depth of at least 10 bits. Many current models are left out, and only the most advanced mobiles are currently compatible, but this is a novelty that will be important for the future. Google is working with Qualcomm to optimize this implementation with its processors and chips for photography.

In addition to Android, Ultra HDR will also be available in the Google Chrome browser, allowing images to be viewed from the web in their original quality.

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