Smartphones have come a long way and nowadays, even affordable devices come touting a big, pixel-dense screen that's ideal for watching movies and TV shows on the fly. That being said, some handsets allow users to leverage HD and HDR streams too. Here's how you can test whether your phone supports the same.


Alright, so first things first, head on over to the Google Play store and download the DRMInfo app. The app will tell you whether your phone has Widevine L1 certification, which in a nutshell, is a DRM technology used by OTT services like Netflix to protect their data. If your phone does come with support for Widevine L1 certification, then you can play HD content on your handset. Look for 'L1' under the Widevine CDM heading, right below Security Level. This shows that your device supports Widevine L1, and should enable it to play HD content. Now, the DRM info app also highlights whether a phone supports HDR playback, though the information isn't always correct, especially when you're dabbling with a phone from the affordable segment.

To make sure of that, you'll want to head on over to the Netflix app next, and click on your profile tab. From there, head on over to the app settings, scroll down and select playback specification from the diagnostics tab which should have information on whether your phone supports HDR playback or not. And that's it. You can now test a brand's claims when it says a phone supports HD and HDR playback!


Credit -- Prateek Pandey