The Xiaomi Pocophone F1 officially launched last week to much fanfare, and with good reason. At a starting price of RM1299, the phone comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC, 6GB RAM, a large 4000mAh battery, and a dual 12MP + 5MP main camera setup. But while its hardware is impressive, the good people at XDA Developers have discovered a flaw that currently resides in the phone: the inability to stream Netflix in HD resolution.
Specifically, the phone is lacking the Widevine L1 DRM, which is needed on any devices that wants the ability to stream videos from Netflix or Amazon Prime Video in HD resolutions of 720p and higher. Because the Pocophone F1 doesn’t have this certification, Netflix will only stream its content at a maximum resolution of 540p.
For context, the Widevine DRM can be categorised into three certification levels: L1, L2, and L3. With L1 being the highest level of certification. Apps such as Netflix, Amazon, Video, Hulu, and BBC require a device to be Widevine L1 certified if users wish to enjoy their video content at the resolutions mentioned in the previous paragraph.
To be fair, the Pocophone F1 isn’t the first device to have this problem. The OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T were just a few phones that also had the same issue. To further complicate matters, users were required to physically return their devices to OnePlus in order to get the Widevine L1 certification installed.
At the time of writing, it is unclear if Xiaomi will require users of its Pocophone F1 to send in it units, or if the verification can be distributed via an OTA update. We are also reaching out to Xiaomi for comments on the matter.
(Source: XDA Developers via AndroidPure)
