Xiaomi's Poco F1 witnessed a successful debut in India by registering sales worth Rs 200 crores in less than five minutes, breaking OnePlus 6's record, which crossed sales worth Rs 100 crore in just 10 minutes. While several comparisons have been drawn between the two smartphones trying to find which one's better, a tech blog has revealed the one key feature that the Poco F1 lacks.
Buyers usually check for camera, battery, processor, design and affordability of a smartphone and skip the little details assuming it is already a part of the package. In the case of Poco F1, which competes with OnePlus 6, Asus Zenfone 5Z and many others, so most would assume standard features are already a part of the phone.
But a tech blog called Android Pure discovered that the in-demand Poco F1 does not support Widevine L1 DRM. Instead, the smartphone only comes with Widevine L3. Seems too technical? Let us simplify that.
Widevine is basically a security feature or a DRM (digital rights management) that is commonly used by most of the popular video and music streaming services. Even though there are several DRM platforms that Google supports, Widevine is widely used by streaming services, helping them curb privacy of content.
Now, why it would matter which Widevine standard Poco F1 support, you might ask. Of the three Widevine L1, L2 and L3, Widevine L3 is of the lowest standard. Since Poco F1 comes with Widevine L3, it does not support 720p or HD video playback on all your favourite multimedia streaming apps, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Google Play.
That said, any chance of watching your favourite TV series on Netflix with 1080p or 4K is gone. Widevine L3 on Poco F1 allows users to watch videos on Netflix at a maximum of 540p, which heavy multimedia users will find hugely disappointing.
Poco F1's biggest rivals, OnePlus 6 and Asus Zenfone 5Z, support Widevine L1, which shouldn't raise any red flags for its users. But seeing Poco was launched as a rival to OnePlus, it totally failed to learn a lesson from its Chinese rival's setback last year.
OnePlus 5T was heavily criticised for lacking the Widevine L1 standard, forcing its users to watch in Standard Definition on all major media streaming platforms. Since the missing feature could not be shipped over the air, users had to send their devices to the company's service center in order to get the much-needed upgrade. But all's well that ends well, and people forgot and moved on eventually.
Now, Poco F1 is dealing with the same issue and it remains to be seen if it will handle it like OnePlus or find a better way. After all, the company sold Rs 200 crore worth devices, and many consumers won't be too happy with the setback. We've reached out to Xiaomi India for a statement and we'll update when we hear back. Stay tuned.
