OnePlus is now offering a pretty simple solution to OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T owners facing HD streaming issues.
The thing is, it involves tearing them away from their smartphones for some time, or in other words, they have to mail in their phones to OnePlus to get the update installed on their devices. There's a good reason the company is doing this, though.
OTA Update Not Possible
To recap, users found out they couldn't stream Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Google Play Movies in HD on their OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T back in December. That's because the two didn't come with Google's Level 1 Widevine DRM, which is for copyright-protection purposes. Instead, it came with just Level 3, and that allows streaming only in standard definition.
Naturally, owners were outraged because HD streaming is more or less a standard nowadays. Some could say that OnePlus is a little outdated here, and they could even say it again because of the company's method of solving the problem.
OnePlus says it's because of "security processes involved with updating the devices," but the exact reason it needs users to mail their phones in is because Widevine DRM needs (PDF) the components to be "installed in the factory or delivered to the device using an approved secure delivery mechanism," as Android Police points out.
OnePlus Fixes HD Streaming: What You Need To Know
On the OnePlus forums, community manager David Y posted the company's full explanation why the phones have to be sent in, saying that the update can be delivered only through a physical connection to an authenticated PC.
To be clear, he added that the company won't charge shipping fees, but that applies only for customers in North America, Europe, India, and China, which are its service regions. The phones should be back to users within "five working days" after the company receives them.
Now to participate in this, users have to contact the OnePlus customer service team for more info on how to proceed with things.
According to 9to5Google, there's no need to wipe the phone before sending it in, but the company does recommend making a backup first before they do.
To boil things down, the solution OnePlus is going with inconveniences OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T owners, but users can't really hold it against the company because of the strict requirements of Widevine DRM.
