Following months of beta testing, Android 12L is finally here, with a slew of new features and improvements targeted to improve tablet usability. Among these updates appears to be a patch for a long-standing Widevine certification fault that has plagued Pixel owners for some time.
Several Redditors on the Google Pixel forum confirmed that the March update addressed the Widevine difficulties that prohibited users from streaming HD on OTT services such as Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime (via Android Police).
For those who are unaware, customers have been complaining for over a year about the Widevine on their Pixel smartphones dropping from L1 to L3. When L1 is enabled, streaming services may play material in 1080p, but when L3 is enabled, the maximum resolution is 480p. As a result, L1 certification is required for a device to stream at 1080p. To combat piracy, the entire system has been put in place.
When the Widevine problem initially surfaced, Google recognised it and stated that they were working on a solution. However, the change was never fully implemented, leaving Pixel users with an unappealing 480p streaming quality – something that looks to be changing with the Android 12L update.
Even after switching to Android 12L, some users are still seeing Widevine L3. It is suggested for such users to do a factory reset once. While this is not a guaranteed repair, a few customers have stated that it worked for them.
