Software Issues That Are Stopping Black Shark 2 From Being Great

No Widevine L1 Certification

I do know the fact that some of the budget smartphones do not come with a Widevine L1 certification, as they offer lower screen resolution. In this case, the Black Shark 2 has an AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution. With Widevine L3 certification, video streaming on platforms like Netflix and Prime Video is limited to 480p.

Xiaomi showed that the Widevine certification can be upgraded via an OTA update and Black Shark should do the same for the Black Shark 2.

 

No Screen Mirroring Support

I was shocked when I learned that Black Shark 2 does not support any sort of screen mirroring (no Miracast or Chromecast). I do cast my phone a lot to a smart TV and not having this feature is definitely a huge deal-breaker for me.

If not both, the company should include at least of the screencast services on the Black Shark 2, to make it a modern smartphone.

Ability To Remap Shark Space Button

The Black Shark 2 comes with a dedicated button to enter Shark Space, which is the default gaming mode on the smartphone. The company should have given an option to remap or re-program the button to do other tasks.

I was also shocked that the device will not go automatically to the game mode if you open a game, even if the game is listed in the Shark Space. Phones like the OnePlus 7 detects when a game is opened and automatically turns on the gaming optimization and Black Shark should do something similar.

Android 10 Update

It has been almost six months after the announcement of Android 10 OS and the Black Shark 2, being a stock Android smartphone is still running on Android 9 Pie. I hope the company will soon release Android 10 update for this device, as the built-in navigation keys on the Android 9 Pie do not feel great.