OnePlus 8 5g T-Mobile downgraded widevine to L3

Bluetooth was working about the same for me in Android 11 as it did in Android 10.  Android Auto was working (mostly) fine for me on the T-Mobile software.  I did have the occasional problem where bluetooth refused to connect to anything and I had to reboot the phone.  I haven’t had that yet since going to the global firmware, but that was a rare issue for me to begin with.

One AA problem I still have is that If I start a call and then connect to Android Auto while the call is going, that typically breaks bluetooth audio once the call is ended (can’t listen to spotify or hear navigation).  That’s been the case since Android 10 for me across multiple devices though so I’m pretty sure that’s just an Android Auto issue.

I bit the bullet and followed the thread on XDA for converting my phone to the global software.  I am now using Oxygen OS 11 Open Beta 11 for OnePlus 8.  My observations:

• The phone is WAY faster and more responsive now.  Maybe this is result of factory reset, maybe not.  But it is way more responsive
• Widevine is back to L1!  Amazing how the beta-quality T-Mobile updates break this, and then using an actual beta software it is working.  Incredible
• Now have access to Always On Display (where ambient display is Always On).  The unlocked version got this 7 months ago!  T-Mobile software release from less than a week ago STILL doesn’t have this - again, absolutely amazed at how BAD the T-Mobile software for this phone is
• Many longstanding bugs I’ve had since the Android 11 update do not seem to be happening on the global software.  If I open and closed the camera too many times too fast while using android auto and the phone was locked, the phone would become unresponsive for a minute or two.  Same if I tried to lock it immediately after turning off Work Profile.  Does NOT happen on the global software.  Seems like the T-Mobile software is just way buggier, and reporting bugs is useless as OnePlus just blames T-Mobile and T-Mobile just blames OnePlus.  Very convenient way to make sure nothing ever gets fixed

Anyone still using this phone with the T-Mobile software and who is familiar with ADB, fastboot, etc - I highly recommend following the process on XDA to convert this phone to global software.  It has made my phone so much better.  It is very clear to me now that whatever testing (if any) done by T-Mobile or OnePlus for the special T-Mobile software updates is very inadequate.  Neither T-Mobile nor OnePlus takes seriously any bug reports, as they can conveniently blame the other party for the bug instead of doing any work to research and resolve it.  Remember that it took almost an entire month to have the 5G service fixed last year when they released an update that caused phone calls and text messages to stop working after some hours/days.  This is the core function of a phone and in any other device would have been fixed in under a week at the slowest.  This bug never happened on the global version of the phone.

Guys I think I figured out what caused my Widevine to randomly be downgrade from L1 to L3. I recently installed a new screen protector so I deleted my fingerprint and registered a new one and now I can't watch Netflix in HD! I read this over on the XDA forums for 8 Pro, one user said it's possible removing first fingerprint causes a persistent partition to become unreadable creating this problem. Can we please have a mod acknowledge this? Willing to share any log files that may help troubleshoot. It's so disappointing to have a nice full HDR screen on my OP8 and I can't even watch Netflix or Prime video in HD! Thanks.