PUBG notch problem: Upcoming March update may fix display issue on Poco F1 and other phones

There was a time when the phones were solely used for, you know, calling! Cutting the cord from it gave more freedom and mobility.

With time, the small brick becomes more versatile. It’s getting slimmer, packing more horsepower and having more pixels in it’s screen than your dad’s PC.

The display tech is an interesting domain. Smartphone makers always try to enhance the primary medium of interacting with the device: the touchscreen. That and the underlying display are kinda synonymous for regular users.

In recent years, we have seen multiple iterations of new techs in smartphone display. A specific bias towards larger displays and elongated dimensions can be clearly noticed.

To gain more space, OEMs playes with numerous options. Curved edge, notch, punch hole, foldable screen – they are nothing but baby steps towards a bezel less futuristic slab without any physical ports.

Sounds absurd? Deal with it.

End users should find them fascinating, but what about developers? Popular games and apps need to quickly adapt these newly introduced layouts, otherwise they will be crushed by negative reviews from users. Lack of standardizations are making things worse.

Take the example of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds aka PUBG. This immensely popular battle royale game was ported to Android and iOS shortly after release.

Apart from bringing new features and optimizing the game for handheld devices, the developers (Tencent Games) are forced to face numerous incompatibility issues with notched displays. Due to the absence of standard APIs for handling notches before Android Pie, smartphone vendors came up with their own set of solutions.

Guess what? Those were not compatible with each other.

For example, Huawei/Honor closely works with PUBG devs to bring optimizations on their Kirin platform. Their EMUI skin also contains predefined settings to handle the notch while playing the battle royale game.

Around the end of Q4 2018, Tencent issued an update which brought manual graphics adjustments for ‘irregular’ (read notched or rounded) displays. It can be accessed via Settings => Graphics => Non-Standard screens.

However, it was not a universal solution. Especially after getting official Android 9 Pie upgrade, several users reported issues with notch handing with PUBG.

I updated my Mi A2 Lite to android pie using VPN method. After the update, pubg isn’t working inside the notch area. Even after the December security update it isn’t working. Please suggest a Solution.

(Source)

Will Nokia 6.1 plus will gett notch support on pubg and different apps?

No app is being run under notch, notch is always black execpt on you tube and home screen. Pubg under notch i need

(Source)

Previously on MIUI 10 Global Beta 8.9.7 and PUBG 0.8, the game can ran on full screen with fill the notch. But after updating to latest beta (Android P), PUBG didnt fill the notch. Please fix this with PUBG game. Thank you.

(Using Mi 8; Source)

Alvin Tse, the Head of Pocophone Global, later confirmed that they have already contacted Tencent Games to bring necessary compatibility fixes.

Few days ago, he shared that PUBG would finally patch the issue with their upcoming March update.

Another user contacted with PUBG support to get some clarification on the situation. According to the reply, Tencent is aware of it and “the issue in question is currently under investigation”.

You can find the screenshot of the email here:

Alvin got back to him and reassured about the previous claim.

We hope the upcoming patch will be compatible with most of the popular devices that are being used by avid PUBG fans. A huge number of Poco F1 (also known as Pocophone F1) users are vocal on various platforms regarding the notch issue:

https://twitter.com/PapaJoh30268303/status/1097756540574912513

Are you facing awkward notch bugs with PUBG or any other game? Comment below.

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