Not long ago we told you about the efforts users were going to in order to convince Motorola to unlock the bootloaders of their devices such as the Atrix.
Motorola aren’t alone in providing locked bootloaders. Long the champion of open, hackable hardware, HTC have more recently been releasing devices with locked bootloaders as well, meaning those buying brand new shiny HTC phones are not able to install custom ROMs or features on their handsets – something users of earlier HTC devices were able to do.
There has been growing noise in the user community about HTC’s locked bootloaders, including a user petition which has reached 4218 signatures. This has been accompanied by action on HTC’s Facebook page, which has culminated in an announcement this morning that HTC are aware of the issue and are considering their policy of locking bootloaders. It’s a far cry from a commitment to resolve the issue, but it is a start.
HTC’s announcement – here – is repeated below:
Thanks so much for providing feedback, we hear your concerns. Your satisfaction is a top priority for us and we’re working hard to ensure you have great experiences with our phones. We’re reviewing the issue and our policy around bootloaders and will provide more information soon. Thank you for your interest, support and willingness to share your feedback.
I think I know why this situation of locked bootloaders and no hackability will become more common.
Content creators and distributors have started releasing video distribution apps that will refuse to run on a rooted phone. It’s already known that phone manufacturers bend over for telcos, so it would not at all come as any surprise to me to find that they are also bending over for the movie cartels.
ZDNet – http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/forget-the-tethering-police-the-rooting-police-are-here-led-by-google/2573?tag=nl.e539
Whirlpool – http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1704455
rooting != locked bootloader. It’s still possible to root when the bootloader is locked (see: Motorola Milestone).
Only reason I can think of is pressure from (American) carriers forcing manufacturers to do so. And since it would cost the manufacturer heaps to make two different sets of phones of the same model (one with a locked bootloader, one without), they just lock it and that’s it.
talk is cheap …. Motorola said the same thing originally and then took about 3months to come out with something a BIT more concrete (and that was after a massive campaign…
I will believe it when i see it…. in the meantime i will probably get a SGSii.
BTW: Buzz, did you try and play a tegra zone game on your sgsii with the app i linked you to today?
Have to agree after how many times Moto said the same thing during the Milestone fiasco. Pity really considering their history.