Possible change in motorolas bootloader policy

[DroidMakesPwn]

Stumbled upon this article and thought it was interesting. Seems like some possible good news. What did you get out of it?

http://m.engadget.com/default/artic...devs-and-rooters/&category=classic&postPage=1

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[chrstdvd]

Makes sense.

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[hookbill]

Nice little publicity piece for the very few that root their phones. I don't think you'll see much change.

If we could get Verizon to stop insisting on the bloatware, that would be nice.

 

[silverfang77]

I'm confused about what exactly a locked bootloader prevents. I've googled and it looks like there are plenty of custom ROMs out there for the Moto Droids and that people have indeed overclocked the CPUs.

 

[miketoasty]

I'm confused about what exactly a locked bootloader prevents. I've googled and it looks like there are plenty of custom ROMs out there for the Moto Droids and that people have indeed overclocked the CPUs.

The bootloader is important for a number of reasons:

1. We have no true recovery method, if we brick our phones and the Bootstrap becomes corrupt we are stuck SBFing. While anyone with an unlocked bootloader can have a recovery built straight into the kernel that they can always access as long as the phone turns on. Example: When we go to "stock" recovery we have few options, but this is where we would go to recover with an unlocked bootloader. Basically the main advantage.

2. We cannot change the kernel. We can change the way the phone "looks" but only to a certain point, while others can literally change anything they want about their phones. Example: Putting power controls in the notification bar.

3. It my not affect you too much but in terms of Dev's it really pushes them away, look at how many ROM's there are for the HTC incredible compared to the droid 2 and you will see what I mean.

 

[silverfang77]

Gotcha. Well, that really sucks. Hasn't anyone tried to hack the bootloader?

 

[hemorrdroid]

Gotcha. Well, that really sucks. Hasn't anyone tried to hack the bootloader?

They have and are currently. But it is using military grade encryption.

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[miketoasty]

Gotcha. Well, that really sucks. Hasn't anyone tried to hack the bootloader?

They have and are currently. But it is using military grade encryption.

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Yes as stated above its going to take a pretty long time before it happens. Most likely not in the lifetime of the device. Which is why next time I pick a phone I am staying far away from Motorola.

 

[DF Smod]

I don't see Moto changing this either - if they could put out just one developer device 100% unlocked and ready for hacking that would make the world of difference, but my guess is they will not

D1 with Dual Core Fever -

 

[silverfang77]

Military grade? Sounds like Motorola sees its own customers as the enemy.

 

[DroidMakesPwn]

I think it would be a horrible move for them to state the support devs and not do anything about it. Hopefully that one guys screwed up comments cause moto to rethink they're strategy to stay in competition. And there are def a lot more than a few people that root their devices also, just look at the downloads for things like titanium backup or wireless tether.

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[chrstdvd]

Yep. It is mass market. Consumers get what they want while companies must protect against mass fraud when the mass market brirks their phones and try to say "it came like this out of the box".
We will get what we want but cheaters will be thwarted.

And that is what the wait is for. They can fix it so when we root they will know and warrenties will be nulled.

It is easier than locking in the long run for M.

 

[DroidMakesPwn]

Even if someone bricks the phone and uses a manufactor warranty on a phone they mess up 9 out of 10 times motorola can prob fix it easily and for the 1 in 10 I'm sure most of the parts are reusable. Its not like they hand out new phones any time someone has to exchange it.

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[Dave12308]

Military grade? Sounds like Motorola sees its own customers as the enemy.

It has nothing to do with this, the bootloader encryption makes the device more attractive to corporate and government customers, just the type of folks who WANT 256-bit AES encrypted bootloaders. It's being done to gain some of RIM's customers. This is my theory and I am standing by it. You can tell that Moto is trying to capture RIM's crowd; just look at the Droid Pro. Even the keyboard somewhat resembles a BlackBerry's

 

[Dave12308]

Yep. It is mass market. Consumers get what they want while companies must protect against mass fraud when the mass market brirks their phones and try to say "it came like this out of the box".
We will get what we want but cheaters will be thwarted.

And that is what the wait is for. They can fix it so when we root they will know and warrenties will be nulled.

It is easier than locking in the long run for M.

Best way to do it, IMHO, would be to make the unlock process somehow "phone home" and automatically note the owner's account that the phone is no longer under warranty. That would avoid it having to be done in-store; and would still protect them from warranty fraud.