Vance

I am considering a new phone and it has come down to the Samsung Charge, the DX2 which might be out this week, or waiting for the Bionic.

The Bionic is supposed to be the superphone, but I am concerned with rooting. Is it going to be locked all to hell? Can I put my faith in the great freedom fighters who crack these open? The idea of getting stuck with an un-rooted phone with Blur on it is not a pleasant thought.

And I remember hearing something about Samsung being much more root-friendly, is that true?

skilaufen

Motorola has been locking and encrypting the bootloaders on all of their phones since the droid X. That said they have promised to improve but no sign of when or if. The devs for as good as they are have not yet figured out how to unlock the bootloader.

Samsung has had a good track record so far not locking things down. So if you wait the Bionic may be unlockable, but I wouldn't bet on it (my opinion only).

I like moto phones and will wait to see what unfolds.

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Why bother doing anything if nothing is required?

Vance

I was just reading that even with a locked bootloader, like on the DX, you can still get root and even custom roms, but just no new kernels. Is that right? If so, it seems livable, since I don't flash any kernels anyway.

skilaufen

True but the custom ROMs you use have special kernels that will allow the ROMs to do more. I agree it would be livable I just don't like the bloatware moto has been piling on. I will probably end up with the bionic or equivalent.

Vance

Ah, I didn't know that the ROM's flashed the kernels automatically as well, I thought you had to do that separately.

skilaufen

Yea it is not always known. With Bugless Beast Pete uses an 800 mhz Slayher and with the GPA ROMs he uses his custom designed 600mhz.

A lot of people will flash a faster kernel but devs are more conservative so they don't bootloop someone whose phone can't do 1ghz.

Vance

So, the Droid X has custom ROMs, but they have to use the stock kernel? Are all of the root capabilities still there, wireless tether, overclocking, etc?

skilaufen

Yes, but you can only overclock to the limit the stock kernel allows. For the D1 that would be 800 mhz. Also things like android wireless tether won't work since the stock kernels block it. You would have to use barnacle (which works fine). You also can't use lower voltage kernels to offset the over-clock.

These are just a few of the things the kernels affect. You would have to talk to a dev about it to learn more, but one of the problems as I understand it is that you can't use any ROM built from ASOP but can only use customized stock ROMs. (Ie. No gingerbread until Verizon releases it).

AFAIK this is the problem with the locked bootloader.

Vance

That is very interesting, thanks. This might be an argument for going with a non-Moto phone, like the Charge. But I think the dual core could be useful. It is hard to weigh all the pros and cons.