Glad I bought an Evo, Droid X actually self-destructs if you try to mod it

[hawt]

Droid X actually self-destructs if you try to mod it

Wow, what a big f-u to the development community that makes Android the best OS on the market.

 

[cabbie]

holy crap!!!

I just recommended to a friend on verizon to get the DX...going to send him an urgent "ABORT" message!!!

 

[Thefoodman52]

Well, now we don't have to sweat any more competition! We more or less threw a leg up over the iPhone, now the next coming Droid is already doomed. Success noted in my book for the Evo!

 

[cabbie]

i suppose its very likely the Droid2 will be like this.

This is pathetic beyond description. I wonder who is to blame here, big red or Moto. This hurts the android image.

reading the comments on the article, someone mentioned that cyanogen already said 'eff that' to this phone and won't work with it.

 

[mityman50]

To the guy that said that strikes the DX down... not quite.

The iPhones reception issue affects just about everyone, regardless of what you do with the phone. That's a big no.

This DX problem affects... how many people? I'm no saying it's right or that it's good, I agree, it's stupid and is a con for the DX. But for the vast majority of potential buyers, is it a deal-breaker? Hell no. It won't affect them.

 

[cabbie]

Would you recommend to someone a vehicle with a governor that limits it to 100mph even though most people wouldn't ever travel that fast?

Would you recommend an HVAC unit that locked control to between 60 and 80 degrees, even though most people wouldn't want to have it outside that?

Would you recommend a laptop that self-destructed when you try to put in more memory even though the supplied memory would be enough for most people?

Would you recommend a phone that bricked after any attempt to modify it?

Now you're under control
Now you do what they tell ya...

 

[hawkijustin]

To the guy that said that strikes the DX down... not quite.

The iPhones reception issue affects just about everyone, regardless of what you do with the phone. That's a big no.

This DX problem affects... how many people? I'm no saying it's right or that it's good, I agree, it's stupid and is a con for the DX. But for the vast majority of potential buyers, is it a deal-breaker? Hell no. It won't affect them.

Untill other phones start getting locked down.... If Motorola and verizon are going to lock down phones like apple does then whats the point? Android was and is founded on being open. I cant see Google being very happy about this.

 

[Jack Daniels]

Would you recommend to someone a vehicle with a governor that limits it to 100mph even though most people wouldn't ever travel that fast?

Would you recommend an HVAC unit that locked control to between 60 and 80 degrees, even though most people wouldn't want to have it outside that?

Would you recommend a laptop that self-destructed when you try to put in more memory even though the supplied memory would be enough for most people?

Would you recommend a phone that bricked after any attempt to modify it?

while the community this effects is smaller than the total buying community i would never recommend this to anyone that is a total douche bag move on there part but what this does do is hurt the community as a whole for the simple fact that now we will start seeing this more often. Why you ask. because people are going to buy it anyway so more companies will look at this as a way to secure the bids from the big cellphone companies.

this is obviously a gross overestimate but the fact it this sets a dangerous president. think about the things they could lock down with a system like this. its more than just a failsafe and it sux

 

[cabbie]

Untill other phones start getting locked down.... If Motorola and verizon are going to lock down phones like apple does then whats the point? Android was and is founded on being open. I cant see Google being very happy about this.

They might cast a disconcerting eye to it, but they won't be able to "do" anything about it. They give the OS away for free.

They could, however, follow up the N1 with another phone that works on google voice to slide in with sprint or verizon, since data scaling on wimax and lte becomes far less an issue than 3G.

As savvy as verizon is, I can't see google getting outplayed here. They knew what they were doing, there will be riposte.

 

[R1_Rydah]

Verizon has been crippling phones for years, my last phone was a htc touch pro, and verizon users on the ppc forum were purchasing the Sprint version of the phone and activating it on their verizon accts... because the Verizon tp was gimped so badly...

 

[RoboMonkey]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, so what.
The majority of people don't hack their phones.

And yes, what about next year when the phone isn't being supported by moto. Well at that time maybe they will defuse it and let people hack away at it.

This all not a reason to not buy the phone. Just don't buy it, OMG is that phone ugly or what.
The EVO on the other hand is perfect (for about 3 hours of display time) after rooting.

 

[ballr4lyf]

I wouldn't recommend this phone now for one simple reason... The system is just as likely to brick the phone with a "normal" update. I'm sure they think they've thought that through, but it's unlikely that with all the apps on the app market the "normal" updates will be 100% tested on anything but a bone stock phone. The motorola droid is gonna go the way of the StarTAC and RAZR...

So sad. I actually liked the DroidX before this.

 

[marriedman624]

Wow, that sucks. I will not recommend this to ANYONE. I know the majority of people won't be modding and never face the issue, but the whole point of Android is that it is open and able to be modded. If this isn't possible, what is the point of getting Android.

EVO is still the best phone out there as of now. I was worried about the Iphone 4 and Droid X being "better," guess I can rest knowing that they both FAILED.

Oh yeah, the Droid X is ugly as sin. Looks like Quasimodo

 

[TambourineMan]

What is really bad is that Moto says they are going to protect all their future phones in this manner. I was thinking my next phone (after the EVO) might be their Android one that uses nvidia's Tegra chip, but I guess not.

Based on Verizon's dismal track record of crippling phones, I suspected that Verizon put them up to it, but It's beginning to appear they did it to themselves.

 

[nizmoz]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, so what.
The majority of people don't hack their phones.

And yes, what about next year when the phone isn't being supported by moto. Well at that time maybe they will defuse it and let people hack away at it.

This all not a reason to not buy the phone. Just don't buy it, OMG is that phone ugly or what.
The EVO on the other hand is perfect (for about 3 hours of display time) after rooting.

Most get at least 20 hours.

 

[Putty]

That sucks!

 

[Thefoodman52]

No, that rocks. Now we probably get more people looking for / getting Evo's, and more possible hackers for our phone. We should be thanking Motorola!!

 

[81_]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say, so what.
The majority of people don't hack their phones.

.

agreed

 

[sitlet]

Yea, that is quite ridiculous. You buy a phone, and you own it. When the OS is OPEN SOURCE, it shouldn't be locked down at all. Thats the whole point of open source, that anyone can modify and make it better. Telling people they CANT modify an open source OS, is one step closer to companies and government telling people what they can and cant do.

The motorola droid is gonna go the way of the StarTAC and RAZR...

Hey, the startac was a beast when it came out lol

 

[CriticalCritic]

Would you recommend to someone a vehicle with a governor that limits it to 100mph even though most people wouldn't ever travel that fast?

Would you recommend an HVAC unit that locked control to between 60 and 80 degrees, even though most people wouldn't want to have it outside that?

Would you recommend a laptop that self-destructed when you try to put in more memory even though the supplied memory would be enough for most people?

Would you recommend a phone that bricked after any attempt to modify it?

Would you recommend moving to East Berlin in the 70's/80's? There was plenty of room to roam, so why leave? Though keep in mind that from the time the iron curtain went up, their development (as compared against the rest of the world) essentially halted.

Would you recommend the old caste systems of socioeconomic status? Even though most people wouldn't have the capacity to venture outside of their respective status' anyways?

Would you recommend any system in which the more you risk and innovate and strive to succeed and achieve, the more you are punished?

Systems that enforce the idea that "we are in charge so we know what it is that you need, now go back to your box" is the whole reason that everyone here is on an android platform and not an iFuhrer.

So no, I cannot recommend anything that is built to be so strongly against innovation and progress. Eff the DX and the advertising fanfare it rode in on.

 

[SolApathy]

While most folks don't mod their phones, the community of modders is big enough to have an influence simply because we have interactions with a lot of non-modders out there. They talk to us when they are looking to upgrade because we are the ones that know the in's and outs of all the phones.

After this article was posted I told no fewer than 3 people that it was a bad idea to get this phone simply because they would never be able to modify it. When they said "I'll never mod mine anyways" I came back with one simple statement-

What are you going do do in a year when VZ/Motorola move on to the next best thing and stop supporting the DroidX. You are going to see some new cool OS update and drool all over the thought of getting it...Right up until the point that they say you need to upgrade to a new device, even though your device can technically support the new update.

Its a way of getting more money out of you. Lock down the upgrade capability of the device, give it a specific life cycle, and then force an upgrade=more money for them.

 

[81_]

Yea, that is quite ridiculous. You buy a phone, and you own it. When the OS is OPEN SOURCE, it shouldn't be locked down at all. Thats the whole point of open source, that anyone can modify and make it better. Telling people they CANT modify an open source OS, is one step closer to companies and government telling people what they can and cant do.



Hey, the startac was a beast when it came out lol

it's not crazy...every phone is going to be gone in a few years. it's the nature of phones right now. i'd say you are looking at 5-10 years until they max the software and hardware then we should see it settle down.

right now we in the in middle of the next great phone race. things are going to change fairly quick for the next couple of years, and then slow back down.

 

[J03]

Well, now we don't have to sweat any more competition! We more or less threw a leg up over the iPhone, now the next coming Droid is already doomed. Success noted in my book for the Evo!

Yea right, Apple has been bricking iphone users who jailbreak since the first iphone and that hasn't slowed down any sales. This will be the same for the Droid X. Motorola and Verizons advertising departments are far superior to Sprint and HTC. The Droid X will far out sell the EVO. That said, its good news for evo owners who mod but its not going to be a deal breaker for 99% of people out there.

 

[Complex757]

If Samsung is smart they will try to push that fact to techies to get them to get the Galaxy instead.

 

[sagedil]

Yea right, Apple has been bricking iphone users who jailbreak since the first iphone and that hasn't slowed down any sales. This will be the same for the Droid X. Motorola and Verizons advertising departments are far superior to Sprint and HTC. The Droid X will far out sell the EVO. That said, its good news for evo owners who mod but its not going to be a deal breaker for 99% of people out there.

The world is changing, customers getting smarter. People understanding what Android is really about more and more every day. It will hurt them. How much I don't know.

Especially with all the chatter about Steve Jobs control fascinations, I expect this will bother far more people than you might imagine.