• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root Looks like DROID 2 will suffer from the same locked bootloader as the X.

ZXMustang

Android Enthusiast
Apr 15, 2010
330
10
Earth
Here is a statement Motorola released pertaining to the DROID 2.

“We understand there is a community of developers interested in going beyond Android application development and experimenting with Android system development and re-flashing phones. For these developers, we highly recommend obtaining either a Google ADP1 developer phone or a Nexus One, both of which are intended for these purposes. At this time, Motorola Android-based handsets are intended for use by consumers and Android application developers, and we have currently chosen not to go into the business of providing fully unlocked developer phones.
Securing the software on our handsets, thereby preventing a non-Motorola ROM image from being loaded, has been our common practice for many years. This practice is driven by a number of different business factors. When we do deviate from our normal practice, such as we did with the DROID, there is a specific business reason for doing so. We understand this can result in some confusion, and apologize for any frustration.”

Sounds like they baited all us "hackers" into the Driod world with the ability to do custom roms and kernels, and now they are taking it all away from now on. Thats why the DROID had the vanilla android 2.1, and the next generation driods will have blur on them. Damn you motorola.
 
Here is a statement Motorola released pertaining to the DROID 2.



Sounds like they baited all us "hackers" into the Driod world with the ability to do custom roms and kernels, and now they are taking it all away from now on. Thats why the DROID had the vanilla android 2.1, and the next generation driods will have blur on them. Damn you motorola.

I don't think Motorola baited anyone into doing anything. They just weren't prepared for the amount of hacking that would ensue on the Droid. It's obvious they don't really like the fact that people are altering their phones, hence the fact every phone they've released after the Droid has had these locks in place. No one should really be surprised by this news I'd say. Expect more, if not all Moto Android phones to have the same locked bootloader.
 
Upvote 0
So from any Devs out there, does this actually mean that there will never be custom ROMs for the Droid X?? I came from a Droid Eris and I had fun loading the custom ROMs onto it etc... I was hoping for the same thing because I don't like this Blur cr@p. I just got my Droid X yesterday and rooted it today.. Was hoping that I could eventually get a custom ROM onto it. Please fill me in. From all that I've read, this means there will never be a way to get custom ROMs :-(

I'm not loving this Droid X as much as I thought I would. I don't wanna switch over to the Droid Incredible because technically this is the better/superior phone and they are the same price... But I wanted a fully customizable phone :-/

And before anyone thinks I'm hating on the Droid X owners or anything, I am not... I'm just trying to decide whether to keep this phone or go to the Incredible... OR return and wait for the Galaxy S phone (Forgot what the Verizon one is called).
 
Upvote 0
So from any Devs out there, does this actually mean that there will never be custom ROMs for the Droid X?? I came from a Droid Eris and I had fun loading the custom ROMs onto it etc... I was hoping for the same thing because I don't like this Blur cr@p. I just got my Droid X yesterday and rooted it today.. Was hoping that I could eventually get a custom ROM onto it. Please fill me in. From all that I've read, this means there will never be a way to get custom ROMs :-(

I'm not loving this Droid X as much as I thought I would. I don't wanna switch over to the Droid Incredible because technically this is the better/superior phone and they are the same price... But I wanted a fully customizable phone :-/

And before anyone thinks I'm hating on the Droid X owners or anything, I am not... I'm just trying to decide whether to keep this phone or go to the Incredible... OR return and wait for the Galaxy S phone (Forgot what the Verizon one is called).

Unless one of the devs out there can pull a rabbit out of their hat, then I dont think there will be any custom roms or overclocking going on. I am in that same situation, where I had a droid 1 and had a blast overclocking and loading all the custom roms out there. My wife has a brandnew incredible and I have the new X, and I may swap with her so I can start playing around with it. But as it stands now, I dont think anyone is going to crack it. They will sure try, and also brick more than a few phones in the process. Goodluck to them, but its looking bleak.
 
Upvote 0
When the Droid and Eris were released every nerd got the Droid cause it was better thats why there was no root for that for a while... No nerds cared.

Nerds love the X. Nerds have the X. The X will get a hacked bootloader at some point. It just takes time.

FYI - They just jailbroke iOs 4. Apple is pretty heavy duty on their security as well. It just takes time.
 
Upvote 0
When the Droid and Eris were released every nerd got the Droid cause it was better thats why there was no root for that for a while... No nerds cared.

Nerds love the X. Nerds have the X. The X will get a hacked bootloader at some point. It just takes time.

FYI - They just jailbroke iOs 4. Apple is pretty heavy duty on their security as well. It just takes time.


I hope they break it open. I just want to overclock.
 
Upvote 0
When the Droid and Eris were released every nerd got the Droid cause it was better thats why there was no root for that for a while... No nerds cared.

Nerds love the X. Nerds have the X. The X will get a hacked bootloader at some point. It just takes time.

FYI - They just jailbroke iOs 4. Apple is pretty heavy duty on their security as well. It just takes time.

Actually the reason the Droid was almost instantly hacked is because it was bare bones android, and no encryption. It was left open on purpose to see what people like the devs in the community could do with it. The Eris has technically not been rooted. They have root access now but thats because someone from HTC leaked an engineering rom with built in root access. It had nothing to do with which phone was more popular.
 
Upvote 0
Let me ask a question. I'll give background. I'm a non-techie newbie. I've taken advantage of the 1 click super user access program for the DX and love it. I love the power I have to customize my phone. In the short time of having super user access I've grown hopelessly addicted to this root thing.

Here's the question. Whereas I love the DX, I think I love root and that feeling of power better. ;) Does this signed bootloader mean that custom roms are now impossible? If it will be possible, because the bootloader is signed, does that mean that deeper rooting will be very difficult and risky? The Fascinate (POS phone) will be able to be fully rooted and if so, and the Moto DX is locked to us. Perhaps I may return the DX for the Samsung.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Upvote 0
Let me ask a question. I'll give background. I'm a non-techie newbie. I've taken advantage of the 1 click super user access program for the DX and love it. I love the power I have to customize my phone. In the short time of having super user access I've grown hopelessly addicted to this root thing.

Here's the question. Whereas I love the DX, I think I love root and that feeling of power better. ;) Does this signed bootloader mean that custom roms are now impossible? If it will be possible, because the bootloader is signed, does that mean that deeper rooting will be very difficult and risky? The Fascinate (POS phone) will be able to be fully rooted and if so, and the Moto DX is locked to us. Perhaps I may return the DX for the Samsung.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Short answer is yes.

your best source of information on the subject is the Bootload thread stickied at the top O this forum.

As of right now very little progress has been made (if any) on the Milestone's encrypted Bootloader which is the same or inferior to the Dx's BL. Some things are possible via root access along, like over clocking, but only over clocking on the stock kernel. Normal root applications will work fine and won't be a problem but any thing that needs to be added (kernel, OS source modification) cannot be done.

my understanding of the Milestone's "custom" ROMs are that they managed to push some changes to the OS but only those that already work with the Stock stuff already on the phone. Not new stuff that depends on updated kernels.

The question here is not whether there is a logical possibility of the bootloader being hacked but whether it is a practical possibility given the life of phones and the general attention spans of devs.

Yes everything can be hacked, but that doesn't mean that people will actually hack it. I would guess that it will not be hacked in any reasonable about of time (> 7 months). I would love to be wrong tho.
 
Upvote 0
Actually the reason the Droid was almost instantly hacked is because it was bare bones android, and no encryption. It was left open on purpose to see what people like the devs in the community could do with it. The Eris has technically not been rooted. They have root access now but thats because someone from HTC leaked an engineering rom with built in root access. It had nothing to do with which phone was more popular.

Actually the Eris has been rooted on all versions as of about 3 weeks ago. It wasn't being very actively pursued once most of the devs already got root with the engineering rom.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones