Will Bionic Get Unlocked? Moto said they will try while back..

[BringItSon]

here is what Moto said while back

Well. now it is Late 2011. Do you think Moto will update unlocked bootloader for Bionic in the "late 2011"?

If not, what are the possibility of other hackers and dev unlocking Bionic??

 

[cereal killer]

Personlly I don't think they will do it. If you notice it says where OPERATOR and CHANNEL partners allow it. They are covering their butts and skirting the blame. If Moto wanted to they could just release it locked but unencryted but they won't because they truly do not want people to have full access to their proprietary files (I believe)

I can see them allowing root access if they release another Vanilla device but other than that I don't see it happening.

The possibility of devs unlocking them is zero to none.

 

[tehsusenoh]

Hopefully someone will unlock it, like it was for the Photon.

 

[Sportster]

Absolutely not considering it until it is unlocked,period!

 

[tehsusenoh]

Absolutely not considering it until it is unlocked,period!

I'm most definitely considering it, actually, I'm getting it.

It'll get ROM'd eventually, and the new UI doesn't suck.

 

[Vehtemas]

I'm most definitely considering it, actually, I'm getting it.

It'll get ROM'd eventually, and the new UI doesn't suck.

I am getting the Bionic, mostly cause my OG Droid bit the dust and the week I will have to deal with my black berry from work will be hell!!!

But beyond that, yes Bionic all the way

 

[rossman26]

Absolutely not considering it until it is unlocked,period!

Why?

I see these absolute statements all the time and I guess I just don't understand your position. Unfortunately, most of the statements such as yours offer little or no real reasoning behind the decision.

I'm not attacking you, I'm just asking for clarification to better understand why the unlocked phone is of such supreme importance to you and those like you.

 

[Vehtemas]

Why?

I see these absolute statements all the time and I guess I just don't understand your position. Unfortunately, most of the statements such as yours offer little or no real reasoning behind the decision.

I'm not attacking you, I'm just asking for clarification to better understand why the unlocked phone is of such supreme importance to you and those like you.

Unlocked bootloader allows one to root their phone and get amazing control and capabilities with it.

The biggest thing I will miss without rooting is backing up the OS...

But, the other specs should make up for it.

 

[tehsusenoh]

Unlocked bootloader allows one to root their phone and get amazing control and capabilities with it.

The biggest thing I will miss without rooting is backing up the OS...

But, the other specs should make up for it.

Well, you can most definitely root a device without it being unlocked.

The Bionic is already rooted!

 

[rossman26]

Unlocked bootloader allows one to root their phone and get amazing control and capabilities with it.

The biggest thing I will miss without rooting is backing up the OS...

But, the other specs should make up for it.

I understand what you've written and I think I have a fairly good grasp on the value of rooting/unlocking.

I guess I'm more interested in the reasoning behind totally writing off certain phones solely for the reason they're not unlocked. I find the repeated absolutist statement of 'I'm not buying phone 'x' unless it has an unlocked bootloader!!1!' interesting and I guess I just don't get it.

There are a certain percentage of people who post here and on other forums who are vehement about not purchasing a phone if it's not unlocked and I am trying to understand why. Is it a philosophical thing because they disagree with the locking of bootloaders and think all phones should be open, is it a control thing and they like to have total control over their phones, is it a protest type reaction to the fact that Moto came out and said they were going to release unlocked phones and have as of yet, failed to do so in the majority of cases? A combination of competing issues?

It has been reported that the Bionic has been rooted and there is a lot of speculation as to the unlocking and when that may or may not occur. I would think this is encouraging and that the possibility of unlocking the bootloader in the future is good but then again, I'm not technically involved with that side.

I'm of the camp that I have a good, but old and slow phone which I desperately need to replace and I'm getting the Bionic. if it's unlocked at some point down the road, cool. If not, I'll live with it because a far better phone with a locked bootloader is still much better than my D1 now.

Again, just to make sure it's clear, I'm not attacking anyone's point of view but rather trying to encourage discussion and clarification.

 

[Jeffery]

I understand what you've written and I think I have a fairly good grasp on the value of rooting/unlocking.

I guess I'm more interested in the reasoning behind totally writing off certain phones solely for the reason they're not unlocked. I find the repeated absolutist statement of 'I'm not buying phone 'x' unless it has an unlocked bootloader!!1!' interesting and I guess I just don't get it.

There are a certain percentage of people who post here and on other forums who are vehement about not purchasing a phone if it's not unlocked and I am trying to understand why. Is it a philosophical thing because they disagree with the locking of bootloaders and think all phones should be open, is it a control thing and they like to have total control over their phones, is it a protest type reaction to the fact that Moto came out and said they were going to release unlocked phones and have as of yet, failed to do so in the majority of cases? A combination of competing issues?

It has been reported that the Bionic has been rooted and there is a lot of speculation as to the unlocking and when that may or may not occur. I would think this is encouraging and that the possibility of unlocking the bootloader in the future is good but then again, I'm not technically involved with that side.

I'm of the camp that I have a good, but old and slow phone which I desperately need to replace and I'm getting the Bionic. if it's unlocked at some point down the road, cool. If not, I'll live with it because a far better phone with a locked bootloader is still much better than my D1 now.

Again, just to make sure it's clear, I'm not attacking anyone's point of view but rather trying to encourage discussion and clarification.

A bootloader is usually locked on an Android device because although it

 

[HanSolo]

I know a lot of people are angry that Bionic might have a locked bootloader, but I don't see the big deal either.

Unless the UI is REALLY bad, like MotoBlur used to be (I've heard this latest iteration isn't too bad), I could see why you'd want to unlock it and get rid of that garbage.

But whenever I get my phone, the only thing I'll probably be interested in is getting rid of bloatware such as VCast, Blockbuster, etc. Since the Bionic is already rooted, you'll most likely be able to use some form of Gingerbreak or something to just freeze and/or remove anything you want from the App drawer.

 

[cereal killer]

I understand what you've written and I think I have a fairly good grasp on the value of rooting/unlocking.

I guess I'm more interested in the reasoning behind totally writing off certain phones solely for the reason they're not unlocked. I find the repeated absolutist statement of 'I'm not buying phone 'x' unless it has an unlocked bootloader!!1!' interesting and I guess I just don't get it.

There are a certain percentage of people who post here and on other forums who are vehement about not purchasing a phone if it's not unlocked and I am trying to understand why. Is it a philosophical thing because they disagree with the locking of bootloaders and think all phones should be open, is it a control thing and they like to have total control over their phones, is it a protest type reaction to the fact that Moto came out and said they were going to release unlocked phones and have as of yet, failed to do so in the majority of cases? A combination of competing issues?

It has been reported that the Bionic has been rooted and there is a lot of speculation as to the unlocking and when that may or may not occur. I would think this is encouraging and that the possibility of unlocking the bootloader in the future is good but then again, I'm not technically involved with that side.

I'm of the camp that I have a good, but old and slow phone which I desperately need to replace and I'm getting the Bionic. if it's unlocked at some point down the road, cool. If not, I'll live with it because a far better phone with a locked bootloader is still much better than my D1 now.

Again, just to make sure it's clear, I'm not attacking anyone's point of view but rather trying to encourage discussion and clarification.

without getting too technical an unlocked bootloader affords TOTAL freedom with your handset. You can flash all types of ROMS and custom kernels. Built from source or not. Mash-ups of this that and everything else. TOTAL freedom.....

With an unlocked bootloader you get the keys to the Kingdom with a locked bootloader you get the keys to the Garage.

 

[bigbabys]

This thread is full of vague explanations so let me see if I can clear things up a bit.

Firstly: A locked bootloader does not mean no custom roms. I am on a custom rom right now on my locked bootloader Droid X.

A locked bootloader simply means you can't have a custom kernel. This means that the dev community has to base their roms off of the stock kernel for that phone. This greatly limits things that can be achieved. It also increased chances of "bricking" your phone significantly. However tools such as an SBF make this almost impossible, and all it takes it patience to do whatever you would like. All the locked bootloader actually does is slow down the process because devs can (and in my opinion always will) find a workaround. For example the Photon's bootloader encryption has been cracked. And the Droid X has fabulous custom kernels using a very complicated system known as 2nd-Init.

My guess is the majority of those people up in arms about a locked bootloader, probably don't know what it actually hinders. Perhaps they think their phone can't be rooted and must remain stock. This is very far from the truth because as posted above, the Bionic is ALREADY ROOTED.

However, that being said, there is another group of people I assume are up in arms about the locked bootloader and are on the other end of the spectrum. They know every little thing the locked bootloader prevents them from doing and they are either:

1. Convinced it won't be bypassed, and can't stand the thought of a "Blur-based" rom as they have been called as of late.

2. As stated above, find it morally wrong to lock something that is their property, and would rather go with a company that is more involved with the developement community.

At the end of the day, I think the bootloader should be so far down on a list of things to not like about a phone. In a perfect world a locked bootloader would have never existed. But a phone as powerful as the Bionic will be amazing for anyone to use. And in time, there *will* be custom roms for it, and I'm sure they will be great.

 

[rossman26]

Thanks Big, that's the best summation I've seen yet and I think you're on target.

I appreciate the dialogue from everyone, excellent information from all.

 

[Jeffery]

This thread is full of vague explanations so let me see if I can clear things up a bit.

Firstly: A locked bootloader does not mean no custom roms. I am on a custom rom right now on my locked bootloader Droid X.

A locked bootloader simply means you can't have a custom kernel. This means that the dev community has to base their roms off of the stock kernel for that phone. This greatly limits things that can be achieved. It also increased chances of "bricking" your phone significantly. However tools such as an SBF make this almost impossible, and all it takes it patience to do whatever you would like. All the locked bootloader actually does is slow down the process because devs can (and in my opinion always will) find a workaround. For example the Photon's bootloader encryption has been cracked. And the Droid X has fabulous custom kernels using a very complicated system known as 2nd-Init.

My guess is the majority of those people up in arms about a locked bootloader, probably don't know what it actually hinders. Perhaps they think their phone can't be rooted and must remain stock. This is very far from the truth because as posted above, the Bionic is ALREADY ROOTED.

However, that being said, there is another group of people I assume are up in arms about the locked bootloader and are on the other end of the spectrum. They know every little thing the locked bootloader prevents them from doing and they are either:

1. Convinced it won't be bypassed, and can't stand the thought of a "Blur-based" rom as they have been called as of late.

2. As stated above, find it morally wrong to lock something that is their property, and would rather go with a company that is more involved with the developement community.

At the end of the day, I think the bootloader should be so far down on a list of things to not like about a phone. In a perfect world a locked bootloader would have never existed. But a phone as powerful as the Bionic will be amazing for anyone to use. And in time, there *will* be custom roms for it, and I'm sure they will be great.

Thanks for the clarification... I should know better than to post what I posted previously considering I installed custom ROMs on both my brother and father's DXs.

 

[messenger13]

A locked bootloader simply means you can't have a custom kernel.

Bingo! You hit the nail on the head. And on my OG DROID, it's a much bigger deal than on a dual-core 1GHz equipped phone. I really didn't "want" a custom kernel on my OG DROID ... but the poor thing was just under-powered. I don't think the Bionic will need a custom kernel. While I am a ROM flashing maniac, I do like sticking to stock things when I can. I see value in them, so long as they just work.

 

[tehsusenoh]

Bingo! You hit the nail on the head. And on my OG DROID, it's a much bigger deal than on a dual-core 1GHz equipped phone. I really didn't "want" a custom kernel on my OG DROID ... but the poor thing was just under-powered. I don't think the Bionic will need a custom kernel. While I am a ROM flashing maniac, I do like sticking to stock things when I can. I see value in them, so long as they just work.

The only reason I'd really want to change kernels is to get one that implements iptables and the like, for tethering.

 

[Sportster]

Tethering is the main reason. The other main reason is freedom to use whatever ROM I want. As slow as manufacturers are to update their systems, I want the freedom to do and put whatever I want when I want on the unit. I'm not at all saying I don't like the Bionic or want it. I'd be happy with it as long as the screen is very good which is another thing I need to see on it. Right now I'm running MIUI on my Droid and love it. I don't need a company telling me 'you'll run this and like it'. No...I won't..thanks....

 

[tehsusenoh]

Tethering is the main reason. The other main reason is freedom to use whatever ROM I want. As slow as manufacturers are to update their systems, I want the freedom to do and put whatever I want when I want on the unit. I'm not at all saying I don't like the Bionic or want it. I'd be happy with it as long as the screen is very good which is another thing I need to see on it. Right now I'm running MIUI on my Droid and love it. I don't need a company telling me 'you'll run this and like it'. No...I won't..thanks....

Agreed, but I don't like MIUI. Too... iPhoney.