Locked down bootloader? Blame the carrier

[trophynuts]

So with the news of late about the RAZR bootloader situation. Can you still bash Moto for it's locked bootloaders? My opinion is no you can't. I always knew this was a carrier issue. The news lately has pretty much confirmed that.


Thoughts anyone?

 

[Hrethgir]

Link to that news you are talking about?

 

[jerofld]

Yay for 5 seconds and Google search:

RAZR Will Have Option for Unlocked Bootloader, But Not for Verizon

And Eh...other devices on Verizon have unlocked bootloaders. Moto is just being cowardly about it. Imagine if the Prime/Galaxy Nexus came out with a locked bootloader? Yeah, that wouldn't fly too well.

 

[trophynuts]

Motorola Offers Unlocked Bootloader Tool For Droid RAZR, Verizon Removes It | TechCrunch


RAZR Gets Unlocked Bootloader? But U.S. Users Can't Have It | TechnoBuffalo


Yes Folks, the DROID RAZR is Unlockable Everywhere in the World But the U.S. - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog


lol three more links if you want to read them. Its been all over twitter for the last two days as well. ....everyone is pretty much Bashing the crap out of VZW now

 

[ardchoille]

Whose fault is it that we cannot alter our phones the way we want?

For many Android fans, tinkering around with devices is one of the most fun advantages of the platform (rooting, ROMs, etc.). This is why locked bootloaders have always been a problem for true believers of Android

 

[xmr405o]

Motorola actually eluded to this when the Xoom was being demo'd. They had said that it would be carrier choice to have the bootloader unlocked. I've always thought it was VZW's bright idea to lock up the phones. I stopped blaming the manufacturers a long time ago.

IMO, wireless tethering is probably the biggest reason why they choose to lock up the phones. I don't think they can care less if people decided to delete their apps or overclock the device but wireless tethering is there main reason for doing this. So I understand why VZW and other carriers do this but I'm still not a fan of their choice.

 

[Yeahha]

Except for lines grandfathered into unlimited data then wireless tethering is legal on VZW now IIRC. I think once we get a better look at the nexus on VZW and see if they implemented checks to prevent rooting on it as well we will really know how much pull VZW has over the OEM. At this point I am not ready to say it is all VZW even with how the current news is coming in.

 

[VoidedSaint]

It is Illegal for Verizon to Lock Some Bootloaders | xda-developers

check this out, and fill out the appropriate information on the fcc filing page

 

[xmr405o]

Except for lines grandfathered into unlimited data then wireless tethering is legal on VZW now IIRC. I think once we get a better look at the nexus on VZW and see if they implemented checks to prevent rooting on it as well we will really know how much pull VZW has over the OEM. At this point I am not ready to say it is all VZW even with how the current news is coming in.

I didn't know it was legal on VZW if you are on a unlimited data to wireless tether without being on the appropriate plan?

I think it's mostly VZW and other carriers but you may be right about OEMs wanting some kind of bootloader protection to protect their proprietary software.

 

[zuben el genub]

Are the carriers getting kickbacks from the installed junk?

I've seen complaints about Verizon offering data hogging programs, and then limiting data or forcing a more expensive plan.
So if you have a program that automatically updates everything at anytime, you can't limit it? More $ for Verizon?

 

[Yeahha]

I didn't know it was legal on VZW if you are on a unlimited data to wireless tether without being on the appropriate plan?

I think it's mostly VZW and other carriers but you may be right about OEMs wanting some kind of bootloader protection to protect their proprietary software.

Sorry I wasn't clear. If you are on a tiered plan with VZW then you can tether as far as I know. The idea being you will pay for 5GB to use and tether freely with but not 2 GB for the phone and 3 to tether with. There may be something I have missed because I am on the unlimited plan but I seem to recall this cycling around a few weeks ago on phandroid and in the vzw forums.

 

[trophynuts]

Thanks for posting that Article VS that was a good read.

makes me wonder if Moto/VZW have a deal worked out or what.

I wonder if any of that will change in about 12 months from now after Google owns Moto for a while.

 

[VZW_CS]

Sorry I wasn't clear. If you are on a tiered plan with VZW then you can tether as far as I know. The idea being you will pay for 5GB to use and tether freely with but not 2 GB for the phone and 3 to tether with. There may be something I have missed because I am on the unlimited plan but I seem to recall this cycling around a few weeks ago on phandroid and in the vzw forums.

Hello and thanks for the information. I would like to add to it, if I may. Below is some clarifiction on the Hotspot feature and data usage.

The 2 GB data allowance ($20.00 monthly) for the Mobile Hotspot feature will be added to the data allowance of any of our currently offered data plans for a combined total data allowance to be used when tethering and/or utilizing data on your Smartphone when not tethered.

For example, if you have the 2 GB Smartphone data package and the Mobile Hotspot feature, you will have 4 GB of data to use. If you exceed the total allowance, a $10.00 charge will apply and you will receive an entire GB of additional data to use.

To determine your data usage approximations, please visit the following link:

www.verizonwireless.com/datacalculator

If you would like to add the Mobile Hotspot feature to your line, please sign in to

 

[!on]

Hardware should be like software & be "open source".... or should it?

I think how it is now, is about right. The manufacturers are looking after their intellectual property & keeping out nasty hackers, some of which might do something... nasty. But then later on things loosen up a little, it's the same with iOS, when we have to wait for a hack from some "honest devs".

Personally I think it's OK to wait & read up on stuff. The phones weren't designed that way & all this hacking stuff is an obsessive hobby for some. It's a phone . I'll do custom roms or modding AFTER reading all about & ONLY if it will be of some benefit. So many threads about X latest custom rom & this or that feature still not working or perfect. I got better things to worry about than flashing my phone every night

 

[Yeahha]

Hardware should be like software & be "open source".... or should it?

I think how it is now, is about right. The manufacturers are looking after their intellectual property & keeping out nasty hackers, some of which might do something... nasty. But then later on things loosen up a little, it's the same with iOS, when we have to wait for a hack from some "honest devs".

Personally I think it's OK to wait & read up on stuff. The phones weren't designed that way & all this hacking stuff is an obsessive hobby for some. It's a phone . I'll do custom roms or modding AFTER reading all about & ONLY if it will be of some benefit. So many threads about X latest custom rom & this or that feature still not working or perfect. I got better things to worry about than flashing my phone every night

It sounds like you are just not the right cantidate for rooting. Some of us like customizations that can't be done on a non-rooted phone. If you are happy with your phone being stock and don't care about any part of what goes on with rooting or what you can do with roms then just don't root your phone but why shouldn't I be allowed to root and customize mine how I want to because it doesn't interest you?