15
Jul
galaxysiiiblue

Samsung's Developer Version Of The Galaxy S III Shows Up On Its Site In Pebble Blue, 32GB Flavor, "Coming Soon"

Posted by in Galaxy S III, News, Verizon Wireless

Verizon has taken some flack lately for being the only US carrier to lock the bootloader. Workarounds have been implemented, but Samsung's taken it a step further by announcing a developer version of the device. Today they...well, they haven't quite made good on that promise, but they have created a landing page for the device on their site that announces the 32GB Pebble Blue version will be "coming soon".

2012-07-15_22h40_29

It doesn't look like pre-orders are available yet, although we know the device will retail for $599 when it finally launches. Previously, Verizon had tried to claim that Samsung was responsible for the locked bootloader, but since virtually every other version of the device did not have a locked bootloader, and now Samsung is going out of its way to get an unlocked version in the hands of its customers, it's a little tough to stomach that idea.

10
Jul
image

Motorola: Atrix HD Will Have A Locked (Signed) Bootloader, "Our Goal Is To Provide A Way To Unlock … To Those Who Wish To Do So"

Posted by in AT&T, ATRIX HD, Development, Motorola, News

Those wondering whether Motorola's recently-announced Atrix HD will carry a locked bootloader can exhale – in a string of tweets earlier this evening, Moto confirmed that, yes, the Atrix HD's bootloader will be locked and signed.

That being said, Moto indicated that their "goal" is to provide a way to "unlock the bootloaders on our devices to those who wish to do so," adding that more details are "to come."

What this means for the end user is that (for now) customization of the Atrix HD will be severely limited.

09
Jul
wm_GALAXY S III Product Image (6)_B

Workaround To Bypass The Locked Bootloader On The Verizon Galaxy S III Allows Custom Kernels

Posted by in Galaxy S III, News, Verizon Wireless

Last night Samsung released the kernel source code for the Verizon Galaxy S III. While it's good that Samsung is making good on timely source releases, this particular bit of code didn't do a whole lot of good in way of GSIII development because of the VZW GSIII's locked bootloader. Fortunately, Team Epic has changed this with a new workaround called kexec hardboot (kernel execution hard boot) that should allow users to effectively "sideload" custom kernels without having to actually flash them on the device by bundling the kernel with the custom recovery.

To demonstrate that the workaround does indeed allow the VZW GSIII to use custom kernels, they also developed a proof-of-concept kernel built from source.

07
Jul
galaxysiiiblue

Verizon's Galaxy S III Has Been Rooted, Custom Recovery Flashed Despite Verizon's Lockdown

Posted by in Galaxy S III, News, Verizon Wireless

Of the four major US carriers to receive the Galaxy S III, Verizon is the only one to lock down the bootloader. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. Nevertheless, enterprising hackers over at XDA and RootzWiki have successfully managed to circumvent the lock, achieve root, and flash ClockworkMod recovery. If you're on Verizon and anticipating owning a Galaxy S III, congratulations: your phone is yours again.

The process is laid out on both sites. Achieving root seems to be a fairly simple process if you're familiar with Odin (a common, easy-to-use tool for flashing Samsung devices).

01
Jul
image

Having Trouble Rooting The Galaxy Nexus On Jelly Bean? Here's A Method That Works [How-To]

Posted by in Galaxy Nexus, Jelly Bean 4.1, Samsung, Tips & Tutorials
Last Updated: October 3rd, 2012

After upgrading my Galaxy Nexus (GSM) to Jelly Bean last night (I know, I know, I'm a few days late), I unlocked its bootloader (the usual fastboot oem unlock) and commenced rooting, which I thought would only take a minute or two. However, after almost 2 hours of pushing, flashing, rebooting, and trying no less than 5 different root methods, I still didn't have root. Something must have changed under the hood, and no root method I was trying was working (even PaulOBrien's SuperBoot).

Finally, I managed to find a solution that worked, and the familiar root permission prompt finally popped up.

24
May
ATTOneX_thumb

[Updated] AT&T HTC One X Bootloader Unlocked, Requires Root And Some Simple Command Line Work

Posted by in AT&T, Development, News, One X (Endeavor)

Warning: This will erase all data on your device. Back up any important information. We are not responsible for any damage, loss of data, or explosions that result.

Update: You can use this method to unlock the bootloader on version 1.85 if you root using the new exploit found by jcase.

After HTC basically pointed the finger at AT&T for the bootloader situation on the American version of the One X (which is technically the One XL), many an enthusiast voiced their disapproval. Now, a very clever XDA member (grankin01) has discovered how to unlock the bootloader of the beast using a simple but ingenious method - trick it into thinking it's from Canada.

22
May
01

ASUS Transformer Pad 300 Bootloader Unlock Tool Now Available

Posted by in ASUS, Development, News, Transformer Pad 300

Ask and you shall receive (apparently) - ASUS has just published the bootloader unlock utility for the Transformer Pad 300. You can download it here.

Version V7

Unlock Device App: Unlock boot loader.
Notice:
1. Only suitable for Andriod4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS version.
2. Before you download, install, and use the Unlock Device App you acknowledge and assume complete risk to the quality and performance of this App, including but not limited to the following: once you activate the App you will not be able to recover your ASUS product (“Original Product”) back to original locked conditions;the Original Product with the activated App will not be deemed the Original Product; the Revised Product will no longer be covered under the warranty of the Original Product; the software of Revised Product will no longer be deemed the software of the Original Product and can no longer receive ASUS software updates; your purchased digital content may also be affected.

18
May
galaxy-s-iii

Samsung Galaxy S III Rooted By Chainfire, Shows Samsung Is Still Cool With Unlockability

Posted by in Development, Galaxy S III, News

Even though the device hasn't even hit the street, noted Android developer Chainfire has obtained root on the Samsung Galaxy S III. Chainfire doesn't actually have the device in hand, so don't start berating him with questions on that matter. Rather, he got root on a firmware build that was leaked to him, and has a few juicy tidbits to share with everyone.

root remount

It appears that the Galaxy S III isn't going to be locked down in any significant way. All Chainfire had to do was repackage the kernel with a modified adb binary and install SuperUser manually. Samsung chose to use the standard boot.img kernel format as well.

04
May
oneex

AT&T's One X Left Out Of Bootloader Unlock Program – HTC Cites "Restrictions" As Reason For Cold Shoulder

Posted by in AT&T, HTC, News, One X (Endeavor)

After MoDaCo's recent report that HTC's Bootloader Unlock tool didn't work for AT&T's One X variant,  The Verge reached out to the Taiwanese manufacturer, and received a reply which suggested that the device has "restrictions" which prevent its bootloader from being unlockable:

HTC is committed to listening to users and delivering customer satisfaction. Since announcing our commitment to unlockable bootloaders, HTC has worked to enable our customers to unlock the bootloader on more than 45 devices over the past six months. In some cases, however, restrictions prevent certain devices from participating in our bootloader unlocking program. Rest assured, HTC is committed to assisting developers in unlocking bootloaders for HTC devices and we'll continue to unlock additional devices in the future."

Evidently, HTC has no current plans to unlock the bootloader of AT&T's One X, despite their persistent claims in the past that all future bootloaders would be unlockable.

22
Feb
cwm

[Download] ClockworkMod Recovery Now Available For The Transformer Prime, CM9 Teased As Well

Posted by in Eee Pad Transformer Prime, News

Well, that didn't take long. Not hours after ASUS released a tool to unlock the Transformer Prime's bootloader, we get word that ClockworkMod Recovery is available for the quad-core tablet. According to the source link, the team has been working on CWM for the Prime for a while but without an unlocked bootloader, they couldn't test it. Now that the device is wide open, it's time to get your custom recovery on.

cwmprime

As if that wasn't enough, though, the team behind the custom recovery is also teasing CyanogenMod 9 on the tablet. No downloads are available for this one, yet, but we get a nice two-minute demonstration of the tablet running the custom ROM.

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