bootloader - 7/9 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

Motorola To Unlock Atrix 4G Bootloader With Gingerbread Update? Looks Like It.

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in AT&T, Motorola, News

Notch another victory for the Android community: shortly after Motorola publicly stated they would be moving towards unlockable bootloaders - even retroactively where possible - it appears that the Gingerbread update for the Atrix does just that. Brief Mobile laid hands on a leaked early build of the Android 2.3.3 update, and to their delight, found that unlocking the bootloader was as simple as using a simple console command.

^{I hereby declare this the poster child for "Mr. Blurrycam" photos.}

It's worth pointing out that, according to Brief Mobile, this is an early build of the update. As such, there's a possibility that Motorola simply left the bootloader unlocked for developer use, and the final update will maintain the locked bootloader.

Jun

[Video] DROID Incredible 2 Bootloader Unlocked [S-OFF] By AlphaRev Team

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, HTC, Incredible 2 (Vivow), News, Videos

Well, that was pretty fast, actually. The DROID Incredible 2 has successfully been unlocked by AlphaRev - that means 100% rooted and (soon) ROM-ready. Instructions and a download will follow soon - so hold tight, we'll keep you updated on this one.

YouTube

Jun

LG Revolution Gets ClockworkMod Recovery, But It's Not Ready - Yet

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, LG, News, Revolution

If you've been following the saga of attempts to get a custom recovery running on the LG Revolution, you might be aware things hadn't been going so well up until last night. Particularly because most attempts to load custom recoveries onto the Revo previously ended in bricked phones and nerdrage. Well, no more (sorry for the craptastic picture):

You'll have to take my word about that being an LG Revolution. It is. I pinky swear.

There's just one small, little problem left: getting out of recovery. The LG Revolution, while pretty much wide-open unlocked and ripe for customization (there's no signature checks or encryption at all), the way LG has coded its recovery has made it particularly difficult to load a custom recovery image without bricking or erasing the phone every time it's booted.

Jun

[Video] CyanogenMod 7 Ported To Motorola DROID X

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Droid X (Shadow), Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that cvpcs has achieved the impossible: he's thrown together (but not yet publicized) a build of CyanogenMod 7 that works on the Motorola DROID X!

Naturally, since no one but cvpcs has the firmware yet, there are still a few kinks that need to be ironed out before the ROM goes public - for example, GPS, 3G, Bluetooth, and the camera/camcorder have not been proven to work just yet, ~~and audio (including phone calls, speakers, the microphone, etc.) definitely isn't functional at the moment~~. However, as our own Justin Case put it, "If it boots, it can be fixed."

Update: cvpcs just tweeted that, with some help from Stephen Bird, he was able to fix the audio issue.

Jun

[Updated x2: False Alarm, It's Not True] Motorola Photon 4G To Ship With An Unlocked Bootloader

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Photon 4G

Update 2: Apparently, there were Moto reps spewing false information at the Sprint event today, because both Android Central and Droid-Life have received word that the Photon 4G will not ship with an unlocked bootloader. The statement that Motorola released was still rather cryptic, however:

Motorola has recognized the passion around this topic in our communities. As we’ve previously communicated, it is our intention to include the unlockable/relockable bootloader in software releases starting in late 2011, where operator and channel partners will allow it. However, this feature is not included in the software found on PHOTON 4G.

Droid-Life went on to get a second statement:

It will not contain the unlockable/relockable feature; additional details beyond that will be available when the product comes to market. As you mention, our intent is to enable this feature on devices later this year and we will share updates on that as they become available as well.

Jun

HTC: Sensation Bootloader Will Be Unlocked, We Just Don't Know How Or When

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in HTC, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)

A few weeks ago, the Android community notched another victory: HTC formally announced it would no longer be locking its bootloaders, though they hadn't really worked out all the details yet. Add another device to the "it won't be locked, we just don't know how or when" list: the HTC Sensation.

^{Ah, yes, the infamous alot. ಠ_ಠ}

The important bit of that wall of text:

We are currently developing new bootloader unlocked software for [the Sensation]. HTC is still committed to allowing our customers to unlock the bootloaders if they wish, however we are still implementing the policy and many updates were already finalized prior to our change in policy.

May

[Weekend Poll] What Manufacturer Will Your Next Device Be From?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Devices By Manufacturer, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week’s, see I/O 2011 Aftermath & Recap: What Has You Most Excited?

In light of this week's bootloader lockdown bonanza, it makes sense to ask something related. We know that as an Android-centric blog, our readers are likely to be a bit more hack-'n-mod oriented, so we're interested to see: who will manufacture your next device?

The "why" isn't crucial, though you're certainly encouraged to share your reasoning via the comments. Really, we're just interested in seeing how much HTC's new open policy has helped it, and how much Motorola's locked-down style is hurting it.

May

[Updated: Yes There Will Be] Verizon: There Won't Be Any Unlocked Devices On Our Network

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, HTC, News, Verizon Wireless

Update: Verizon has reneged on their previous tweet - unlocked HTC devices will be able to be activated on Verizon's network. Huzzah.

HTC may have switched to the good side, but that doesn't mean the Legion of Doom is finished. Far from it, in fact, as Verizon has taken ~~the wrong~~ a stance on the issue of locked bootloaders.

Admittedly, this may be a huge misunderstanding; perhaps the Verizon rep hasn't heard the big news about HTC yet, or the carrier simply hasn't had time to properly respond.

But if it is accurate... well, HTC and Verizon have a highly successful partnership with each other - so where does this leave things?

May

HTC CEO Confirms EVO 3D Will Have An Unlocked Bootloader One Way Or Another

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, News

Last night HTC announced that future devices would come with unlocked bootloaders via its Facebook page. Naturally, one of the first questions to arise from the community was "what about the EVO 3D?" To get an answer to that question, many users went straight to the source: HTC CEO Peter Chou. Here are a couple of the responses that we've seen:

So there you have it, directly from the horses' mouth - the EVO 3D will have an unlocked bootloader, although we're not entirely sure if it will ship that way or come via an OTA update later.

UPDATE: We've contacted Peter Chou about the status of the Sensation bootloader and will update if we hear something back.

May

So You Want To Know About Bootloaders, Encryption, Signing, And Locking? Let Me Explain

Posted by Ivo in Android OS, Development, Devices By Manufacturer, Tips & Tutorials

If you were ever wondering what bootloader encryption, signing, and locking actually meant, this post is for you.

My name is Ivo, and recently I posted this write-up on Reddit (check out the Android subreddit while you’re there!). The post gained quite a bit of traction, and to spread the word further, I'm now posting it here at Android Police. I hope it helps out those of you who are confused.

It’s necessary, if you want to talk about these issues, to get some cryptic terms out of the way, so we actually know what we’re talking about! If you want to find out more about these topics, just click on through to their respective Wikipedia articles.