01
May
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[Updated: Q&A] Dan Rosenberg Has Unlocked AT&T Galaxy S4's Bootloader, But We Won't Get To See How For A While - Here Is Why

Posted by in AT&T, Development, Galaxy S4, News, Samsung

It was only yesterday that Cyanogen definitively confirmed AT&T's treacherous move to lock down the Galaxy S4's bootloader, but there is light at the end of that tunnel. No thanks to AT&T but to security researcher extraordinaire and a person I admire Dan Rosenberg, a.k.a. the magician, a.k.a. the root whisperer.

Dan, who is responsible for numerous root and unlock exploits, tweeted this photo of his Galaxy S4 earlier today:

unlock

There are no instructions or blog posts explaining the unlock at Dan's blog yet - these should be coming in the future. When, you might ask? This part is not decided just yet, for a good reason (put down your pitchforks).

16
Sep
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The Kindle Fire HD And Second Gen Kindle Fire Both Have Locked Bootloaders

Posted by in Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD, News

So, you were thinking about picking up a Kindle Fire HD, rooting it, and throwing a ROM on it for an impressive $200 tablet? Turns out that idea may not work out as well as we initially thought: both the Kindle Fire HD and the second gen KF have locked bootloaders. Bummer.

This may not mean that custom ROMs are impossible on these devices, only that it's more improbable.

For those who may not know, the bootloader is responsible for checking the firmware's signature before a device boots. In this case, if it doesn't match what Amazon says it should, then it simply won't do anything.

15
Jul
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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".

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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
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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.

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).

02
Jan
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ASUS Transformer Prime's Bootloader Is Locked And Encrypted, User Rage Ensues

Posted by in Eee Pad Transformer Prime, News

Forget about GPS issues, it looks like ASUS has a bigger problem on its hand with the Transformer Prime: a locked/encrypted bootloader. Like with other devices, as soon as the development community found out about this, there were some rather irritated people. The typical backlash against the company has now started on popular social networking sites, along with a petition that has managed to get over 200 signatures in just a few hours.

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This is definitely not the type of publicity that ASUS wants surrounding the world's first quad-core tablet, and users are hoping that the Taiwanese manufacturer will eventually reverse its decision and open the device.

18
Oct
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Motorola Droid RAZR Bootloader Locked, But Are You Really Surprised?

Posted by in News, RAZR / RAZR MAXX

It was inevitable that the question is the bootloader locked? would pop up within minutes of Moto's RAZR announcement. The answer should come as a shocker to no one: Yes. According to Moto's Twitter, the bootloader will indeed be locked. It's not necessarily Motorola's choice, though, as the tweet specifically states that "the bootloader was locked per the carrier" Oh snap -- it was all Verizon's fault.

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What does this mean for future Big Red devices? Who knows -- perhaps they'll be putting the smack down on manufactures moving forward. Then again, that statement may be Moto trying to dodge a few bullets.

05
Aug
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How-To: Manually Update Your Verizon 3G XOOM To Android 3.2 HTJ85B (Rooted Or Unrooted, With Locked Or Unlocked Bootloaders)

Posted by in Development, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, News, Tablets, XOOM

The Android 3.2 update for the Verizon 3G (soon-to-be 4G) XOOM can be flashed right now, before it hits your device over-the-air.

Custom Recovery

If you've flashed a custom recovery (and gave up the warranty), you can find update instructions over at MDW - in this case, you don't need our instructions below. This option is good for those with unlocked bootloaders (though if you're rooted, it seems the only update option right now is to install a pre-rooted update which will wipe your device).

Stock Recovery - Unrooted, Locked Bootloader

However, if you decided that unlocking the bootloader is not worth voiding your warranty or simply don't feel comfortable unlocking, you can still install the update before Verizon decides to push it to you, using the stock recovery.

07
Jul
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Confirmed: Motorola Droid 3 Has Locked Bootloader

Posted by in Droid 3, News, Verizon Wireless

All of Motorola's recent devices (save for the XOOM) have featured bootloaders that are locked down like Fort Knox, and despite publicly stating that they would be reversing that policy,  the company has yet to take any action. Although they stated they wouldn't begin making bootloaders unlockable until late 2011, many people held out hope for the newly-released Droid 3. An apparently lost hope, unfortunately, as a Motorola Support forum admin has confirmed that the hot new Droid is as locked as its brethren.

Motorola painted a big bull's eye on itself when it started locking bootloaders, and now the company is certainly taking its time remedying the situation.

27
May
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So You Want To Know About Bootloaders, Encryption, Signing, And Locking? Let Me Explain

Posted by 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.

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