What Does Unlockable Bootloader Get You?

[VingInMedina]

I have been wondering lately what is it that the unlockable bootloader in the Droid 1 gets you?

As this is the only Android phone I have ever owned, I have been really happy with the ability to root the phone; load different kernels; different ROMS, etc.. Since I will be replacing this phone in another eight months or so, I was just wondering what it was that I would no longer be able to do.

What is it that owners of the, say Droid X, are not able to do that I am able to do?

[spaz33g]

Can't flash kernals, can't fully flash a custom recovery

tappin and a talkin

[VingInMedina]

ok, so is it the Droid 1's unlocked bootloader what makes it possible to replace the recovery with SPRecovery or Clockwork? And with the replaced recovery we then have the ability to load in a new kernel or ROM?

So, following that thought, what is it that people are loading on their Droid X phones? Is just a theme?

[spaz33g]

No its a rom it just has to be based on the most recent system version and kernal from moto. In the beginning people were saying that there's no such thing as a custom rom for d2/x and it would only be a custom "userland" I think they were calling it. Well the deveelopers havee been making big advancements it how much they can do with the locked bootloader but it will never be quite the same as the d1

tappin and a talkin

[brando56894]

Youre correct in that the droids unlocked bootloader allows us to use SPR and CWM to flash custom kernels and roms. The device was setup this way, it was meant to happen.

As for the DX and the D2 the recovery console is accessed by hijacking the bootprocess so that it thinks something is wrong and goes to the recovery console instead of the OS. What people are flashing are custom roms, just not custom kernels.