It's Now or Never with Motorola

[Darkseider]

I apologize if this is the wrong forum for this post. My suggestion is to write a letter or email to Motorola showing your displeasure in their decision. I also strongly suggest, regardless of whether or not it is upgrade time or not, to NOT purchase the Droid X or any future Motorola products. For that matter make it a point to tell everyone you know that looks to you for tech advice to avoid the Droid X and Motorola products. Point them to products that are known to be open and available for root w/ an unencrypted boot loader even if they never intend to do anything with it. All companies, Motorola being no exception, listen when people vote with their wallets.

Now is the time to make that statement otherwise we will never see a device as great as the original Droid ever come out from Motorola. Take the 5 minutes to write that email, be polite and simply state no more Motorola for you and anyone you can speak to that will listen to you. Make sure that those you speak to pass that message along. Motorola was saved by the Droid and now they are snubbing those same people that lead to the success of said product. Again, please take 5 minutes and write an email to Motorola showing you disgust in this decision and if ever asked about the Droid X or any future Motorola's simply tell those persons to stay away from them and point them to a more open product. Also ask them, if they would, to spread the same advice to those that ask them.

 

[gonnadie4thegov]

Yeah because they are going to listen....

I wouldn't be surprised if HTC, Samsung, etc will follow suit down the road. I'm pretty sure the main reason they are locking the bootloader down so tight now is for data. I know Verizon is not happy about us and others wifi tethering for free using our custom kernals and data instead of paying for their service.

But how about you wait until more phones come out to know if Motorola, Google, And Verizon have fully decided to lock down all the bootloaders.

I havent done a ton of research on it but i know AT&T has "unknown sources" apps blocked out of their phones. I dunno how hard it is to get around but it still is crap for having an open source platform.

 

[Darkseider]

Yeah because they are going to listen....

I wouldn't be surprised if HTC, Samsung, etc will follow suit down the road. I'm pretty sure the main reason they are locking the bootloader down so tight now is for data. I know Verizon is not happy about us and others wifi tethering for free using our custom kernals and data instead of paying for their service.

But how about you wait until more phones come out to know if Motorola, Google, And Verizon have fully decided to lock down all the bootloaders.

I havent done a ton of research on it but i know AT&T has "unknown sources" apps blocked out of their phones. I dunno how hard it is to get around but it still is crap for having an open source platform.

They will listen. Every email and every sale denied them is one more reason for Motorola to listen. The more product sales I can deny Motorola from this point forward by using my voice is a step in the right direction. People need to stop accepting it because "That's just how it is". Speak out, vote with your wallet and encourage others to do the same.

 

[droidman101]

Yeah because they are going to listen....

I wouldn't be surprised if HTC, Samsung, etc will follow suit down the road. I'm pretty sure the main reason they are locking the bootloader down so tight now is for data. I know Verizon is not happy about us and others wifi tethering for free using our custom kernals and data instead of paying for their service.

But how about you wait until more phones come out to know if Motorola, Google, And Verizon have fully decided to lock down all the bootloaders.

I havent done a ton of research on it but i know AT&T has "unknown sources" apps blocked out of their phones. I dunno how hard it is to get around but it still is crap for having an open source platform.

They will listen. Every email and every sale denied them is one more reason for Motorola to listen. The more product sales I can deny Motorola from this point forward by using my voice is a step in the right direction. People need to stop accepting it because "That's just how it is". Speak out, vote with your wallet and encourage others to do the same.

The problem isn't that they WON'T listen, the problem is that they won't do ANYTHING about it. Here's the point: they want less problems with "bricked" phones and want vzw to like them more than HTC. But once the droid X comes out, they will see there will be many more actual bricks from the stupid hardware suicide from devs trying to break through to the bootloader and since they can't tell if they really were trying to do anything to the phone or not, they will have to replace it because of the one-year warranty. And since the phone is gonna be around $600 they are going to get pissed and realize it was just cheaper to have people semi-brick they're phones that they fix with bootloader than have to replace a fully bricked phone.

 

[jntdroid]

DS, I respect your passion for this (I'm dead serious, no sarcasm), but what percentage of the million+ Droid purchasers flash different ROMs? And this doesn't mean no root access (albeit, it'll be more difficult), just no ROMs, so I really don't think Moto will care that much. Plus, whether we like it or not, they're still trying to appeal to the majority, not the minority - it's all business. And the majority will want a seamless, unified, smooth product, but one that is still "open", at least relative to other major smartphones.

 

[wingsabr]

DS, I respect your passion for this (I'm dead serious, no sarcasm), but what percentage of the million+ Droid purchasers flash different ROMs? And this doesn't mean no root access (albeit, it'll be more difficult), just no ROMs, so I really don't think Moto will care that much. Plus, whether we like it or not, they're still trying to appeal to the majority, not the minority - it's all business. And the majority will want a seamless, unified, smooth product, but one that is still "open", at least relative to other major smartphones.

as hard as this is to say, I agree with you. I mean look at the iSheep. Most of them just buy and want it to be easy to use. I'd like to think that our small corner of the internet could influence decisions like this, but I doubt it. Live on forever motodroid!!!

 

[alm0614]

Yeah because they are going to listen....

I wouldn't be surprised if HTC, Samsung, etc will follow suit down the road. I'm pretty sure the main reason they are locking the bootloader down so tight now is for data. I know Verizon is not happy about us and others wifi tethering for free using our custom kernals and data instead of paying for their service.

But how about you wait until more phones come out to know if Motorola, Google, And Verizon have fully decided to lock down all the bootloaders.

I havent done a ton of research on it but i know AT&T has "unknown sources" apps blocked out of their phones. I dunno how hard it is to get around but it still is crap for having an open source platform.

They will listen. Every email and every sale denied them is one more reason for Motorola to listen. The more product sales I can deny Motorola from this point forward by using my voice is a step in the right direction. People need to stop accepting it because "That's just how it is". Speak out, vote with your wallet and encourage others to do the same.

The problem isn't that they WON'T listen, the problem is that they won't do ANYTHING about it. Here's the point: they want less problems with "bricked" phones and want vzw to like them more than HTC. But once the droid X comes out, they will see there will be many more actual bricks from the stupid hardware suicide from devs trying to break through to the bootloader and since they can't tell if they really were trying to do anything to the phone or not, they will have to replace it because of the one-year warranty. And since the phone is gonna be around $600 they are going to get pissed and realize it was just cheaper to have people semi-brick they're phones that they fix with bootloader than have to replace a fully bricked phone.

Bricked phone? find me one person who has fully bricked an android phone?

 

[Darkseider]

Let me put this into another perspective then. Regardless if you or anyone else roots a phone or installs a custom ROM the ability to do so should remain unchanged. What Motorola is doing by encrypting the boot loader and putting an Efuse on it is more or less telling you, the consumer, that the money you spent on their phone is a "right to use" the device rather than "right to OWN" the device. Which by all respectable standards is absolute B.S.

 

[bamfsig45]

They will listen. Every email and every sale denied them is one more reason for Motorola to listen. The more product sales I can deny Motorola from this point forward by using my voice is a step in the right direction. People need to stop accepting it because "That's just how it is". Speak out, vote with your wallet and encourage others to do the same.

The problem isn't that they WON'T listen, the problem is that they won't do ANYTHING about it. Here's the point: they want less problems with "bricked" phones and want vzw to like them more than HTC. But once the droid X comes out, they will see there will be many more actual bricks from the stupid hardware suicide from devs trying to break through to the bootloader and since they can't tell if they really were trying to do anything to the phone or not, they will have to replace it because of the one-year warranty. And since the phone is gonna be around $600 they are going to get pissed and realize it was just cheaper to have people semi-brick they're phones that they fix with bootloader than have to replace a fully bricked phone.

Bricked phone? find me one person who has fully bricked an android phone?

With the Droid X it could happen with hacking attempts and no Recovery method.

 

[jntdroid]

Let me put this into another perspective then. Regardless if you or anyone else roots a phone or installs a custom ROM the ability to do so should remain unchanged. What Motorola is doing by encrypting the boot loader and putting an Efuse on it is more or less telling you, the consumer, that the money you spent on their phone is a "right to use" the device rather than "right to OWN" the device. Which by all respectable standards is absolute B.S.

That's a good point - kind of like the good ol' car analogy. I sure wouldn't want my dealer telling me I can't put a new engine in the car if I want to (not that I'd have a clue how!).

I guess part of the problem is that, in America anyway, the phones are so tied to the service and the carrier, that the public's perception is not one of true ownership, like a car, or a home, or whatever. I guess technology and electronics, such as our phones, are so new (in the bigger historical picture) that our culture is not accustomed to thinking of them as something that can even be customized. Most people know you can do whatever you want to your car if you're willing to go to the trouble, same with a house, or a boat, or even a computer nowadays to a certain extent. But the thought of that on a phone doesn't even really enter into people's minds; therefore, any limitations on that possibility also don't enter into anybody's minds.

 

[WoZzY]

nothing is ever locked completly

give the android devs enough time they will figure it out ....just like the iphone devs figured how to jailbreak the iphone 3gs as it took them close to 7 months but they did it so just chill & to touch base on the email thing you will have better Luck complaining to walmart dude really any big company knows you lose 2 customers you gain 30 more so yeah lol

but you give the devs enough time dude they will get it & also dont forget to support the devs as they do this for free & in there spare time

 

[Darkseider]

Let me put this into another perspective then. Regardless if you or anyone else roots a phone or installs a custom ROM the ability to do so should remain unchanged. What Motorola is doing by encrypting the boot loader and putting an Efuse on it is more or less telling you, the consumer, that the money you spent on their phone is a "right to use" the device rather than "right to OWN" the device. Which by all respectable standards is absolute B.S.

That's a good point - kind of like the good ol' car analogy. I sure wouldn't want my dealer telling me I can't put a new engine in the car if I want to (not that I'd have a clue how!).

I guess part of the problem is that, in America anyway, the phones are so tied to the service and the carrier, that the public's perception is not one of true ownership, like a car, or a home, or whatever. I guess technology and electronics, such as our phones, are so new (in the bigger historical picture) that our culture is not accustomed to thinking of them as something that can even be customized. Most people know you can do whatever you want to your car if you're willing to go to the trouble, same with a house, or a boat, or even a computer nowadays to a certain extent. But the thought of that on a phone doesn't even really enter into people's minds; therefore, any limitations on that possibility also don't enter into anybody's minds.

Point is that these are no longer just phones. They are fully functional handheld computers that can make phone calls. The fact that a Nexus, Droid, etc... can not only run Android but Linux as well and more than likely Meego goes to show that this statement is true. These devices have far surpassed the computing power of most low end netbooks from two years ago. Why then should we be limited to what we can do with our own devices? I am now wondering if there are any legal ramifications to this? Simply put knowing that the device is capable of running multiple operating systems can the manufacturer dictate what can and cannot be run on it? Just like you cannot be forced to run Windows, Linux, BSD etc... on your hardware and you cannot be told to keep the default OS load and factory bloat does the same apply to a "smartphone"? Looks like it may be time for me to write some more letters to find out.

 

[diverbelow]

give the android devs enough time they will figure it out ....just like the iphone devs figured how to jailbreak the iphone 3gs as it took them close to 7 months but they did it so just chill & to touch base on the email thing you will have better Luck complaining to walmart dude really any big company knows you lose 2 customers you gain 30 more so yeah lol

but you give the devs enough time dude they will get it & also dont forget to support the devs as they do this for free & in there spare time

But with the Milestone, the devs still have not gotten passed the boot loader. They have tried and even asked Motorola for help.

 

[droidman101]

give the android devs enough time they will figure it out ....just like the iphone devs figured how to jailbreak the iphone 3gs as it took them close to 7 months but they did it so just chill & to touch base on the email thing you will have better Luck complaining to walmart dude really any big company knows you lose 2 customers you gain 30 more so yeah lol

but you give the devs enough time dude they will get it & also dont forget to support the devs as they do this for free & in there spare time

But with the Milestone, the devs still have not gotten passed the boot loader. They have tried and even asked Motorola for help.

Last time I checked, they were really close. This is way different though because as soon as the phone sees that bootloader, recovery, or OS has changed, it will brick itself. The only way people have found a way around this is to go into the phone and remove something, then rewire it, and then try to get through to bootloader. Once they get through to the bootloader they'll have to flash a recovery and then, finallly, they'll have a chance to develop and use roms. This will take around a year at least.

 

[jntdroid]

The only way people have found a way around this is to go into the phone and remove something, then rewire it, and then try to get through to bootloader. Once they get through to the bootloader they'll have to flash a recovery and then, finallly, they'll have a chance to develop and use roms. This will take around a year at least.

I can see the thread titles now...

"Help - My phone is bricked! Accidentally spliced the wrong wire... Can I reflash the .sbf to fix this?"