Motorola Eases Up on Locked Bootloader Stance, Plans to Unlock Portfolio in 2011?

[sb1831]

Why would verizon want to stop it? I'm guessing so they would stop making changes to policies that people abuse; Return policy, the physical condition of your phone you're making a claim on, tethering etc. Motorola very well may unlock their phone but Verizon could say "Hold on a second. You want to make it easier for people to modify their devices so that they can use them in ways other than permitted by their contracts? How about No, Moto?"

I'm with you in thought, but fact is, Verizon will not, in the near future, say, "No open Android devices are allowed on our network. Period." Now if Motorola agrees to a contract that stipulates that their devices must be locked down, well, that's a completely different thing. And THAT, my friends, is where Moto is going to get caught being a liar when they fail to deliver on this promise.

"We promised we would open them if Verizon lets us. But they won't let us. See here, in the contract that we agreed to? Verizon won't let us. We had no option but to agree to it, we were forced to it at risk of nuclear attack, we had no choice."

Getting Motorola to make this statement is great for us, but this is nowhere near the end of this. Even if they left out that "if", it doesn't matter. There is nothing holding Motorola to this.

Add me to the group of people who will believe it when they see it. And while Verizon will put pressure on this topic, it truly is Motorola who polices it. Afterall, it's not Verizon who puts the hardware into the phone that enforces a locked bootloader. That can only be done by Motorola and they cannot be forced to do it, they can only agree to do it voluntarily or under contract, both of which are decisions that Motorola makes.

Well the thing is, Moto can still make devices with locked and unlocked boot loaders. Motorola can simply opt to not pick them up for their product lineup

 

[eagle1967]

absolutely

But what makes you think that Verizon would allow it? This is starting to sound similar to early telephone companies who restricted what devices could be connected to their lines. Wouldn't matter in the above case if Moto /did/ unlock it.

Sent from my White DROID 2 GLOBAL.

EXACTLY! "where carriers and operators will allow it.” read the fine print...that was their way of getting everyone off their back and to blame the carries if it doesnt happen!

was just reading to end of thread to say same thing. motrola and verizon are now at dinner laughing talking how they think people believe that crud(pre-edited).
I dont believe anything any of these businesses say until i see it.
1) dukenukem forever--13 years later maybe
2) tmobile g2x quad band(i dont care if they do merge with att ill be back ) But it turns out the G2x does not have the att bands as advertised--now why did it take a week of sales to finally admit and remove that part of their specs page? more initial sales? remember when they post sales they dont post returns.
these companies have no scruples anymore at all .
at least the motoraola rep was honest(if he still has a job) when he said you dont like it buy something else. thats the opionion of all these companies. what do you think the penalty will be when december comes and the nov phone releases are all locked like fort knox. The broke government might fine them for lieing(if they can prove it) but there will be nothing for us as the consumers. these guys make me sick . remember this is the same company that stil continues to say the bionic (etna) isnt cancelled but just being updated. I will give a dollar to everyone on here that pm's me if the phone that comes out resembles the original bionic (not apples resemble-im sueing they used a power button to turn on the phone). but i will expect my dollar from you when it doesnt
ok done with the fun rant. but seriously guys/gals--do any of you actually believe that statement means anything.

 

[czerdrill]

But what makes you think that Verizon would allow it? This is starting to sound similar to early telephone companies who restricted what devices could be connected to their lines. Wouldn't matter in the above case if Moto /did/ unlock it.

Sent from my White DROID 2 GLOBAL.

EXACTLY! "where carriers and operators will allow it.” read the fine print...that was their way of getting everyone off their back and to blame the carries if it doesnt happen!

was just reading to end of thread to say same thing. motrola and verizon are now at dinner laughing talking how they think people believe that crud(pre-edited).
I dont believe anything any of these businesses say until i see it.
1) dukenukem forever--13 years later maybe
2) tmobile g2x quad band(i dont care if they do merge with att ill be back ) But it turns out the G2x does not have the att bands as advertised--now why did it take a week of sales to finally admit and remove that part of their specs page? more initial sales? remember when they post sales they dont post returns.
these companies have no scruples anymore at all .
at least the motoraola rep was honest(if he still has a job) when he said you dont like it buy something else. thats the opionion of all these companies. what do you think the penalty will be when december comes and the nov phone releases are all locked like fort knox. The broke government might fine them for lieing(if they can prove it) but there will be nothing for us as the consumers. these guys make me sick . remember this is the same company that stil continues to say the bionic (etna) isnt cancelled but just being updated. I will give a dollar to everyone on here that pm's me if the phone that comes out resembles the original bionic (not apples resemble-im sueing they used a power button to turn on the phone). but i will expect my dollar from you when it doesnt
ok done with the fun rant. but seriously guys/gals--do any of you actually believe that statement means anything.

i don't...i see it for what it really is, which is just PR.

And yeah the "if you don't like it go somewhere else" guy didn't just pull that statement out of the air. That's undoubtedly the sentiment of many OEMs, and that's not anything wrong on their part, it's all about the money.

 

[xsylus]

Why do the carrier's have to have a say in the bootloader? What do they stand to gain or lose from the locked/unlocked bootloader? The bootloader has little to no effect on whether a smartphone is flashed for use on another carrier. Verizon didn't seem to mind that the bootloader on the OG Droid 1 was unlocked. I'd prefer an unlocked bootloader for custom ROMs especially since Motorola didn't address their MotoBlur. UBL + ROM = no MotoBlur. I hope the Droid 3 is as cool as the OG Droid 1 although from the pics I've seen the silver trim on around the LCD looks a little too much like the iPhone 4. Doesn't really matter since I'll probably put a case on it anyway. Hopefully we'll be able to remove MotoBlur from the Droid 3 if it includes it.. which it probably will.

 

[13th angel]

Why do the carrier's have to have a say in the bootloader? What do they stand to gain or lose from the locked/unlocked bootloader?

They have a say because if they don't want it then they don't have to sell it. As for what they can gain/lose, do you realize how easy it is to perma-brick a phone when your messing with the kernel? Also, do you realize how much money the carrier could lose (does already) from replacements because of replacements?

Sent from my Liberated D2G

 

[leonozug]

The carriers have a say because they constantly are having to replace phones under warranty or under insurance that people brick because they are careless and hasty while trying to root or rom. Half the posts on here are people crying "I broke my phone, help me". People like that ruin it for the rest of us cause they don’t take the time to read up and be careful while trying to modify their phones. I got my Droid X a few months ago and made sure I looked into every aspect of rooting and romming it before I even attempted to do anything to it. I watched videos on youtube about it, and how to SBF it. People need to do their homework first basically. How would a car dealership like it if you kept bringing back the car you bought from them cause you tried to change and modify the engine and screwed up the engine? They would laugh at you if you wanted a free new one to replace it. Verizon probably feels the same way about their phones being brought back from people messing with them. Obviously a phone is a lot cheaper than a car, but you know the point I am trying to make...

Don't get me wrong, I'm totally for us having the freedom to do with we want with our phones, I'm just saying a lot of bad apples have spoiled the barrel for us basically. I've rooted and rommed mine and probably a dozen friends Droids and now I'm doing the same with my X, and have never had a single problem. You just have to be careful and read up and learn before you start hacking away man.
If more people did it, we may not even have locked bootloaders right now.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

 

[eagle1967]

The carriers have a say because they constantly are having to replace phones under warranty or under insurance that people brick because they are careless and hasty while trying to root or rom. Half the posts on here are people crying "I broke my phone, help me". People like that ruin it for the rest of us cause they don’t take the time to read up and be careful while trying to modify their phones. I got my Droid X a few months ago and made sure I looked into every aspect of rooting and romming it before I even attempted to do anything to it. I watched videos on youtube about it, and how to SBF it. People need to do their homework first basically. How would a car dealership like it if you kept bringing back the car you bought from them cause you tried to change and modify the engine and screwed up the engine? They would laugh at you if you wanted a free new one to replace it. Verizon probably feels the same way about their phones being brought back from people messing with them. Obviously a phone is a lot cheaper than a car, but you know the point I am trying to make...

Don't get me wrong, I'm totally for us having the freedom to do with we want with our phones, I'm just saying a lot of bad apples have spoiled the barrel for us basically. I've rooted and rommed mine and probably a dozen friends Droids and now I'm doing the same with my X, and have never had a single problem. You just have to be careful and read up and learn before you start hacking away man.
If more people did it, we may not even have locked bootloaders right now.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums

but the problem with that is that if you root you void your warranty they need ot stop replacing phones that someone hacked and broke. i agree this costs money. just have it a signed item in big bold letters. it really cant be that hard to weed 75% of returns out due to hacking there will be those they cant determine and they should replace those. But if they are obviously hacked than say sorry. and this could affect me also but i didnt even know until recently people were getting phones they bricked replaced. i also thought if i screw this up im screwed. these guys are selling phones and smart phones we are the ones using them as computers thats not the intent they are selling them for and shouldnt be responsable for us hacking, thats a risk we take. i would rather have them leave them open to us than lock them so they dont have to pay for peoples abuses of the system. you hack it you break it you pay for it. same as tethering. you tether pay for the extra data you use. but no we get locked bootloaders, higher prices for phones, throttled data, data limiting. this is all due to people abusing the system and we all have to pay for it. phones were not made for you to use as an internet provider period. if people used tethering for when they were on the road or their internet went down for the night nothing would ever be said. But no people have to abuse the system and use the data to extreme so we all have to pay for their abuses. than you cry about locked bootloaders, tiered data etc. If you havent abused the system as stated thanks. If you have than look in the mirror as to why this is happening.

 

[xan]

The carriers have a say because they constantly are having to replace phones under warranty or under insurance that people brick because they are careless and hasty while trying to root or rom.

I was told manufactures covered warranties, and I know VRZ doesn't have anything to do with insurance, thats Asurion's scam - and a very profitable one at that.

If moto wants to help its customers and unlock the bootloader, they should just leak the unlocker a few months after the phones come out. "Sure VRZ bean counters, our new DX3 is locked up tight!"
dancedroid

 

[leonozug]

The carriers have a say because they constantly are having to replace phones under warranty or under insurance that people brick because they are careless and hasty while trying to root or rom.

I was told manufactures covered warranties, and I know VRZ doesn't have anything to do with insurance, thats Asurion's scam - and a very profitable one at that.

If moto wants to help its customers and unlock the bootloader, they should just leak the unlocker a few months after the phones come out. "Sure VRZ bean counters, our new DX3 is locked up tight!"
dancedroid

How about they at least give you the choice, like offer a one-time unlock fee of $20 or something? I would be willing to pay for it if it wasn't too expensive, that way they would know you paid for the option of having an unlocked phone, and if you brick it, too bad. That would work for me. Kinda like signing a disclosure before you attempt bungie-jumping or something...lol

 

[joeyx2]

My idea on how to solve this problem is stop making phone that u can tether from and if u like and want that feature make a phone with a locked bootloader that can tether from and make them pay just like if u want a smart phone u HAVE to pay the extra 20/30 bucks for internet.

 

[czerdrill]

The carriers have a say because they constantly are having to replace phones under warranty or under insurance that people brick because they are careless and hasty while trying to root or rom.

I was told manufactures covered warranties, and I know VRZ doesn't have anything to do with insurance, thats Asurion's scam - and a very profitable one at that.

If moto wants to help its customers and unlock the bootloader, they should just leak the unlocker a few months after the phones come out. "Sure VRZ bean counters, our new DX3 is locked up tight!"
dancedroid

How about they at least give you the choice, like offer a one-time unlock fee of $20 or something? I would be willing to pay for it if it wasn't too expensive, that way they would know you paid for the option of having an unlocked phone, and if you brick it, too bad. That would work for me. Kinda like signing a disclosure before you attempt bungie-jumping or something...lol

Yeah this would probably be the best option, but the problem i think is if a company allows something like that, people who brick are still going to call in and whine about it...i doubt everyone will just pony up $700 when/if they brick their phone even if they told verizon they promise they wont complain...

 

[Larry_ThaGr81]

Dear world, we will now be taking you over.
Sincerely,
Motorola


Now if only they could actually get their hardware out the door, there may be no reason to buy from any other manufacturer

Lol! Moto has already shot themselves in the foot, if HTC can get this battery life issue improved, there won't be much of a reason to go back to Moto. The Thunderbolt in my case is the best phone I've ever owned period. What's my motivation to go back to Moto.......nothing. When they decided to put their foot down, they lost a lot of customers, particularly rooters. Now they realize that their strategy isn't paying off because HTC is giving us users what we want and because Moto phone sales are dropping like flies. It's funny how they blame it on carriers as the reason why the bootloaders are locked and encrypted. You don't see HTC encrypting bootloaders, nope just Moto.

It could very well be too late for Moto to regain the grip it had on the Android community.

 

[EgooEspada]

Dear world, we will now be taking you over.
Sincerely,
Motorola


Now if only they could actually get their hardware out the door, there may be no reason to buy from any other manufacturer

Lol! Moto has already shot themselves in the foot, if HTC can get this battery life issue improved, there won't be much of a reason to go back to Moto. The Thunderbolt in my case is the best phone I've ever owned period. What's my motivation to go back to Moto.......nothing. When they decided to put their foot down, they lost a lot of customers, particularly rooters. Now they realize that their strategy isn't paying off because HTC is giving us users what we want and because Moto phone sales are dropping like flies. It's funny how they blame it on carriers as the reason why the bootloaders are locked and encrypted. You don't see HTC encrypting bootloaders, nope just Moto.

It could very well be too late for Moto to regain the grip it had on the Android community.

You do realize HTC IS doing that right? Expect this time next year for HTC devices to be completely locked down. So you should be happy Motorola is trying to be fair to it's users and at least get that option out there. Honestly, I find Motorola superior in hardware and they are getting better with software (GingerBlur). I have said it numerous of times and I'll say it again: if Motorola unlocks their boot loaders I would run back in a heartbeat. I'm sure many other feel the same,

 

[yahwarrior]

What the hell is "illegal tethering"?

 

[jr313]

"You do realize HTC IS doing that right? Expect this time next year for HTC devices to be completely locked down. So you should be happy Motorola is trying to be fair to it's users and at least get that option out there. Honestly, I find Motorola superior in hardware and they are getting better with software (GingerBlur). I have said it numerous of times and I'll say it again: if Motorola unlocks their boot loaders I would run back in a heartbeat. I'm sure many other feel the same,"
Dont u think that if HTC really wanted to lockdown their phones like MOTO they would have already done it? i mean yes theyve locked the bootloader on many of the latest phone BUT they havent went that extra mile that MOTO did to ensure that it wouldnt be cracked...cmon they probably did lock the bootloader due to "carriers" wanting it done to appease them but look all of them have been unlocked bcuz they (wanted/allowed) it to be done...now the ball is i MOTO's court are they gna give the ppl what they want or are they gna play the "carrier" card so to speak??