Will Google prevent Android Jail-breaking?

[endmp25]

I was browsing through the net news and found this amusing article:

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/11/04/new-macbook-and-macbook-pro-breaks-iphone-jailbreak-pwnage-tool-pwned-by-macbook.html

Basically it says Apple has implemented on it's newest Macbook line... an Anti-jailbreaking software linked to Itunes... Meaning to prevent losses ($$$) to people who use other means of importing music onto their IPod, IPhone, ITouch... and they force them to only be able to use Apple endorsed products.
Nice one Steve... You should have just pull out your middle finger and start waiving it around at your Apple community... would have been much easier...

and then it hit me... would Google or Tmobile prevent us from jail-breaking our Android phones? Could they even stop us? Is there even a reason to Jail-break a Android phone? Would it even matter considering our developer community backing everyone up?

With the spirit of open-source and Google's ambition to develop technology... I personally doubt they would... but I wonder now... in what situation would they begin to step in.... ?

[LGSilva]

They may try to lock it so the regular user don't mess up the phone.
But I don't get it, why would you need root access on a G1? It's freaking open source, you don't need to hack your way in.
I also don't think you can just run an app to directly access the hardware or other functions, as if you remember the browser security flaw, here's a quote from google:


Unlike modern personal computers and other advanced smartphones like the iPhone (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/iphone/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), the Google phone creates a series of software compartments that limit the access of an intruder to a single application.

In the end you never know because there is always a way ;)

I like this quote better:

“We wanted to sandbox every single application because you can’t trust any of them,” said Rich Cannings, a Google security engineer.

[outsider]

There's no reason to jailbreak the G1. We aren't restricted from doing anything on it.

[endmp25]

There's no reason to jailbreak the G1. We aren't restricted from doing anything on it.

I agree with you LGSilva and outsider...

Thats what I needed to know... some people are adamant on being able to jailbreak the Android when I really don't see the point either...

They should just figure out a way to transfer my entire Android OS, Settings, Files, apps, contacts... basically my entire phone memory and put it onto my micro SD card slot and allow it to operate from there... that way I could have more memory to download more apps and then if a new phone comes out... I pop out my microSD and drop in new phone... and everything is already set...
Mwahahaha... Jailbreak my G1 from it's own internal memory!!! MWAHAHA!!!

[outsider]

Actually now that you mention it getting root access might be necessary to install apps to the memory card.

[jokerdb78]

Nah, Brah they wouldn't dare, would make having a phone stupid. I'd give them my G1 back if they did that stupid crap. I wouldn't even buy a phone if they had that jail-Break stuff in it.

[endmp25]

Found in another thread...

allright lemme try and explain, when you have root access (sorta complete software control) to the G1's operating system - you can make changes to it via your PC/Mac/Linux box - provided you're a linux-android-uber-genius Guru and know what you're doing, you can also transfer files to it and basically make major/minor code-level changes to the OS - its exciting because it opens up the possibilties for an application or patch that would allow you to get the phone to work with any operator.

@vbreal - you're right Android is free and doesn't need to be jailbroken, but the G1 is currently tied-in to T-Mobile, it doesn't work with other operators without a SIM unlock code - "jailbreaking" would involve making changes to the phone's "internal organs" via a patch or software hack- that would allow the G1 to work on any supported GSM network.

After reading this I can see the point in Jailbreaking the Android...
Especially for people that can't use the phone in other countries... This phone is currently hot in the market of China... so eventually they should be eager to find a jailbreak option... I still don't think Google would stop users from doing this if this was the purpose... but I now think Tmobile would step in if that was the case...
If it allowed me to use my my Micro SD to house my apps... then really I'm all for it... But if it winds up making my Android dis-functional then I'd rather not...

[LGSilva]

The only good thing I can see is to install apps on the sdcard, but it could be changed via OTA in the future.

Now for the unlock part, they could use TuboSIM or just a unlock service as the unlocking "secret" lies in the radio part and not on the OS itself (I've been looking the source code)

[K.Krstnsn]

you dont have to jailbreak the g1. users are getting the sim unlock codes the same day they buy the phone.

..........

this post is completely irrelevant.

[felixHcat]

But I don't get it, why would you need root access on a G1? It's freaking open source, you don't need to hack your way in.

Uhhh LINUX is open source, you still need root access as an admin!! The two are unrelated!! People seem to be confused as to what open source means :rolleyes:

No you don't get everything for free and you can't just automatically do whatever you want "because it's open source"

Open source is about how the project is structured and who makes contributions to the code/software -- this is on the developer end.
On the user end, root access gives the user all system privileges necessary to read/write system files, f#$k with volumes, f$@k s*%t up, etc.

The two are completely unrelated.

[outsider]

you dont have to jailbreak the g1. users are getting the sim unlock codes the same day they buy the phone.

..........

this post is completely irrelevant.

Not the same thing.

[Fare]

Uhhh LINUX is open source, you still need root access as an admin!! The two are unrelated!! People seem to be confused as to what open source means :rolleyes:

No you don't get everything for free and you can't just automatically do whatever you want "because it's open source"

Open source is about how the project is structured and who makes contributions to the code/software -- this is on the developer end.
On the user end, root access gives the user all system privileges necessary to read/write system files, f#$k with volumes, f$@k s*%t up, etc.

The two are completely unrelated.

Jailbreak is a iPhone term, So I am not completely sure what it means, but getting root access to your phone would be huge, for the exact reason mentioned in this thread. We can begin to gain insight into how the phone works and people could start shelling out our own updates that would give us greater customizability.

[mast3rpyr0]

Nah, Brah they wouldn't dare, would make having a phone stupid. I'd give them my G1 back if they did that stupid crap. I wouldn't even buy a phone if they had that jail-Break stuff in it.

"Jailbreak" isnt built-in, its the hack that the developers created so you could install apps on the first generation of iphones. It doesnt really mean anything to any other platform but on iphone but it seems to have become the word for anything like this.

[endmp25]

From wikipedia...

A jailbreak is the act or tool used to perform the act of breaking out of a chroot or jail in UNIX-like operating systems or bypassing digital rights management (DRM). In the former case, it allows the user to see files outside of the filesystem that the administrator intends to make available to the application or user in question. In the context of DRM, this allows the user to run arbitrarily defined code on DRM-encumbered devices as well as break out of chroot-like restrictions. DRM-encumbered devices such as the Xbox, iPhone and iPod Touch have repeatedly been subject to jailbreaks, allowing the execution of arbitrary code, but have had those jailbreaks disabled by vendor updates.[1][2] The iPod Touch/iPhone hacking community however, responds to the newest vendor updates by creating new ways to enable third party apps almost immediately. It was only in the wake of the popularity of the iPhone that the term jailbreaking became well known in popular culture worldwide.

The term jailbreak became more familiarized due to Iphone but the term has been around before hand... so you can call it basically whatever... but Android can be Jail-broken... not just Apple products... It may be necessary to jail-break the phone to do things our community aspires to do.... or until google release an officially update allowing us to do it...
I like everyones input the more I read the more I think it becomes a necessity...

[71CH]

I can see from this thread that a lot of people have no idea what open-source means. This makes me really afraid of people who try to "jailbreak" their G1's for root access. Please don't do it unless you know what you're doing.