Reports claim that Samsung may soon roll out a new firmware update for the Galaxy Tab that will block all jailbreaks, roots and other custom firmware. The new JM6 A, C, and D builds are all planned to prevent unauthorized firmware from running.

Developers are hoping that there will be a software workaround coming, however, a crack might require soldering or other physical methods to gain the same access as they have with the current official code. This is only present in the test firmware and it’s not currently known whether it will be present in the final releases.

Now if this software gets sent to devices this means that not only will the Samsung Galaxy Tab be locked, but it will officially be more restrictive than the iPad. Apple currently patches security holes that jailbreaks get through, but iOS is not very hard to crack, and they’re not working on making it extremely difficult.

Google has always claimed that Android is more open, however this has also lead to manufacturers lock down the hardware as much as they’d like. We will report on further information as it’s made available in the coming weeks with the impending release.

[Via Electronista]

7 COMMENTS

  1. Wow….just when you thought Samsuck couldnt get any more FAIL….this comes along. Hey samsung, rather than spending time blocking root attempts, how about you work on something worthwhile….like Android 2.2 for US devices like the Vibrant. Just a thought.

  2. Not seeing any logic behind how a software update could take a currently hackable set of hardware and suddenly make it unhackable except by hardware modification. I’m not buying it. I’m sure it will continue the cat-and-mouse game of locking out the current hacks, but I highly doubt that without new hardware shipping in the units that it could suddenly be hardware locked. Besides, other units such as the Droid X and G2 had actual hardware techniques to block hacking and fell quickly. Pretending for a moment that this article is true, and the update will magically add hardware locking that wasn’t there before, I still give it a month tops before XDA or similar communities break through it.

  3. So what does hacking it allow you to do that you can’t do already. I mean my unhacked Tab lets me install 3rd party apps, it lets me do tethering via usb and wifi and the tab is available on many carriers.

    I have had to hack my iPhone (1st gen), so that I wouldn’t be trapped to ATT, and updating the hack was a pain (resyncing) and had the risk of bricking it, so I stopped updating the firmware a long time ago.

  4. Instead of spending time on this unnecessarily,please do the software running on Galaxy S better,lag free.Remove the use of useless file system and use ext4.May be people will buy samsung phones in future.

    • Yesterday, I followed the Samsung Galaxy tab Kies note, to update my Firmwear or something like that, EVER SINCE THEN, everything to do with the CALANDAR does not work. ALL appointments GONE! Weather reports STOPPED, because part of the link is connected to my calandar. FOR YOUR OWN SAFTY! PleaseDo Not Update you firm frame wear. Now i have to lose over 3 hours of work time getting it repaired then, I have to re-enter all my appointments,
      I am going to start using my Filofax again, Pen and Paper

    • Yesterday, I followed the Samsung Galaxy tab Kies note, to update my Firmwear or something like that, EVER SINCE THEN, everything to do with the CALANDAR does not work. ALL appointments GONE! Weather reports STOPPED, because part of the link is connected to my calandar. FOR YOUR OWN SAFTY! PleaseDo Not Update you firm frame wear. Now i have to lose over 3 hours of work time getting it repaired then, I have to re-enter all my appointments,
      I am going to start using my Filofax again, Pen and Paper

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