One of the best things about the Android operating system is the hackable and open nature of the OS. You can unlock mod, change and do pretty much what you want. Comparatively, the iPhone is locked down with a constant fight between hackers and Apple to find and patch holes that allow the phones to be jailbroken. Recently, many of the big names in the Android smartphone market has been doing things like offering unlocked bootloaders for some phones.
Both Motorola and Sony Ericsson have recently decided to play nice with modders and phone hackers. HTC is apparently not to the point yet where it wasn’t to offer its users the ability to load their own custom ROMs. The latest system dump for the HTC Sensation has surfaced, and the first things noticed was that the bootloader is signed. This is particularly troublesome considering that the Sensation is one of the more anticipated devices coming to market.
Without something unexpected happening, this signed bootloader will mean no custom kernel, ROMs, or recovery. There is a chance someone might be able to unlock the Sensation in a manner similar to what happened with the Thunderbolt. We can only wait and see what the smart and crafty hackers will be able to do when the Sensation has been around for a while. This is sad though, anyone can sign up to unlock the Xperia Arc bootloader. Will this keep you from buying the Sensation?
[via Androidpolice]
Urrrghhhh HTC :-S
Did everyone working there with any sense (pun intended) quit and move to samsung in the last 12 months???Urrrghhhh HTC :-SDid everyone working there with any sense (pun intended) quit and move to samsung in the last 12 months???
Well, the war in my head between the GSII and the Sensation is now tipping Samsungs way.
Wow. I’d never buy a device that was locked like that.
was interested in this device but NO LONGER. Shame on you HTC!
i will be buying this only if bootloader is unlocked by release or is announced that it will be. modding is what makes these devices so great. manufacturers do not maximize their phones potential. they try to play it safe, and always fall short. my personal opinion is that to be on an open source platform all manufacturers should be required to offer unlocked devices as an option. understanding the requirement would be to agree to no warranty other than manufacturers defects. many companies have offered this with success and this path will be the future because people/developers will gravitate towards devices they can access and fix when manufacturers fall short on support/fixes for devices issues. if anything this saves/makes them money because they don’t have to pay anyone to fix as many bugs, get free software base for phones, and if anyone breaks there phone they have to buy another! seems like a no brainer to me. HTC! YOURE FALLING BEHIND. DON’T BE GREEDY! Youll screw yourself in the end, its been done/proven. listen to your customers. everyone here wants your phone, but not if they can’t hack it. that’s half the fun!