SO we’re talking about unlocking bootloaders lately, and it appears the Sony Ericsson is up for review next. Last night we were tipped off by HTC that they would, indeed be unlocking bootloaders on all future devices. What Sony Ericsson is doing at this very moment is discussing the bootloaders on the new Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY, specifically in regards to SEUS, aka the Sony Ericsson Update Service. There’ve been two notes coming out on this subject thus far: one that says unlocking the bootloader will stop you from getting official updates, the other that says that it’ll be just fine.
The following image is from Sony Ericsson’s Facebook page, a page we’ve dug up from the depths of these internets (with a little help from our pals over at the XPERIA blog) where Sony Ericsson UK confirms that “as long as you use the Sony Ericsson stock software [you’ll be offered and will be able to use official updates.] Check it out here, and remember that this is from the UK, where things can be a little wacky:
Now there’s word from Sony Ericsson Developer Karl-Johan Dahlström who says the opposite is true. He says that if you unlock your bootloader, even if you don’t technically change anything after that, you will not be offered SEUS support. Dahlström notes that the problem is that when your device is unlocked, SEUS supposedly cannot see what software release is currently active. Dahlström adds that Sony Ericsson is investigating ways to get a Sony Ericsson ROM back on the phone, but he personally has no timeline on this thus far.
Check out his quotes on the subject straight from XDA:
I am aware that we don’t have a recovery ROM in place. There are some reasons why that is the case. One reason for not supporting FOTA updates after the phone has been unlocked is that FOTA is a delta between two know SW releases and as the phone has been unlocked we can’t be sure of the SW release currently on the phone. I will bring this question back to see if we could allow phones that has been unlocked to be updated via “SW update service” which would be a way to get a Sony Ericsson ROM back on the phone, but please note the warranty may still have been voided as the phone.
The above comes from here, below comes from here.
urrently we don’t support SEUS for phones that have been unlocked. I have initiated discussions if we can support that going forward, but there are several things that needs to be investigated before I can give you an answer (e.g. will it affect customer call centers, repair centers, which SW should be used for unlocked phones, how to identify phone model if other things has been modified, are there security concerns for unlocked phones etc). Will get back to you as soon as I have more information. Sorry that I can’t give a better answer at this time.
Thusly beware – though we’ve still been hearing accounts that say the opposite, it’s good to be aware that it’s possible you wont be receiving OTA updates if you’ve got an unlocked bootloader. To upgrade your firmware manually you can use Flashtool, and of course the folks at XDA have a copy of the Android 2.3.3 firmware update that you’ll need to upgrade at this very moment.
What’s your experience been? Unlocked and still getting updates? Locked and still waiting? Unlocked and bricked and thrown out the window?
[via XPERIA Blog]
