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Is Unlocking like Jailbreaking?

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philipkd

Lurker
Newb question here..

I'm an iPhone developer who is trying to get into Android Development, and I want to know if it I can buy an unlocked Droid phone and use it for development.

I know that in iPhone development land, a jailbroken phone means you can't get normal updates from Apple. Also 3G wasn't available to jailbroken phones for months.

Is unlocking an Android phone as "crippling"/unsanctioned as jailbreaking is? i.e. is it fine if I just google "unlocked droid," purchase from whatever vendor comes up, and start developing?

Thanks.
 
In the Android world the equivalent to jailbreaking is actually called "rooting." There is a lot of info on these forums about it, but it definitely doesn't hinder the use of the phones at all.
 
Apple and their users always like to think they're the first ones to do things...and when they're not they come up with different names for them.
 
An unlocked phone is just a phone that is not locked down to any specific carrier and can be taken to any carrier (that the radio supports). That is not necessarily a rooted phone.
 
The android dev kit has a virtual android operating system that loads up as a program on your computer so you do not need a phone.
 
As of now there is no unlocked droid, when the GSM version hits then it can be unlocked, but as others explained that means it can be used on any carrier that uses the same radio's. You can just get the Android SDK and start dev'ing, no phone required. However they do make a Android Dev Phone AKA ADP! which is basically a HTC Dream/G1.
 
philipkd said:
Newb question here..

I'm an iPhone developer who is trying to get into Android Development, and I want to know if it I can buy an unlocked Droid phone and use it for development.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forums and Android.

I know that in iPhone development land, a jailbroken phone means you can't get normal updates from Apple. Also 3G wasn't available to jailbroken phones for months.
Click to expand...

In the Android world rooting a phone is the same as jailbraking a phone. Rooting the present Android phones acctually makes them better, run faster and gives you so much more freedom to do what you want. From what I understand, there is no way to root a "Droid" as of yet. Give it time someone will do it and tell the world.

Is unlocking an Android phone as "crippling"/unsanctioned as jailbreaking is? i.e. is it fine if I just google "unlocked droid," purchase from whatever vendor comes up, and start developing?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I dont know much about unlocking except what others have said. Once you are able to purchase and unlockable "Droid" you can use it on other carriers. I kind of want one myself but I am with T-mo.
 
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