the X is not alone in being locked

[ericsch333]

T-Mobile G2 said to have 'hardware rootkit' that restricts modifications -- Engadget

 

[tom108]

yeah i think that is the way most manufactures will start going. sad

 

[jroc]

Yea I just this earlier today somewhere else. Some of us speculated on this happening....

Like with tiered plans, looks like manufactures are gonna start locking down phones harder.

 

[Outlaw71]

All they have to do is make it hard enough that it takes 6 months to unlock it and they've effectively won. Because those users who generally want superuser status over their phones only have them for about that long before the 'next best thing' comes out and they switch over to it. So sooner or later guys like Birdman won't even bother, and/or it won't matter if they do because once a device is rooted the rooted crowd will have flocked to some other device.

Perhaps the X, Dinc, Nexus and EVO will be the last of a dying breed of rootable phones.

 

[eraursls1984]

All they have to do is make it hard enough that it takes 6 months to unlock it and they've effectively won. Because those users who generally want superuser status over their phones only have them for about that long before the 'next best thing' comes out and they switch over to it. So sooner or later guys like Birdman won't even bother, and/or it won't matter if they do because once a device is rooted the rooted crowd will have flocked to some other device.

Perhaps the X, Dinc, Nexus and EVO will be the last of a dying breed of rootable phones.

I have a feeling that would hinder their sales because the majority of the people willing to pony up $600 every 6 months or so are the mod community. If it takes that long to mod people will us their phone longer, if its to hard to mod what is the point in upgrading every six months? Maybe if they do this they will see a decline in sales(mainly the phones not purchased with contracts) and open it back up. I know the mod community is small in comparison to the total user base but most non tech people only upgrade their phone when VZW says they have a upgrade and don't yield as much profit per sale as a phone w/o contract.

 

[Steven58]

I don't get it. If modding voids the warranty, why do the manufacturers care either way? Are they trying to protect us from ourselves.

/end rant.

 

[rehpyc]

It still doesn't take long for the hacking community to figure out how to AT LEAST root the phone, enable things that should already be available and not paid extra for (ie tether), and remove ******ed bloatware. Beyond that.. I'm not sure what these lockdowns on the phones are meant to prevent really. Nothing else that can be done to the phone beyond that affects them.

 

[Fabolous]

Well, preventing root prevents installation of wireless tether, which means T-Mobile can charge for its own app.

 

[Outlaw71]

Ok well I'm pretty new to this whole game, just what does completely unlocking a phone give you that rooting doesn't? Like why is Birdman spending all this time trying to crack the bootloader if it's already rootable... what is to be gained by it?