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Well, this changes everything

YankeeDudeL

YankeeDudeL

Android Expert
Gingerbread Update for the Motorola Atrix 4G Brings Fully Unlockable Bootloader

Seems Motorola is making good on their promise to unlocking bootloaders. Now this doesn't automatically mean we'll see the Bionic come with one unlocked, but this does give us hope that it will down the road. At the very least, it's a step in the right direction.

It's fair to say that an unlocked bootloader on the Bionic would bring a lot of people into the mix, and we'd be seeing a whole lot more traffic here.
 
Thanks for the info.

As a person who hasn't even gotten much into any ROMs or anything requiring an unlocked bootloader, it's still nice to see that Moto might be just chipping away at that ice heart of theirs.
 
YankeeDudeL said:
Gingerbread Update for the Motorola Atrix 4G Brings Fully Unlockable Bootloader

Seems Motorola is making good on their promise to unlocking bootloaders. Now this doesn't automatically mean we'll see the Bionic come with one unlocked, but this does give us hope that it will down the road. At the very least, it's a step in the right direction.

It's fair to say that an unlocked bootloader on the Bionic would bring a lot of people into the mix, and we'd be seeing a whole lot more traffic here.
Click to expand...

actually this doesn't even officially mean the Atrix will get unlocked with GB. This has not been proven. The Devs that are reporting this are the only ones in the world that has gotten GB for the Atrix and now more signs are pointing to the fact that the build they have is an "engineering" build from Moto which would explain why it was unlocked.

So this is news but at the moment i would wait for more proof before i got too happy.
 
Update: For more info, you may want to check out this Atrix thread at XDA. It looks like this build is in the hands of a few select people and is also pretty clear that it’s just an “engineering” build which we would assume are all unlocked. Not looking so good, folks. Still hoping that a miracle is about to happen though!

that is from droid-life's article on this.
 
Cool that the OEMs are telling the carriers to jump in a creek. Carriers mainly want phones locked down due to root based wifi tethering, but this becomes moot as more LTE devices are out there (it is VERY easy for VZW to tell if you are using their network for other devices with the LTE network and chipsets).

Perhaps VZW will use wifi tether abuse as an excuse to kick some folks out of unlimited data....
 
rushmore said:
Cool that the OEMs are telling the carriers to jump in a creek. Carriers mainly want phones locked down due to root based wifi tethering, but this becomes moot as more LTE devices are out there (it is VERY easy for VZW to tell if you are using their network for other devices with the LTE network and chipsets).

Perhaps VZW will use wifi tether abuse as an excuse to kick some folks out of unlimited data....
Click to expand...

Yanno, this has me thinking. If there's no longer going to be unlimited data for at least new customers, are they still going to have to pay the extra $20 for use as a hotspot? Doesn't seem fair. I mean, it's the same data, the same connection.
 
YankeeDudeL said:
Yanno, this has me thinking. If there's no longer going to be unlimited data for at least new customers, are they still going to have to pay the extra $20 for use as a hotspot? Doesn't seem fair. I mean, it's the same data, the same connection.
Click to expand...

"Fair" is a very subjective point when money and politics are involved ;) ..... :(
 
YankeeDudeL said:
Yanno, this has me thinking. If there's no longer going to be unlimited data for at least new customers, are they still going to have to pay the extra $20 for use as a hotspot? Doesn't seem fair. I mean, it's the same data, the same connection.
Click to expand...

This isn't going to change. How long have they been charging extra for text messaging (even pre-MMS)? It's the same concept.
 
Asterdroid said:
This isn't going to change. How long have they been charging extra for text messaging (even pre-MMS)? It's the same concept.
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I didn't realize they did. I've had unlimited messaging as long as I can remember.

What I was really getting at was that I understood why they reasoned to charge extra for those on unlimited plans. It's untapped, as much as you wanted to use. But now that there are set limits, it's unfair to charge someone extra for data they're already paying for.

I mean, if someone's paying $50 a month for 5GB and they tether it's still the same data connection, and they still can't go over 5GB (without getting charged). But they have to now pay $70 for that same 5GB of data? Is that how this works, or am I misunderstanding?
 
YankeeDudeL said:
I didn't realize they did. I've had unlimited messaging as long as I can remember.

What I was really getting at was that I understood why they reasoned to charge extra for those on unlimited plans. It's untapped, as much as you wanted to use. But now that there are set limits, it's unfair to charge someone extra for data they're already paying for.

I mean, if someone's paying $50 a month for 5GB and they tether it's still the same data connection, and they still can't go over 5GB (without getting charged). But they have to now pay $70 for that same 5GB of data? Is that how this works, or am I misunderstanding?
Click to expand...

Nope. You nailed it. It's absurd. It really is just like texting. Texting uses zero bandwidth but they charge extra for it anyway. In fact, with texting, they actually SAVE bandwidth, by you sending a text message instead of making a phone call. So they're charging you to save them money. Nuts, right?

What I don't understand about tethering is that if they didn't charge for it, they could theoretically make more money now that they are switching to tiered data. More people would use it if it's free, thus increasing data usage and data charges in the tiered plan system
.
I really hope it does change, but I don't expect it to.
 
I wouldn't purchase a phone from Motorola with the message being "we may unlock your phone at the end of 2011 if your carrier supports it."

I wouldn't put that much trust in Motorola and Verizon.

But if it comes unlocked, I'll definitely get it.

Won't be falling for the marketing ploy "we may unlock it after release."
 
Hmmmm, my question is that if you take your phone Out of a family plan persay (same number), do you lose your unlimited grandfathered data plan?

I now am no longer concerned about that since apparently they will let existing clients keep their unlimited data indefinitely.
 
Vehtemas said:
Hmmmm, my question is that if you take your phone Out of a family plan persay (same number), do you lose your unlimited grandfathered data plan?

I now am no longer concerned about that since apparently they will let existing clients keep their unlimited data indefinitely.
Click to expand...

That's a good question. You might not get grandfathered since you are signing up for a new contract.
 
This issues is the only thing keeping me from purchasing a Bionic on launch date; if I can get assurance that it will get an unlocked bootloader, they will have my money.
 
@P3Droid
P3Droid
Unlock your Atrix now bit.ly/k1AEwL ...... Holy shit folks, lets get on it.


...hmmm things are getting serious now.
 
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