By “And they said it couldn’t do that!” Following the string of scares that started with the Droid X regarding eFuse, locked bootloaders, and killer unicorns, many were skeptical of the device’s hackability. While there is still a lot of work to be done before the device is “truly” unlocked, Droid 2 owners can now say they are able to flash their first custom ROM onto the device through Koush’s Bootstrap Recovery.
The name of the ROM is Epic Unleashed and is currently on version 1.1. Technically, it’s still a very limited release. Things have been deodexed, stuff has been optimized, and bloatware has been blown to smithereens, but that’s as far as you’ll get with this one. It’s still pretty awesome, though, if you like a phone that boots up a bit cleaner and if you don’t fancy removing unwanted apps yourself. It’s also literally the only option you have.
Head on over to Droid-Life’s forums for details, courtesy of developer Matt4542.
“And they said it couldn’t do that!” – and they still didn’t do that. Custom userland is not custom ROM with a custom kernel, no matter what you think. Welcome at the level of Motorola Milestone, where we are stuck for few months.
The kernal police just won’t give up.
Well, phandroid and other mobile sites are making big news from the well know facts – that you can change userland, but still can’t change kernel. No one said “you can’t change userland”. Everyone said – bootloader and kernel is signed, you can’t replace those. And surprise, surprise – you still can’t. Maybe the Droid X/Droid 2 fanbase misunderstood something, but this is the situation @ Motorola phones for few months. Nothing has changed, the guys at and-developers are still working on booting custom kernel – but the fact is – without custom kernel you can’t call your modification as a ROM, since you will be always dependant on Motorola and their latest released kernel. If Motorola decides no 3.0 for Droid 2/X, then you won’t have 3.0 on your Droid 2/X, no matter how much you like the phone.
Well, lemme tellya… I tried it, and my phone went unstable. So, I restored back to rooted/Koush bootstrapper, and will leave well enough alone. Not a noob to flashing D1, but D2 just ain’t gonna be ready for prime time for this guy.
@F. Augusztin -> 100% agreed
Never again moto until they release unlocked devices
:-)
Actually, P3droid put out the first D2 ROM last night…Just a FYI
Im glad they got some custom action loaded up on this thing. Makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with something like the Galaxy S though… all 4 carriers are running that thing and there is still little to no forward progress on modding that phone.
Screw this! I want tmo and HSPA+!!!
The annoying thing is that apparently all the idiots writing these blogs can’t seem to tell the difference between an actual custom ROM and the equivalent of modding a system at runtime and then distributing a nandroid backup of the modded system (that would allow exactly the same thing as the “custom roms” being distributed here)…
The title of this article seems a bit misleading.
I understand some of you are frustrated over the Droid 2 and Motorola’s unwillingness to unlock it, but no need to take it out on the messengers. I can dig up Motorola’s customer support number for you, if you’d like.
The frustration is with the messenger’s unwillingness or inability to accurately report a story. It’s not a custom ROM. It shouldn’t be called a custom ROM unless you’re saying, clearly and unambiguously, that that creators _claim_ a custom ROM, though it is, in fact, not.
I didn’t think the inclusion of the word “custom” would turn out to be such a big deal. Sorry if you feel I’ve misled you, but it’s an honest mistake that honestly shouldn’t be this big of a deal. You can read details at the source link, conclude that it’s not “custom,” and call it a day.
CUSTOM USERLAND IS NOT A FUCKING CUSTOM ROM. For running an Android site you’re quite the moron.
Didn’t see the word “userland” in any part of the original forum post. I did see the word ROM, though. And it is custom, technically. Otherwise it wouldn’t be different from stock. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I know a lot of you are angry about your devices, but you’re taking it out on the wrong people.
No, they’re not. They’re seeing what amounts to, “Not only am I just copying what I read on another site without adding value or editing for accuracy, I don’t understand what I’m reading and don’t really care.” That’s the impression you’re giving of yourself, and of Phandroid in general as you represent the site.
I have no true insight on the matter because I’ve never owned or used a Motorola Droid 2 and I don’t have time to read forum threads all day to keep up to date with every nook and cranny of every phone. Asking me to be 100% knowledgeable on a device I’ve never used is like asking someone who’s never left Alaska how hot it really is on a humid 90-degree day in Miami. Am I supposed to start making stuff up at that point? Unrealistic. Sorry, but I reported what was in front of me and that’s as far as I’m capable of going. To pull things out of thin air based on experiences I have yet to encounter would be even more irresponsible than what you’re making my original report out to be. This’ll be my last response on the matter.
@ROM the Spaceknight, exactly right. I don’t own one of these crippled devices, nor will I ever. Quentyn’s lack of knowledge is leading to people being misled about what these devices are really capable of.
I never stated that this ROM (or whatever you’re calling it these days) could do anything other than what the developer stated it could do. I didn’t mislead anyone.
@Quentyn: the problem is that by getting Droid 1 and by having unlocked phones by default, people from USA doesn’t differentiate between three separate things :
1) rooting the phone – gaining superuser privileges, has nothing to do with ROMs (this was applauded as big step and commented with “we said you” attitude, while all Milestone owners did know that rooting is not a problem)
2) custom userland recovery images using the official Motorola firmware – called incorrectly as custom ROM in this article and in source, as to have custom ROM, you should be independent on device manufacturer; otherwise all you can do on the device is have custom versions of official firmware (=we throw out this app from official version, we add this app from elsewhere), no such things like T-Mobile G1 running Android 2.1 can be done this way. This article is about this step, again with the “we said you” attitude, while again having this for a while in Motorola Milestone world.
3) true custom ROMs – built from scratch, own, custom kernel, like Froyo from Cyanogen for devices which normally doesn’t have Froyo. This is a real custom ROM, and this is what Motorola Milestone/Droid 2/Droid X/other locked Motorola phones will never have, unless the guys at and-developers will have success with their work on secondary boot solution.
The reason for being annoyed by locked bootloader is not for 1 or 2, but for 3 – look at HTC phones, supported by community at xda-developers long time after the manufacturer stopped supporting them. This will not happen with Motorola Milestone/Droid X/Droid 2. At best you will get updates for 1 year after launch, and that’s it. No more new stuff for you, neither from Motorola or community, as community can’t make custom ROMs, just custom userlands.
And why all the hate in other posts ? Unfortunately, it’s your fault. It is because these lines :
““And they said it couldn’t do that!” Following the string of scares that started with the Droid X regarding eFuse, locked bootloaders, and killer unicorns, many were skeptical of the device’s hackability.”
Well, it still can’t do that, and device is still not “hackable”. I hope you now have deeper understanding of this stupid Motorola world.
@comment (the fake butt pickle Mensahwatts you just don’t stop do you? Does it make you feel cool posing like me and talking about Tmoble?
@Q: if you don’t own the device, don’t know enough about it, why do you feel compelled to write about it? i don’t think anybody expects you to make anything up. the opposite, really: if you are lack the skills/knowledge to write about a topic, just don’t. or, to use your analogy, if you’re from alaska and don’t know anything about the weather in miami, don’t write an inaccurate weather report about miami weather in a miami news outlet.
@Guest it’s my job.
It’s your fucking job to get things right too…
” Asking me to be 100% knowledgeable on a device I’ve never used is like asking someone who’s never left Alaska how hot it really is on a humid 90-degree day in Miami.”
I’m gonna guess 90.
@Quentyn: Stop trying to defend yourself. You just dig yourself in deeper. You can’t absolve yourself of responsibility from being accurate because you “don’t own” a device, and then somehow justify your need to write about it.
For future reference, please state the following disclaimer with these sorts of posts: “This article may be completely inaccurate as the author isn’t qualified to speak on the matter and is doing so because it is his job.”
So if technically all I want to do is ‘blow the bloatware to smithereens’ it will work?
Thanks!
were can i get this rom at? i have looked and can’t find it anywhere.
were can i get this rom at? i have looked and can’t find it anywhere.
were can i get this rom at? i have looked and can’t find it anywhere.