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Houston, the Motorola Atrix 4G has Been Rooted

46

Before it could even officially hit the streets, the Motorola Atrix 4G has been rooted thanks to a handful of members between our AndroidForums and XDA. See it above running Titanium Backup.

There are still some hurdles to jump such as that dreaded Motorola bootloader, but the head start is encouraging. We’re well on our way to busting the handset wide open, it’s just a matter of time until custom ROMs are supported. The folks working on the root still remain skeptical on the possibility, but I’m betting that will be done in two weeks. Any takers?

[Thanks  youareme7!]

Kevin Krause
Pretty soon you'll know a lot about Kevin because his biography will actually be filled in!

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46 Comments

  1. Isn’t the bootloader the real hurdle? I’ll also remain skeptical until we can se some further progress. Two weeks seems a bit to tight to me…

  2. I agree with Linus. I doubt the bootloaded will be cracked in 2 weeks. Devs have been working at cracking the Droid X and Droid 2 bootloaders for months with little progress. I’m sure we’ll have “Roms” in the sense that they exist for the X and 2, but they will not be complete roms (including kernal upgrades..etc)

  3. I hope they’re successful getting past the bootloader. I don’t have faith in AT&T really doing much for updates, so need to be able to get them someway.

  4. …sure, I’ll take it. What do you want to bet?

  5. how about we bet an atrix 4G with a laptop dock? hehehe

  6. I think bootloader is another story.
    Look at the Droid 2 which is still unable to achieve access to bootloader. Atrix might be the successor.

  7. The Droid X has been out for ALMOST 9MONTHS and the Droid 2 at least 6MONTHS and those bootloaders HAVE NOT BEEN BROKEN…. MY BET IS THEY WON’T BE… Motorola Atrix looks great but that would NEVER HAPPEN FOR ME cause I love android/google TOO MUCH to use At&t cause they have NEVER BEEN SERIOUS ABOUT ANDROID like Sprint, Tmobile, Verizon.. No locked bootloaders in my world.. I stick with HTC/LG/SAMSUNG…

  8. Richard. I hate u so much. You suck at life.

  9. @cleetus – How does Richard suck at life because he refuses to use Motorola and their locked bootloaders? Just because you don’t know what the difference is between a CFS and BFS kernel doesn’t mean that Richard sucks.

    Please try again ma’am

  10. i hate him because of his trolling and random use of caps. and fuck u dave.

  11. HAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAha

  12. Richard! You actually managed a post without sucking off Sprint and jerking off with your EVO! Awesome! Maybe the drugs are wearing off, or the Downs Syndrome wasnt acting up! Well done! Now just rip that goddamn caps lock and/or shift button out, and you’ll be almost normal! (Yes, my hopes are running a litttle high today)

  13. @cleetus Lol

  14. Hey, Dj where is that BUM ksizzle9 always glad to see the normal crew in the house… @cleetus… You must be a new retard to the forum… We welcome you…

  15. I just learned Motorola encrypted their bootloader. I guess HTC for me.

  16. Wow! You want milk and cookies with that!

  17. lockrd boot loader means nothing to.me. as long as u have root u can remove crapware oc and custom Rom it. ill be fine screw HTC and there cheap azz build quality clone phones. bring on th bionic the true next super phone

  18. @ cleetus grow a penis fag!

  19. I ruled out the Atrix right away when I found out about the locked bootloader. I like the bump in resolution for the screen, the large amount of RAM, the dual core processor, and the simple form factor. Why can’t Motorola implement some other kind of security architecture that will satisfy them, the carriers, and the users? I really don’t think it is that hard. Some users (like me) want to at least be able to get rid of Motoblur and run stock Android, others want to run modified kernels, and even change the clock speed. Doing the former should be allowed under warranty but requiring a simple recovery process designed into a ROM which will reinstall the original OS in order to get service or any support from Motorola. The latter should be allowed too, but some type of mechanism that voids your warranty would be fine – either you email Motorola for a key, or a bit gets flipped in a write once memory somewhere. The carriers don’t want rogue software doing crazy stuff in the baseband module – isn’t that problem already solved anyway? You can get ROMs that overclock, but I didn’t think users could get any control of the actual radio waveform (changing power, protocols, etc.). Keep that stuff locked down tight – just fine with me. I’m less inclined to give the carriers what they want to tell the truth – they need to be much better regulated in the US and get a lot less than they want actually. Carriers need to be dumb pipes and not allowed to exclusive rights to certain phones.

    Motorola said they were going to make an announcement that would perhaps satisfy people like me – a new developer friendly phone? I rule out all Motorola devices until this announcement.

    (what is happening to the quality of posts on this website? – maybe it’s time for moderation)

  20. Actually people are trying to unlock the bootloader since the Motorola Milestone (aka Droid to US customers). There has been little to no progress.
    The only hope atm is that US customers which Motorola seems to care much more about than the rest of the world complain and force Motorola to listen to them.

  21. we need more whiny asswhipes like Richard to make a sound point to Motorola about NOT using locked booloaders. Because of this, I’m with going going with HTC or Samsung (counting on CM7 support) :)

  22. As long as I can enable tethering and side load apps I’ll be happy. Fags like Richard can load all the half assed broken roms they want on their crappy Samsung phones. After owning a Craptivate you couldn’t pay me to use another POS Samsung phone. I like HTC but they are way behind the rest of the industry, I don’t know what happend to them, they’re still peddling last years hardware as new.

  23. U guys are idiots. He’s asking if it’ll be rooted in 2 weeks. Your guys reading comprehension sucks. I think 2weeks is a bit tight. As.for the bootloader……good luck.

  24. lol it never fails…..people learn your history. You will always get semi root, but NEVER be able to change kernels which is where the real fun begins. Enjoy half ass root…..but custom kernels will NOT HAPPEN EVER!!! Dont beieve me?? Ask anyone who owns a milestone, droid x, etc….

    MOTO = UBER FAIL!!!!

  25. With it’s Dual Core the Atrix can reboot twice as fast and often as the Nexus S. So when does this thing get it’s Software for using a Dual Core?

  26. @john, you might want to check your own reading comprehension. The two week claim directly follows the statement about custom ROMs, and the skepticism that it will happen. You might also check your dictionary, as “U” isn’t a word. As for getting a true custom ROM kernel: no, it will not happen. Not, “might not,” but, “will not.”

  27. Yes there will be custom ROMs within 2 weeks BUT they will be ROMs based on Motorola’s firmware. The bootloader won’t be cracked unless some type of a key is leaked and I highly doubt that will ever happen.
    I like the hardware on the Atrix but hate the locked bootloader. Plus why would Motorola make a phone this good look so fricking ugly? I mean it looks cheap/plasticky. Gonna wait for HTC to make a dual-core.

  28. Richard and dj……. grow the fuck up. Are u two old enough 2 even have a phone

  29. @compadre..and Mimsy… Nothing but a bunch of fuck faces… learn reality first dick weed

  30. @cleetus… Who names there child cleetus??? You sound like a CYCLOPS OR SOME KIND OF WATER ANIMAL.. Go shit on yourself

  31. Win one Motorola Atrix 4G from AT&T Carrier http://goo.gl/SpELo

  32. The locked bootloader is not a big deal. Custom kernels would be really cool, but the Milestone got gingerbread before the droid did. There’ll probably be half broken CM7 for the atrix next week.

  33. I guess you could say att and motorola is where good phones and ideas go to die.

  34. More like Motorola on any carrier is where good phones go to die.

  35. Yeah kernels would be fine but I did everything on my droid x that I did with my OG droid so to say it is a big difference prolly means you never owned one. But motorola makes the best phones htc use to but recently all their phones look the same and no dual core coming, samsung well they never update there phones so why would I want a phone from that company? Motorola is the only real choice here

  36. If the phone is rooted then it allows a lot of features like overclocking for exaMple. I’ve got a milestone n its running 2.3 right now.

    As long as there are custom roms u can upgrade motorolas.
    I don’t see what’s the big deal.
    I’m not gonna buy crappy devices from samsung and htc just because the procedure to load roms on it is simpler. I mean we are geeks we can figure it out, atleast I don’t see any problems in modding motorolas.

  37. It is alot more difficult to get ROMs ported to those phones. They take alot longer and will be buggier than phones which have unencrypted bootloaders. No you can’t do everything you can on an X which you can do on an OG Droid. Yes, the HTC devices this year do look similar but they do look damn good. The unibody aluminum design provides for world class build quality (much better than the plastic body of the ugly Atrix). Would never in a million years consider Motorola. They are just another Apple as far as I am concerned, locked down pieces of crap. So what if the Inspire/DHD are not dual core? Most apps are not even optimized to utilize dual core and the new generation of Qualcomm processors are pretty damn good. I’d take an Inspire over any Motorola phone, easily. I stand by my statement.

  38. Sigh…trolls…
    Relevant: This is cool…but still won’t ever buy the Atrix unless tow things happen: 1) It goes onto Verizon 2) You can install custom ROMs. Root access is cool, but custom ROM installing is probably 95% of root where everything else is in the 5%. Its too bad, really, its such a powerful phone.

  39. Hey Richard, your parents named you appropriately . They took one look at you and said “what a dick”.

  40. you will be able to install custom roms. just not change the kernel. and that might not matter if the tegra 2 is as powerful and efficient as its being hyped right now.

  41. Is it optimized to use dual core? No!
    Can you now get Netflix and other great official apps? No!
    Do you still have to deal with almost all apps being from home devs, and still not get apps from software companies with teams of software engineers and a trademark quality to live up to? Yes.

  42. @Eileen_Ulik & Ace Curry
    Every version of Android installed on to a phone has to be compiled to work with the hardware in that phone. Android which is based on Linux, supports multiple processors (always has) so the OS installed on these phones have to be compiled to support that hardware.. That is “optimizing” the software to work with the hardware. Yes, both cores will be utilized to process data and applications.. Yes there will be improvements to better utilize both cores in the future. On the application side, there are very few types of applications that would benefit from tweaking in some mythical way, to tell the OS and processors how to run them (I don’t know where people get that idea).. so the whole “applications are not optimized” doesn’t really make sense.. Now if you are talking 32 bit vs 64 bit programs, then you get into having to modify the applications.. but for now the OS and the processors push the bits through.. Two processors sharing the load is going to do the job quickly, and allow for more simultaneous tasks going at the same time.. however, the latest batches of single core processors are damn quick anyway so the difference in real use for most things already out there is not going to be that noticeable.

  43. Good points Dj lol very good …I ame new to seeing little Richys Sprint love but I saw it in its full blind bloom a few post ago…guy loves his Sprint man …and to him (even though its no where near true) sprint is king lol

  44. Johnny, it will definately matter. BTW, its been confirmed and verified, the bootloader is signed by Moto, so you know what that means. LOCKDOWN!!!!!!!

  45. So heres what i dont get…infuse better screen quality…atrix better media capabilities…infuse(correct if wrong) overclocker 1.2 Ghz…atrix dual core…so wtf dude which phone do i get? i work for att and cant even decide…if i can never truely get into the atrix screw off i hate blur it sux…i own a captivate and love it!…decisions decisions….please help

  46. Why do people go crazy whenever phone’s get rooted? It’s extremely easy to root any phone. This is not news, this is a way to make children giddy. Talk to me when the bootloader is cracked (we’ll never speak btw).

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