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EVO 3D Features Same Locked Bootloader as HTC Sensation

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Looks like the locked bootloader of the HTC Sensation was only the beginning of a trend that will continue with the company’s other major handset launches. It was discovered that the HTC EVO 3D will also feature an uncrackable bootloader along with secure kernel images and locked recovery mode. As we learned with the Motorola Droid X and Droid 2, this doesn’t mean we won’t see custom development for these HTC devices, but it will make the lives of hackers and modders a little more difficult.

The signed bootloader ensures that the EVO 3D only boots with approved software builds, making the implementation of custom ROMs all the more difficult. Instead of attempting to crack the bootloader (a task that is nearly impossible due to 256 bit encryption, the best bet to gaining access to development on the handset is via a workaround that could include locating a leaked development ROM or finding a way to trick the EVO 3D’s bootloader. We’ll leave that up to the more than capable development and rooting community. They’ve faced hurdles before, but rarely have they failed at cracking whatever handset they choose.

[via AndroidPolice]

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116 Comments

  1. All I have to say is, if by any chance you drop this phone it’s gone. The phone has a very nice weight to it and there is a lot of metal use. I am disappointed in one aspect. It’s just as fast as a Nexus S 4G. I ran Benchmark on both and The Evo 3D was only faster by 30-50 points. I would get Galaxy II if it ever came to the states.

    1. It will come that’s a sure thing, the only problem is when?

      1. And you say this because you know how to break 256 encryption or know someone at HTC that’s willing to leak a engineering RUU?

        What makes you so confident when this is almost the same as Moto’s lock and no one seems to be able to break Moto’s lock?

        On edit….. Ok, My bad.. I thought you meant that the HTC would get S-OFF.

        1. I’m pretty sure he meant that the Galaxy 2 would be coming to the states, eventually….

        2. He was talking about the GS2 coming to the states….

        3. How do you not get that Zomby2D is referring to Puma-mea’s statement of the GS2?

        4. LOL! I was talking about the GS2 coming sateside.

  2. This is very sad and such a shame. I will not be considering the Evo3d based on this news. I was going to sell my Evo for the Evo3d and pay the off contract price for the phone. Your loss HTC.

    Hello Samsung GS2.

    1. same here… :(

    2. Ditto for me as well, I was really looking forward to having a dev community for the 3d as strong as the og evo.

    3. Same here

    4. I understand where ur coming from but the reason for this may be for the better of the device. with the new sense 3.0. unofficial devs may not have to be present for this device . not to mention that messing with root for this device may make some of its functionalities (i.e. 3d) not work

      1. lol…  yeah and there was no point of having devs for the sense 1.0, or  2.1 right, because they were the best that was ever made…  kinda how they will never top sense 3.0 because they will quit upgrading it after that and google will magically decide that the version of android that this ships with will be the last version of android ever made….

        Or you can jump back to reality for a second and realize that there will always be a next best thing coming out and the devs will be the ones who bring it to you sooner, or at all as companies will stop supporting devices before the devs do.  As far as the 3d or other functionalities, its the same as anything else, if it already works, there will be a way to continue to make it work…  root access wont bork (go ahead and google what root acess is…  we will all wait for you to catch up) that, and at least some roms will be ported over and customised to work with them as well

        1. Written like a true optimist…..cheers!

      2. Hmmm…build a wall 10ft tall and someone will build an 11ft ladder……give It time folks..the phone hasn’t even been released yet

    5. LOL WTF do I care if they encrypt access? Only #PhoneDorks care about this. Hahaha…nitwits. “WHA I can’t have a custom ROM!” LOL

      Shut up and go back to yanking it to Megan Fox .jpegs.

      And of course…let the requisite htc/EVO 3D/et al hate continue in 3,2,1…

      1. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a troll quite as obvious as you.

      2. Wow. Way to post unnecessary commentary. I personally don’t “hate” the E3D, I just wish I could easily instal custom ROMs just in case I don’t like Sense. The whole point of Android is customizability. Take that away, it might as well be iOS…

      3. Go play with your iphone and stfu

      4. You are a redneck.

      5. Phone dorks says the guy in a phone specific website.

    6. Yeah that was one of the things that was going to make my decision.  I was also thinking about buying it off contract but I’m not if the bootloader is locked.

    7. I’d personally get the SGS2 but have you considered the LG3D?  I’d get LG product over an HTC.

    8. Same. I guess I will be getting the Galaxy S II when it hits sprint.

  3. If I were to pick a phone to get this year (which I won’t because my Droid X is still serving me fine even with it’s locked bootloader), this would probably push me to get a Galaxy S II instead of an HTC. Even Motorola is making some (fairly pathetic) attempts to appease the developer/modder community. Has HTC even given any official word on why they’re doing this?

  4. This is where HTC pisses me off. If I am going to spend $199 on a phone, I would expect it to be totally unlocked; especially for those people that are spending $499.99 on the phone!

  5. son of a… ruined a good phone

  6. how did you even run a benchmark?

    1. I tested the phone. I had the phone for a couple of day and that was the first thing I wanted to see. Let me tell you something. Sense is killing that phone, and if we can’t root it and mod the ROM I will be sticking to my Nexus S 4G.

      1. Sense 3.0 is slowing down the phone? I had the same impression from one of their promotion videos of HTC Sensation. It didn’t seem as snappy as GS2 for example, or some other dual core phones I’ve seen.

        1. You got that right. I was getting 1,700 points on Quadrant and then I went to remove bookmarks, friends, calendar and such things. Guess what, it jumped to 1950 and I am getting 1,880 out of the Nexus S and it’s stock. I am going to wait for Samsung G2. I am disappointed in HTC.

      2. Who are you to get a sneak peek and If you were that high up the totem pole, why are you commenting on this? I work for Sprint as a tech and we have the HTC Kingdom rom running on the first Evo. It has never frozen(although some elements do not work yet) and the first Evo has such weaker hardware than the device’s Sense 3.0 was made for. Evo 3D will still be a great device and The Nexus S 4G ain’t all that. Neither was the Samsung Epic. Both have connectivity issues that I’ve never seen on a HTC product. Beside’s a Super amoled screen, samsung device’s are boring in appearance compared to HTC devices. 

        1. You wouldn’t happen to have a developer rom for the EVO 3d you’d want to leak out would you?

          1. XDA Thread for the rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1081921 

            Evo 3D is codenamed the HTC Shooter.

  7. I have send a complaint to de support department
    of HTC NL. Explaining that the signed bootloader was the reason that my
    next phone was not going to be a HTC and that I hoped that in 2 years when my Samsung
    galaxy SII needs a replacement they changed to an un-lockable bootloader.

     

    If more people do that maybe the
    get the message . 

    1. You are such a minority, it won’t matter.

      1. No kidding, sending an email to a company to tell them that they are doing it wrong always helps :)

      2. Not with that attitude he won’t. Go ahead and support every anti-consumer thing the industry has done why don’t you.

        I bet you love tiered data and beg to be charged extra for every little thing. I bet you support the ATT T-mobile merger. If it were up to you I’m sure rooting would be illegal.

        Well, I don’t and while I may be a minority I will at least do my best to insure that trash like you and the companies you purchase from never get my money!

  8. Et tu, HTC? ಠ_ಠ

  9. Well, for me this rules out an EVO 3D. 

  10. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Samsung GS2, here I come …. Unless someone figures out a way to get S-OFF on the EVO 3D before the SGS2 is released in the US.

    It’s a sad day to find out that the E3D is signed with 256 byte encryption….  ;-(

  11. while it’s not very nice to the rom developers and rooters, there is a very good reason to be doing this, especially if these will be getting updates for the next year or so.  there’s always round it though, root access is a piece of cake in android, eevn without beign able to ‘fix’ the bootloader to something a bit more free

  12. ruled out this phone…. very disappointed in htc. their openness was one of their strengths. no way I’m dropping the evo for the 3D now. and I’m skeptical about htc in general going forward. I can’t support the companies that go “closed” not even for a really cool phone… just sends the wrong message to OEM’S

  13. well i understand them. if they wanted to offer movies on this phones thay had to offer somekind of garantie to film studios… and i gues we’ll have unlocked phones and custom roms very soon on xda.
    and ewnyoj your samsux :)

    1. If they can’t crack moto how can they crack HTC

  14. They’ll soon stop when they realise a lot less units are getting sold.

  15. Cool

  16. Extremely bad news… well guess I’ll be holding on extra tight to my Evo 4G.

    1. Not until they pry it from my cold dead hands

  17. I can’t wait to hear what Dick Yarrell has to say about this considering he said all along the E3D WOULDN’T have a locked bootloader. Of course, he might not say anything at all since he believes rooting is for “2 year old smartphones”.

  18. Time to switch to Samsung? F Sony.

    1. The lesser of two evils?

  19. You folks are… SICK IN THE HEAD… Sense is slowing down the phone??? What I saw was a revolving rotating 3d effect panels there is no way the phone can be slowed down as statements above have been said. Sense 3.0 slower than touch wiz 4.0 IMPOSSIBLE. To those who want a samsung device then go get one enjoy your keis problems and slow updates if any especially especially here in the states. Regardless Evo 3d will rule android simple as that..

    1. ha so much for unlocked bootloader dick. Too bad your so called superphone isn’t going to rule android like you think.

      1. This isn’t locked down like a Craporola phone. The Evo 3D will be unlocked easily. The HTC haters have to try harder.

        1. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about. Read a bit more info than what is provided by this article, here: http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/05/24/confirmed-evo-3ds-bootloader-recovery-and-kernel-images-all-locked-down/

    2. May 19, 2011 yarrellray wrote:

      “The bootloader is not encrypted on the evo 3d trust me on that”
      http://phandroid.com/2011/05/19/rough-launch-date-for-evo-3d-finally-leaks-online/
      Why do insist on acting like an asshole? When I first started reading these, I thought people were pretty rough on you, but I soon realized why. Are you insane or on drugs? “The evo 3d will kick ass, take names, and rule android.” That is, by far, THE most stupid comment I have ever seen in any forum. That even put rooting for 2year old phones further down the list. How, exactly, does a phone, and we are talking about phones here, kick ass? It’s a PHONE. The same thing with the “rule android”. No, I’m pretty sure Google owns Android Inc., thus ‘ruling it’ and has for years. Not one phone from one company. Do you understand how the dual-core processors are setup? You aren’t getting a 2.4GHz phone. I enjoy my EVO too, although I seriously doubt nearly as much as you like yours. That actually conjures up horrible mental images. Instead of going out of your way to start arguments and having everyone laugh at you, yes, they laugh at you. When people say things like ‘I wonder what Richard is going to say’ they don’t like you, you don’t have any ‘fans’ people just want to see you make a complete ass out of yourself. Since you spend so much time with this nonsense, why don’t you actually take some time to actually learn something about android, then you would be respected instead of laughed at. Do save yourself the time of typing something idiotic like calling me a dweeb, scrub, bum, dirtbag, have sex with animals, or whatever your word of the day is. Also, don’t bother saying something even more ridicuIous like ‘don’t worry about what I say worry about yourself’ because I don’t worry about you. At all. That is your case-workers job. I say don’t bother, because I’m not coming back to this thread, so I’ll never see it anyway. But really, I ask you this seriously. Why not take half the time you do writing your insane rants and put it towards actually educating yourself about the subject you always talk about? Or are you really just a lonely middle-aged man in desperate need of attention? Instead of being respected, or being a go-to guy for people who would like a little knowledge dropped on them, it seems that you love it when people hate you. I don’t get it.

      1. Welcome to your first day on the internet, troll-feeder.

    3. You always sound as you don’t know what you are talking about. What slow updates????
      Please try to do some research and document yourself.

    4. LMAO!!!! Your dream of sprint having the best device is slowlay fading away!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

  20. everyone please write on HTC facebook wall and email them. we need to show them we are upset.

  21. Looks like HTC is now off my list..I never thought I would say this but it looks like I will be getting a Samsung as my next phone.

  22. Close the fucking parenthesis!!!

  23. Great! Sounds like I will not have to fight the crowds on release date. I am getting the phone for the Sense. Why change a thing?

  24. So, So sad.. This is the one thing I thought would be a deal breaker for me. :( Im on Sprint so let’s see if another dualcore phone comes.

  25. I have gone ahead and emailed them. Too bad, so sad. This was going to be the phone i was going to switch carriers for and HTC has gone ahead and ruined their chances. Seems Samsung is the only game in town.

    1. There is LG sony acer … With unlocked bootloaders.

  26. Damn Damn Damn!! Well I still have my EVO to mess around with. Hopefully hackers find a way around it if not GS2 here I come.. Hopefully Samsung will not follow this trend either..

  27. Does this mean I wont be able to tether for free? If so I’m canceling my pre-order…..thanks HTC

  28. This hurt me for all you EVO fans. It sucks and is a sign of what’s to come in future HTC phones. There are 2 reasons I couldn’t be happier. One is yarrelray and Richard. Couldn’t be happier that you won’t be able to enjoy this. Literally couldn’t be happier

  29. Yarrelray, u r the stupidest person alive. It will never, because it can’t rule the gs2. It’s a nice phone. Again, the original EVO never really “ruled” android, because the original galaxy came out, which was, and still is a much more powerful phone. Not to mention the gs2 is, and will be much, much faster than your EVO 3D. Jump off a cliff you idiot.

    1. You are an idiot Ksizzle9, the EVO rules over the galaxy just like the 3D will rule over the gs2. Have you ever used both? I have owned both and the EVO is so much better its not even close. You are a moron

      1. Sorry, the SGS2 pisses all over the 3D. Just like the I9000 pisses all over the Evo.

        1. guys… they’re phones -.-

        2. Sorry no, the galaxy s sold more cause it was released on all major four major carriers, HTC EVO has always had more developer support and more current upgrades than the galaxy s, so what good was the best hardware on the epic on 2.1 mean while the EVO was chillin with froyo with custom, stable roms in July?

          1. You must not know the differance between the I9000 and the Epic. The I9000 has had GB for a while now. And, it pisses all over the Evo. Wich doesnt have GB yet.

          2. Not without hdmi out, 4g and a shitty ass file system and no Dev support

          3. I would be willing to bet 80% of Evo’s dont have “4G”. HDMI out? Who gives a crap, it isnt like the Evo mirrors. Shitty file system? That is why the benchmarks on the I9000 piss all over the Evo’s. No dev support? It has CM support, what more do you want? Now, the Galaxy screen puts the Evo to shame. The camera does, the call quality does, benchamarks do…

  30. Do like me and go there to complain!  It looks like many people are already bitchin’   about it!
    https://www.facebook.com/HTC?sk=wall
    If they care or not about us (the customer) is out of control, but at least we can try to make them change their mind about it….

  31. Then replace the bootloader.

  32. Then replace the bootloader.

  33. NO EVO 3D for me. Sales will definently be DOWN for HTC…..

  34. Lets see. First sprint alienates most of the original evo owners with the silver/hold premiere member which that takes away the early upgrade status for most all evo owners. Now the locked bootloader by htc. Its like they don’t want to sell these phones.

    1. Fuck that I’m tired of these companies like HTC, blaming the carriers, sure they are fucking evil but HTC wasn’t forced to do this, it did it out of its own free will. Why? HTC is working on it’s own operating system, the more people it can get stuck to and accustomed to sense the better for HTC. HTC will pull of a blackberry, and allow its proprietary operating system to run android apps.

  35. I’m more concerned about the future of CyanogenMod :-(

    1. They have recently added some Samsungs to their supported devices. With Samsung saying they wont be taking this route, it looks like CM will most likely just have a long list of Samsung phones this time next year.

  36. Now i don’t have to choose between this and the Samsung Within (Sprint Galaxy S2) :)

  37.  meh, guess ill pick up a NXS S until something doable as far as full rooting the E3d goes .

  38. 嫀⽙鬛괘给蔦ﭤ竔吋淜き嫀⽙鬛괘给蔦ﭤ

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  39. Well,
    there goes my boner for the Sprint HTC EVO 3D. Your new policies suck,
    HTC. You were a pioneer for Android handsets and now you’ve turned your
    back on the community that loves them the most. Eat it.I am
    strongly considering a different handset now. I can wait or just get a
    lower cost Sprint HTC EVO 4G on eBay or Craigslist and still enjoy
    rooting and custom ROMs.
     

  40. Write them on facebook, e-mail, and twitter….there’s already a flood of comments going. Show them you’re pissed.

  41. That’s too bad.  I was hoping to continue the EVO legacy with this model, but it looks like I’ll just wait for the Nexus 3.  This is very disappointing HTC.  Very disappointing.

    1. lol legacy as if the Evo has been around for ages. It’s not even a year old.

  42. HTC, fuck your sensation, fuck your EVO 3d, fuck your kingdom, fuck your double shot, thunderbolt your still cool. Most importantly fuck you HTC, I’m out, nice phones but locking them down? Dick move HTC, dick move.
    Don’t go blaming the carriers either if LG and Samsung got the balls to keep it unlocked so can you

  43. Just get the g2x and call it a day. Thank you

  44. Well at least now I know that the line will be shorter and I won’t have to pre order…that’s good news for me at least.

  45. Awesome…. Now there will be such little market for the EVO 3D. Except the Android newbs anyhow… If I can’t mod my phone, I will not buy it.

  46. It’s funny how many people criticized Motorola for this. I wonder how many will choose motorola for their next phone manufacturer since they’re both locked down and motorola has better specs for their top tier phones.

  47. Update: The bootloader of the Evo 3D is locked, but not encrypted. It will be possible to custom rom it, but honestly the software is good to the point that you’d only want to remove bloatware, get it deoxed and skin a few thing like the clock. Every detail of HTC Sense on this device is beautiful. The weather animations for Sense are actually 3D .mp4’s! I really hope it has the same effect as the HTC Flyer when you tilt the device.

  48. ^ Exactly. If I can’t mod my phone then I WON’T buy it. Simple as that for me.

  49. So much hate on this forum ahahah. But oh well not a big deal to me, I really only want it for sense.

  50. I could have sworn I just updated that the bootloader is locked, but not encrypted. Phandroid fuckin’ sucks. Someone corrects the info in your post and you take the comment down? Fuckin’ fags. That’s why I never heard of this site until this morning. Androidcentral, XDA and PPCGeeks are shittin’ on yall bitches.

    1. Your comment is still there, no matter how wrong it is.

  51. F HTC now.  I woudl never buy a phone with a signed bootloader.  For all you trolls out there QQ’ing about how great Sense is, and that those of us who like rooted phones are whiners, think of how much money we’ve spent on apps for rooted phones.  We’ve supported a dev community that single handedly made Android what it is today.  Without them, this OS wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.  This is a big FUCK YOU from HTC to the dev community and why I won’t support HTC anymore.  I hope others will support our hard working devs and buy non-signed bootloader phones.

  52. HTC has just tweeted:
    Thanks for the feedback, we’re listening! We’re reviewing our bootloader policy. Stay tuned here for more updates. http://on.fb.me/jog8Wa

  53. For security purposes htc had to make changes to there devices i support that. Regardless htc will never be motorola but now they both have locked bootloaders it is what is. I support htc that will always be this CHANGES NOTHING IN MY WORLD THE EVO 3D STILL WILL BE THE NUMBER ONE DEVICE. To those of you who feel they want to DUMP htc then DUMP THEM because you never supported them in the first place. Samsung needs all the support they can get CAUSE OF THEIR SHITTY UPDATE HISTORY… HTC doesn’t have to worry about that HTC is king in updates. I can’t believe the galaxy s line of phones still have 2.1 on them.. wow eggclaire unbelievable Samsung is great for new phones THEY COULD CARE LESS ABOUT OLD ONES… MEANWHILE EVO 3D COMING SOON TO THE BEST CARRIER AROUND.. SPRINT RULES

    1. “…because you never supported them in the first place.” HAHAHA! What a moron. If people bought HTC phones in the past, they supported HTC. Its cool that you support HTC through all of this, but the modders/hackers go where the phones are hack friendly. The Sensation and E3D are not. “I can’t believe the galaxy s line of phones still have 2.1 on them.” If you think that, you’re even stupider than the real Dick Yarrell. The Epic and every other Galaxy S phone has 2.2 (the same 2.2 that your Evo is stuck on) and a 2.3 ROM leak for the Epic hit the web almost a whole month ago. Learn about the crap you talk of BEFORE talking about it. You might just save yourself from a little embarrassment.

      1. THE Galaxy S has had GB for a while too, btw.

  54. looks like once again i will be staying with my nexus one until a phone with pure google and unlocked bootloader comes out

    1. Looks like I also will be very happy with my rooted Nexus One with all the custom roms  I can flash. What a freaken joke, what a way to ruin a great phone.

  55. Let the executives know, stop the lock

    [email protected] Chairman

    [email protected] Chief Marketing Officer, HTC Corporation

    [email protected] Senior Public Relations Manager at HTC 425-679-5328

    [email protected] COO of HTC

    [email protected] Board Member of HTC

    [email protected] CEO

    [email protected] Chief Innovation Officer

    Brent Groome, Chief Executive-Customer Operations, at 843-369-8393 or [email protected]  

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