By 
Though Motorola has gave the Android developer community a sense of hope when they release the Motorola XOOM with an unlockable bootloader, it seems the company isn’t ready to make the policy stick across the board. This time its the Motorola Droid 3, which a Motorola Support Forums manager has confirmed will ship with a locked bootloader. While it will certainly dash the hopes of some, most devs will see the roadblock as a challenge easily accepted. How easy it will be to overcome…that’s a different story entirely.
[via DroidLife]
MOTO #FAIL
while it is a HUGE moto fail and a big departure from the OG Droid, it is to be expected. Moto is a dick and this isnt a developer phone…
Yet, on the Motorla Defy, you can run CynanogenMod 7 based on 2.3 while the newest update for the Defy from Moto is 2.2 The Atrix is unlockable too. So yeah, you can actually use it as a dev phone.
HTC FTW
Yes. The fact that the G2 *sad face* hasn’t even been updated, yet HTC is so on their game.
Samsung. They gave CyanogenMod Galaxy S2’s so they can have a ROM ready for it. Now that’s awesome!!
Wow fuck you Moto, “we’re gonna release an update that unlocks devices across our portfolio” 2 weeks ago and then they launch a device with a locked bootloader?
Which they have said come in late 2011. Are we in late 2011 yet? Then I missed my summer break :(
Eh, Verizon makes the call what kind of bootloader gets shipped, not Moto. The carrier has complete control over which features are and are not available. You’re barking up the wrong tree.
Not true. While the carrier does have some pull as to this type of thing it is still ultimately the manufacturer that has to choose to implement it or not. Otherwise ALL manufactures would be shipping with locked bootloaders, and HTC wouldn’t have been able to make the decision as to begin shipping theirs unlocked again.
Moto has implemented it. The feature exists (see Atrix). The Xoom is unlocked. Moto already did the work. Do you think they spend development dollars on something and just sit on it to spite customers? And the carrier doesn’t have “some pull”, they have the final say. If they don’t want a feature, it’s not in the phone or they cancel the order and don’t carry the phone. Moto cannot make a phone for Verizon’s network without Verizon.
It’s you who need to get your facts straight.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play on Verizon.
Any current-gen Motorola phone on Verizon.
gg.
And yet, the SE Play is locked too.
TalkingMoose is right. Verizon wants a locked bootloader. They already confirmed that they won’t accept HTC’s with unlocked bootloaders. Also, here in The Netherlands, Vodafone wants locked bootloaders too. Just llike KPN and Hi. So if the operators aren’t the ones who have control over locked bootloader or not, then someone please explain why Verizon, Vodafone and KPN have said that they really want locked bootloaders.
Dont waste your time the moose thinks he knows everything and is always right. Just let the troll alone and not respond to him lol
I don’t know everything, but there are at least three things I do know:
1) I know how the manufacturer and carrier determine which features a phone will support, which they will not, and who has the final word on feature acceptance.
2) I know that you don’t.
3) I know how to form a coherent sentence complete with punctuation.
You keep telling yourself that. Maybe someday you will realize you dont know half of what you try and act like you do. Your comments are erroneous and lack evidence since if the carriers told the manufacturers what to include then why is it only moto locked their phones down?? Please enlighten us with your propoganda.
Because, maybe…they’re not?
Samsung has released some unlocked phones. HTC promised to unlock all phones, to which Verizon first replied, “Over our dead bodies,” a position they quickly backed down from. Begs the question: which position is the actual policy and which is the public saving face state policy. If course, nobody has yet to deliver on the “All Phones Unlocked” pledges, and words are cheap.
You decided that you’re going to hate Motorola. They’re the face you put on your reason for throwing a tantrum. You’re so entrenched that you’ll readily believe that Moto is willing to be fickle about which phones are locked and which aren’t that you won’t even entertain the possibility that it’s someone else who is being that fickle.
But mostly it seems you just can’t get over that you looked at some fragments of events regarding how phones are being released, never bothered to really understand any of the behind the scenes dealings that goes into those decisions, picked up a few bits and pieces off the forums from people who likewise were spouting opinions with no substance, formed an ill-conceived opinion yourself, put that opinion out there as fact, and got called on it by someone who used to do this stuff for a living. You’re embarrassed, and you’re trying to save face. The problem is, each time you open your virtual forum mouth, you dig yourself deeper and deeper.
If you were half as smart as you think you are, you’d put away the keyboard and walk away.
Your next action will indicate just how smart you are,
Who said I hate moto? Are you a psychic now too? Good try though. You can type all the paragraphs you want and say you used to do this for a living it still means nothing and if you are such the Einstein you say you are why respond back? That’s right because you are just a troll. Carry on young chap maybe troll some other forums.
QED.
Ha exactly. EAD.
I’ll remember that in the future. Seems to be more of a talking ass than a talking moose.
given* released*
Looks like i’ll be waiting for Samsung, or sticking with my Droid 2 until something else catches my attention. (yes, i know it’s locked but at least it has CM7?)
Anyone surprised? Im not.
Ha! My thoughts exactly lol!
Which is why I won’t be getting one. It’s really ashame; the OG Droid, aside from slamming Android into the mainstream, was built like a tank, was the first phone with 2.0, had (has) awesome dev-support, tons of ROMs, nightlies, add-ons, etc. My only complaint with the D1 was its lack of memory. Then they came out with the D2 which addressed the memory and keyboard layout issues. However, Motorola encrypted the bootloader, and no, regardless of what some blogs say, Verizon didn’t request an encrypted bootloader; they don’t really care whether or not a bootloader is actually encrypted when they purchase them. Then they put blur on it, and both Moto and Verizon treated it like a red-headed step-child. I don’t think it was even sold for 2 full months before moving to the D2G and they’re still trying to push those R2D2 editions. The OG Droid has had 2.3.x ROMs for quite awhile (thanks to the lack of encryption). With the D2, and now, the D3 you’re stuck until there is a “leak” or an official update. For a rooter/ROMer/themer, that is a deal-breaker for me, and yes, I know, I’m in the minority, blah-blah, I’m not in the majority, deal with it. It’s a great piece of hardware that is going to be on Gingerbread long after the OG Droid will have some ICS at least to some degree.
What would be great is if they made an “LTE edition”. It’d also be nice to see Moto and VZW do to the D3’s bootloader what they did with the Atrix (AT&T-really?!?!). I have zero problem voiding my warranty for a non-encrypted bootloader. My old OG Droid used to run at 1366MHz stable all day every day, and had great battery life. It would really be nice to see the Droid go back to its roots in that the OG Droid was basically a Motorola-made Nexus with a physical qwerty and different chipset- which was part of the reason VZW went with the Incredible instead of the Nexus One. It’s ashame to think about what could have been and what could be if Motorola would just pull their head out of their ass. I know a part of why they went with encrypted bootloaders was because of people returning devices that suddenly had “accidents” due to updates, etc. I’d like to see them do what they’ve done with the Atrix and give the end-user the option to void the warranty if they choose -especially if you’re buying the phone outright – then it isn’t Verizon’s phone and you’re paying it off, it’s YOURS.
Oh my God, if you are leaving posts that long about a damn smartphone you should probably go outside more often
Yet you read it?
I guess you shouldn’t go to a “SMARTPHONE” web sites if your not prepared to read stories (long or other wise) about smartphones..
smh..
You don’t have to read it to see it’s a wall of text…
It’s because he HAS a smartphone he IS outside and posting that ;P
If the Nexus Prime is not on Verizon, I’m switching carriers. Not letting someone else own my phone again.
I keep wanting to say I could leave Verizon (if they don’t get a sweet unlocked phone), but I’m not sure if I can. Their coverage is just too good!
If carriers and manufacturers would take cues from ROM developers – keeping the blur and bloatware to themselves, including the more popular features from Cyanogen, and stop blocking apps from changing settings (like turning GPS on and off) – they would eliminate the incentive for users to root and rom their phones, and far fewer people would really care about a locked boot loader. But no, they take a great piece of hardware and degrade it with all the aforementioned crap to the point where they start driving customers away from the product.
I can just see some bonehead in a design meeting saying “Okay, we’ve got a great product here. Now go F it up as much as you can, but not so much that people won’t buy it. Then, F it up just a little bit more.”
Red Mark for D3
Phones I’m looking at to replace my D1 (not a perfect stat sheet)
https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AlNRQtbjYc0sdGVRS2xnUEZzVkhpZlU1YzdUeUZjNnc
All the samsung phones’ bootloaders are open.
Droid x has an OMAP cpu.
I think the HTC phones have FM radio as well
Now it’s perfect
Moto has FM Radio too. Samsung Galaxy S2 is locked, at least here in The Netherlands. Wow, so much better! [/sarcasm]