Official: HTC to Deliver Unlocked Bootloader for HTC EVO 3D, Sensation/4G by Early September
It’s good to see at least one manufacturer making good progress on their promise. HTC, after receiving tons of flack from the community, decided to review their bootloader policy and promised to announce an official stance in the future. That official stance was that they wouldn’t continue to lock down bootloaders and that all of their future devices, and even some existing devices, would be given the ability to be unlocked by its owner.
Now, we are a bit further along. On their Facebook page yesterday, HTC’s stated that they are currently testing the unlock process and that the system should be fully functional by early September. That means we will see it sometime within the next two months, though I wouldn’t get my hopes up on seeing it sooner rather than later. Regardless, we’re glad to see HTC narrowing it down and showing they’re committed to making good on their promise.
The official quote from HTC is below. They explain why all of their existing devices might not get the functionality right away. Long story short, every device released up to this point will need an OTA upgrade to enable the functionality.
They’ve specifically confirmed that the HTC EVO 3D, T-Mobile USA’s HTC Sensation 4G and the HTC Sensation in other parts of the world will all be included in the initial around of unlocks. Others will need to come on a case by case basis and updates for those devices may take some time. We also have a feeling they won’t be worrying about their older crops of devices that have already been unlocked by the community.
**UPDATE 7/10**
We wanted to provide an update on HTC’s progress with bringing bootloader unlocking to our newest phones. We know how excited some of you are for this capability, and we’ve put significant resources behind making this change as soon as possible. While we wish we could flip a simple switch and unlock all bootloaders across our device portfolio, this is actually a complex challenge that requires a new software build and extensive testing to deliver the best possible customer experience.
We’re thrilled to announce today that software updates to support bootloader unlocking will begin rolling out in August for the global HTC Sensation, followed by the HTC Sensation 4G on T-Mobile USA and the HTC EVO 3D on Sprint. We’re in the testing phase for the unlocking capability now, and we expect it to be fully operational by early September for devices that have received the software updates. We’ll continue rolling out the unlocking capability over time to other devices as part of maintenance releases and new shipments.
HTC continues its commitment to unlocking bootloaders and supporting the developer community. Because of the importance of this community to us, please expect an update on this about every few weeks as we make progress toward launch. Thank you for your patience and continued support!
[Facebook via AndroidForums.com]