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The advantages of having a rooted Android smartphone are endless. Many users can no longer live with a locked down device, and smartphones are being rooted as soon as they come out (sometimes even before). The newest root news revolve around the Motorola Droid 4, which can already hacked for all its root goodness.
This device was just released yesterday, and there is already an exploit available. Those interested in rooting their devices must always remember the usual disclaimer: Rooting your device can void your warranty/insurance, and there is a chance of bricking your device. This must be done carefully, and after reading instructions thoroughly. If something bad happens, the responsibility falls solely on your hands.
Now that we have that out of the way, we can move on to the details. You have Dan Rosenberg to thank for all of the hard work. This security researcher fell into a bit of a dilemma, though. After working endlessly to bring everyone a rooting solution for the Droid 4, he thought it would be fair for him to take $200 to buy himself a Motorola Droid 4. He would donate the rest of the money for charity.
It seems this was not acceptable by many Android users out there, so he decided to just donate everything to the American Red Cross. Personally, this guy is doing a great thing for the Android community. It doesn’t seem like a bad idea for him to get a bit out of it. At least a device – I mean, he was not trying to live out of this money.
Regardless, the exploit and rooting instructions are available straight from his site. So go ahead and check it out if you are interested in rooting your brand new Droid 4! You can also find the files there, so have at it. If you want to donate some money, just head to this site.
What do you guys think, though? Is it fair for this fine gentleman to get a Droid 4 out of his hard work? If not, then why?
[Source: vulnfactory Via: TalkAndroid]
I sure has think it’s fair. Devs work hard and they don’t charge for their work. A dev that donates to a good cause and we complain? Really? Let’s hear it for entitlement!
It’s not the money, it’s how he went about it that irked some people. Originally, he wanted to raise the money before he released his work. After people bitched, he then put it out there . Something every other article about this mentioned, except this one.
I still don’t find the problem. He wanted money before hand? Held the file hostage? For a good cause? we aren’t entitled to receive these files but people think we are. I think the way he went about it was a great idea honestly. Made a game of it. For a good cause.
What I’m left wondering is, if he rooted the Droid 4, he supposedly has one already, so why does he need to buy himself (another) one?
He doesn’t have one. He created a “universal” motorola root solution – it roots the d3, bionic, razr, and d4 – and testers tested it for him
Ahhhh. That makes sense.
“After working endlessly to bring everyone a rooting solution for the Droid 4, he thought it would be fair for him to take $200 to buy himself a Motorola Droid 4. He would donate the rest of the money for charity. It seems this was not acceptable by many Android users out there, so he decided to just donate everything to the American Red Cross.”
if the money is donated to Dan, what he do with that is none of anybody’s concern. most developers use donations to get new device(s), i don’t see any problem with that. Dan even donated the remains to charity, what more can anyone ask for? if one doesn’t like the proposition, do not donate. it’s that simple. the man deserve his reward and if anyone still disagree, don’t use his hard fruit of labor.
Really? Donates to charity and we bitch?????? It was probably apple fanboys under fake Android user accounts.
Put binaries with root privileges on my phone without seeing the source? No thanks.
Addendum: In his blog about plagiarism in Android rooting ( http://vulnfactory.org/blog/2011/11/11/plagiarism-in-the-android-rooting-scene/ ), he says “If you’re rooting your phone, try to learn a little bit about the effort that went into making it happen.” I’d love to, but this exploit is a black box.
I just ran it a couple of minutes ago and it works 100%. Restoring my apps now! Can’t wait for cm9 =)