The "I don't like locked bootloaders" thread.
Ardoreal
Enthusiast - Level 2

I posted this over at the Motorola forums for the Droid X, but given that VZW has a hand in crafting these decisions I think it's very relevant to post here too.  While I have this stance with smartphone manufacturers, I have it with VZW too.  If VZW can't make a phone available to us that's friendlier in these terms, VZW will lose a lot of business.

 

I know there must be quite a few of these posts and that many have been deleted.  Whatever Motorola's behavior in response to my attempt to articulate my opinion as a customer will either foster constructive discussion or only further alienate "yet another customer".  Customer, as in the person whom pays for Motorola's continued operations, earning reports, employee wages, etc etc etc.

 

I don't want to continue to opine on the obvious things (such as it is the CUSTOMER that makes this forum possible by financially supporting Motorola), I'd rather give feedback.

 

To put it succinctly, Motorola Mobility's behavior as a corporation has been reprehensible to me.  The takedown notices for recovery software is appalling.  If there is copyrighted material contained in the sbf files, why can't Motorola compromise and publicly provide sbf files sans copyrighted materials?  If it's part of the design, take it out and let us obtain it in another fashion.

 

Let's back it up a little bit to get to how I came to be a Motorola customer in the first place, the Droid.  The Droid was exceptionally well done.  I loved how it worked and I loved the early Eclair access it gave me by buying it.  It was also vanilla Android.  It was smooth and quick to respond.  It didn't contain much bloatware, everything seemed peaceful.  I could also gain root access and load custom software onto it.  Some things were better than others and I ended up with a device that was truly remarkable.  My favorite ROM ended up being JRummy's lithium mod.  It was source built from official Google software and was far superior to anything Motorola released to date.  I could theme it, I could do many things with it.

 

When the Droid X came out I looked forward to the hardware.  I was extremely disappointed with the bootloader, but a hack was inevitably released.  Now we're here where Motorola has taken active steps toward penalizing people for tinkering with their phone.  The bootloader being locked down again after the 2.2 OTA and no we don't even have a leaked sbf recovery to go off of.

 

My feedback is this, my next upgrade will come around.  Based on Motorola's behavior they have made decisions that are not friendly to me.  I do not like being restricted.  It's as if I bought a car with the hood welded shut.  I will not buy a phone that's locked down in this manner with active attempts to prevent me from installing unauthorized software.  If there's one thing I like to do, it's install unauthorized software.  If I want to sit there and eat jelly donuts or biscuits and gravy I darn well had better be able to even if it's not "good for me".  It's my choice.  Besides, if *I* approve of something to be installed on my phone that should be my own choice.  It is *MY* phone.  I paid for it, it's mine.  The concept of restricting this for my own security is irrational to me.  Especially when the only things out there are things I intentionally want to install that improve my phone (by removing Blur, for example).  I also have no use for Blockbuster, I want it gone.  I should be able to choose to not see the app in my drawer without having to resort to third party apps or rooting.

 

Thus said, unless Moto changes this behavior, my next phone will NOT be Motorola branded. 

 

I also do not care to consider any arguments or counter points from Motorola.  I don't care to what degree other phones are locked down or what the industry's general practices are.  If I cannot buy a phone I can't tinker with, I won't buy a phone.  Simple as that.  Spare your counter points as they are hollow and without merit.

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Re: The "I don't like locked bootloaders" thread.
DoneDidDroidX
Contributor - Level 1

Ardoreal wrote:  Simple as that.  Spare your counter points as they are hollow and without merit.

Per your request, I won"t comment. Simple as that.

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Re: The "I don't like locked bootloaders" thread.
Wildman
Legend

@ Ardoreal

 

You might as well not posted if you didnt want any feed back... What was the point of this post?

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Re: The "I don't like locked bootloaders" thread.
hellopretty86
Enthusiast - Level 3

{please keep your posts courteous}, THIS IS A CORPORATION, THEY OWNED THE RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER TO THEIR DEVICES. GO BACK TO THE EARLY 90S AND BUY A "SAVED BY THE BELL ZACK" CELLPHONE. YOU SHOULD WROTE TO MOTOROLA PERSONALLY ABOUT THIS SITUATION. ITS A FREAKING PHONE NOT HUMAN LIFE.

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Re: The "I don't like locked bootloaders" thread.
crb79
Specialist - Level 2

Wildman wrote:

@ Ardoreal

 

You might as well not posted if you didnt want any feed back... What was the point of this post?


The point seems to be a massive "WAAAHHH!"  Seriously, the locked bootloader is a non-issue.  If you cannot "tinker" with your Droid X currently, Motorola did you a favor as I'm fairly certain you would have it bricked on your first attempt.  If you know what you are doing, the locks in place are a non-issue.  They were cracked within a couple of days of release.

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