-
by Stephen Schenck | May 1, 2013 1:09 PMRead OnYesterday, we got confirmation that the bootloader on the AT&T Galaxy S 4 was locked, and rumors suggested similar fates for the phone on other carriers. While not everyone is even going to care about a thing like a locked bootloader, those of you who love tricking-out your phones with custom ROMs were no doubt a little bummed. That's why we're glad to see that progress is already being made to free these phones from their chains, with evidence arriving of a bootloader hack. Noted Android hacker Dan Rosenberg posted the above picture to his Twitter account, which sure enough, appears ...
-
by Stephen Schenck | April 8, 2013 1:00 PM
Read OnMotorola may not be the least friendly manufacture around when it comes to unlocking bootloaders, but if not, it's darn close. A precious few Motorola Androids are supported by the company's official unlocking site, and in many cases, you'll still need a developer-series handset; for a serious Android tinkerer, it can be enough to drive you away from Motorola altogether. Luckily, it looks like the community is coming through where Motorola itself has not, and an exploit has been announced that should be able to let owners of a few Motorola Androids open up their phones' bootloaders. While ...
-
by Joe Levi | October 11, 2012 5:50 PMRead OnThere are two kinds of Android users: Android Power Users, and everyone else. This tip is specifically for the former group, but "everyone else" will probably get a laugh out of it. When you unlock the Droid RAZR M you'll be nagged with a "warning" every time you boot your smartphone: Your device's bootloader has been unlocked, allowing critical software components to be altered in a manner that may cause damage to the device or result in injury to users. Motorola disclaims any liability for harm to person or property resulting from use of this device -- and all warranties are null and ...
-
by Joe Levi | October 10, 2012 2:43 PMRead OnRoot is one of those Android Power User things lets you do all kinds of cool things. Unfortunately it usually involves unlocking the bootloader and installing an SU hack. This can mean wiping your device in the process. If you've got a Galaxy Nexus, some attention to detail, and are willing to take the risk, you can root your smartphone without OEM unlocking it (and wiping it in the process). This comes to us from Efrant, Bin4ry, and some other talented folks at XDA Developers. Step-by-step: 0) Assume the risk that this could break things 1) Download the files from the XDA article to your ...
-
by Anton D. Nagy | May 25, 2012 2:02 AMRead OnThe HTC One X on AT&T got rooted two weeks ago but that didn't allow users to experiment with custom ROMs. Unfortunately HTC didn't offer an official bootloader unlocking solution (just yet) and we've tried to see just why they won't do it. However, this didn't stop (it never stops) the community and its fine developers from working on a solution and they have found one! After you get passed all the warnings in bold that scream "you're doing this at your own risk" you can actually follow a twelve-step walkthrough at the end of which you will hopefully have an unlocked bootloader on ...
-
by Joe Levi | May 18, 2012 12:14 PMRead OnUnder pressure from the community, HTC announced they would begin to offer tools to unlock the bootloaders on "their" phones. Over the past six months they've made significant inroads and have "allowed" the unlocking of a great deal of "their" devices. I know I'm being liberal with the quotation marks, but once you buy the phone, isn't it your phone? Neither HTC nor AT&T force you to call your mom for exactly 15 minutes every seven days, nor do they tell you that you can't call your mom more than once a week. Absurd, you say? Why would a carrier or a manufacturer force you to do ...
Posts tagged with: bootloader