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Motorola Releases an Official Bootloader Unlocker

Posted by Soulskill on from the uncommonly-helpful dept.

New submitter Nertskull writes "Motorola has released a tool to allow anyone to unlock the bootloader on their phone/tablet. The only supported device so far is the Photon Q 4G LTE, though three other devices are supported through their developer unlock program. Support for unlocking other devices is supposedly on its way." Motorola leads into the unlocking process with this amusing tidbit: "WARNING: Motorola strongly recommends against unlocking the bootloader and/or modifying or altering a device's software or operating system. Doing so can have unintended, unforeseen, and dangerous consequences, such as rendering the device unusable, violating applicable laws, or causing property damage and/or bodily injury, including death." Careful, folks; unlocking that bootloader might kill you.

4 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Now for iOS? by oakgrove · · Score: 4, Informative

    The RAZR MAXX is actually a really nice popular phone with phenomenal battery life. I'd hardly call it's manufacturer irrelevant. Not only that but Motorola is owned by the developer of Android the smartphone OS with by far the largest install base. I'm not sure what you're mad about but your post comes off as sour grapes sounding.

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  2. Re:Actually... by arielCo · · Score: 3, Informative
    I don't know how this gets rated Insightful and not Troll/Funny, but here goes:
    1. Unlocking the bootloader is not the same, does not require, or is a prerequisite for rooting a device. Just as in a PC, the bootloader controls what kernel gets loaded, mostly by checking a signature. Some bootloaders even allow dual booting.
    2. Unlocking the bootloader has nothing to do with overclocking ("CPU into overdrive")
    3. Overclocking, badly done, will mostly drain your battery very fast. The phone itself will overheat, possibly shortening the lifetime of the battery, but hardly anywhere near enough to make it burst/combust.

    You're welcome to provide well-researched counterexamples.

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  3. There may be legal issues, too. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Informative

    As I read their entry in wikipedia:

    - There was pressure from the Android community.
    -- Motorola promised an unlocking tool "by the second half of 2011".
    - When it didn't appear, complaints were mad to the FCC about violation of a Part C rule that appears to REQUIRE a way for ordinary users to unlock the bootloader and load anything they want.

    So this may be Motorola's response, 14 1/2 months late.

    I wouldn't be surprised if Motorola held off, or limited the models unlocked, to avoid violating contract provisions with carriers that resell their phones with their service plans at greatly discounted prices.

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  4. Re:Wow by Mousit · · Score: 3, Informative

    This disclaimer is not nearly as silly or crazy as one might think. CyanogenMod, for example, has well-documented problems with E911 functionality on various phone models. In fact they completely dropped support for the T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant because dialing 911 didn't work!

    I don't know about you, but I can sure see the inability to call 911 to be a "dangerous consequence" that could absolutely lead to "property damage and/or bodily injury, including death" even if it's not the phone itself that's literally the thing killing you.