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Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7 Rooted

An anonymous reader writes "Yesterday, XDA Developers forum users kinfaus and pokey9000 were discussing how the latest devices from Amazon (the second-generation 7 Kindle Fire and the 7 Kindle Fire HD) come with more sophisticated protection than their predecessors, including locked bootloaders and 'high security' features offered by their OMAP processors. Today, the devices have been rooted." Using a known bug in busybox dating to April even.

8 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The missing feature by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, it just got a lot LESS attractive. Rooted with locked bootloader = meh.

    I got the Kindle Fire because it had an unlocked bootloader. Locked bootloader = no-go for me. Nexus 7 all the way!

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    retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  2. Re:I wouldn't have been able to post first .... by Radak · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...which, apparently, it hasn't.

  3. Re:The missing feature by Bigby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because then the customer can blame Google when something goes wrong with it.

  4. Kindle fire is dead to me by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I litterally just bought a Nexus 7 about an hour ago. My main concerns? No expandable memory and the forced ads on the Kindle. Yes, maybe I could have waited for this root to come out so I could get rid of the adds, but do I really want to deal with that?

    As far as the lack of a memory slot, that only bothers me because I'd like to take movies on vacation with me... But then I learned I could connect the Nexus 7 to an external hardrive via USB on the go and viola.

    Sorry amazon, forcing me to watch ads is not a way to get me to buy your product.

  5. Not really an Android tablet by jbohumil · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wanted a larger Android tablet and thought maybe the new Kindle Fire HD 8.9 was what I was waiting for so I ordered one the day they were announced, but yesterday I cancelled my order, and decided I will wait for a larger Nexus or maybe go with something from Samsung, Asus or Motorola. For me, any Android tablet that cannot access the Google Play Store cannot really be called an Android tablet. It's not what I'm looking for and it really can't be fairly compared to other tablets running Android that have access to the Play Store. Android's promise of being more open and being able to share applications purchased through the Play Store on all my Android devices is a big selling point and one of the main reasons I stick with Android and avoid Apple products. Sorry Amazon. I love the Kindle readers, and I ordered a Paperwhite reader which I'm looking forward to getting, but if I wanted a closed system tablet I could have bought an iPad. I don't want it from Apple, and I don't want it from Amazon either.

    1. Re:Not really an Android tablet by jbohumil · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You could look at it that way, but I kind of disagree, I think there is a truth in labeling problem and I wonder if people area really are being fairly informed. It is not immediately obvious looking at the Fire HD page on Amazon that you are not getting a full Android experience. Yet Amazon is pitching these as "Android tablets." Try typing Android Tablet into the Amazon search box and see what is at the top of the list, the Kindle Fire HD. It's misleading to refer to these as Android tablets when really they are a closed Amazon tablet. If they called these Linux Tablets it would be equally misleading because even though they might be based on Linux they do not provide the features normally associated with an open source Linux install. These tablets do not provide the features normally associated with open source Android and they shouldn't be marketed or compared side by side to true Android tablets.

  6. Re:The missing feature by jittles · · Score: 3, Informative

    You don't have to turn to third parties to unlock the Nexus 7. You do "fastboot oem unlock" and away you go. You can do whatever you want at that point.

  7. Re:and it'll keep getting worse by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 3, Funny

    What I see when I hear people whining about why they won't use ___ because it isn't "open enough"

    I want an Open Toaster. All toasters are locked down and proprietary, and I want to hack my toaster so that I can use it to toast my mittens and socks. That's why I won't own a toaster. My BBQ does all these things and more! I've even built it myself, and it runs on Charcoal, Pellets, OR Natural Gas, giving me much more flexibility in my toast making endeavors. And when it snows, I like the fact that I can clear the snow off using my specially made "snow removal device" that I hacked together myself.

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    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.