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Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

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Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#161

Post by amf12 »

williamDafoe wrote: post #117

Google has a console called panopticon where they can see every Chromebook in the world. This monitoring facility is used to measure bug / crash prevalence in e.g. 802.11 driver software and to determine how much of each fleet is running the latest ChromeOS security patches. They can do this because Unlike Microsoft Google ports ChromeOS onto new laptops and tests the crap out of them (including the verification that…

> Google has a console called panopticon where they can see every Chromebook in the world.

I bet Apple has this for iPhones, as does Microsoft for Windows 10 internet connected devices. It would be important to have for "Find My Device", disabling stolen devices, etc.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#162

Post by cubesnooper »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #125

"Here is the rest of the network activity, all of which is TLS-encrypted by keys buried in the stock Google operating system, and thus not controlled by the device purchaser: Hostname Downloaded to phone Uploaded from phone storage.googleapis.com 383 MiB 8 MiB fonts.gstatic.com 137 MiB 3 MiB afwprovisioning-pa.googleapis.com 18 MiB 1 MiB www.gstatic.com 8 MiB 287 kiB googlehosted.l.googleusercontent.com 8 MiB 345 kiB…

> After installing GrapheneOS, I wonder if it is possible to selectively stop connections to GrapheneOS servers. There are probably some connections to Graphene servers enabled by default.

This is actually extensively covered in the GrapheneOS FAQ:

https://grapheneos.org/faq#default-connections

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#163

Post by Dylan16807 »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #138
Dylan16807 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who buys a brand new phone but also has no internet connection for weeks? Do they have all the apps they need pre-downloaded? I don't think that's a big group.

It's quite common for people from elsewhere in the world to buy electronics in the US, Europe, Japan, etc and then bring them back to their home countries for a fraction of the cost of what the official or unofficial importer(s) want. That's why you end up with all sorts of region-locking nonsense, companies trying to protect their importers who have a monopoly on distribution of a particular device.

You can unlock it before you go home.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#164

Post by Dylan16807 »

rdbell wrote: post #154
Dylan16807 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who buys a brand new phone but also has no internet connection for weeks? Do they have all the apps they need pre-downloaded? I don't think that's a big group.

It usually takes about a month between the time I order something from the US and the time I have it in-hand. Last holiday season was about 2 months. Never tried a return because I'd have to pay through the nose on shipping.

They specifically said a delay between getting the device and connecting it.

That's very unfortunate if you'd have to pay a return for a promised feature not working.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#165

Post by fomine3 »

jacooper wrote: post #99

Honestly be glad that google still allows bootloader unlocking. And the WiFi requirement is very small, and the article is overblowing it.

Agreed. It's fine for most cases and keep security and anti-fraud. If they are serious privacy phobia, I don't know why they want to buy Google products.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#166

Post by joshuamorton »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #130
LiamPowell wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is correct, people generally don't get to own a device provided by their employer. Not allowing the bootloader to be unlocked on company-owned devices seems like a very desirable feature.

But the provisioning check is forced on everyone. I don't think it's reasonable to enforce a provisioning process on every single person just because a small number of the devices go to enterprise-sized companies that want "zero touch" and Google (and their distributors) don't want the expense of stocking two SKUs, one set to require provisioning, and another not. I shouldn't have to prove ownership of my device to s…

So how much of a premium would you pay for the alternate sku?

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#167

Post by jvanderbot »

yellowapple wrote: post #110
jvanderbot wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pixel's are locked down a very tiny bit , and I don't think this is some kind of dystopian over-reach with security as an excuse. For all the security listed in this thread the whole "I must connect to the internet once" problem is a very fair tradeoff from the user's perspective.

And what happens when that server on the Internet stops authorizing bootloader unlocks, or disappears entirely?

Unlock it just after you buy it.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#168

Post by Sierra7 »

Basically this is done to ensure that the phone isn't locked by the carrier, meaning if you buy the device directly from google you can still unlock the device by connecting to the internet. Yeah, it sucks, yeah, you own your device less in a way, but im happy they still let you do it.

I sent a support message a while back asking about it on the google store thing - and they said it was unlocked. I installed grapheneOS today on the pixel 7 actually, and was surprised to read that you had to connect it to the internet just to unlock it. Its strange.

I enjoy grapheneOS so far though.

Edit: if you get the phone through an upgrade with your providers plan it will most likely be locked. There are some threads on grapheneOS' forum about which ones do or dont lock the phone.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#169

Post by jifoxym »

RicoElectrico wrote: post #128
j1elo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xiaomi does the same (or at least did until my latest phone change i.e. around 3 years ago). You must unlock the bootloader before being able to install a custom recovery image such as TWRP, which itself is used to install custom ROMs. This unlock involves: creating a user account in the Xiaomi services website, logging into that account from your phone's system, then having the phone logged in for at least 7 days ,…

The rationale for the hoops and waiting period is IIRC that shady sellers were tampering with phones sold through AliExpress etc.

did it solve this problem? I bought my Xiaomi phone from a shady seller who tampered with it to unlock the bootloader, so that I avoid all of this. I'm probably not the only one.
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