Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

fitzsim.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 359 posts

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#171

Post by dleslie »

azalemeth wrote: post #118

If I wanted to buy a new phone that I could root, install a custom ROM on, and use without voiding the warranty, what's the current best bet? One Plus used to be pretty good, but they've gone down in freedoms and up in price. Samsung are an obvious no. The entire design of the iPhone is specifically aimed at keeping the user out of it. Linux phones aren't usable yet. The shop on the /e/ foundation website seems to be…

Pinephone Plus is a decent option, but you will be underwhelmed by the camera.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#172

Post by Sierra7 »

quaintdev wrote: post #7

This does not make any sense. GrapheneOS supports all pixel phones. In fact, they support pixel phones only. I am thinking of buying pixel just for this.

Thats not 100% accurate, if you get the phone directly from certain carriers, they may keep the phone locked. iirc verizon is the worst at it but you can contact them and waste an hour and a half of your life over phone support to get it changed.

Why we have this system in place for phones is just... beyond me.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#173

Post by jle17 »

williamDafoe wrote: post #144
martius wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source for this? There is a well known tool named Panopticon (abbreviated pcon) internally and this is not at all what you describe. (I work at Google)

I was in the chrome dogfooding program at Google, testing pre release hardware and I used panopticon. They locked it down a short while later. I could see all the acer Chromebooks in the wild before the lockdown. I imagine they renamed it and/or came up with a new tool named panopticon since it's a common term for a special type of prison where from one location you can observe every prisoner at once.

> it's a common term for a special type of prison where from one location you can observe every prisoner at once.

Which is kinda unsettling. At least it makes it clear how they view their users.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#174

Post by userbinator »

azalemeth wrote: post #118

If I wanted to buy a new phone that I could root, install a custom ROM on, and use without voiding the warranty, what's the current best bet? One Plus used to be pretty good, but they've gone down in freedoms and up in price. Samsung are an obvious no. The entire design of the iPhone is specifically aimed at keeping the user out of it. Linux phones aren't usable yet. The shop on the /e/ foundation website seems to be…

Generic Chinese Androids might fit. There's still many with features that mainstream manufacturers have started removing like expandable storage, removable battery, and a headphone jack. Of course there's no voiding the warranty, because there isn't one to begin with.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#175

Post by scarface74 »

amw wrote: post #121
dingledork69 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are confusing Verizon's motives with Google's motives. Verizon disabling the bootloader on phones that users are still paying off, or bought at a discount together with special terms of condition, is something that might be defensible. Google however made it so that any Pixel phone bought anywhere , even by customers who pay 100% of the price themselves with no carrier involved are not actually owned by those use…

> is something that might be defensible. I would like to propose that it never is, and only seems so sometimes because our society is insane.

If you don’t want the carrier to lock your phone and give you a discount, then pay full price for it.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#176

Post by teaearlgraycold »

IshKebab wrote: post #56
damisanet wrote: post #24

"Magic hostname" mentioned in article (afwprovisioning-pa.googleapis.com) makes me believe this may be related to zero-touch enrollment of Android Enterprise/Android for Work ( https://support.google.com/work/android/answer/7514005 ). I'm sure devices sold to regular customers and enterprises are identical and nobody is going to unbox and pre-provision them before shipment, so unboxed phone needs to contact provision…

Yes this is obviously the reason they do it. They don't want to have to flash different firmware for carriers, consumers, enterprises, etc. I think it's kind of reasonable.

As an Android engineer I can confirm we are lazy just like software engineers in other companies.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#177

Post by climb_stealth »

solarkraft wrote: post #66
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 wait time differs based on the device. I had to wait a week until I could use my Pocophone F1.

Man, I love my Pocophone F1. Any idea where it would still be possible to purchase one?

With LineageOS it handles everything I throw at it without issues. Love the form factor and the finger print sensor on the back. Also SD card slot and headphone jack. Looks like the newer Pocophones are stepping backwards so I have been trying to get my hands on another second hand F1. Haven't been able to find it anywhere though. Surely there must be people out there selling them?!

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#178

Post by zeagle »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #141
zeagle wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liked my Samsung phones but after the a couple of them went end of life despite being very usable I am never buying one of their devices again and sticking with Pixel. There should be an Android code of ethics or regulation to unlock bootloaders of these devices when discontinued to minimize eWaste.

Why on earth would Google institute a policy that runs completely contrary to the cell phone industry's business model, making their devices as useless as possible as fast as possible? It always cracked me up that Apple gets bashed for planned obsolescence when they support their phones longer than anyone else in the industry.

I agree that they aren't exactly good citizens in the corporate sense, I'm all for regulation to step in if companies won't voluntarily do it. To your point Google does unlock their bootloaders so they seem OK with it for their devices?

There is some planned obsolescence in incremental improvement of technology but that that is probably too slow for them (e.g. my S10/S11 lacked LTE, 5g, eSim...).

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#179

Post by shadowgovt »

kortilla wrote: post #104
tapoxi wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It assumes that company owned and managed phones are more common than people who want to unlock the bootloader. I know this isn't ideal, but that's the correct assumption to make.

That’s a stupid false dichotomy caused by a poor onboarding workflow. “Well we either make it easier for businesses or deny the right to literally every customer to own their device. It’s okay because most people won’t notice.”

You'll notice that the market is not lining up to buy the PinePhone in response to this state of affairs, so I would say that the decision has been working out well for Google.

It is very much the case that most people don't care about this definition of freedom.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#180

Post by uneekname »

pbasista wrote: post #38

> connect the device to the Internet before they are allowed to install the operating system they want Phoning home before undertaking such an activity takes away the ownership rights from the customers. They do not actually own these devices even after they have purchased them. The reason is that an important part of their ownership rights, i.e. the freedom to use the software of their choice, has been withheld from…

Yep, my Pixel 2 is as good as dead because the bootloader can't be unlocked, Google refuses to do anything about it, and software updates stopped a long time ago. Great way to lose me as a customer.
Post reply on HN