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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

#241

Post by thescriptkiddie »

acyou wrote: post #223

I'm a little confused that people think they are free to use the software of their choice and that there is some built in right to use the software of your preference on a given hardware. Sure, if you're so smart, you can do it and it's up to you to try to dance around whatever the manufacturer wants to throw your way. Don't like it, don't buy it. Nothing says that any manufacturer is required to sell general purpose…

The Free Software Foundation has been advocating for such a right for decades.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#242

Post by Ruq »

hatsune wrote: post #151
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…

It's not rocket science that some carrier and manufacturer lock the goat out of their phone like Samsung and Verizon, but I think this thread is dealing with a much more different problem and everyone who bought carrier does not belong.

I don't think carriers should be allowed to hard-lock phones either, but that's another thread for another day.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#243

Post by Xeamek »

m_kos wrote: post #64
jesprenj wrote: post #51

I got a Samsung S21 FE 5G as an award on a programming competition. OEM unlocking wasn't even an option in the developer settings until I connected the phone to the internet and set the date to one month in the past (I assume this has something to do with the warranty -- you can't even unlock the bootloader right away). An internet connection was required before even using the phone on the Android initial setup scree…

One thing I find very annoying about Samsung is that it tries to get people to use Bixby (Samsung's "Google Assistant") by remapping their phone's power button to Bixby. Due to the nature of my current project, I talked to many Samsung owners in their 50s and 60s who don't know how to turn Bixby off and, consequently, don't know how to, e.g., shut down or reboot their phones.

You can remap it back. Not to defend them, just FYI

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#244

Post by froh »

_ea1k wrote: post #202
danuker wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Security, the classic excuse behind reducing freedom.

Sometimes its a valid reason. I love the idea of being able to unlock the bootloader. I don't love the idea of someone else being able to do it before the phone gets to me.

so it's about end customer security, thanks for elaborating!

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#245

Post by Xeamek »

jesprenj wrote: post #51

I got a Samsung S21 FE 5G as an award on a programming competition. OEM unlocking wasn't even an option in the developer settings until I connected the phone to the internet and set the date to one month in the past (I assume this has something to do with the warranty -- you can't even unlock the bootloader right away). An internet connection was required before even using the phone on the Android initial setup scree…

At this point its simply not devices that are being sold, but the package device+software. There simply isn't a market for android-capable devices only

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#247

Post by londons_explore »

jifoxym wrote: post #169
RicoElectrico wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Some of the AliExpress sellers use this ability to install a custom kernel that reports more RAM and Flash than is installed. Sometimes they report a higher android version number and CPU too, and if you run any popular benchmarks the results will be faked (through binary patching of the benchmark app).

Then they sell the phone as a newer/better model than it is, and most users are unaware. If you complain to AliExpress they'll tell you to run AnTuTu or Geekbench, and both of those apps will report fake results.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#248

Post by suavesito »

scarface74 wrote: post #175
amw wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

My viewpoint is not that it is fair or not for the carrier doing so. But that restricting freedom from a users device and software should not be allowed. This means that if the carrier decides to sell devices via some kind of credit it cannot take away the freedoms of the user (and future owner) of the device, but the carrier can decide simply to not sell devices via some credit.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#249

Post by londons_explore »

grishka wrote: post #96
WeylandYutani wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xiaomi heavily subsidizes their phones. The idea is that they make it back with people using their apps.

Yep. All their stock apps, including those that have no business having any kind of network access as part of their functionality, come with a privacy policy, show it to you in a modal on first launch, and quit if you decline it. The calculator app has a privacy policy, so does the clock, the media gallery, the file manager, and the local music player. I was also told that there are actual ads sprinkled throughout th…

There are plenty of $100 phones. I used a $50 phone for a year, and it was fine to use - it ran every app I tried to use, had a 3 day battery life, and the only thing that it lacked was NFC and a gyroscope and compass (makes maps apps hard to use because you don't get a blue arrow).

I now have a $500 phone and overall it's a bit of a downgrade because the battery only barely lasts a day.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#250

Post by sundvor »

jkaplowitz wrote: post #41
plorg wrote: post #2

The title of the article is misleading. The author says the phone cannot be bootloader unlocked without first connecting to the Internet. Once they have connected they are able to unlock the bootloader.

Possibly misleading indeed, but not wrong: the state that the phone is in at the moment ownership of the phone changes from Google to the customer has bootloader unlocking disabled.

I didn't find it misleading at all. In my mind, it implied that there's a solution - albeit not an ideal one.
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