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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

#291

Post by fsflover »

eidolon_93 wrote: post #253
_ea1k wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> I don't love the idea of someone else being able to do it before the phone gets to me. So how do you feel about PCs then? Because most computers sold doesn't have these draconian protections and apparently that has never been an issue.

For laptops, it's a solved issue: https://puri.sm/posts/anti-interdiction-update-six-month-ret....

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#292

Post by mort96 »

londons_explore wrote: post #247
jifoxym wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 AliExpr…

People do the same with flash drives and hard drives which report more storage space than available.

Scam products will always exist. What makes phones so incredibly different from laptops, desktops, hard drives, cars (where people may claim false mileage numbers), or any other product category with specs which can be faked?

And why is the solution to lock the boot loader, rather than implementing some tamper evidence system? Show a "This phone has been tampered with!" screen on boot if the boot loader has been unlocked, problem solved.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#293

Post by rjh29 »

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…

This is the same for Huawei and their phones aren't even that cheap!

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#294

Post by nfriedly »

saagarjha wrote: post #220
nfriedly wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Motorola has an automated process where you send them the phone serial number or something like that and they'll send you back a code that can be used to unlock the bootloader. I'm on a Moto g100 that I bought last year, originally intending for it to be a temporary phone while I found a flagship that I actually liked, but it's really grown on me. It has most of the features I was looking for, in particular official…

Is this better than Pixel’s process? Seems like it’s basically the same thing since you need to send them your device details over the internet?

I should clarify: while it's automated from the Motorola side, it's still a bunch of manual steps for the device owner. You have to create an account and have a desktop PC involved, and if I remember right Motorola, gives you a bunch of nonsense about avoiding the warranty. It's strictly worse than Google's process.

I think OnePlus is the only one that might be better than Google. But they've been disappointing me in other aspects recently.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#295

Post by fsflover »

chaxor wrote: post #133
r00tanon wrote: post #101

ELI5 - everything about a phone only works when the carrier allows it to connect to the network. So, the way this is done is to, well, connect to the network and allow the phone to be unlocked - which according to the article is what happened? So the real complaint is that the Pixel can't be loaded with a customized Android OS (or Linux, etc.) without being connected to the internet first and this is bad because the…

One issue for this process that I have seen when talking about the Pixel is: - ***You can't actually back up your Pixel*** It's enormously frustrating, because this is the typical advice before moving to a different OS. But apparently, actually mounting the device or seeing it via `lsblk` is from what I can tell impossible. I tried for a while to simply make a direct image with `dd` to try out other OSes etc but I co…

If you actually care about FLOSS on your phone, you might be interested in trying a GNU/Linux phone (Librem 5 or Pinephone). Those have no restrictions on mounting or alternative operating systems.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#296

Post by fsflover »

seti0Cha wrote: post #182
dleslie wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Are you using it as a daily driver? Seems like every time I look into Linux phones, there's always been some fundamental bit of functionality that wasn't working yet, like waking from sleep for phone calls. Are we beyond that now?

I'm using Librem 5 as a daily driver. Calls, texts work fine. The battery life is just about 10-12 hours, since suspend is still experimental. But it is progressing: https://forums.puri.sm/t/status-of-suspend-for-librem-5.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#297

Post by wkat4242 »

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.

So, they just wait a week and then do it? It's not an effective measure.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#298

Post by dingledork69 »

rerdavies wrote: post #232
dingledork69 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So google is going through all this effort and some guy in China will just bypass the bootloader lock for $30. There is absolutely no way that the intelligence agencies don't have this same capability, which makes all of this security posturing utterly pointless, other than to prevent regular users from owning their devices.

Pretty sure that if there's a guy in China who is bypassing the bootloader lock for $30, he's just going to connect your device to the internet, and do what you wouldn't. Why wouldn't he?

Did you read the thread? That's not at all what's happening. People boot the device into fastboot, connect it to USB, install an USB redirector and the guy in china does something and it's unlocked.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#299

Post by knewter »

preisschild wrote: post #282
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 ,…

Yeah, I bought a Pocophone F1 when it came out, expecting to instantly install LineageOS, but then I found out that I have to wait a full week and set up a Windows VM. The phone per-se wasn't bad, but that was my last purchase from Xiaomi. Replaced the Pocophone with a Google Pixel 5A and I will stick to Google Pixel because GrapheneOS is great.

The pocophone f1 was for a while the fastest mainline Linux phone. Throw postmarketos on that bad boy.

Re: Pixel phones are sold with bootloader unlocking disabled

#300

Post by knewter »

dingledork69 wrote: post #298
rerdavies wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure that if there's a guy in China who is bypassing the bootloader lock for $30, he's just going to connect your device to the internet, and do what you wouldn't. Why wouldn't he?

Did you read the thread? That's not at all what's happening. People boot the device into fastboot, connect it to USB, install an USB redirector and the guy in china does something and it's unlocked.

Someone do this and send us a pcap
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