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Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

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Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#31

Post by stavros »

charcircuit wrote: post #22
account01011100 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding cpu instructions is something that you can't physically do, however unlocking the bootloader is something you can do via software, and if a vendor chooses to lock it down they're basically taking away your ability to do anything you would want to do with a device. Sadly this is has been the case for a while and it's probably going to continue being the case.

You can physically do it with a microcode update. Nothing is being taken away since this change is for new products. They just are not providing an additional feature to these products.

I disagree. If they have to go out of their way to remove functionality the previous phones had, that's anti-consumer.

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#32

Post by charcircuit »

stavros wrote: post #31
charcircuit wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can physically do it with a microcode update. Nothing is being taken away since this change is for new products. They just are not providing an additional feature to these products.

I disagree. If they have to go out of their way to remove functionality the previous phones had, that's anti-consumer.

It being your own device and removing a feature being anticonsumer can both be true. Every feature comes with trademarks off from the company providing them. It's up to consumers to validate products by buying them if they think the features offered is worth the price. If removing this feature doesn't hurt the sales of the device this feature may be more trouble than it's worth for them to provide.

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#33

Post by asimovfan »

stavros wrote: post #13
jjbinx007 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I decided to part with my Huawei Mate 20 X after about 7 years of ownership not because it was a bad phone - on the contrary, it has a nice big screen, decent enough camera, is still plenty fast enough etc - but because the OS hadn't received any updates in a long time. Rather than see it go to landfill I donated it to a friend who's happy to use it but what an absolute waste. Bought a Pixel purely because they are c…

I've been using Xiaomi phones but I had to buy a new phone every year or two just because they get so sluggish. My other Android phones kind of had the same, except my Nothing 2 has been going strong. Has this been your experience as well, or have your phones been OK with responsiveness? Seven years is a long time, I imagine the phone must have been unusable by then.

I've used a xiaomi redmi note 4 (mediakek) for many years before i got it stolen. I've purchased a xiaomi redmi note 10 after that (i am supposing there were six years in between). I was still using it but then I needed one of these big folding phones and bought a samsung z fold 5. It broke down in 2 years, i am back to my redmi note 10. Still going strong. I will never buy an expensive phone again it was a dumb move. Just the cheapest android on aliexpress.

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#34

Post by gkbrk »

charcircuit wrote: post #22
account01011100 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding cpu instructions is something that you can't physically do, however unlocking the bootloader is something you can do via software, and if a vendor chooses to lock it down they're basically taking away your ability to do anything you would want to do with a device. Sadly this is has been the case for a while and it's probably going to continue being the case.

You can physically do it with a microcode update. Nothing is being taken away since this change is for new products. They just are not providing an additional feature to these products.

> You can physically do it with a microcode update.

It's also anti-consumer that CPU vendors don't let customers who own the CPU perform whatever updates they want because they don't give out signing keys.

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#35

Post by RealStickman_ »

saidinesh5 wrote: post #7

Pixel stopped providing device trees, kernel history, Samsung has been doing this for a while now. Which are the devices/vendors that still allow / encourage this? Even Graphene OS reported that they're in talks with some vendor... Have there been any updates towards that? The main reason i used to root devices are: * Get longer support/OS updates than what the vendor provided * System level adblock using adaway * Ti…

Here's an updated list of relatively popular phone manufactures and their bootloader unlocking potential.

https://github.com/melontini/bootloader-unlock-wall-of-shame...

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#36

Post by charcircuit »

gkbrk wrote: post #34
charcircuit wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can physically do it with a microcode update. Nothing is being taken away since this change is for new products. They just are not providing an additional feature to these products.

> You can physically do it with a microcode update. It's also anti-consumer that CPU vendors don't let customers who own the CPU perform whatever updates they want because they don't give out signing keys.

If malware could install microcode it could break the security of the system. There is more consumer benefit than harm by locking it down to trusted updates.

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#37

Post by kotaKat »

rickdeckard wrote: post #30

It is really a pity, as this means Android OS is closing down. Without supported Consumer Hardware available on the market in sufficient volume, even less end-users will use an alternative OS, which will affect quality and size of the alternative OS-market and fragment the remaining users even more. This will put the future of the entire alternative-OS ecosystem firmly back into the hands of Google. If they start fur…

I’ve always said that it’s been “Google’s Android”, and wellp —- Welcome to Google’s Android, where the garden walls have been turned into a razorwire fence and you’re not welcome to leave.

It’s really funny that Apple’s finally allowing carefully controlled access outside of their own fences and slowly adding more APIs and expansion (hell, Apple are the only platform now with third party APIs for RCS in the EU) while Google’s spun an about face and will get away with it.

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#38

Post by rickdeckard »

baq wrote: post #6
stavros wrote: post #2

More devices we no longer own and that are bound to become trash in a few years, and for what reason? So companies can make more profits?

They should be economically incentivized to pick up their trash.

This is already in place in the EU via the WEEE directive (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment), but the costs have apparently been absorbed just fine already by this industry, so it doesn't seem to hurt them sufficiently to be incentivized for longevity.

As much as I hate it, the strongest incentive would maybe be to legally define vendors who supply hardware with a non-interchangable OS-ecosystem as service-providers and put restrictions on the price they can charge for the hardware to render the service (like i.e. a cable-modem from an ISP).

This could force the large players to decide between high-margin hardware or high-margin OS-ecosystem instead of aiming for both.

Come to think of it, these market-dynamics would be interesting to observe...

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#39

Post by FerretFred »

sn0n wrote: post #4

dont worry, samsung knows only 300 people will actually care. As for me, I already swore off Samdung for their whole Samsung account bs and apps they bundle and won't let me remove (or disable).

Same here. I got so tired of fighting "the system" that wanted to manage everything, and post-updates meant mire wasted time switching off bloat/features I didn't need.

Re: Samsung Removes Bootloader Unlocking with One UI 8

#40

Post by trollbridge »

jemmyw wrote: post #21
crinkly wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Everyone I know who bought a Samsung anything (TV/Phone/Washer/Dryer) last time said it's their last Samsung product. Samsung sure know how to piss off customers.

I've got a Samsung dryer and when it had a fault with the door sensor they got it fixed pretty quickly. I had better service from them than Bosch or Miele - I replaced a Bosch dryer when I was totally fed up of trying to organise Bosch to fix it and being told it was at least a 6 week wait - Samsung half the price, and surprised us that it is a better dryer (faster, easier to use etc). I don't love their phones, thou…

It’s amazing how nothing goes wrong with my 20+ year old Maytags, Whirlpools, or Estates by Whirlpool (their budget subbrand). No logic board failures, drain pump failures.

Acquired from yard sales and then subject to duty cycles of 5-10 loads a day.

Somewhat relevant, I have 3 relatives/colleagues still sporting iPhone 8’s/8 Pluses. The only issue is that some newer apps are slow. Told them to grab iPhone SE 3rd gens before they’re discontinued; one of them has it sitting unopened in the box, waiting for their 8 to die.

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