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Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

androidauthority.com

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Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#51

Post by jsheard »

punchmesan wrote: post #44
magnio wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but can't you use a USB-C earphone?

For some people, the ability to use wired headphones/earphones while charging has a lot of value. Additionally, some invest in quality earphones or IEM's and replacing those with the lower-quality limited selection of USB-C earphones is not desirable. Likewise with Bluetooth. The 3.5mm audio connection is nowhere near dead yet.

FWIW for IEMs with detachable cables, which pretty much all of the good ones do, you can get replacement USB-C cables now. That has the advantage of decoupling the sound quality from the highly variable quality of the phones internal DAC since the DAC is instead part of the cable, and some of those cables even have configurable hardware DSP features. It doesn't solve the charging problem though.

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#52

Post by nimbius »

sn0wtrooper wrote: post #9

Long is gone the time where unlocking bootloaders and installing custom ROMs was the best path to follow. Even if you are able to unlock it (with difficulties such as this one, or others that involve opening the device and soldering a shortcut), you will have a device where apps check for unlocked bootloaders and rooted OS, and forbid you from use the application.

the only app ive seen balk at bootloader status (to date) is google wallet. Using a phone to pay for stuff is an opsec nightmare youd only entertain so long as becoming an integrated and saleable asset in a data brokers portfolio is a life goal. 'pm uninstall' and move on, the custom rom is still far more valuable from a security perspective than bending the knee to some bespoke ecosystem payment app (especially if you have an older device.)

the point of oem unlock, and rooting at all, is diametrically opposed to the vendors interest in nearly every facet. The vendor will bark "hackers" as a thinly veiled threat for the uninitiated, but we are initiated. what the vendor doesnt need you doing is erasing their telemetry and walled garden spyware. they dont need you developing alternatives to their store and to their apps, and they especially dont need you turning this effort into something as simple as an ubuntu installation for older phones they expect to follow the strict trade-in model of "buy a new phone every year"

arguably Asus refunded the purchase because this person isn't playing by the rules and being a good consumer.

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#53

Post by dangus »

DoneWithAllThat wrote: post #12

The article casually refers to Asus breaking “their promise” but nothing in the rest of the article suggests Asus ever promised anything of the sort. That they used to provide the tools wasn’t a promise. Did they ever advertise or up-front communicate that these tools would be made available and maintained?

It doesn’t matter because my guess is Asus couldn’t be bothered to show up to small claims court over $900.

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#54

Post by zamalek »

sn0wtrooper wrote: post #9

Long is gone the time where unlocking bootloaders and installing custom ROMs was the best path to follow. Even if you are able to unlock it (with difficulties such as this one, or others that involve opening the device and soldering a shortcut), you will have a device where apps check for unlocked bootloaders and rooted OS, and forbid you from use the application.

> where apps check for unlocked bootloaders and rooted OS

Magisk and PINE[1] have solved this for me. Yes, even Google Wallet is all good with my LineageOS ROM. PINE is an auto-updating PIF.

[1]: https://github.com/daboynb/PlayIntegrityNEXT

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#55

Post by zamalek »

freedomben wrote: post #37
ReptileMan wrote: post #29

Okay - so which devices are left that are easily rootable? I will be in the market for new one soon. It's good if EU after mandating usb-c also mandates unlockable bootloaders for whomever wants it.

All pixel phones are very easy to unlock the bootloader, and Google publishes factory images. So if your root goes wrong or you need to revert to stock, it is very easy. The actual process of obtaining root is as easy as it is on any other device, which is to say, I wish it was a lot easier, but it is very doable. As a bonus, it also opens the door for Graphene OS should you choose to go that direction.

Pixels can also be re-locked with a custom ROM present (I think Graphene is the only one that does this, though). For that reason alone I'll be transitioning back to Pixel (once this phone is beyond help).

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#56

Post by lxgr »

nimbius wrote: post #52
sn0wtrooper wrote: post #9

Long is gone the time where unlocking bootloaders and installing custom ROMs was the best path to follow. Even if you are able to unlock it (with difficulties such as this one, or others that involve opening the device and soldering a shortcut), you will have a device where apps check for unlocked bootloaders and rooted OS, and forbid you from use the application.

the only app ive seen balk at bootloader status (to date) is google wallet. Using a phone to pay for stuff is an opsec nightmare youd only entertain so long as becoming an integrated and saleable asset in a data brokers portfolio is a life goal. 'pm uninstall' and move on, the custom rom is still far more valuable from a security perspective than bending the knee to some bespoke ecosystem payment app (especially if y…

> Using a phone to pay for stuff is an opsec nightmare

Do you mean "privacy nightmare"? Security-wise, Google Pay beats using your physical card since it uses a device-specific number that can't be skimmed by terminals and reused online.

> the custom rom is still far more valuable from a security perspective than bending the knee to some bespoke ecosystem payment app (especially if you have an older device.)

I'd argue that it only makes sense if you have an older device that's otherwise not receiving any more security updates.

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#57

Post by cqqxo4zV46cp »

nimbius wrote: post #52
sn0wtrooper wrote: post #9

Long is gone the time where unlocking bootloaders and installing custom ROMs was the best path to follow. Even if you are able to unlock it (with difficulties such as this one, or others that involve opening the device and soldering a shortcut), you will have a device where apps check for unlocked bootloaders and rooted OS, and forbid you from use the application.

the only app ive seen balk at bootloader status (to date) is google wallet. Using a phone to pay for stuff is an opsec nightmare youd only entertain so long as becoming an integrated and saleable asset in a data brokers portfolio is a life goal. 'pm uninstall' and move on, the custom rom is still far more valuable from a security perspective than bending the knee to some bespoke ecosystem payment app (especially if y…

Your claim that using a smartphone for payments is a privacy(?) nightmare sounds quite baseless.

The more pertinent factor is probably the fact that you’re using an operating system built by an advertising company.

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#58

Post by kaszanka »

lxgr wrote: post #56
nimbius wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the only app ive seen balk at bootloader status (to date) is google wallet. Using a phone to pay for stuff is an opsec nightmare youd only entertain so long as becoming an integrated and saleable asset in a data brokers portfolio is a life goal. 'pm uninstall' and move on, the custom rom is still far more valuable from a security perspective than bending the knee to some bespoke ecosystem payment app (especially if y…

> Using a phone to pay for stuff is an opsec nightmare Do you mean "privacy nightmare"? Security-wise, Google Pay beats using your physical card since it uses a device-specific number that can't be skimmed by terminals and reused online. > the custom rom is still far more valuable from a security perspective than bending the knee to some bespoke ecosystem payment app (especially if you have an older device.) I'd argu…

AFAIK it only beats magnetic stripe cards, not EMV chip cards

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#59

Post by Rinzler89 »

jsheard wrote: post #8
Rinzler89 wrote: post #2

>Given that ASUS has one of the worst software support commitments in the Android world [...] It started removing posts about bootloader unlocking in its ZenTalk forums. Which is why I never understood why Asus Zenfone kept being recommended on HN all the time when people asked for good android phones to buy. I thought this community appreciated long SW support. I think the people recommending it were not dogfooding…

The Zenfones mainly carved out a following because they're the smallest flagship-tier Android phones on the market. Asus has terrible support, but if you want a small-ish device there isn't a great deal of choice nowadays.

>The Zenfones mainly carved out a following because they're the smallest flagship-tier Android phones on the market.

They're literally the same dimensions as the basic Samsung S23, which was cheaper than the Zenfone as had better SW updates.

Re: Asus refunds Zenfone buyer for failing to provide bootloader unlock tools

#60

Post by cqqxo4zV46cp »

encom wrote: post #34
asdp9iujaspid wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://grapheneos.org/contact#community > Our chat rooms are bridged across Discord, Telegram and Matrix so you can choose your preferred platform. > We have an official forum for longer form posts, which is publicly accessible and easier to search. We are using Flarum for our forum. https://discuss.grapheneos.org/ If they mandated discord as a closed support community sure, but you can't be too upset by the mere af…

I'm just disappointed that they associate with Discord at all, given that it is the antithesis of privacy and Freedom.

I’m disappointed that you associate with Hacker News given the (presumably) myriad anti-Freedom anti-privacy startups Y Combinator has funded.
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