Android Tablet Update

While HTC claims restrictions prevent them from unlocking the bootloader of the AT&T HTC One X, that has not stopped the development community from banding together to unlock root access on the phone. A new post by kennethpenn on XDA-Developers delivers a one-click rooting option for the HTC One X which takes advantage of an exploit identified by the community.

Gaining root access on the HTC One X allows users to make backups of their applications, remove AT&T’s bloatware or even make clock speed modifications to the phone’s CPU. Unfortunately, flashing unofficial ROMs to the HTC One X is still not possible, but we have a feeling it won’t be too long before the development community finds an exploit to solve that issue as well.

Will any of you be using kennethpenn’s method to gain root access on your AT&T HTC One X?

After a huge backlash in 2011, HTC changed their strategy and said they would start allowing customers to unlock the bootloaders on their devices. Over the past six months HTC has unlocked over 45 devices, but it looks like the AT&T One X might not be participating in that program quite yet.

Android hacker Paul O’Brien of MoDaCo noticed that his AT&T One X kept getting an error when he tried to unlock the bootloader, but he assumed this was an issue with pre-release software. Now it’s been confirmed that others are seeing the same issue, after the AT&T One X went on sale today.

Paul reached out to HTC who quickly responded with a message that doesn’t look good for AT&T customers.

HTC is committed to listening to users and delivering customer satisfaction. Since announcing our commitment to unlockable bootloaders, HTC has worked to enable our customers to unlock the bootloader on more than 45 devices over the past six months. In some cases, however, restrictions prevent certain devices from participating in our bootloader unlocking program. Rest assured, HTC is committed to assisting developers in unlocking bootloaders for HTC devices and we'll continue to unlock additional devices in the future.HTC Representative

Last year Peter Chou, HTC CEO, said, “There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones [and] we’ve listened. I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices.”

Unfortunately in this case it looks like AT&T has overturned the will of its customers. This doesn’t mean that the One X will never see its bootloader officially unlocked, but it might take a little outcry to convince the carrier to change their mind.

AT&T has a history of crippling the Android experience, but they have gotten better over the years by allowing users to install non-Market apps and improving the speed of software updates.

If you planned on buying the HTC One X from AT&T (or already picked one up), let AT&T know what you think of their decision to keep the bootloader locked.

For everyone that has been complaining about Motorola locking their bootloaders I’m sure this is going to… well let’s be honest this is probably just going to tick you off too.

Motorola has announced via their blog that a new version of the Motorola RAZR will be coming first to Europe and then to the U.S. “in the coming months.” This is a spin on the original RAZR, not the recently released RAZR MAXX, and will be known as the RAZR Developer Edition. The big headling feature of this newest rendition of the RAZR is an unlockable bootloader. While there has been something of a hue and cry from the Android population over Motorola’s steadfast locking of their bootloaders it seems unlikely that anyone’s ideal solution was yet another SKU in the RAZR family.

The full text of their post can be found below as they have subsequently pulled it from their blog. The date on their post was January 30th so someone probably just pulled the trigger on it a bit early.

Motorola is quick to attribute the need for locked bootloaders on their phones to “carrier and regulatory obligations” which is a bit puzzling considering other manufacturers don’t appear to be similarly hampered.

What are your thoughts on this move? Are you pleased that Motorola is at least making a product with an unlocked bootloader available to consumers or do you feel that they are letting current owners down by not finding a way to allow them this same freedom?

Gallery

Really, ASUS? You endear yourselves to the community by adopting the Prime name for your insanely powerful Tegra 3 tablet and then completely violate the spirit of it by locking the bootloader on the Transformer Prime?

According to the fine folks over at XDA-Developers the bootloader on the Prime is locked with 128 bit AES encryption. After all the hue and cry about this issue and the warm reception to the news that HTC was unlocking the bootloader on their devices, you’d think ASUS would have seen the light.

Obviously for most users this is irrelevant, as they will just happily use the device as ASUS intended. But you functionally change nothing for that group by making the bootloader unlocked/unlockable, and on the upside, you don’t upset the very vocal Android hacking/modding community.

You can hit up the source link below to follow the original thread over on XDA; the general consensus at the moment seems to be that appealing to ASUS publicly via Twitter (@ASUS) and the like is the best chance to get them to make a change. This thread is coordinating that effort.

Does this change anyone’s plans to pick up the Transformer Prime, or is that hardware just too good to pass up regardless?

Update 1/3/12: ASUS tells us all to “relax,” and that an official statement on the bootloader for the Transformer Prime is coming soon.