Ask Slashdot: Are Custom Android ROMs Still a Thing? 166
Thelasko writes: Reading Kashmir Hill's series Goodby Big Five on Gizmodo made me consider switching to a custom Android ROM like LineageOS again. The Gizmodo articles make it seem that most phones are so locked down it is almost impossible to do. My last experience with custom ROMs confirmed that to be true for me. Is anyone having success? Why is LineageOS making builds for 185 devices if no one can use them?
Derp summary summarized : (Score:4, Insightful)
"Why is LineageOS making builds for 185 devices if no one can use them" = you have yet to prove that nobody can use them, only that you cannot.
Re:Derp summary summarized : (Score:4, Insightful)
Uhm, that's why he's asking if people can actually use them. The last question is rhetorical. ....
One possible reason... (Score:5, Informative)
Just because you (the average consumer) can't use it on a phone you got from $carrier, doesn't mean that others can't put it to use.
That's not meant to be an insult, by the way... unlocked phones (that are truly unlocked, not just 'unlocked' to allow a different carrier w/ the same tech) can be loaded with the ROM and taken to town.
PS: If you're gonna talk about it, then be kind and provide a link to LineageOS [lineageos.org], mm'kay? :)
Re: (Score:1)
You could link to the phones you are talking about as well. Seems like the more important link than an easily guessable / searchable lineage link.
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That wouldn't be a link, it'd be a database. Seems to me many/most phones are available in completely unlocked form direct from the manufacturer at the full outrageous price, as well as in various degrees of network-locked models. If you want a phone that can install a custom ROM, do your research beforehand, and make sure you're getting the *exact* model that supports it, rather than the indistinguishably different model that does not. As a quick test, if the phone is in any way branded by any network,
Re: One possible reason... (Score:3)
Re:One possible reason... (Score:4, Insightful)
Android, as well as the rest of the mobile space, is not meant to serve the user: it's meant to serve handset manufacturers, carriers, and app developers, and content providers, everyone except the user.
I'll get another mobile device when it actually feels like mine, not something that seeks to abuse and exploit me at every opportunity.
Re: One possible reason... (Score:2)
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I'm hoping that this is the year that GNU/Linux phones become usable.
I'm not talking about usable for end users, of course; I don't expect that day will ever come. But I mean usable to, well, the sort of person who posts on Slashdot; the sort of person who was using Linux on the desktop 15 or 20 years ago.
I've got one phone that I'm using as a test device for Ubuntu Touch (discontinued by Canonical but still under development by UBports [ubports.com]). It's not quite ready to use as a daily driver but it feels like it'
Re:One possible reason... (Score:5, Informative)
The problem is, Samsung and now LG are selling phones to the US market that can't be rooted, making these roms useless. Sony lets you root but they gimp the camera so much that it negates the benefits of rooting their phones.
And by the way, I love lineage, but when more unrootable and unlockable bootloader phones flood the US market, it's making it very difficult to find a device that lets you load up lineage on your phone. Just look on the XDA forums. There's an ongoing attempt to root the LG40 with massive failure. The US Version of the Samsung S9 can't be rooted. And of course you get the whole "You don't need to root your phone anymore, trust in Samsung and LG guys, they know what they're doing *wink*" posters all over the place.
And yes, I know I can buy international phones from Ebay easily, but the point is, US devices are being gimped on purpose.
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Glad you noticed paid shilling on all privacy-related articles.
Also, if you don't look what you buy beforehand, you are out of luck. Don't buy any phone that cannot run Lineage OS. That means buying 1 year old phones from eBay, maybe even import some from other markets, if the US market doesn't cater to that. And accept worse quality from the camera. Then carry a good little compact camera on your vacation.
If these convenience trade-offs are not worth considering for improving your privacy, pushing back Goo
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In Europe, there is a regulation to protect users against such practices as it forbids the phone vendor to "lock" a phone.
As buyer, you have the right to use the hardware in whatever way you like. (Obviously, you can not use it to break other laws, this does have other implications, such as warranty, liability etc...)
In America, you seems to be very much against any form of government regulation, and I understand the fear of potential future misuse.
Unfortunately you seem to fail to realize you are being mi
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If you are going to install a custom ROM on these phones anyway, why buy an expensive Samsung or LG model when you can just buy a Chinese one for 1/3rd the price and it's unlocked for you already?
OnePlus, Xiaomi and many others make really great hardware, sometimes let down by some not so great software, but you are replacing that anyway.
Re: One possible reason... (Score:2)
Locked bootloaders killed them (Score:3)
Locked bootloaders killed the custom Android OS on many different phones.
Re:Locked bootloaders killed them (Score:4, Informative)
Not only that, but even if your bootloader is unlockable, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will find any ROMS, and even if you do you might find things not working, such as VoLTE. That latter issue makes a custom ROM a non-starter for my three-year-old LG.
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I saw builds where the stock camera app didn't work and you had to download a separate one. Or even if you got a workaround for the camera, no video recording capability. Saw many that lacked VoLTE like you mention too and people blew it off like it was a non-issue - "dont u understand what beta means???? its not a DD!!!"
Re: I can vouch for this. (Score:3)
My laptop has an unlocked bootloader and Netflix works just fine.
Desktops won the battle. (Score:1)
The battle for the desktop was lost years ago. Why do you think hardware people have pushed to instead switch to a new netbook, chromebook, or other looks-like-a-laptop-but-isnt device? It's worked too. I work on few laptops anymore. The ones that I do get, come from my upper-middle class customers. The lower income types bring me things they call laptops, but are actually stuff like Samsung Gear books that thier cell carrier subsidized for only $99/mo extra on thier bill. What a deal amirite?
Also, do
Re: I can vouch for this. (Score:2)
Yes, but privacy and security a hard combination (Score:1)
Android rebuilds are great for privacy, but you end up having to sacrifice security of your data (if, for example, you lose your phone) by leaving the bootloader unlocked.
I ended up having to create my own rebuild -- works great and a bit of work, but the process only works for Pixel and Nexus phones that have build configurations that are part of AOSP.
Details at https://thermal.cnde.iastate.edu/aosp_build_instructions.xhtml [iastate.edu]
Absolutely still a thing (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Absolutely still a thing (Score:4, Interesting)
I am in the same boat. I won't buy a device until I research its support by Lineage.
Anything other than unlocked is a dead end. I refuse to struggle to deal with artificial barriers on a product I ostensibly own.
If I can't block ads and restrict what any given application can access, then I don't trust the device. All of my devices are rooted and customized by me.
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I refuse to struggle to deal with artificial barriers
Which barriers? That is ultimately the question that matters to people. The barriers are few for many people.
If I can't block ads and restrict what any given application can access
Restricting on a per application basis is handled by the core OS already. Blocking adverts is restricted by the browser. For the most part everything else is just being too cheap to pay for apps. I don't see adverts, why do you?
This isn't me taking a dig at you, but rather pointing out why support will ultimately decrease and not increase for customising. In the past rooting and installing a custom R
Re: Absolutely still a thing (Score:2, Interesting)
Good luck with that on your next purchase. You'll end up stuck with a 3+ year-old refurb or a low-end Chinese-made phone. Virtually every new phone released into North America or EMEA is now locked down with dm-verity in hardware.
If privacy and bloatware you can't remove are a concern, then you can count out OnePlus, Moto, ZTE, TCL (including Nokia), Xiaomi, or Huawei... the spyware resides in a Chairman Xi-approved proprietary baseband chip that does not expose its operations to the android kernel.
Don't b
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China spyware do not bother me.
I do not travel to China. OTOH I do travel to the US. so three letters spying does bother me.
Esp. with US legal system.
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Note that you don't need root to block ads. Adaway uses the hosts file, but apps like DNS66 and Blockada (both open source) do the same thing without root. I recommend DNS66.
Warranty (Score:1)
I can't risk voiding my warranty. I tinkered with these things when a smartphone was just a gadget. Now I depend on it.
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Anybody that told you that your warranty was void for flashing a ROM, or even unlocking the bootloader was lying through their teeth.
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Not that I'm bothered, it wasn't an expensive phone, and I doubt anything that goes wrong with it would fall under the warranty either, even if it hadn't run out already.
Moto phones are unlocked (Score:2)
Have LineageOS running on a couple older Moto G phones as they're unlocked from the factory.
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Newer Motos are locked unfortunately. If you contact Motorola for an unlock code, they'll give it to you and then void your warranty in their system.
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Newer Motos are locked unfortunately. If you contact Motorola for an unlock code, they'll give it to you and then void your warranty in their system.
That's going to last right up until someone bothers to sue them over it. At least here in the USA, that's illegal.
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What is this USA of which you speak? Because of how you describe it, I know it's not related to the SOTU tonight.
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Illegal this side of the pond as well. We probably had it as illegal first due to better customer protection legislation.
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Well, with the silly 1 year warranty you don't really lose much anyway, do you?
Re: Moto phones are unlocked (Score:2)
Unlocked Bootloader (Score:5, Informative)
It's not impossible. It just requires doing your research before you buy. There are two things you need to look for.
1. Unlockable Bootloader
This is challenging because many OEMs will require you to go through a bunch of steps intended to make doing so as difficult as possible (beyond what is needed for data security.) There have been instances of OEMs just outright lying when it comes to bootloader unlockability. And of course, even phones that are to be unlockable have that disabled from some carriers. (Verizon, especially. Even Pixel devices can't easily have their bootloaders unlocked when purchased through Verizon.)
2. Community Support
LineageOS and xda-developers are good place to start. Popular flagship phones are more likely to have good community support around them if they're unlockable. Of course, you can always try to build AOSP for your own device, but community support will still be invaluable as most OEMs play pretty fast and loose with releasing their GPL code. (It's often difficult to get a fully working AOSP build with that the OEM gives you.)
Re:Unlocked Bootloader (Score:5, Interesting)
Community support is important. I have obtained phones and unlocked the bootloader... only to find that there are no ROMs available, and the only real option you have is to use a factory ROM with Magisk, so you continue to receive updates. This is better than nothing, but the best thing going is LineageOS.
I wish XDA would have a list of phones, which would be maintained/updated often (at least monthly) of phones to buy that are easily unlockable or rootable. That way, someone doesn't buy a Huawei device and then wonder why they can't do anything with it.
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This is the reason I've stuck to Nexus and Pixel for my last few phones in spite of their shortcomings. It's the path of least resistance.
PixelExperience (Score:4, Informative)
I bought the midrange Moto X4 last fall when my Nexus 5X died. Motorola's website allowed me to unlock the bootloader (with the caveat that this voided the warranty). After that, I have installed different variants of Pie roms. I found Lineage 16 to be OK but my on-screen buttons would disappear, especially when I switched users. I now enjoy the PixelExperience Pie rom which gives me a lot of flexibility with settings like dark mode which are coming to regular Android but are not there yet. I also was able to find some great Magisk (rooted) modules, including one that significantly improves the sound of my cheap bluetooth audio headset. I even used root mode to use my microsd card as adoptable storage which is not enabled by Motorola.
So, yes, Android roms are alive and well, despite what some "expert" at Gizmodo says. xda-developers website has a plethora of information.
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Yes, sure. (Score:2, Interesting)
LineageOS Is lighter, faster, better. Zero bloatware, continuous development.
Need more?
Phone Rooting Info (Score:2, Informative)
Many phones can be rooted still.
One of the places to look is the XDA Developers website https://www.xda-developers.com/root/
Google+ (Score:3)
I got the email a few days ago from Google telling me how Google+ is shutting down (already knew this, of course) so I logged in to my account. Haven't been there in probably 2-3 years. My "communities" are almost all custom Android ROM groups or other Android software. Even a ROM like LiquidSmooth has effectively died. They announced in early '16 that all development had stopped ("devs are too busy or moved on to other things") but some re-start occurred in late '17 but little indication if it went anywhere.
I'm not trying to be American-centric but with Verizon and ATT being the pre-dominant carriers in the US and if I'm not mistaken, locking down their devices, it really hurt custom ROMs for many. I used to have Samsung Galaxy phones and after they locked them down, that was it for me.... If you had any hope of a custom ROM, you had to have the latest and greatest model because support for older ones was pretty much non-existent. I think someone or some group gained bootloader access but it wasn't back-portable nor were they interested in working on it. I remember lots of "bounties" offered too.
Still appears to be activity with TWRP and XPOSED Framework.
Is it even really worth the effort for most folks? (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember playing with custom ROMs like Cyanogen, years ago, with my Samsung Galaxy phone on Sprint's network. Even back then, it created a lot of headaches for me. Nothing insurmountable, ultimately, but it wreaked havoc with things like Sprint's "visual voicemail" on the phone until some special patch came out to fix it, and there were bugs for a while where the phone would stop ringing on incoming calls.
After that, I swore off the custom ROM hacks, because I needed my cellphone for work as well as for just personal calls and entertainment. It's not worth having some cool new features and custom UI if it means I miss a few important client calls or the phone gets unstable when I'm counting on it.
(I wound up pretty much moving myself to the iPhone as I got more invested in the whole Apple ecosystem, and except for the stupid high cost of the latest XS series phones, I haven't regretted that a bit. If Apple doesn't start offering more bang for the buck by the time I'm ready to upgrade phones again, I *might* switch back to an Android. All depends on what the landscape looks like then, I guess. I'm good for another couple of years, I think.)
But I did have to tinker with the low-cost Androids again, trying to find my teenager a phone to use on a budget. I'm really disappointed in those options. Went with a Motorola E4 as seemingly the best of a bad bunch of cheap ones. At least it has the fingerprint reader on it and more RAM than most. Unfortunately, I couldn't put it on her "SimpleMobile" plan like I wanted to (they use T-Mobile's network), as it was carrier locked to Verizon. People told me, when I bought it, that "That's no big deal! Just pay a few bucks for an unlock code off the Internet and you're good to go!" Well, I'm finding out now that nobody does unlock codes for these anymore. All you get are some shady foreign people who want you to give them TeamViewer access to your Windows PC with the phone attached to it, to unlock it for you for a price. I've paid 3 different people now and not one has actually tried to remote in and do the job. Starting to wonder if it's all just a big scam?
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I remember playing with custom ROMs like Cyanogen, years ago, with my Samsung Galaxy phone on Sprint's network.
Well there's most of your problem right there...
Sprint wrote the laws regarding carrier change and left loopholes they had planned ahead for. They do everything they legally can to lock you into them as a carrier. Of course they do , you say, but no, this goes beyond what other carriers do. And then there is their prepaid divisions which are somehow even worse. The first rule of phone modding should be to get rid of Sprint if you want to do anything with your phone.
If you want to play, you will usually want
It's not about new features (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's not about new features (Score:4, Informative)
Google is not the only one that tracks you.
Your carrier tracks you. Sorry. They do it in different ways, but your location-based services are all ready and waiting for you.
Your DNS tracks you. Maybe you use CloudFront 1.1.1. but ask CloudFront what THEY do with the data. If you use Google's DNS, you're insane if you don't think they're tracking you.
Your IP address is going to come from somewhere, bubba. Hmmm. Wonder what CIDR bock that address comes from. Oh.
It's really tough to not be "uniqued". True anonymity sadly has to consider all of the most paranoid possibilities. Why? Who has more computing power, you or them?
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Google is not the only one that tracks you.
Duh. They are, however, the most prolific corporation in the mobile space whose business model is primarily defined by that tracking.
Your carrier tracks you. Sorry. They do it in different ways, but your location-based services are all ready and waiting for you.
That's one of the things rooting allows a person to address. Ask any app on my phone what my location is, and I'm at the north pole, all day, every day. Now yes, the carriers can use triangulation and a few other tricks, but there's a big difference between "knowing where I am within a square mile" and "knowing where I am within 15 feet".
Your DNS tracks you. Maybe you use Clou
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You're putting words in my mouth. I'm not saying you shouldn't deny anyone enriching themselves from your communications.
But there are several flaws in your thinking. Your carrier knows pretty much where you are in an urban locale, and in sparce cells, can figure out where you are pretty simply. No rocket science.
Your DNS rats your IP address, and reverse. The persistence of that DNS from the cloud through your carrier pigeon holes you. Case 1, you've had the DNS for a long time and don't shut off your phon
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Re: It's not about new features (Score:2)
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Very good. I'm not sure what to use when I'm mobile with my phone. Currently, it's Cloudfront 1.1.1.1 but I'm wondering if there's a better way on an android phone.
Re: It's not about new features (Score:2)
Re: It's not about new features (Score:2)
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It's about privacy. If you're fine with Google knowing everything there is to know about you, then you're right, there's probably no chance.
If your custom ROM has the Play Store added then Google knows everything there is to know about you anyway. If you're happy without the Play store then you in no way need to root to get these privacy protections, simply don't attach your phone to a Google account.
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I haven't ready anything that says that Android's source has been reviewed, and there aren't any Google hooks in it.
You don't need a source review to ensure something isn't talking to Google.
Do you have anything that shows that Android is clean of Google tracking
Do you have the ability to come up with a less tinfoil hat: "You need to prove my negative in order to be right" argument? We're all out to get you man.
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I see it as the reverse. It wasn't the effort required to root that drove me away from rooting, but rather the reward for doing so. Back in the day rooting and installing a custom rom was absolutely essential. It was required for basic privacy control, it was required to mitigate horribly slow systems, it was required to unlock new features when vendors refused to roll out updates.
These days. ... I don't see the point.
Some are charging money to unlock boot loader (Score:2)
I recently picked up a Huawei mate 20 (non pro)
It's ridiculously fast, insane battery life, ok camera and my version does not have an IDIOT curved display. (Bye Samsung!)
But I did just hear they charge to unlock the boot loader, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I tend not to load custom ROMs on as much as I used to, but still seems kinda bad.
Before anyone makes privacy China comments, two things.
1, I don't care, too much.
2, if you're using Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. Your privacy is just as bo
Project Treble (Score:5, Informative)
In some ways we're now entering a golden age for Android roms, with the advent of Project Treble [arstechnica.com].
All phones shipping with Android 8.0+ are required to support Treble's platform abstraction layer, making life dramatically easier [xda-developers.com] for custom rom bakers, going forward. Older phones benefit too; once their idiosyncratic hardware support is adapted to Treble, they can also expect easier and more stable updates. Generic System Images (GSIs) are now the norm, and will more or less run on any compatible platform.
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All phones shipping with Android 8.0+ are required to support Treble's platform abstraction layer
Yeah? Call me when old phones actually start getting updates.
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My Samsung Galaxy S5 runs Android 8.1 (LineageOS 15.1): it's not old enough to you?
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There's a list here [xda-developers.com] of phones that have been officially (and unofficially) updated to Treble . But this whole discussion is about how you don't have to wait for your vendor. If you want to update your phone, maybe look here [getdroidtips.com].
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Your expectation that this will work retrospectively means you didn't read the linked article.
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I call bullshit on "GSI are the norm". Name a SINGLE phone that actually supports using GSI (no, not "well i can root, bl-unlock my shiny phone and install a lineage-gsi, but actually out-of-the-box, just fastboot gsi.zip and it works). Also, Treble was a great idea, but google obviously still does not get that OEM do not WANT to provide updates, does not matter that treble would make it faster and easier to do). Bonus Points if you can name a phone where the OEM took the time to update a pre-8 device to tr
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Name a SINGLE phone that actually supports using GSI
Google's Pixel phones are the obvious examples, as they're designed for easy user unlocking. But any of the phones listed here [gadgethacks.com] or here [stackexchange.com] can also be unlocked, and many of them like the recent-ish OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Huawei phones are easy to flash GSIs to. Other compatible phones may require root first, like with any pre-GSI custom rom. And any unlockable phone shipping with Android 8.0+ can run any of the many GSI roms [github.com] - regardless of the vendor's (lack of) updates.
Bonus Points if you can name a phone where the OEM took the time to update a pre-8 device to treble...
Better, here's a whole list [xda-developers.com].
It's getting too hard to bother with (Score:3)
In the United States, it's damn hard to find a phone that can be unlocked, *and* can be used with Verizon. Verizon has their own custom phone/frequencies, unfortunately.
If you are on T-Mobile or AT&T, things are better, but it's still hard to find good custom ROMs for most phones that anybody wants.
But...custom ROMs aren't as useful as they used to be. Android has gotten a lot better, privacy-wise, and there are a variety of VPN-based ad-blocker/firewall apps. You can do just about everything you would've previously needed "root" for with something like AdGuard, and the default privacy controls in newer versions of Android.
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I don't care how good stock Android has gotten. For me the reason to run a custom rom is to run a clean OS free from Google's services. (Android might have got better, privacy-wise. But *Google* Android has gotten much, much worse.)
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There's your problem. Verizon is very owner / bootloader unlock unfriendly. If you use any other carrier you can literally go to Best Buy and find a phone to use with a custom ROM. (After doing some research first about what's available.) Buying crap through the carrier is a bad idea, and sticking with Verizon is a bad idea if you want custom ROM support long term.
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Android has gotten a lot better, privacy-wise
ROTFLMAO
You can do just about everything you would've previously needed "root" for with something like AdGuard, and the default privacy controls in newer versions of Android.
Spoofing your location, contacts, accounts or anything else that you would otherwise need to grant access to, because Generic Flashlight App #387 refuses to run when you block those permissions?
Spoofing any one of the zillion identifiers that privacy guard doesn't allow you to block?
Spoofing mac address so that free public wifi/airport hotspots can't track you?
Spoofing your location in a fine-tunable way, so that Waze knows roughly where you are (for functionality) but can't track you to the nearest
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If you are on T-Mobile or AT&T, things are better
Yes with T-Mobile; not so with AT&T.
Nexus, Pixel (Score:2)
I'm using a Nexus 6 on Verizon with the MicroG reroll of LineageOS [microg.org]. Nice phone, not missing Google.
Phones (Score:2)
I don't do the phone thing. I have a phone, it works, I'm happy. And "it works" includes things like SSH + port-forwarding apps to stream live TV from my tvheadend server over the Internet, so it's not like I'm just tapping out texts and nothing else. I have 10 apps just for devices / VPN etc. in work, it's my satnav for all of Europe (CoPilot), etc. etc.
So I have an S5 Mini, because my S4 Mini got gummed up over the years as I updated and because you can't probably tell the official version of Android t
Best tablet with or can run a stock ROM? (Score:2)
Custom ROMs come in two flavors (Score:1)
There is compiled ROMs where everything but the closed source hardware libraries are compiled from source.. ( these are what mostly died)
And there are kangs, that just repackage the stock rom with less or more/different stuff.
Even if you go with a compiled rom, it won't work correctly without almost all of the stock rom binaries and libraries included.
So the ideal of a custom rom devoid of backdoors and unknown crud has long been dead. The best you can hope for is being able to replace the apk's and fram
Project treble!! (Score:2)
Custom ROMs are still a thing, lots of us still love them. We just don't bitch and moan in public anymore because of treble.
What does it look like? (Score:1)
I did it again, today, and the outcome is still the same: I I have no idea about how this custom OS looks like, what offers, and what are the limitations (if any).
The About link shows a page w
Of course (Score:2)
LineageOS works, but how safe is it? (Score:1)
Re: LineageOS works, but how safe is it? (Score:1)
You know the LineageOS source trees are all on GitHub, right? Audit all you like or build your own. Feel free.
Locked because... (Score:1)
AndroidPay, Samsung Pay, GooglePay et all... follow the money. Root breaks the money apps. Breaks PokemonGo too. :(
Re: Locked because... (Score:1)
And I really miss Cyanogenmod. I still have an S4 that works but....
Still a thing if you have a broken phone (Score:3)
My Nexus 5X recently died - just rebooted in the middle of using it and it didn't come back up, just got stuck in a boot loop. My dad had the exact same thing happen to his phone (also a 5X) a couple months back; I went through the usual process to try to fix it and discovered that there's a fix that basically involved an unofficial ROM [xda-developers.com], along with an effort to try to get fix legitimised by Google by signing the relevant files.
It seems that the 5X is just busted by design as many many users had this problem. I haven't been able to get mine to boot far enough to try the fix (seems it's better as a immunisation method).
I was a bit nervous about putting random software I downloaded from the Internet on at such a low level, although it's all open source and seems to be highly recommended by XDA at least.
But when this sort of customisation is the only way to keep your phone alive when it dies hard after only two years - you'd better believe they're still a thing. Here's to the hacker types that keep our devices alive.
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I had a similar problem with my Nexus 5 (not X) recently, but it turned out to be a hardware problem: apparently the power button wears out and shorts, so that it registers as always being held down.
I got it fixed for $45 at a local repair shop. (I'm confident enough in my own repair skills that I popped it open and cleaned it with compressed air and alcohol, but when that didn't work and it was clear that it would need some microsoldering work, I decided it was time to call a professional.)
I guess that's
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No need anymore (Score:1)
Custom Rom all the way! (Score:1)
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https://linux.slashdot.org/sto... [slashdot.org]
https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]
We've gotten to talk about PCs here before.
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Motorola, HTC, and I think Sony all allow unlocking. Even some Samsung devices as well.
Anything from Huawei and other places which are custom ROM hostile... avoid like the plague.
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Just don't go Verizon, AT&T, TracPhone, etc. Those bastards don't let you unlock your own hardware even when the hardware manufacturer allows it. Fuck them. I will never pay for service from them for that reason alone.
They're required by law to SIM/carrier unlock the device upon request, provided you own it.
Bootloader unlocking? None of the people at Verizon, ATT, etc. know how to do that, even if the manufacturer allows it on a stock device.
Verizon, ATT, etc. farm out their "customization" (bloatware and spyware) to China and locked down firmware and bootloaders come as part of the deal. Unless you're a three letter agency, you'll never get Verizon, ATT, etc. to contact and try to communicate with the people in China w
Re: MANY phones can be fully unlocked (Score:2)
Buy the phone outright and you avoid all that shit.
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Nope. If you buy it from a carrier you get their custom image on it, and locked bootloader. And if the hardware manufacturer allows it, you get shitty radio firmwares that restrict the use of the phone on networks that use other bands. You'd need to unlock it, flash a custom ROM, and flash a custom radio firmware.
I had to do this when taking my Note II from ATT to TMobile. Putting just the stock TMobile ROM on the device would limit you to 3G bands, even though the hardware was fully capable of 4G LTE.
Re: MANY phones can be fully unlocked (Score:2)
I bought my last two phones outright and used them with a SIM-only contract. Is that not possible in the US?
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It's definitely possible. I have 5 phones right now for my family which (with the US version) are GSM & CDMA dual SIM devices from Motorola which work just fine using more than one network even. The easiest is of course to actually buy a never locked phone directly, not to rent/lease/purchase one from a carrier and then have to jump through hoops later to get it unlocked.
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Of course it is. I'm on a prepaid monthly plan that costs $30 (total, no added taxes/fees) for unlimited data and text and 100 minutes of voice (which I never use).
However many people still buy their phones through a carrier or at a carrier-infested retailer like Best Buy.
Re: MANY phones can be fully unlocked (Score:2)
I was referring to buying a stock phone from the manufacturer or a retailer and avoiding all the crap that gets loaded afterwards.