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HTC promises no more locked bootloaders

by Hugo Jobling on 27 May 2011, 11:37

Tags: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), HTC (TPE:2498)

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Suited and booted

Listening to overwhelming customer support in favour of the decision, HTC CEO Peter Chou has announced that the company's future mobile phones will come with unlocked bootloaders, enabling users to load custom ROMs unencumbered, should they so desire.

The announcement, made on HTC's Facebook page, declared that: "There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we've listened. Today, I'm confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience."

The decision comes in the wake of complains raised by owners, and would-be owners, of the HTC Evo 3D, Incredible S, Evo 3D, Sensation and Thunderbolt - all of which had locked bootloaders. The restricted boodloader on these devices makes loading custom ROMs impossible, leaving users stuck using the Andoid installation provided with the devices.

One of the great appeals of Android is its ability to be tweaked by end users of handsets, with tweaks ranging from the simple removal carrier and manufacturer customisations (such as HTC's Sense interface) to the addition of numerous new features, such as those offered by the popular CyanogenMod. HTC's decision to allow owners of its handsets to embrace that openness could well prove a key selling point over devices from other manufacturers which come with locked bootloaders.

It's unclear if HTC will be unlocking the bootloaders of devices already purchased, or if the new policy will only apply to new devices. There are certainly enough HTC customers in position of a locked handset hoping for a way to load customised Android installation in their HTC devices for it to be worth HTC's while to make the unlocking retroactive.



HEXUS Forums :: 15 Comments

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good, and hopefully the public announcement of it will encourage others to follow suit (im looking at you Motorola).
MadduckUK
good, and hopefully the public announcement of it will encourage others to follow suit (im looking at you Motorola).

And even more so Sony Ericsson! (The X10 bootloader has proven uncrackable so far)
Having a locked bootloader that was impossible to crack by the men at XDA developers would stop me buying the phone. It's their custom ROMs that make the phones so much better and easier to use.
Agreed. Big selling point for me as well if I was going to spend a lot of money on a phone.
I might have to trade my Driod X in on an HTC phone next time.:)