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Manufacturers have been promising for the last year that their new devices would be unlockable. Motorola, HTC, and Sony have all setup websites with tools to unlock the Bootloaders on their Android devices. Most recently the HTC Droid DNA was reported to be unlockable through the HTCDev site, in a move that had many potential customers excited about the rooting and ROMing potential of the powerful device.
In case you missed out the HTC Droid DNA for Verizon features a magnificent 5-inch full HD 1080p Super LCD 3 screen with (1920 x 1080) resolution and a 440 PPI density. Powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro, 2 GB of RAM, and 16GB of on board storage. On the software side it will feature Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with HTC’s Sense 4+ UI running on top. As you can imagine such a powerful device should be a developers dream and we can all imagine the right custom firmware making the DNA truly fly.
Carrier’s Rule
It appears however that the HTC Droid DNA is no longer unlockable as confirmed by members of XDA Forums. This isn’t the greatest of news especially where early adopters are concerned. The bright spot in all this seemingly carrier imposed lock down is that developers are reporting that they will still be able to achieve full S-Off unlock on the device.
Verizon appears to be the biggest culprit in all this when a similar situation occurred with their version of the Galaxy S III being locked down, while other carrier versions came unlocked. The reason that the new LG Nexus 4 is being sold for the most part without carriers and their baggage is their insistence on locking down devices, and having a drawn out update approval process that leaves customers hanging as months go by between when an update is announced and it actually arriving to their devices.
Sites like HTCDev and Unlock Bootloader from Sony Mobile were made specifically to go around the carriers and provide consumers with the option to unlock their devices should they wish to do to so. It appears that manufacturers such as HTC are coming around to realize that many customers do wish to unlock their devices as the openness is one of the many appeals that Android has. While carriers see the added longevity of custom ROMs such as Cyanogenmod as a negative to their bottom line which includes people upgrading their out of date devices.
What is your opinion on the state of locked bootloaders in the Android community and do you have hope carriers with loosen the reigns?
Via: DroidLife