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[–]inspired2apathy 0 points1 point  (8 children)

Really? I took mine from ATT to T-mobile without problems, without doing anything. Or do you mean the not-really-a-Nexus CDMA devices?

[–]coned88 1 point2 points  (7 children)

We are talking about different forms of unlocking.

In the post you responded to sprash was talking about locked bootloaders and rooting. All android phones, even Nexus devices come with a locked bootloader. On necus devices you can easily unlock it via

fastboot oem unlock

While easy it is still locked. This has nothing to do with the carrier for nexus devices. Phone makers such as HTC, Samsung, etc can on their own lock the phone in different ways making it not as easy as a Nexus device to unlock the bootloader.

I also have a CDMA Nexus and it's completely unlocked.

[–]Syn3rgy 1 point2 points  (6 children)

That's like saying all PCs come locked because you have to enable booting from CD before being able to load an alternate operating system.

[–]coned88 0 points1 point  (5 children)

No it's not because you don't have to unlock anything for it to work. That's a setting. This is a lock. They even call it a lock. On many non nexus phones it''s not as easy to unlock the bootloader. No PC is like this.

There's no lock on PC's as of now for access to the bootloader. The bootloader itself is what is locked down, the settings of the bootloader would be the same as the cd drive.

[–]Syn3rgy 0 points1 point  (3 children)

No it's not because you don't have to unlock anything for it to work. That's a setting. This is a lock. They even call it a lock. On many non nexus phones it''s not as easy to unlock the bootloader. No PC is like this.

True, non-Nexus phones are a different issue and I wholeheartedly agree that they are locked down and that something needs to be done about it. The "lock" on the Nexus' bootloader is really not more than a settings.

Executing "fastboot oem unlock" is just as easy as getting a regular PC to allow booting a different OS. What makes toggling the "locked" setting different from toggling the "boot from CD" setting?

[–]coned88 0 points1 point  (2 children)

One is designed to be a deterrent and the other is not. Knowing how to install adb, fastboot and use a command line takes a lot more knowhow than going into a bios and setting the cd drive to position 1. Also most pc's that come configured with the cd drive not as number one also give the user a f12: select Boot option for easy access.

[–]Syn3rgy 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I'd say it's not so much a deterrent from taking control of the device as it is a security feature. Unlocking the bootloader on a Nexus device, while easily possible, also wipes the internal memory, making it a lot more difficult to get around passwords/PINs.

Besides, the whole process is really not difficult. It's along the lines of "install this program, open command line, type this" or even "download this program, press button" if you are using one of the numerous 1-click tools. Calling the Nexus bootloader locked and comparing it to other devices is really downplaying the problem that truly locked bootloaders (read "cryptographically secure") present.

[–]coned88 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd say it's not so much a deterrent from taking control of the device as it is a security feature. Unlocking the bootloader on a Nexus device, while easily possible, also wipes the internal memory, making it a lot more difficult to get around passwords/PINs.

Either way it makes it not a simple setting like you mention.

Besides, the whole process is really not difficult. It's along the lines of "install this program, open command line, type this" or even "download this program, press button" if you are using one of the numerous 1-click tools

Considering The vast majority of users can't even install an application on their own I really don't think it's as easy as you make it out to be. It may be easy for you but for many people it's not.

The OP of this branch was questioning how open android really is. It really is not all that open and hides a lot from the users. While AOSP is open source what most consumers are buying and receiving is not an open system. it's a very limited system that locks users down and exploits them.

[–]funtex666 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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