Previous claims by high up Motorola executives that Q3/Q4 of this year would see the release of a handful of software updates to unlock the bootloaders of older devices, as well as see the release of new hardware with already unlocked bootloaders was…false. To date there has been one phone that’s received an update to go back and unlock the locked bootloader — the AT&T Atrix 4G.
Unfortunately today’s newly announced Motorola Droid RAZR ships with a locked bootloader. When pressed for the lack of new, unlocked hardware and software updates for previously released devices, Motorola responded by claiming that they “had to lock the bootloader due a request from Verizon” and that “security, safety and regulatory guidelines” made them do it. Reality: Bullshit. There are 0 “regulatory guidelines” or any other law that requires the bootloader to be locked — a fact made evident by the large number of HTC and Samsung (Nexus-branded devices specifically) phones that ship with an unlocked bootloader.
In short: Motorola lied. Let’s hope that if the Google/Motorola merger is approved Google forces Moto to be a bit more…open with future devices.
Via: Electronista
