Why I'm not getting a Bionic -- and possibly leaving the Android world for good.

[TuxDotKing]

You should all take some time and read this. Some Food for Thought - Bootloaders, Rooting, Manufacturers, and Carriers

Synopsis, courtesy of Droid Life's article on this:

July 2010: Rumors started flying that Motorola was working on ways to make rooting much more difficult than in the past by tweaking the kernel. Fortunately for us, Froyo on the DX was rooted and life went on. (Note: This was also the first time we really saw a locked bootloader here on U.S. soil.)

October 2010: Word began to leak out that locked bootloaders would become the norm and not just from Motorola devices; other manufacturers were jumping into the game and were probably being pushed by carriers. The motivation behind this new carrier stance was theft of service by rooted users, the return of non-defective devices due to consumer fraud, and the use of non-approved firmware on the networks.

December 2010: Multiple carriers began to test a service that would allow them to identify rooted users and create a database of their MEIDs. New security features were also being baked into stock ROMs on devices such as identifying rooted phones and throttling those that were tethering illegally.

March 2011: Verizon and another major carrier seem to be tracking rooted phones by seeing who has not accepted updates. They also seem to be doing this as of right now, meaning you could be on their list if you have a rooted device. New builds for phones will include a tracking code which if removed, could potentially leave your phone lifeless without data or voice access. The overall goal here is for carriers to lock down devices tighter than ever, but then provide 1-2 dev devices each year for those of us that wish to actually enjoy our phones.

I hate to be melodramatic, but I can't and won't stand for this. If this is where Android is going as a platform, I want absolutely no part of it. This has seriously shaken my plans for a new phone and destroyed my confidence in Android's 'openness' in general. Even worse, it looks like the most open platform is going to be WP7 going further. And as much as I told myself I wouldn't go down that road; it seems to be the only one left.

Once again, I realize I may be sounding melodramatic and whiny... but I'm sorry. I can't in good conscious, or personal sense, condone the actions of the carriers and manufacturers. If the 1-2 unlocked Nexus-style Androids a year thing mentioned doesn't materialize, I'm off to Windows Phone 7. And if that falls through... I'll be buying unlocked smartphones overseas that are compatible with AT&T and hoping that AT&T doesn't decide to close off 'open-access' to their network. If that happens, I'll be using a dumbphone.

I refuse to support such a future for a market with such limitless possibility. Period.

EDIT: Okay, I've cooled down a bit.
I'm going to be reasonable here. Things look bad but don't think I should be freaking out yet. This is wake-up call, but not the end of the world. Let's see if anything more comes from this as time goes on.

 

[jd914]

Paranoia is a b!tch.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

So Tux, what will you switch too?

 

[Suntan]

So a... What carrier are you going to switch to?

When all the hackers switch to the next platform, what do you think the carriers are going to do? Throw up their hands and say, "Ah, they fooled us!"

Honestly, I'm suprised they haven't clamped down on the tethering sooner. The sad thing is, if illicit tethering had never become so easy with these phones, we'd likely have carriers continue to look the other way about rooting and the sort. They just wouldn't have cared.

-Suntan

 

[cody_21]

Honestly, to me this is no problem. I have read lots and lots about rooting phones and that sort but I have never done it or attempted to do it. Now i'm not saying what they are doing is a good thing, because its not, people be allowed to do what they want with their phones since they bought the phone with their money and are paying the bill. I just have never done the rooting thing. This will not keep me from getting the phones i want, and i will still be waiting for the Bionic.

 

[TuxDotKing]

So Tux, what will you switch too?

Don't know. All the options I've considered are up there, and I will seriously just go to a dumbphone if I can't find anyway around it.

I was considering the Bionic despite it's locked bootloader because I expected to be able to root it without potentially having my service shut off or whatever deterrent they have planned for rooters.

I'm not trying to cause trouble guys, I'm honestly not. I was here excited for the Bionic like no other phone, but now I'm frustrated as hell. I chose Android over iOS because Android was supposed to be the open platform. I'm a big believer in open-source; I run Linux only on all my desktops. Having these big companies tell me that I don't have the right to do what I want with what basically boil down to mini computers ticks me off to no end.

 

[DJBeanPole]

 

[p08757]

I wouldnt worry about it yet. This is all speculation until a carrier removes service from rooted users.

My guess is they will drop the hammer on rouge tether users.

 

[dd0yl3]

Why does the carriers even care who is tethering, if most of the are going to a tier data plan? Won't they just be able to charge people more for going over there data plans.

 

[TuxDotKing]

So, I took a deep breath and calmed down a bit.

I feel like I've overreacted some, as we are wont to do sometimes as humans. Really, I honestly should have seen this coming.

I'm still angry about the road things appear to be going down, but I've decided that as we still haven't had anything catastrophic happen yet, I shouldn't be so alarmed.

For now, I'll go back to hoping for the best... but I'm going to really have to start taking my options much more seriously. Really though, I guess I'm done buying smartphones for awhile. This 'news' pretty much makes a hard choice ludicrously complex for me. Too many things to worry about, specs, features, whether Verizon's gonna kick me off the tubes... It's getting to be a bit much. I'll watch from the sidelines with my Droid 1, and focus my attention to other aspects of my geekery that are deserving of my time and money.

At any rate, good luck to all of you on the devices you buy in the future.

 

[Suntan]

Go for the HP Pre 3. When was the last time you saw Motorola pony up $10K for XDA Developers?

HP donates a hefty server to homebrew WebOS Internals Group | PreCentral.net | The #1 Palm Pre and Pixi Community

-Suntan

 

[Hand_O_Death]

From what it seems, if it is the phone makers and the service carriers that are doing this, then it seems that all platforms (including W7) would also have the same issues.

But then again, this is all just speculation and bigger challengers for rooting programers.

 

[DJBeanPole]

Go for the HP Pre 3. When was the last time you saw Motorola pony up $10K for XDA Developers?

HP donates a hefty server to homebrew WebOS Internals Group | PreCentral.net | The #1 Palm Pre and Pixi Community

-Suntan

 

[Verdes8891]

Man i love how everyone is running and about to "jump ship" because of this. Relax for crying outloud. So it will be harder to root. Even without rooting android is the most open os out there, even if and when these policiea go into effect. And say they do, and you move to windows 7, what are you going to do when they do something similar?

If you got an android so you can root it and everything, then you got into android for the wrong reason.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

 

[cody_21]

I'm not jumping ship for the purposes, i have never rooted a phone for that matter, I am doing it because I like the bionic from what i have seen so far and I will be getting LTE in my area sometime this year.

 

[thebizz]

Verizon nexus please I will not buy another phone if its not nexus branded I want open not what carriers or OEM decide what I should have and how I should use my phone. I can count on one hand how many times I've tethered and I've Been rooted over a year. I just want to be able to tinker with the device I own. I have no doubt more and more phones will be locked down so its nexus or nothing for me I don't want all the power without that new phones have without the ability to unleash it. Do I believe that carriers can see if I'm rooted I doubt it but have fun enjoy your phones don't worry about this

 

[experiment 626]

I really like SonyEricsson's proposed solution for it's new Xperia line:You pay full retail,you get your device unlocked. Seems fair to me. Not sure how it'll go over with Verizon with the Xperia Play but since CDMA providers identify their branded devices by their IMEI anyway it should be easy to implement.

 

[RodoBabbins]

I like to know how this is Androids fault and not the actions of the carriers and manufacturers making the phones.

Android is an open OS similar to Linux, it's the people that create the phones and providing the service that are strong arming each other into doing this. The majority of people buying phones really don't know and could care less about lock bootloaders and rooting. It's us the small minority that do care.

The carriers are trying to stem those that use over 15g a month tethering, now I'm not defending them but I do see their point. The solution would be that they would improve the infrastructure not punish the rest of us for something a few abusers.

 

[The_Engine]

Intresting article earlier on tech republic I think about fragmentation and android. Why do you think honeycomb source has not be released yet?

I will see if I can dig it out and post a link. Basically it is talking about new restrictions see being placed on android to cut back on OEM mods and hardware differences that see causing a lot of issues for developers.

I think this is the root of some of the paranoia. Carriers care about tethering because your getting free what they sell for $20 a month. also they have ageements for things like putting bing on devices. So they have to show some attempt at keeping that stuff theere.

 

[BBLV]

I think its absolute BS that they try and charge extra for tethering. I mean c'mon, lets get real here; I'm already paying $100+ per month for my voice and data plan to Verizon. Now that I am looking to buy a tablet in the coming months I am 100% buying a WiFi only model in spite of the carriers wanting to double dip on data fees.

I look at it like this: I am paying out the ass for my voice data plan on my phone. I shelled out big bucks for my phone. I am shelling out big bucks for a tablet. I'm only going to be using ONE OR THE OTHER, not both simultaneously! I shouldn't get reamed twice for this... In my opinion, the carriers would be smart to figure out a way that we can have both a 4G phone and a 4G tablet and get data to both with the same contract. I know I'm dreaming, but it only makes sense as a consumer. In the meantime, people will continue to tether, illegally or not. I personally can't find a way to justify an extra data plan for a tablet that will be in addition to my smart phone, my home computer, and my work computer. Waaaaay too much overlap in me paying for data access.

Ok, end of rant