Tweet claims that Motorola will change its policy on unlocked bootloaders as soon as

[Preach2k]

Tweet claims that Motorola will change its policy on unlocked bootloaders as soon as Q3!!!

Could this mean The Bionic could be Unlocked?

Tweet claims that Motorola will change its policy on unlocked bootloaders as soon as Q3 - Phone Arena

 

[Asterdroid]

Very interesting. If this is true, it will make the SGS2/Bionic decision much more difficult.

 

[Jasper]

Still does not mean that VZW will allow it....

 

[DolfanCole]

Very interesting. If this is true, it will make the SGS2/Bionic decision much more difficult.

I'd be happy with just having to make a decision. The wait is getting more agonizing by the day.

 

[DolfanCole]

Still does not mean that VZW will allow it....

True 'dat.

 

[cmorty72#AC]

Hopefully VZW will do the right thing (for once), and leave the Bionic alone and unlocked.
I know this is virtually a pipe dream but... it would make things even better if the Bionic was going vanilla.

But alas... that's just a pipe dream nonetheless. :'(

 

[SnydersWeb]

The big thing I can see keeping VZW from allowing this fully is tethering. Problem is if you have an LTE phone (or 3G for that matter) multiple tethered users could just pound VZW's network to dust.

This is akin to cable companies frowning on people running servers on their cable modems. You can do it, and be discreet about it, and never be bothered, however if you start doing it on a widescale bases you'll get their attention. Problem is a lot of people are not so discreet.

I can see VZW allowing tethering if/when they go w/a tiered data plan or more aggressively start enforcing caps.

 

[Liberati0n]

You guys don't blame Verizon for this, they are partially responsible for not saying unlock them, but they aren't the ones saying they need to be locked. Other phones on Verizon are unlocked, like the LG Revolution is completely unlocked.

You also have to know the fact you can tether with just root, unlocked boot loader just gives us custom kernels that sadly are better even though regular hobbyist make them vs people paid to do it.

 

[Cruiserdude]

As others have pointed out, tethering shouldn't be a concern once tiered takes over. But it is a little strange that some phones, like the Charge, are completely unlocked while others are not. Granted, its easier when you can just load a custom kernel and have permanent root instead of waiting for an exploit, but those exploits always come along anyway, and pretty much everything gets rooted eventually. So I don't really see the point...

I wouldn't count on them being particularly friendly to root at any point though, considering this does run a linux kernel, and is therefore capable of running a number of networking tools that could really cause problems if used by someone with malicious intent. Granted, there hasn't been much of an issue with this yet, but there could be, and carriers don't want to encourage it for that reason. I would honestly expect more companies to follow Virgin's example of using stock Android, and even running more optimized factory kernels before we'll see them encouraging root.

 

[Johnly]

Tierd data, vzw will want you to pound away on that tethering

 

[rkeller62]

Tierd data, vzw will want you to pound away on that tethering

You would hope and think that is the case, but AT&T still adds a tethering fee even with very high priced tiered data plans.