Hello everyone.
It appears Samsung has locked the bootloaders of all U.S. variants of the phone potentially by request of U.S. carriers. Basically, they have taken ultimate control over what software is allowed to run on your device. Alongside their security features, this means that even if you want to install an application with root permissions and custom functionality, you can't.
It's not likely they will do anything, but as a customer I believe purchasing a device means you should have final say over what software is installed and what apps are allowed to run (Especially in the US, freedom bro?). Samsung believes they have final say. Bloatware, ads, tracking software, they choose, not the device owner. If this doesn't bother you then fine, have a nice day
.
If you want Samsung to at least address this, and why this is only the case with U.S. devices, there's an angrily worded albeit self explanatory petition - (Can't post a link, Google search: S7 bootloader petition change.org) addressed to Samsung and T-Mobile requesting to at the very least provide the option to users to have control over their device.
Prior to this year, AT&T and Verizon were the only carriers to have bootloader lock policies regarding certain devices that they sell. It appears the trend is catching on and those of us that value third party software are losing out here in the U.S. Samsung has already provided an optional bootloader unlock to S7 users in China and South Korea but they absolutely refuse to release it in the U.S.
If you are curious and want more info I suggest googling topics on the Galaxy S4 bootloader as that was the first to be locked, there are also various articles talking about it.
T-Mobile's CEO John Legere has commented on twitter saying that they're looking into a potential solution. Other carriers haven't said anything yet. You can try tweeting at him, by the way, @johnlegere. It's better than nothing, but without more users being concerned, it'll likely fall by the wayside unfortunately. We're just asking for an option for those of us that want it.
It appears Samsung has locked the bootloaders of all U.S. variants of the phone potentially by request of U.S. carriers. Basically, they have taken ultimate control over what software is allowed to run on your device. Alongside their security features, this means that even if you want to install an application with root permissions and custom functionality, you can't.
It's not likely they will do anything, but as a customer I believe purchasing a device means you should have final say over what software is installed and what apps are allowed to run (Especially in the US, freedom bro?). Samsung believes they have final say. Bloatware, ads, tracking software, they choose, not the device owner. If this doesn't bother you then fine, have a nice day
. If you want Samsung to at least address this, and why this is only the case with U.S. devices, there's an angrily worded albeit self explanatory petition - (Can't post a link, Google search: S7 bootloader petition change.org) addressed to Samsung and T-Mobile requesting to at the very least provide the option to users to have control over their device.
Prior to this year, AT&T and Verizon were the only carriers to have bootloader lock policies regarding certain devices that they sell. It appears the trend is catching on and those of us that value third party software are losing out here in the U.S. Samsung has already provided an optional bootloader unlock to S7 users in China and South Korea but they absolutely refuse to release it in the U.S.
If you are curious and want more info I suggest googling topics on the Galaxy S4 bootloader as that was the first to be locked, there are also various articles talking about it.
T-Mobile's CEO John Legere has commented on twitter saying that they're looking into a potential solution. Other carriers haven't said anything yet. You can try tweeting at him, by the way, @johnlegere. It's better than nothing, but without more users being concerned, it'll likely fall by the wayside unfortunately. We're just asking for an option for those of us that want it.
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