Unlocking the bootloader, Updates, and Overall Purity

[diesteldorf]

A couple disclaimers:

I am not a tech guy and I've never owned a Nexus or any smartphone not on VZW.

Just had a couple questions:

For those in the know, if the bootloader is truly unencrypted will it be unlocked by design or still need to be opened?

Provided, it's the latter, I don't expect the instructions to be posted on Samsung's or Verizon's website, but for those that are technically minded, is basically just telling SDK to run a series of commands and unlock the "door." Is this process typically hard to figure out? I am assuming it would at least be somewhat easier since the Nexus line is designed to be more open.

Rather than looking for hacks/exploits to root or unlock the bootloader or find a backdoor, is it usually more straightforward to locate the front door and open it.

Is it unrealistic to think that root access and an open bootloader could be achieved within days of release?

I am still skeptical that Verizon will allow a true Nexus on their network and allow updates to come directly from Google. When the phone is released, will there be any easy way to tell where support will come from or will we have to wait for the next release of Android and see if of VZW Nexus receives its updates at the same time as all the previous Nexus incarnations?

I've never actually seen a Nexus up close or know exactly what pure android looks like, but once the techies get hold of this phone will it be pretty easy to tell if our phone is as pure as previous Nexus devices?

I hope Verizon doesn't find little, subtle ways to Verizonize the phone. If it's truly on par with past Nexus devices, it'll be my next phone.

 

[ejaymd11]

If it's a Nexus updates come from Google. End of discussion when it comes to updates.

 

[JediJesus95]

I wouldn't be surprised if they get root before it comes out.

 

[Mannysaurus]

If it's as open as the OG Droid was, it'll barely be locked. Having no prior knowledge of hacking phones, I was able to root in 10 minutes. However, I'm skeptical about rooting. If ROMs prove to be better than Google updates then I'll think about it but I want to own a phone where I don't need to change it to make it good.

 

[qnet]

I wouldn't be surprised if they get root before it comes out.

I agree, it seems like all the Nexus phones are rooted right away. If this phone turns out the way I think it will, I may buy another one, a GSM version, that I can take overseas.

 

[digitalslacker]

A couple disclaimers:

I am not a tech guy and I've never owned a Nexus or any smartphone not on VZW.

Just had a couple questions:

For those in the know, if the bootloader is truly unencrypted will it be unlocked by design or still need to be opened?

Provided, it's the latter, I don't expect the instructions to be posted on Samsung's or Verizon's website, but for those that are technically minded, is basically just telling SDK to run a series of commands and unlock the "door." Is this process typically hard to figure out? I am assuming it would at least be somewhat easier since the Nexus line is designed to be more open.

Rather than looking for hacks/exploits to root or unlock the bootloader or find a backdoor, is it usually more straightforward to locate the front door and open it.

Is it unrealistic to think that root access and an open bootloader could be achieved within days of release?

I am still skeptical that Verizon will allow a true Nexus on their network and allow updates to come directly from Google. When the phone is released, will there be any easy way to tell where support will come from or will we have to wait for the next release of Android and see if of VZW Nexus receives its updates at the same time as all the previous Nexus incarnations?

I've never actually seen a Nexus up close or know exactly what pure android looks like, but once the techies get hold of this phone will it be pretty easy to tell if our phone is as pure as previous Nexus devices?

I hope Verizon doesn't find little, subtle ways to Verizonize the phone. If it's truly on par with past Nexus devices, it'll be my next phone.

Unlocking the bootloader - Like all nexus phones, which are developer phones, the bootloader can be unlocked by firing off a command "fastboot oem unlock". You'll run that from the SDK. That's supported because this is a developer phone.

Rooting - As was previously stated i'm sure we'll see root almost immediately after release, if not before.

Updates - Google has point there, they dictate when updates happen.

We might see some VZW branding, there is some Sprint branding on the Nexus S. By branding I mean you see a Sprint tab in the market and on the lock screen. I don't think we'll see any bloatware though.

Pure Google Gingerbread wasn't that exciting from a UX/UI perspective. But ICS is a completely different situation so you really can't compare it to the OG Droid or any other Pure Google phone running Gingerbread.

You gotta wait and see, or you can install the SDK, boot up an AVD and check it out now on your computer.

 

[Stang68]

Panda said Google is handling the updates for the Galaxy Nexus. That makes me very happy.

 

[dfb8085]

What I need is the mobile wifi hot spot to work. Do you think it will have to be rooted in order for the mobile hotspot to work? I am on ATT so I'll have to wait a little while. Do you think ATT will bloatware this think up like they have all the other phones?

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

What I need is the mobile wifi hot spot to work. Do you think it will have to be rooted in order for the mobile hotspot to work? I am on ATT so I'll have to wait a little while. Do you think ATT will bloatware this think up like they have all the other phones?

Here's the sticky on that. Wifi hotspot will probably work without root, but you will need to pay for it. However, verizon has cracked down on people using the wifi tether app that requires root. It works for me because I am using an AOSP rom and has nothing verizon inseted in it to track that. You will need to see if ATT does the same thing. I don't know if they have started doing that.

as for the bootloader unlocking... you will be able to find instructions from google at source.android.com when the information is made available.

 

[CynicX]

I've used the hotspot feature built into Honeycomb on Verizon's network without any charge so far. It works well. I never asked so I maybe getting lucky or you get to use X amount of times per month or something like that. I really don't know how they would be able to tell I'm using it but I'm sure they have their ways....

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

I've used the hotspot feature built into Honeycomb on Verizon's network without any charge so far. It works well. I never asked so I maybe getting lucky or you get to use X amount of times per month or something like that. I really don't know how they would be able to tell I'm using it but I'm sure they have their ways....

Unfortunately, VZW baked something into the Thunderbolt Gingerbread update and leaks that alerts them :/

Good to know that it works on stock Honeycomb.

 

[ragnarokx]

Rooting - As was previously stated i'm sure we'll see root almost immediately after release, if not before.

There's nothing to figure out root-wise. All you have to do is copy superuser.apk to the /system folder. Done

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

There's nothing to figure out root-wise. All you have to do is copy superuser.apk to the /system folder. Done

I've never owned a nexus device... can you just mount the /system as read/write capable without any exploits? Using:

adb remount

or

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

Meaning, you already have super user permissions? Neat.

 

[borgey401]

I've never owned a nexus device... can you just mount the /system as read/write capable without any exploits? Using:

adb remount

or

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

Meaning, you already have super user permissions? Neat.

The phone will already have root access when you pick it up but it will not come with the superuser.apk. Obviously to add this it's very easy all you have to do is ADB push it to system/apps and you're good to go. So yes you can mount system no problem.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

The phone will already have root access when you pick it up but it will not come with the superuser.apk. Obviously to add this it's very easy all you have to do is ADB push it to system/apps and you're good to go. So yes you can mount system no problem.

sweet... however, this may pose a problem getting my exchange account activated... they denied my thunderbolt running CM7 because of "custom kernel" So maybe there is a chance.

 

[Blazian]

I've used the hotspot feature built into Honeycomb on Verizon's network without any charge so far. It works well. I never asked so I maybe getting lucky or you get to use X amount of times per month or something like that. I really don't know how they would be able to tell I'm using it but I'm sure they have their ways....

When you have a Xoom or any Android tablet on Verizon, the Hotspot feature is built in and it uses your data plan. The Android tablets on Verizon are the only devices that give you free hotspot capability, other than Palm devices.

 

[CynicX]

When you have a Xoom or any Android tablet on Verizon, the Hotspot feature is built in and it uses your data plan. The Android tablets on Verizon are the only devices that give you free hotspot capability, other than Palm devices.

But wifi hotspot is built into an unmolested version of ICS like on the GN. So will that be blocked?

 

[milan03]

But wifi hotspot is built into an unmolested version of ICS like on the GN. So will that be blocked?

Of course it's not gonna be blocked, but like on every provider you'll have to subscribe yourself to the tethering plan.

 

[ragnarokx]

I've never owned a nexus device... can you just mount the /system as read/write capable without any exploits? Using:

adb remount

or

adb shell
su
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

Meaning, you already have super user permissions? Neat.

Yup, no exploit needed because there is no security to find a hole in. That's the beauty of a developer phone. Google even ads a little picture of an opened lock under the Google logo to your startup screen when you unlock your bootloader to get root access.