Verizon's version of Samsung Galaxy S III comes with locked bootloader

6. Alan01 posted on 07 Jul 2012, 12:26 3

I was drinking the "uncola" at the time. Thanks!

Alan F.

9. Wildmanfan posted on 07 Jul 2012, 13:09 4

I am going to do that and I did a field test on download speed with my cousin's phone and it was faster than VZW. I'm jumping ship as soon as my contract is up on Sept 1st.

22. Gemmol posted on 07 Jul 2012, 16:19 2

why are you getting thumbs down, smh, this is why I say they should remove this thumbs down thing, if someone make an opinion and you like it then thumbs it up, but if not, leave the post alone, it is their opinion and by the way congrats and welcome to AT&T, I live in NY and get service, so do not pay attention to everyone trolling post, AT&T service improved a lot, try a phone out if the service do not work for you then pick a company that do, but I tell you this Tmobile and Verizon do not work in my house

28. Gemmol posted on 07 Jul 2012, 18:17 0

so i get a thumbs down too lol

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40. k1ng617 posted on 08 Jul 2012, 14:13 1

Hey I made that jump back in January and FYI I'm really unhappy with them.

Call reception (here in Boston) is terrible and I regularly completely miss calls and sms's without ANY notifications. Only way I find out is that people keep telling me they called (and on their end it rings completely) or texted and I never saw them on my end. I am running a Galaxy Note so I'm assuming it's not my phone since it's pretty high end.

I was very happy with Verizon call quality and reception and rarely missed anything; however, I was only on their 3G at the time and the data speeds were pretty slow although I had consistent coverage.

I'm hoping to switch to T-Mobile before the end of the year if they open up their 1900mhz band to HSPA+ so I can port my number and my Galaxy Note over.

Just a heads up! Check with friends that have AT&T in your area before you jump ship!

42. Jimstar posted on 09 Jul 2012, 00:07 2

Good Luck with that! At&t's OneX is also locked, their GS3 made it out untouched but I wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket in the future.

44. superguy posted on 09 Jul 2012, 09:58 0

HTC seems to want to lock all their bootloaders lately, but they usually provide the unlock thru a website. Sometimes it may take a few months, but they usually come out.

Yes, it sucks more than what Samsung typically does, but it's not a completely locked device like Moto devices are.

47. KingKurogiii posted on 09 Jul 2012, 14:05 0

the Atrix and the Photon have unlocked bootloaders pal. the more popular Motorola phones on Verizon have locked bootloaders because of Verizon which is becoming increasingly evident with this SIII scandal.

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7. iamcc posted on 07 Jul 2012, 12:29 5

Yeah Verizon has been pissing me off a lot lately... I just moved to a new condo a few months ago where their coverage map shows "strong 3G" and possibly LTE. Too bad I can barely get 1 bar of 3G or make phone calls...

Had Verizon send a tech out and even after they confirmed "marginal service even outdoors" all they will do is tell me to buy a Network Extender. f**king idiots.

23. Gemmol posted on 07 Jul 2012, 16:20 1

i guess AT&T for you

39. Ravail posted on 08 Jul 2012, 08:40 0

The same thing applied with AT&T at my grandmother's house.. She called and they sent a tech out to her location, confirmed she had a bad reception location and gave her a network signal booster.. now she has 5 bars of signal constantly.

17. Droid_X_Doug posted on 07 Jul 2012, 14:00 0

Verizon seems to be batting a thousand recently. First they want to charge their customers $5 to pay their bill with a credit card. Then they claim they have the ability to do whatever they want with their wireless spectrum (see the article posted a few days ago about the 1st and 5th amendment claims regarding net neutrality). Now this. Arrogance brings everyone down in the end.

13. KingKurogiii posted on 07 Jul 2012, 13:22 5

lol right? xD

48. jroc74 posted on 09 Jul 2012, 17:57 0

Exactly.....but facts wont get in the way of haters...haters gonna hate, regardless.

15. tedkord posted on 07 Jul 2012, 13:53 2

It's not that it's locked, it's encrypted. Most bootloaders come locked, but they aren't a real hinderance to development. Encrypted means you need a signature to replace the kernel, etc...that's not easy to get around without the key.

If the devs had full access to the BL, the sky's the limit. ROMs, kernels, skins, different versions of Android. With the limited root access they have so far, they can probably debloat (get rid of the crap Verizon preloads), maybe some limited custom roms. No cusotm kernels.

18. Quezdagreat posted on 07 Jul 2012, 14:04 12

Ok thanks for the reply, and thanks to the guys who thumbs down me for asking a question

21. tedkord posted on 07 Jul 2012, 15:49 1

Verizon Galaxy Nexus bootloader was not locked down.

27. Gemmol posted on 07 Jul 2012, 18:05 0

he meant thishttp://www.phonearena.com/news/Verizon-Galaxy-Nexu s-may-not-be-considered-a-developer-device-any-mor e_id26573/

and this is google response for the first link i showed uhttp://www.droid-life.com/2012/02/03/google-issues-statement-regarding-cdma-nexus-devices/

35. jroc74 posted on 08 Jul 2012, 03:34 0

The G Nex bootloader is about as wide open as it can get. That phone can be used for development purposes.

Any Nexus bootloader is easily unlocked.

Its the encrypted part that makes things harder on other phones.

31. Mannequinsdenial posted on 07 Jul 2012, 18:47 0

too cool.:)

32. tedkord posted on 07 Jul 2012, 19:37 1

I've been following that on XDA and Rootzwiki very closely. Yes, they have gotten root access, but the bootloader is still encrypted. That means very limited romming, no custom kernels.

Just ask moto users - their options are very limited compared to others.

36. jroc74 posted on 08 Jul 2012, 03:36 0

Exactly....root and recovery isnt the same as having the bootloader open.

Root and recoveries are almost always gonna be available for most Android phones.

45. superguy posted on 09 Jul 2012, 10:07 2

True. Rezound was a PITA device until HTC finally unlocked the bootloader. That was about 3 months after the device shipped. In the meantime, nothing really happened on the phone. We had temp root that inconsistently worked and would be gone after a reboot.

We had some great devs trying their hardest to open it up as much as they could, but there was only so much they could do. When HTC unlocked the bootloader, it allowed for development but it wasn't without challenges. You could get custom kernels and ROMs then, but the kernels were a pain in the butt.

It wasn't until we got S-OFF thanks to the Juoponut team that the device became really fun and things began to flourish.

While yes, the device eventually was blown open, it was hard not be jealous of the GNex users that had what we finally got right out of the box with a simple fastboot command.

Verizon is really getting annoying with this crap.

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38. jroc74 posted on 08 Jul 2012, 03:42 0

Honestly...they day we here an Android phone cant be rooted at all.....is the day we start worrying. A locked, encrypted bootloader isnt as bad as some make it.

I went from a Droid 1 to a Droid X1, then RAZR, then had a G Nex for a few weeks....so I now whats its like on both sides of the fence.

37. jroc74 posted on 08 Jul 2012, 03:38 0

tedkord explained it good on pg1.

43. jroc74 posted on 09 Jul 2012, 06:51 1

Since for the most part Rezound and RAZR owners had less reception issues....ever think it was your phone? I know Verizon LTE is having growing pains...but still.

But...if T Mo really is better for you....you made the right choice. Ppl need to stop chassing phones and start chasing carriers that offer better service. AT&T might be better than Verizon in my area.

46. superguy posted on 09 Jul 2012, 10:10 1

Agreed. I've owned both a GNex and a Rezound and the Rezound got far better reception than the GNex. What really convinced me that the GNex's reception sucked was when I was sitting in a building with my friend. My GNex had no data signal - I could sorta make a call and get text but that was it. She was on an old Incredible and had a fine 3G signal. She was surfing with no problem. So there I was with a brand new phone and no data and she was just fine on a 2 year old phone.

Dumped the GNex the next day and went back to my Rezound. Problem solved. :)

49. richardyarrell2011 (banned) posted on 07 Aug 2012, 16:25 0

Yes sir I have chased phone forever now it has to be about carriers and actual service. I know the footprint of tmobile is weak compared to Verizon we all know that. But I am just shocked that I can use my Galaxy S3 in ways that I couldn't use my Galaxy Nexus. In New York City Tmobile is great I don't know why but I am happy and will be staying with tmobile period. Plus I can purchase a true NEXUS from the Google Play store come November and that will replace my lost Galaxy Nexus from Verizon. But I have a funny feeling I will be getting the Galaxy Note 2 before the year is out...