Upset about the locked bootloader on AT&T's HTC One X? HTC says you can blame the carrier

posted by Alan F. / May 05, 2012, 1:49 PM

Upset about the locked bootloader on AT&T's HTC One X? HTC says you can blame the carrier

AT&T's version of the HTC One X comes with a locked bootloader

HTC has been the manufacturer most associated with the unlocked bootloader movement. The Taiwan based firm has "freed" a number of its older models and newer phones alike, which is why it seemed unusual to find a locked bootloader on the AT&T version of the HTC One X. Had HTC decided to no longer be the champion of unlocked bootloaders? Hardly, according to the company. In fact, HTC says that if you're looking for someone to blame for locking down the One X, it is AT&T.

In a statement, HTC said, "In some cases … restrictions prevent certain devices from participating in our bootloader unlocking program. HTC is committed to listening to users and delivering customer satisfaction. Since announcing our commitment to unlockable bootloaders, HTC has worked to enable our customers to unlock the bootloader on more than 45 devices over the past six months. Rest assured, HTC is committed to assisting developers in unlocking bootloaders for HTC devices and we’ll continue to unlock additional devices in the future."

By using the word "restrictions" HTC is believed to mean AT&T. If there is any good news to come from this, it certainly sounds as though HTC is still fully committed to continue unlocking bootloaders on its new devices. That is, at the discretion of each carrier, of course.

source: SlashGear

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26 Comments

1. Mxyzptlk unregistered

Uh huh, seems like HTC is trying to backtrack on their word here.

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:00 PM 4

17. TROLL

Posts: 4851; Member since: Apr 13, 2012

Prounance ur name is mxyzptlk it makes no sense. Ur avatar and name the things u say and write is worser Than trolling .... Feel free to Trojan..... Ur name and avatar Is a big turn of......!@?????

posted on May 05, 2012, 9:11 PM 0

23. medicci37

Posts: 1361; Member since: Nov 19, 2011

@ Troll No offense, but your the one who don't make sense. The name & avatar are from a classic cartoon that is apparently well over your mishaped head.

posted on May 06, 2012, 12:02 PM 1

2. 14545

Posts: 1835; Member since: Nov 22, 2011

HTC, let's get this straight. The CONSUMERS buy your phones. Tell the carriers to F-off. If you don't, then don't expect us, the consumers, to try and help you get out of the red. This is why I don't buy Moto products. (maybe google will loosen the reigns on that.) So stop with the gimmicks, like beats, and make GOOD hardware with timely updates, and release the source code to the devices you have EOLed. LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:07 PM 4

4. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

htc customers are the carriers,the carriers buy the phone off them and then the carier sells it to you...if you by off contract and not a carrier locked device then i think its different

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:20 PM 7

5. 14545

Posts: 1835; Member since: Nov 22, 2011

I understand that. But if you and I won't buy it from the carrier, either way HTC doesn't get paid. We are still the ones that physically take possession of the phone. And the carriers know that if they don't have any variety that people will start shopping elsewhere. They said it wouldn't happen anymore. Now they are pulling a Moto. Like they have with their phones on verizon.

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:25 PM 1

9. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

in order for a phone to be sold by the carrier, the manufacturer must bow to certain demands by the carrier. Even apple has made concessions a long the way. Apple's heavy use of WiFi is partly because of deals they made with ATT to keep bandwith low, so ATT can keep the cost per iphone user a bit lower.

posted on May 05, 2012, 3:04 PM 0

14. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

sadly the best way for htc etc to get the phones into many hands as possible is through the carriers so they kind of have to do what the carriers say if they want to make money...unlike apple or maybe samsung they just dont have the money or power to ''play'' with the carriers.

posted on May 05, 2012, 3:38 PM 2

22. thelegend6657 unregistered

An unlocked phone is always nice .

posted on May 06, 2012, 9:12 AM 0

3. CX3NT3_713

Posts: 2359; Member since: Apr 18, 2011

Bullchit'' lol

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:16 PM 1

6. e.wvu unregistered

Well I'm sure someone will still try to work around it somehow.

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:26 PM 4

25. sprockkets

Posts: 1612; Member since: Jan 16, 2012

What everyone here needs to know is, just because HTC unlocks their boot loaders, they do NOT give S-OFF, and that is required for you to unlock the carrier restrictions and other stuff. So in any case, you will still rely on the community to do the rest of the unlocking.

posted on May 06, 2012, 4:31 PM 0

7. akhi216

Posts: 61; Member since: May 01, 2011

Everyone talks junk about Motorola adhering to carriers' demands...what do the HTC fanboys have to say about this?

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:43 PM 2

15. sumdude

Posts: 50; Member since: Oct 20, 2011

LOL, a bit redundant, no? Your on a page where HTC "fanboys" have made numerous posts before yours doing exactly what you asked already. Don't you read these thongs before posting?

posted on May 05, 2012, 5:30 PM 1

26. Hunt3rj2

Posts: 396; Member since: Nov 11, 2011

Except HTC caves. The Vivid/Rezound had the same policies, but magically a few weeks later it was possible to unlock via HTCDev. Curious, isn't it? ;)

posted on May 06, 2012, 11:56 PM 0

8. jusama14

Posts: 4; Member since: May 05, 2012

HTC has never been the champion of unlocked bootloaders and I don't see them becoming one any time soon either. That title goes to Samsung (and dare I say it, LG). Every phone they have shipped to this date have come with an unlocked bootloader. I don't have to use some retarded program and void my warranty to unlock. And guess what? They have a bunch of phones on ALL carriers including AT&T, HTC needs to be more aggressive.

posted on May 05, 2012, 2:52 PM 1

12. 14545

Posts: 1835; Member since: Nov 22, 2011

I don't think anyone has ever said they were. The point being is that they did say that all bootloaders after x date were going to be unlockable. This is the problem, period.

posted on May 05, 2012, 3:14 PM 1

13. jusama14

Posts: 4; Member since: May 05, 2012

I agree and HTC really needs to provide a solution for this phone. However the author of this article makes HTC seem like they're the best there is when it comes to unlocked bootloaders. Alan just called them "the champion."

posted on May 05, 2012, 3:26 PM 1

10. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

All phones come "locked" by the manufacturer other than the nexus. However, HTC CHOOSES to use such a complicated lock. Samsung uses the easiest lock possible so users can go have a field day with the device while playcating the carriers. What ever phone the mod community is into becomes a lot of free advertisement through the net as new benchmarks are smashed, and word of mouth. Samsung knows this and owes some of the popularity of its Galaxy phones to this.. HTC needs to relearn it.

posted on May 05, 2012, 3:06 PM 2

11. jusama14

Posts: 4; Member since: May 05, 2012

Are you sure? I'd say even the nexus phones are more "locked" than other Samsung phones. For nexus I still have to use fastboot to unlock the bootloader but for touch-wiz based Samsung phones as soon as I take the phone out of the box I can flash a custom kernel using Odin or install cwm using the stock Android recovery. No need to unlock the bootloader first since it's already done for me.

posted on May 05, 2012, 3:12 PM 3

16. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

yea, your forgetting a few steps in that whole unlock procedure for samsungs. it still has to be rooted (which is super simple), CWM installed, then ROMed. I havent seen a way where you use Odin to produce full unlock and ROM at the same time. If thats true, than thats cool. The nexus on VZW and sprint has some minor locks on it. When you buy it direct from google, i dont think its locked. Either way, samsung uses the bare minimum of locking to say its "locked down".. which is my point.

posted on May 05, 2012, 5:40 PM 0

18. Hunt3rj2

Posts: 396; Member since: Nov 11, 2011

I'm pretty sure that Samsung Galaxy phones are never locked out of the box, flashing ROMs is incredibly easy, so is root. Unlocking the phone for other carriers will usually require a few more steps, however.

posted on May 05, 2012, 9:44 PM 1

19. crankyd00d

Posts: 191; Member since: Oct 17, 2011

Even the one sold by Google has the bootloader locked but you can unlock it no problem with a simple fastboot command, though you will lose your data when you do, this is a security measure

posted on May 05, 2012, 10:40 PM 0

20. Forsaken77

Posts: 553; Member since: Jun 09, 2011

I don't see anywhere in that statement that says it's locked because of AT&T. It says "restrictions" prevented it, not AT&T. Maybe the phone has new tech in it that HTC doesn't want messed with just yet? I'm not saying that it's not AT&T's fault, but that statement hardly says it is.