Hasta La Gadget!

Android users have spoken, and maybe, just maybe, Motorola actually heard — AusDroid claims to have a statement direct from the mobile phone manufacturer promising unlocked bootloaders later this year:

We completely understand the operator requirement for security to the end user, and as well, want to support the developer communities desire to use these products as a development platform. It is our intention to enable the unlockable/relockable bootloader currently found on Motorola XOOM across our portfolio of devices starting in late 2011, where carriers and operators will allow it.

Wonderfully corporate of them to pass the buck to the carriers, no? This quote comes by way of a gentleman who petitioned Moto for just such a thing, mind you, so please take it with a grain of salt, and you’ll be the first to know if we get confirmation from Motorola itself.

Update: AusDroid managed to get in touch with Motorola North Asia, and it sounds like we’re looking at the truth — let’s see if Sanjay Jha agrees when he wakes up tomorrow morning.

Motorola promises unlocked bootloaders for future Android phones? (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you got all excited after seeing HTC’s latest UI on the Sensation, but were dismayed to discover your hoary handset wouldn’t be getting the same Sense 3.0 love? As usual, the folks at xda-developers have just the tonic for what ails you… as long as you own a Desire HD. Yup, a clever fellow by the name of capychimp took the Sensation’s ROM and ported it to yesteryear’s HTC European flagship phone. The port isn’t perfect — those who dive in will lose camera support and the images need some resizing to properly fit on the HD’s 800 x 480 display — but brave souls who hit the source link for the download still get all those mellifluous movements that Sense 3.0 provides. See all the smooth scrolling in action after the break.

Update: XDA-developers have also given the HTC HD2 a quick Sense 3.0 hug, along with Android 2.3.3 in a similarly incomplete custom ROM.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Desire HD tries on Sensation’s Sense 3.0 suit, needs some tailoring for it to fit

Desire HD tries on Sensation’s Sense 3.0 suit, needs some tailoring for it to fit originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Thunderbolt, you might have noticed, marked an unpleasant change for HTC by making it a tiny bit difficult to replace the company’s own Android software with your favored community-sourced alternative. Well, turns out it’s not alone and could in fact be just be the tip of an unhappy iceberg heading our way. The AndIRC guys responsible for cracking it open have also noted with some distress that the Incredible S — likely to become the Droid Incredible 2 in the States — features a similar signature check when flashing recovery images. In short, that means any ROMs that don’t know HTC’s “open sesame” password, won’t be allowed to ride on your device. Bogus? Totally, dude.

HTC locks down Incredible S against custom ROMs too, starts a fight with its best friends originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pretty much everything coming out of Moto these days is saddled with a tightly-locked bootloader paired with one tamper-resistant scheme or another, making custom kernels — the lifeblood of the phone hacking community — tricky at best, nigh impossible at worst. Of course, there was a glimmer of hope last month when the company said that it was working on a solution that’d cater to the developer community, and it looks like the Xoom might be bearing some of that fruit: the bootloader can be unlocked and relocked at will. Now, we’re thinking that Moto might’ve loosened the reigns a bit here simply because the Xoom is running a completely bone-stock build of Android and, as Honeycomb’s launch device, Google might be showing some influence behind the scenes (the Nexus One and Nexus S both have unlockable bootloaders, for instance)… but it’s a good sign.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola bucks its own trend, leaves Xoom bootloader unlockable originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A few lucky souls managed to get their Notion Ink Adams early — only to have them brick themselves. The rest were delayed and, well, it’s all a bit of a mess. Now there’s another way to get a taste of Ink but on some currently available hardware. User gojimi over at the inimitable xda-developers forums has ported seven applications from the Notion Ink suite to Viewsonic’s G-Tablet, including the Calendar, Keyboard, QuickOffice, and the Browser. Some don’t run perfectly and we have to say that’s something of an unfortunate target, but gojimi does indicate it should be easy to move them to any other ROM. So, you know, make it happen!

Notion Ink apps ported over to Viewsonic G-Tablet, promise not to brick it too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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