Droid Life Poll: Is the Droid X's encrypted boot loader a deal breaker?

[Bateluer]

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/07/12/monday-poll-locked-droid-x-bootloader-is-a-deal-breaker/

For me, definitely. Once you've had the freedom to load custom roms, recoveries, etc, you can never really go back to a locked down device. Its offensive.

 

[tatteredpotato]

I have an EVO and I'm yet to do a custom ROM.

That's not saying I won't but I'm sure it's easier to live without if you've never had it.

 

[SunnyD]

If rumor regarding Google's intentions for Android 3.0 hold true, I don't see how it will matter (Custom ROMs will be irrelevant anyway).

 

[Bateluer]

(Custom ROMs will be irrelevant anyway).

Eh? There's more to custom roms than just themes. Take at a look at the change logs for Cyanogen Mod, Bugless Beast, etc.

 

[Pliablemoose]

If rumor regarding Google's intentions for Android 3.0 hold true, I don't see how it will matter (Custom ROMs will be irrelevant anyway).

It's going to be hard for manufacturers to accept a model where the OS is the same from phone to phone, then they'd have to compete on things that actually matter like hardware and warranties.

The whole 2 year contract and 1 year warranties sucks balls, I'd love to see that change.

 

[Anubis]

the general public doesn't care. for me no it wouldn't be a deal breaker on any phone. i have a droid and i haven't rooted it. prob wont cause im lazy and don't care

the deal breaker on the droid X for me is that its physically too large. that and i have 18 or so months untill i can upgrade my phone

 

[SunnyD]

Eh? There's more to custom roms than just themes. Take at a look at the change logs for Cyanogen Mod, Bugless Beast, etc.

My point is that a lot of what these 3rd parties have ends up rolled into subsequent versions of the OS anyway. Other than allowing for custom kernels (OC and potentially battery life), the main difference is the UI which is moot.

 

[abaez]

As long as I have root to remove crap like Blockbuster I'm good.

The only thing I'll miss is the improved battery life that ROM's gave me with the EVO. Judging from the reviews, battery life isn't as big an issue with the X.

 

[Spoooon]

As long as I have root to remove crap like Blockbuster I'm good.

The only thing I'll miss is the improved battery life that ROM's gave me with the EVO. Judging from the reviews, battery life isn't as big an issue with the X.

This. Loading ROMs and all of that is fun and all, but the inability to do so wouldn't necessarily keep me from buying a device (bitter pill to swallow though). I imagine the future will consist of more and more locked down devices. But I need to be able to remove crap that I would never use.

 

[Phobic9]

I probably flash ROMs on my Droid weekly but I reserved my X today with Verizon. I love tweaking but I like many of the features the X has out of the box. As long as I can remove annoying apps with root (which seems to be looking good right now) then I'll be set.

Should have my X first thing Thursday.

 

[TheWart]

haha and to think of all the moaning about a certain company's 'walled garden.'

 

[MJinZ]

I have a Droid and I have no reason to do custom ROMs or whatever.

 

[Phobic9]

haha and to think of all the moaning about a certain company's 'walled garden.'

The only thing really "lost" here is the ability to load custom ROMs. Not sure how this correlates to the fact that iPhones have to go through iTunes to sync data and purchase apps, whereas Android phones can side load apps that aren't only in the Marketplace and sync data wirelessly through the cloud.

 

[thescreensavers]

Nah, I am still getting it. It will be cracked someday. Its going to be much more popular then the Milestone.

 

[Glitchny]

haha and to think of all the moaning about a certain company's 'walled garden.'

The "Walled Garden" is a term used for the appstore/iOS in general. We are talking about 1 phone from 1 manufacturer. Run along Apple troll

 

[preslove]

haha and to think of all the moaning about a certain company's 'walled garden.'

Go away, apple troll:

 

[TheWart]

How is that trolling? It is just funny to me that a good number of people have said "it is about the CHOICE to root" while talking about their custom backgrounds and laughing at the iphone....yet here we are now where it isn't an issue anymore.

I can't even imagine the furor if Apple locked down the iPhone and it was no longer possible to JB. Don't even pretend that people here wouldn't be screaming bloody murder.

 

[preslove]

Rooting/custom roms have NOTHING to do with the "walled garden." Apple has a walled garden BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO JAILBREAK IT TO INSTALL NON-APPSTORE APPS AND APPLE LOCKS DOWN THE APPSTORE!

Also, rooting and installing custom roms are different.

Are you really this ignorant?

 

[murphy55d]

Having been using a Droid now for awhile and constantly checking on new ROMs, I think it would potentially be a dealbreaker for me. For someone who has never done it? They won't care. Of course I'm not eligible to upgrade, either, so it doesn't matter.

 

[Spoooon]

How is that trolling? It is just funny to me that a good number of people have said "it is about the CHOICE to root" while talking about their custom backgrounds and laughing at the iphone....yet here we are now where it isn't an issue anymore.

I can't even imagine the furor if Apple locked down the iPhone and it was no longer possible to JB. Don't even pretend that people here wouldn't be screaming bloody murder.

I haven't really seen any (at least not paid attention to) posts that suggest anyone thinks the ability to root is a feature of Android and Android's "openness." I think most of us are capable of making the distinction between Apple locking down the iPhone in terms of jail breaking versus the whole "only apps from the Apple store deal."

 

[AstroManLuca]

I guess it depends on the phone. If it's good enough stock, then I can probably live without custom ROMs. But companies shouldn't be fighting those who make custom ROMs. What does it matter to them what people are doing with their own phones anyway? Do magical fairies send them a penny every time someone fires up a stock phone, but not one with a custom ROM? If they don't want people running custom ROMs, then make the stock ROM not suck, please.

What really kills me is the crapware all the carriers install on their phones that you can't remove. I don't think it's a good thing to have bad software come preinstalled on anything, but at least with a computer you can remove it fairly easily. With a phone, you are totally unable to do so unless you root. You should be able to at least "freeze" or "hide" what you don't want - hide them from the app drawer and prevent them from running and using up the phone's limited RAM and CPU.

But I guess you can do that with a rooted phone running the stock ROM. So I suppose I would be fine with my phone if all I had was root access to remove the crapware but no ROMs. I still prefer having custom ROMs available, though. It would require a very good phone to make me overlook that shortcoming, and I'd at least consider getting a Droid or Incredible (if the Incredible is tweakable) over the Droid X.

 

[Bateluer]

Next person who says running a custom rom is about running a custom wallpaper is getting slapped. You can run any wallpaper you wish on any Android phone you wish easily, without even so much as root.

Custom roms allow full customization of the OS, what apps are installed, where they're installed, and how well they run. CM, for example, includes a fully redone music app that is light years ahead of stock Android. Most first class roms also fully zipalign and deodex every apk, making for a much more fluid UI, something you don't get in Stock. Furthermore, CM includes a full set of ARM Neon optimizations, think SSEx instructions for ARM processors. The Droid 1 with CM 5.0.8 and now 6.0 RC1 absolutely flies, there is no lag or stuttering what so ever. With a 1Ghz OC, the infamous Android menu stutter is nearly completely gone. Speaking of over clocking, because that 1Ghz OC is done on a low voltage kernel, my battery life nearly doubles over stock. OS upgrades? Without root and custom roms, you're stuck with what ever upgrades the manufacturer chooses to give you. Droid 1 owners were enjoying highly polished 2.1 based roms months before the official update, just as we're enjoying 2.2 based roms with barely a peep of an official release from Moto/VZW. The same will hold true for Gingerbread.

Those of you contemplating the Samsung Galaxy S phones, rooting and custom roms could very well be the only way you're going to to get Gingerbread, if not Froyo.

When you buy a piece of hardware, it should be your choice on what you wish to do with it. We can sit and discuss the pros and cons to rooting and custom roms all day long, but ultimately, its a choice thing. If you don't want to root, you're not forced to and you can continue with stock and whatever upgrades that the manufacturer pushes out. For others, we demand the ability to do without devices what we please. We understand the risks fully.

 

[JD50]

haha and to think of all the moaning about a certain company's 'walled garden.'

You and your partner dwell are both idiots. Dwell doesn't know what open source is and you don't understand the difference between a hardware manufacturer and the software company that makes the OS.

 

[spaceman]

Go away, apple troll:

 

[zerocool84]

haha and to think of all the moaning about a certain company's 'walled garden.'

How is that trolling? It is just funny to me that a good number of people have said "it is about the CHOICE to root" while talking about their custom backgrounds and laughing at the iphone....yet here we are now where it isn't an issue anymore.

I can't even imagine the furor if Apple locked down the iPhone and it was no longer possible to JB. Don't even pretend that people here wouldn't be screaming bloody murder.

There's a big difference between the two stock. You can still customize Android a ton compared to iPhone.