HTC vil forsatt sende telefoner med låst bootloader..men..

[b-real]

 

The Verge: HTC has laid out what the process will be for unlocking bootloaders on the Sensation, Sensation 4G, and EVO 3D. Users will need to register an account with HTC, tell the company they understand the procedure voids their warranty, send a unique device identifier (pulled via the Android SDK) to HTC, use a Web-based tool to to get an unlocking “key,” and finally use said key to unlock their bootloader. That may sound a little over-the-top, but then we suppose HTC wants to track who has and hasn’t unlocked their bootloaders for future warranty purposes.

 

Unfortunately, HTC has also added a more troubling chapter to this whole bootloader saga. Unless we’re reading the update wrong, HTC is backing away from CEO Peter Chou’s promise to stop unlocking bootloaders on May 26th, when he wrote “Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking bootloaders on our devices.” Compare that to today’s message:

 

Since our last update, many of you have asked how the bootloader unlocking process will actually work, and in particular why HTC's most recently released devices still have a locked bootloader. Rest assured we're making progress toward our goal to roll out the first software updates in August to support unlocking for the global HTC Sensation, followed soon by the HTC Sensation 4G on T-Mobile and the HTC EVO 3D on Sprint. Because unlocking the bootloader provides extensive control over the device and modifications may cause operation, security and experience issues, new devices will continue to ship locked but will support user-initiated unlocking using a new Web-based tool.

 

So how will this work? The Web tool, which will launch this month, requires that you register an account with a valid e-mail address and accept legal disclaimers that unlocking may void all or parts of your warranty. Then plug in your phone to a computer with the Android SDK loaded to retrieve a device identifier token, which you can then enter into the Web tool to receive a unique unlock key via e-mail. Finally, apply the key to your device and unlocking will be initiated on your phone.

 

We're excited to bring bootloader unlocking to developers and enthusiasts, and we feel this new Web tool will meet your needs and continue to provide customers with the best experience. Thanks to the community for supporting these efforts!

 

In other words, HTC’s move here doesn’t quite live up to its original promise. In addition, the company is likely tracking which devices get unlocked. That’s the downside. The upside is that the company is sticking to its original timeline for offeringthis functionality. And yes, HTC is planning to distribute an officially sanctioned way to do a fairly nerdy and complex thing — moving at least some control from carriers and manufacturers to users. That’s definitely something, it’s just not as much as we’d been hoping for.

 

HTC driter på leggen igjen...