Sony Ericsson sanctions smartphone boot loader unlocking

Sony Ericsson is to allow "advanced" Android coders to unlock the boot loader built into its latest smartphones. Gaining access to a handset's boot loader is a key stage in installing alternative firmware on a phone, a process a fair few Android fans like to undertake in order to rid themselves of network operator-installed …

[stranger]

question

will this be enough for someone to try to put webOS on a Sony phone and see how it will turn out?

[Anonymous Coward]

About time...

That the manufacures realised that the Service Providers are screwing up the user experiance by trashing the user interface and loading crappy bloatware onto handsets..

[Shonko Kid]

Suddenly...

SEMC are cool again.

[Anton Ivanov]

Sony has solved the biggest complain about the Xperia

The biggest complain about Xperia Pro is that it will stop at Android 2.1.

This gives the ones that complain a method to go to 2.2 and beyond (the hardware is quite good actually) and Sony does not need to bother with trying to keep Timescape alive on old hardware.

Here you go, stop complaining, GFDI :)

[Steen Hive]

About time.

One small step for man.

.

Somehow I doubt returning control of hardware to it's rightful owners will become fashionable though.

[Thomas 4]

How interesting

Ericsson seems to be a moderating influence on Sony. Perhaps if Ericsson had helped to develop the PS3, we might still have OtherOS on there....

[dotdavid]

Good news

This seems like a decent compromise - provide tools so "advanced" users can flash a custom ROM but make it clear it invalidates much of your support if you do so. A bit like Google does with the Nexus, in fact.

Might consider a Sony Ericsson handset now...

[Niall]

Redeemed?

Having been a Sony fan for years - TVs, surround sound, ps3, phones, I swore last year that I would never buy a Sony Ericsson or Sony device again, following a ridiculous experience with my Xperia X10 phone - outlandish bugs, crapware, no updates, blatant apathy from customer service, and a locked bootloader to prevent me installing roms that actually work.

Then this week they announce they'll deliver Gingerbread to the X10, and future phones will have bootloader unlocked? Significant steps in the right direction.

Shame for Sony I've switched to HTC as a result, and I've recommended to people to avoid SE, but now I might consider them again if they stay competitive with this sort of approach.