Xiaomi won't give Android updates if you unlock your bootloader
Xiaomi just launched its new “HyperOS” skin for Android devices, but in a bit of a twist of the knife...
cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/3017869 (!xiaomi@lemdro.id)
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Overlooking the title, the real news to me in this article is the rapidly increasing difficulty of getting permission from that vendor to unlock your bootloader in the first place.
It's so weird that Google's phone has been the most accessible for unlocking your phone. Oneplus used to be good too, but then they became bad in that area too and now custom rom scene seems dead for newer Oneplus phones.
Oneplus used to be good too,
On that note, Xiaomi also used to be good. In fact, xiaomi's initial popularity is for the ease of unlocking and rooting. Once it gain popularity, it started to lock down, much like the path OnePlus is on.
Anyone else here nostalgic for installing MIUI on their nexus 5?
Oh, did they? Easily unlocking the bootloader was exactly what I chose my OnePlus 6t for. Sad to see how fast they dropped that.
they were godsends back in the OnePlus 6/7 days because their phones and custom OS was meant to be more root friendly than the rest. it was what sold me and a buddy of mine on them in the first place
sadly, it's gone south now but it was fun back when it happened
Yeah, I've been waiting since a week to unlock my bootloader. I still have to wait 4 more days to be able to unlock. Once it's done I'm going to Lineage OS.
Xiaomi phones have a good hardware to price ratio. I've got a headphone jack, dual SIM, and a dedicated memory card slot.
I wish flashing custom ROMs was like flashing custom firmware to routers. With most routers you can return it back to stock and no one will know the difference.
Is this not the case with the pixel?
It is the case for a Pixel. Flash stock, relock and no one will know you've messed with your device.
Once its unlocked it trips a fuse on a hardware level.
A pixel is better but not perfect
I think that's Samsung. The Pixels don't have a fuse AFAIK.
I've never owned a Samsung device. I just know that unlocking a pixel voids the warranty
No it doesn't. Also you can just relock the bootloader. Google doesn't care.
Not enforceable in Europe. The OEM would have to explicitly prove that the bootloader unlock is what caused the issue that brought about the warranty claim.
I just know that unlocking a pixel voids the warranty
And how do you "just know" that? Any sources? Everything I've read and even done with my Pixel says otherwise, though I do return to stock and relock before returning.
I got my Redmi Note 11 one and a half years ago. The waiting time for their shitty tool to unlock the bootloader after a week wasn't the biggest obstacle for me. What really pisses me off is that they violated their obligations to upload the kernel sources and therefore significantly delayed custom ROM development. While being a cheap and popular device, it hasn't received Lineage OS support and probably never will. That ship has sailed because Xiaomi just doesn't give a fuck about what their end of the deal is if they want to use a decent FOSS based OS on their phones instead of spending huge amounts of money and time to build their own ecosystem.
Many years back if I am not mistaken the bootloader came unlocked. That led to some resellers flashing their bloatware on to the phones.
It does seems that they just made it nearly impossible to unlock the phone for the Chinese version of their phone: You need to be 'level 5' in their shitty forum. And from what I gathered this involves posting hundred or thousand of messages with a lot of likes.
I don't think it will take long before they pull the same kind of bullshit for the global version of the phone unless there is a general outcry.
And why should you need permission to do this?
Xiaomi historically had a problem with resellers installing malware in custom ROM on their phones, so they started putting up more and more obstacles to unlocking the bootloader over time, while still providing an avenue for legitimate customers to unlock.
I don't know what spurred the current action though.
