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February 11, 2012 By: Ian Stacy
The Motorola Droid Bionic has been updated to 5.9.902 via an over the air update that started this week. 5.9.902 brings a host of new features, improvements and fixes. You can view the full changelog from Verizon here. Some of the more notable improvements include fixes for black screen lockups, dock lockups, idle resets and improvements to the camera and several system apps.
While some users maintained root after the update, XDA users began reporting in this thread that the update did, in fact, disable root access. Those that used the ’43V3R Root’ method have reported success preserving root after updating. All current root methods have been unsuccessful in rooting .902 after the update.
Is there any hope for those who already applied the update? Forum members have confirmed that it is possible to downgrade to .893 with RSD Lite, so take solace in the fact that you can flash to stock and start over. If you haven’t updated yet, XDA Senior Member tuckmobile has created a step by step guide to rooting, applying the permanent root script and updating to 5.9.902. You can check out his full guide here or just the instructions to apply the update here.
February 3, 2012 By: Ian Stacy
If you have a phone with an NFC chip and aren’t using Google Wallet, now’s your chance. Check out this thread for reports of working NFC payment locations.
December 6, 2011 By: azrienoch
How many carriers does it take to screw up a lightbulb? One, if the lightbulb represents a good idea, but the other carriers are certain to join in, anyway. Google’s Nexus family is that good idea.
According to 9to5Google, Verizon will block Google Wallet on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in favor of its own product, Isis–a competing payment app, collaboratively created with AT&T and T-Mobile. Google Wallet won’t come installed on the Android Market on Verizon. (But note, Verizon said they are not blocking Google Wallet. It’s simply “not supported.” On Google’s own phone.) To repeat myself, the latest Nexus phone, Google’s yearly zenith of innovation, will sport bloatware.
Amidst the tidal stench of phones crusted over with all the crap carriers and manufacturers stick on them, the Nexus line is a fresh, relieving breeze. Or was. I don’t know what Google was thinking, agreeing to smudge their own idealism and the Nexus’ purity. In fact, I don’t know what Verizon was thinking. There will be other phones. Plenty of them. It won’t be long until those phones out-perform the Galaxy Nexus. Why this phone? Why right now?
It takes a special sort of consumer to buy a Nexus. These people are looking specifically for the Google experience. They want pure, unadulterated Android. I don’t care whether Google Wallet sucks. It’s part of the Google experience. I don’t care if your alternative is way better. It’s not part of the Google experience. So, for this special sort of consumer, where’s the incentive to buy the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, now?
While I doubt this will be a huge factor in sales, I think Verizon is shooting itself in the lower extremities. Let’s hope that AT&T and T-Mobile, the other founders of Isis, aren’t so self-absorbed and impatient that they completely ignore the whole point of the Nexus family. Stay tuned for the fourth Nexus phone in 2012, where Google makes sure the Nexus brand is absolutely meaningless, featuring Android Jellybean, a trial version of Asphalt 7 and locked bootloader.
Please let us know how you feel in the comments.
November 8, 2011 By: azrienoch
I was thinking about the HTC Rezound today. I do that sometimes–sit down and let my thoughts wander. I thought about its three-way fight within Verizon against the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Motorola Droid RAZR, and how it will fare this Christmas season. I also thought about TrevE’s work on HTC’s astounding Carrier IQ screw-up. And I came up with a target market based on privacy and security to whom no manufacturer has managed to sell phones yet: the hopeless-paranoid.
See, on one extreme, there’s the non-paranoid. These people either think they have everything under control or don’t care if they have control. They’re the ones who buy crappy phones on contract. They have no interest in phones, it’s just something they use and could easily afford at the moment.
At the opposite extreme, there’s the empowered-paranoid. These are developers and other early adopters who use independent development. They constantly seek the best phones either because it shouldn’t have the flaws of crappier phones, or because, if it does have problems, they can do something about it and not feel like they’re wasting time developing for sub-par hardware.
If we imagine a square to give a two-dimensional range to my envisioned market, in another corner are the paranoid-curious. These people don’t worry too much, but their brains pump out thoughts often enough that they can at least spare a few to consider the advice of developers and early adopters. That means worrying about privacy and security to some degree. They buy higher-end phones because the empowered-paranoid–who are, again, developers and early adopters–encourage it.
Then there’s the hopeless-paranoid. These people have all the security and privacy concerns of developers, yet feel they have no way to correct it. Which phones do they buy? They don’t. The only thing they know to do when they’re worried about their privacy is to avoid the thing that makes them worry. They aren’t worried about specific security issues–they don’t actually know enough to worry like that. They’re worried about everything. They say things like, “I don’t want people to be able to call me no matter where I am.” We’ve all heard lines like that, and we all know it’s silly. If you don’t want to talk to people at a certain time, turn off your phone. No, they’re worried about more than being so accessible.
Now, you may be asking, is there actually any reason to be paranoid? I guess that depends. I reread some of the articles egzthunder1 wrote covering all TrevE’s amazing work exposing the dirty little secrets of HTC and the carriers. And while he focuses on HTC phones, make no mistake that other manufacturers are doing the same.
Nevermind the security flaws that allow any app with Internet access to intercept the data that Carrier IQ, HTCLogger, etc. collect. HTC and the carriers collect enough data to know pretty much everything about your phone habits. Verizon changed their privacy policy to say that while you can opt out of letting them sell your information to other companies, they’re still collecting and keeping that data. And Sprint… Sprint doesn’t even let you opt out. They’re giving away information about you to whomever they like. That could be companies. That could be law enforcement. You don’t get to say who they give it to, you don’t get to say what information they give, and you don’t get to say that they cannot collect it.
So yes, I think paranoia is justified. And thank goodness for all the developers that work so hard to strip Carrier IQ and their ilk from ROMs. To a certain extent, thank goodness for the manufacturers and carriers that openly support development by not locking down devices. To the carriers and manufacturers who try to keep us from developing their devices, let me introduce you to the above four target markets. I suggest you change your minds. To HTC specifically, we see how developer-friendly you’re trying to be, but we see your devotion to carriers like Verizon more. You need to decide that Peter Chou lied and bootloaders will not be unlocked, or you need to stand up for yourselves.
There is a point to all this. As I said, I was thinking about the HTC Rezound, announced last week. And since it’s on Verizon, its bootloaders will probably be locked. That’s a clear move to prevent development. So do something for me: pretend the bootloader can’t be unlocked through exploits. We can’t get S-Off, we can’t get root, no custom bootloader, no custom kernels or custom ROMs. To put it simply, developers can’t develop. All that paranoia and nothing can be done about it.
Which of those four groups of people does that sound like? That’s right. The hopeless-paranoid. The people who don’t buy phones. Except, in this case, they don’t buy your phones. The only difference is, developers influence the buying habits of that large group of paranoid-curious people. The HTC Rezound? Great specs. Too bad the bootloader won’t be unlocked. And doubly too-bad, HTC, that you made the Rezound exclusively for Verizon, the US carrier certain to get the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Merry Christmas, HTC. Perhaps you’ll remember us in your New Years resolutions.
October 24, 2011 By: azrienoch
Verizon Wireless breaks the law if the bootloaders are locked on some phones. By the end of this article, you’ll know why.
As I was recording my show for XDA TV this week, I had a moment. You can see it for yourself. I was recapping my article about Motorola and Verizon not unlocking the bootloader for the Droid RAZR. The line I delivered was, “The international version of the Droid RAZR will be shipping with an unlocked bootloader. Now, this could be that Motorola wants to compete with the Galaxy Nexus…” That’s when I had my moment, and added, “which is funny because that’s also going on Verizon.”
In that moment, I realized that Motorola must be lying. Why can some devices and manufacturers unlock their bootloaders, and not others? But I was wrong. (Congratulations, Motorola, on your newfound sense of freedom!) The Galaxy Nexus is special for two reasons. First, it’s Google’s phone. Second, it’s likely that the Galaxy Nexus’ LTE radio uses Block C frequencies.
Not many people know what the C Block is. I didn’t either. Andrew Krug of AndroidActivists told me about it, and we spent the night poring over research. Verizon has the largest 4G network because they bought it in 2008. At the time, the 700 MHz radio frequencies brought you your favorite broadcast television shows. When television switched from analog to digital, they became your 4G networks.
When the Federal Communications Commission announced the auction to sell the 700 MHz band, they broke it into five different “blocks”, each with different regulations according to how widespread they are. This created a Goldilocks sort of situation. Block D has the largest area, but comes with more clauses than malls have during the Christmas season. Plus, you’re supposed to be a public service agency. Blocks A, B, and E are small potatoes. But Block C was just right. Few regulations, lots of breadth.
It was so good, in fact, that the FCC tacked on a few more regulations, encouraged by Google. Unless Block C sold for less than $4.6 billion, it comes with an open access provision. Google pledged $4.6 billion to ensure Block C comes with the open access provision. The open access provision requires Verizon to “not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of their customers to use the devices and applications of their choice on the licensee’s C Block network.” It goes on to say, “The potential for excessive bandwidth demand alone shall not constitute grounds for denying, limiting or restricting access to the network.” Verizon bought Block C and tried to have the provisions removed. They failed. The provisions are still there, Verizon has the Block C license. That means if a device uses the Block C frequencies, Verizon cannot insist what apps or firmware it runs. It also means they can’t limit data plans for those devices. Which is odd, because I remember Verizon dropping unlimited data plans back in July 2011.
So the question is, do any devices use Block C frequencies? Yes. Some are called Hotspots. Others are called the HTC Thunderbolt. There may be more, those are simply the two I know about and confirmed. The Hotspots are a non-issue. They comply with FCC regulations as far as I’m aware. The HTC Thunderbolt, on the other hand, does not. In the list of rules and exceptions for the Block C license, it says this:
Handset locking prohibited. No licensee may disable features on handsets it provides to customers, to the extent such features are compliant with the licensee’s standards pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, nor configure handsets it provides to prohibit use of such handsets on other providers’ networks.
In case you’re wondering, Paragraph (b) is what I previously quoted from the FCC’s open access provisions document. Last I checked, HTCdev does not offer a bootloader unlocking solution for the HTC Thunderbolt. Is this HTC’s fault? No. Their website states, “HTC is committed to assisting customers in unlocking bootloaders for HTC devices. However, certain models may not be unlockable due to operator restrictions.” And having personally met the HTCdev team, I believe them.
That leaves Verizon. Good ol’ Verizon. Breaking the law since May, at the latest. If you owned a Thunderbolt, please file a complaint with the FCC. Select Wireless Telephone > Billing, Service, Privacy, Number Portability and other issues > Online Form. Fill out your information, scroll down, fill out 1 and 2, skip 3 and 4. Then in 5, tell the FCC that your phone’s bootloader was sold to you locked and still is, even though it uses Block C (reag) frequencies.
Don’t worry. The FCC said they’re committed to enforcing the open access provision. We’ll see how fast Verizon turns things around. If you know of any other devices that use frequencies between 746 and 757 MHz, and also 776 to 787 MHz, please send a message to me or any Portal News Writer. Thanks.
UPDATE: David Ruddock over at Android Police was kind enough to further explain the situation. For those of you coming from his article, or who share his criticisms, this article is not erroneous or short-sighted. David’s article does an excellent job of sobering us to how difficult the struggle will be to get the FCC to move. The loophole Verizon will undoubtedly use to excuse their actions is in the phrase, “reasonable network management,” from paragraph (b)(1), though we don’t know that for sure because Verizon has never addressed the issue. But David’s points do not invalidate this article for two reasons:
1) David’s assessment of the standards by which “reasonable network management” is determined are fairly simple, and I say fairly accurate. Do the other major cellular providers use the same security and management standards? Yes. Okay, seems reasonable. But locking bootloaders is not “reasonable” by the same standard. Most carriers do not exact this method of network management. Therefore, not necessarily reasonable.
2) The issue of Verizon’s double-standard concerning bootloaders is entirely ignored, even though this article began with it, and is based on it. Verizon will supposedly defend locking bootloaders because rooting and flashing pose a threat to network security and management (which is debatable), and therefore reasonable to do. However, they do not require the bootloaders to be locked on all their devices. Samsung’s bootloaders are unlocked, including on phones like the Galaxy Nexus and the Samsung Droid Charge. Why not allow HTC, Motorola, LG, etc. to unlock their devices? This double-standard invalidates the “reasonable network management” defense.
These questions must be satisfied for Verizon to be within the law.
September 22, 2010 By: Captainkrtek
As you may already be aware of, Verizon announced that the Motorola Droid X will be receiving a little treat for its users. The Froyo update will start rolling out on 9/22 at Noon Eastern Time. The release will include the following enhancements:
These updates were expected and the enhancements are pretty standard across all Android phones running 2.2. Hopefully, this will lead to some more full rooting possibilities and exploits, Enjoy the Froyo!
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