How much is a bootloader unlock worth? - Moto X Q&A

I say $45. What would you pay?

I wouldnt pay nuttin, zippo, zilch..i would buy a dev device if i wanted an unlocked bootloader.

What is this? Why is this?
I just want to lol...
tapa'd on my moto x

Nothing. I'd never buy a device I can't unlock and play with.
Homework and research.... Then buy. Pay a little more? Maybe. Change carrier if need be? Maybe. Don't even consider a locked out phone and get a different brand? Yup!
My 2 cents.

$0.
I will not even pay extra for the Dev edition which I think is a rip off.
If you can't unlock the bootloader for free, I'm buying a different phone that allow that. Like my OnePlus or a Nexus. I would switch carrier if I have to.
With Samsung introduction of Knox they will never get my money also (aside from their cheap build, ugly design and Touchwiz).

Related

Can i sell a Droid 3 or should i throw it away?

I only want to know if i should sell it or throw it away.. if it's worth it... don't want to sell it here. Sorry if that thread seems to.
I bought a droid 3 on ebay, unfortunately i was not able to remove the subsidy lock
When i bought it, it was brand new. I only tried 2 codes, they didn't work. Bad luck for me.
I've never made any modifications to the software or hardware.
The specs:
Model: Xt862
Carrier: Verizon Wireless
ESN: good (i looked it up on verizon wireless' official website)
Condition: very good, not a single scrach or any damages.
Batteries: 3 (manufactured by motorola, they work without problems)
No instructions or anything else..
I live in europe (Austria) so i cannot retrieve any codes from verizon, only a customer of them can do that. So the value would be reduced to the minimum or nothing right? I got a new phone from samsung for free from my carrier "Telekom Austria" so no need for this cell phone any more. I don't even know if it is stolen or not, some unlock-code sites said "reported as stolen". Verizon website says it is eligable for activation the seller called verizon, the same answer. I don't want to do any researches to find out if it is stolen or not.. i don't think it is.
So is it worth to sell it or not?
Many thanks in andvance!
PS: sorry for my poor english
d3adbroke said:
Someone on verizon that won't be traveling it would be fine for since the esn is clean but I don't no about any gsm carrier now since you can't unlock it if your gonna throw it away let me know I would take it to have around the house lol
Sent from my XT883 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so maybe i can sell it on ebay .. how much can i get for this cell phone, approximatelly?
Yes, i'll do that but this phone is senseless in every aspect!!! Even a stone is more efficient as a paper weight! and of course much nicer DDD
The worst thing is, there are no alternatives for a qwertz or qwerty keyboard here.. no single phone at any carrier.. what a ...**********. they are too old to get support.. all of them..
googleluca3.2 said:
so maybe i can sell it on ebay .. how much can i get for this cell phone, approximatelly?
Yes, i'll do that but this phone is senseless in every aspect!!! Even a stone is more efficient as a paper weight! and of course much nicer DDD
The worst thing is, there are no alternatives for a qwertz or qwerty keyboard here.. no single phone at any carrier.. what a ...**********. they are too old to get support.. all of them..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can definitely sell it. To say it's worthless is ridiculous. Android phones still serve as decent personal media players and gaming devices.
put a price on it, and let me know through a PM, pls.
i will take it of your hands.
i am located pretty close to your country, also.
Donate it to hashcode or some other developer. It might help them help the rest of us.
yes, this is the best idea!
googleluca3.2 said:
I only want to know if i should sell it or throw it away.. if it's worth it... don't want to sell it here. Sorry if that thread seems to.
I bought a droid 3 on ebay, unfortunately i was not able to remove the subsidy lock
When i bought it, it was brand new. I only tried 2 codes, they didn't work. Bad luck for me.
I've never made any modifications to the software or hardware.
The specs:
Model: Xt862
Carrier: Verizon Wireless
ESN: good (i looked it up on verizon wireless' official website)
Condition: very good, not a single scrach or any damages.
Batteries: 3 (manufactured by motorola, they work without problems)
No instructions or anything else..
I live in europe (Austria) so i cannot retrieve any codes from verizon, only a customer of them can do that. So the value would be reduced to the minimum or nothing right? I got a new phone from samsung for free from my carrier "Telekom Austria" so no need for this cell phone any more. I don't even know if it is stolen or not, some unlock-code sites said "reported as stolen". Verizon website says it is eligable for activation the seller called verizon, the same answer. I don't want to do any researches to find out if it is stolen or not.. i don't think it is.
So is it worth to sell it or not?
Many thanks in andvance!
PS: sorry for my poor english
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can sell it on Ebay. How much you brought it for?
Sent from my XT883 using XDA
Including taxes about 300€
without taxes 240 €
seemed to be a very good price..
Have you tried with TurboSIM, more precisely i-SmartSIM (orange)?
In addition to eBay, I would suggest dropping a PM to some of the D3 developers. They may be willing to negotiate a fair price with you, so they can have an extra device to test on, but definitely don't just throw it away...just a thought.

Cheapest way to go from iPhone5 to HTC one?

I have a iphone 5 black 16gb with att, but want to move to an HTC One.. Im still within contract with att and dont qualify for early upgrade.. I know i can try to trade it, or try to sell my iphone and then just buy the HTC One..
But is there a trick going around??
Like i know when the iphone 5 there was a trick to get att to refund the early activation fee, etc.. I see there are alot of trade programs and what not..
In the case that there are no trick.. is the best price for a HCT one directly from them? I see they have it for $574 unlocked.. It doesnt have to be unlocked but directly from Att is like $599
SuperMiguel said:
I have a iphone 5 black 16gb with att, but want to move to an HTC One.. Im still within contract with att and dont qualify for early upgrade.. I know i can try to trade it, or try to sell my iphone and then just buy the HTC One..
But is there a trick going around??
Like i know when the iphone 5 there was a trick to get att to refund the early activation fee, etc.. I see there are alot of trade programs and what not..
In the case that there are no trick.. is the best price for a HCT one directly from them? I see they have it for $574 unlocked.. It doesnt have to be unlocked but directly from Att is like $599
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sell iPhone for absurd profit and buy the One from AT&T unsubsidized. Your cost should be about the same as buying the One on subsidy. I say buy from At&T for their warranty.
You won't pay an activation fee, that's only on devices bought on subsidy.
If you can get your iPhone 5 unlocked it will net you even more on selling it.
SuperMiguel said:
I have a iphone 5 black 16gb with att, but want to move to an HTC One.. Im still within contract with att and dont qualify for early upgrade.. I know i can try to trade it, or try to sell my iphone and then just buy the HTC One..
But is there a trick going around??
Like i know when the iphone 5 there was a trick to get att to refund the early activation fee, etc.. I see there are alot of trade programs and what not..
In the case that there are no trick.. is the best price for a HCT one directly from them? I see they have it for $574 unlocked.. It doesnt have to be unlocked but directly from Att is like $599
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would check out the going price from http://swappa.com/buy/apple-iphone-5-att/us and then buy from HTC (better update schedual) but check the outright prices from AT&t to see if its cheaper....
So i posted in craiglist to swap my iphone 5 for a HTC one, there is a guy with a 64gb, wanting to do the swap, just not sure how not to get a lemon, or something like that... He says he got it from ATT and he doesnt like it...
SuperMiguel said:
So i posted in craiglist to swap my iphone 5 for a HTC one, there is a guy with a 64gb, wanting to do the swap, just not sure how not to get a lemon, or something like that... He says he got it from ATT and he doesnt like it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bring a test sim card to make sure it works. Play with the device a bit to make sure everything seems fine, and check for the gap issues. Maybe play some music of some kind.
bobruels44 said:
Bring a test sim card to make sure it works. Play with the device a bit to make sure everything seems fine, and check for the gap issues. Maybe play some music of some kind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if i get it from him do i still qualify for warranty?
Also any reason to get the samsung galaxy s4, or waiting for the next nexus instead of getting the htc one???
SuperMiguel said:
if i get it from him do i still qualify for warranty?
Also any reason to get the samsung galaxy s4, or waiting for the next nexus instead of getting the htc one???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's all preference. I go through 2-3 phones a year because I'm an addict ( I usually have 2 phones at a time). I always say if you are waiting for the best phone to be released you'll never by a phone.
As for the warranty that really depends on if he has an extra warranty. I would check the HTC website to see if it's only valid for the original purchaser, at the vary least ask if he can provide proof of purchase in case of a warranty issue.
Not sure if im better off selling my iphone cash for like $500 i think thats what they are worth, and buy a brand new phone that i know the warranty will be on my name or just trading it...
Also i mentioned the New nexus since i think it will come out soon (not sure)
Edit: Yes june 26th
Not sure what the difference would be.. Reading atm
SuperMiguel said:
Not sure if im better off selling my iphone cash for like $500 i think thats what they are worth, and buy a brand new phone that i know the warranty will be on my name or just trading it...
Also i mentioned the New nexus since i think it will come out soon (not sure)
Edit: Yes june 26th
Not sure what the difference would be.. Reading atm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember everyone thought the nexus 7 would be announced at I/O..
It might not be a bad idea to sell it for cash and order the dev edition off of HTC or something like that... lucky Americans....
is there a difference between the developer edition and the regular one? I tough u could unlock the boot-loader of the regular one anyways?
Also i think they announced the nexus already: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/15/4333716/galaxy-s4-stock-android-google-io-2013
SuperMiguel said:
is there a difference between the developer edition and the regular one? I tough u could unlock the boot-loader of the regular one anyways?
Also i think they announced the nexus already: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/15/4333716/galaxy-s4-stock-android-google-io-2013
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know the price is cheaper. I live in Canada so you may want to check but if I'm not mistaken the dev edition is $575 for a 64GB version while if you buy it from AT&t its $650....
I don't think the S4 Google edition is a true nexus. Though I guess it is I would expect a true nexus this fall from google, and not just an ASOP version of an existing phone. If nothing else a true nexus is available world wide.
bobruels44 said:
Bring a test sim card to make sure it works. Play with the device a bit to make sure everything seems fine, and check for the gap issues. Maybe play some music of some kind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gap issues? is this the only issue with this phone?
SuperMiguel said:
Gap issues? is this the only issue with this phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people have reported gaps between the screen and the speaker grill.... This was mainly early production issues but still
SuperMiguel said:
is there a difference between the developer edition and the regular one? I tough u could unlock the boot-loader of the regular one anyways?
Also i think they announced the nexus already: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/15/4333716/galaxy-s4-stock-android-google-io-2013
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not the new nexus. That is just the galaxy s4 running stock aosp, just like HTC is doing with the one.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Free root option

I have a Droid Turbo that I have rooted with kingroot. I have seen other threads that have said that you then need to pay for sunshine in order to get "full" root. Is this true? What are the other options and pros and cons? I can not pay for sunshine so what is the next step to a rooted Droid turbo?
Jefff0101 said:
I have a Droid Turbo that I have rooted with kingroot. I have seen other threads that have said that you then need to pay for sunshine in order to get "full" root. Is this true? What are the other options and pros and cons? I can not pay for sunshine so what is the next step to a rooted Droid turbo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is true. There are no other options.
Jefff0101 said:
I have a Droid Turbo that I have rooted with kingroot. I have seen other threads that have said that you then need to pay for sunshine in order to get "full" root. Is this true? What are the other options and pros and cons? I can not pay for sunshine so what is the next step to a rooted Droid turbo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why can you not pay for sunshine?
I understand not wanting to... But you own a $400 phone.... $25 is just 1/16th of that.
But yeah no other option right now... Sorry man.
mrkhigh said:
Why can you not pay for sunshine?
I understand not wanting to... But you own a $400 phone.... $25 is just 1/16th of that.
But yeah no other option right now... Sorry man.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my phone for $100. Another $25 is 1/4th. But thanks for the advice
There are several ways to acquire money if you're tight on cash right now. You can use the QuickThoughts app to get $10 Amazon giftcards by doing surverys, and other apps offer Paypal and Google Wallet funds.
Paying $25 seems like a lot, but it's definitely worth every penny of it.
i dont like the fact that if you need to replace your phone for any reason then you need to pay another $25..
I'm absolutely broke and I scraped up $25 for sunshine. It's worth it just for the piece of mind if having reliable twrp
It's a small price to pay for a modifiable device. Most people, myself in included, never thought we'd see an unlocked bootloader on the Turbo. $25 is a steal IMO.
jb14813 said:
i dont like the fact that if you need to replace your phone for any reason then you need to pay another $25..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read their website you find that the reason for that is so many people were cheating them. Considering the cost of buying devices to test I completely see the need to charge and being people's habit of cheating I see the reason for the "pay per phone no matter what".
Jefff0101 said:
I bought my phone for $100. Another $25 is 1/4th. But thanks for the advice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did u buy it? I want to get one too, that was really cheap
Arthas92 said:
Where did u buy it? I want to get one too, that was really cheap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought it at Verison. It was on sale, $50 off with mailin rebate.
if you can't afford an extra $25 then you shouldn't have a cell phone in the first place. either your priorities are jacked or your a cheap bastard. Either way, you don;t need to be rooting your phone.
Jefff0101 said:
I have a Droid Turbo that I have rooted with kingroot. I have seen other threads that have said that you then need to pay for sunshine in order to get "full" root. Is this true? What are the other options and pros and cons? I can not pay for sunshine so what is the next step to a rooted Droid turbo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might want to stay away from modding something that can leave you out of a phone, ultimately forcing you to spend lots more on a new one.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
hotrodwinston said:
If you read their website you find that the reason for that is so many people were cheating them. Considering the cost of buying devices to test I completely see the need to charge and being people's habit of cheating I see the reason for the "pay per phone no matter what".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make it so it can only be used on the same phone number or the same exact type of phone or both. There are ways to keep people from ripping them off
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
If you don't wanna spend $25 which is really bothig at all for how you get out of it, don't root the phone. If you don't have a debit or credit card there are prepaid visa/MasterCard's you can buy, even visa giftcards. Getting money onto a payment source has many ways, and being cheap and stingy isn't the way to go.
If your boss said to you, "hey, I told our customer that he can have this for $100 off asking price and its coming out of your paycheck" you would be furious right?
Why should the devs do this work for us and get nothing from their work when you would demand the same thing?
Arthas92 said:
Where did u buy it? I want to get one too, that was really cheap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're $175-$225 on eBay.
jb14813 said:
Make it so it can only be used on the same phone number or the same exact type of phone or both. There are ways to keep people from ripping them off
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That wouldn't work - how hard would it be to stick your sim in your friends turbo to use your bootloader unlock? The only way is serial/imei . Which is what they use.

Would Amazon let us Pay to unlock bootloader?

If Amazon won't let us root, how about letting us unlock the bootloader for tablets withOUT special offers? There's a $50 version of this tablet with ads, and a $65 version of this tablet without ads. IIRC, you can buy an upgrade to remove the ads, no? What if purchasing the $15 upgrade (hell, make it $25 if it's not at the time of purchase) to disable the ads also gave you the option of unlocking the bootloader? Rather than just demanding that Amazon allow us access to the hardware they sold us with the intent of getting us to use their services/ecosystem, we are paying a "fee" to not use their services and unlock the device. It's essentially the same thought as not using their ads, but taking it one step farther.
There are a number of mutually beneficial perks:
1) Income for Amazon. How many people would right now pay $15-25 to unlock their device? Considering the amount of people on here waiting for a root exploit for 5.3.2.1, I would say it's not insignificant. So rather than demanding something from Amazon that represents a capital loss on their end (time to develop software changes, loss of customers seeing ads, etc), we are proposing a capital gain, as the people who want to root/rom/etc are probably not going to be purchasing those services anyways.
2) Better ROMs. Even if we got root working on 5.3.2.1, it's still a locked-down device. With an unlocked bootloader, we can flash a TWRP recovery, wipe everything, and install custom ROMs. custom kernels. No more locked down to 5.1 LP. This opens up the XDA community by giving them a wide-open field of anything-they-want. Amazon already provides the source for their kernels, IIRC.
Thoughts?
crazyates said:
If Amazon won't let us root, how about letting us unlock the bootloader for tablets withOUT special offers? There's a $50 version of this tablet with ads, and a $65 version of this tablet without ads. IIRC, you can buy an upgrade to remove the ads, no? What if purchasing the $15 upgrade (hell, make it $25 if it's not at the time of purchase) to disable the ads also gave you the option of unlocking the bootloader? Rather than just demanding that Amazon allow us access to the hardware they sold us with the intent of getting us to use their services/ecosystem, we are paying a "fee" to not use their services and unlock the device. It's essentially the same thought as not using their ads, but taking it one step farther.
There are a number of mutually beneficial perks:
1) Income for Amazon. How many people would right now pay $15-25 to unlock their device? Considering the amount of people on here waiting for a root exploit for 5.3.2.1, I would say it's not insignificant. So rather than demanding something from Amazon that represents a capital loss on their end (time to develop software changes, loss of customers seeing ads, etc), we are proposing a capital gain, as the people who want to root/rom/etc are probably not going to be purchasing those services anyways.
2) Better ROMs. Even if we got root working on 5.3.2.1, it's still a locked-down device. With an unlocked bootloader, we can flash a TWRP recovery, wipe everything, and install custom ROMs. custom kernels. No more locked down to 5.1 LP. This opens up the XDA community by giving them a wide-open field of anything-they-want. Amazon already provides the source for their kernels, IIRC.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wishful thinking. Let's say 10K owners choose to unlock the bootloader at $25 USD a pop. So $250K "income" for Amazon. Woohoo!! Amazon's 4Q16 revenue was $43.75 BILLION. Hello?
Improved custom ROMs? Why is that a motivation for Amazon? I would argue Amazon would rather not see independent development that could pull future customers away from their closed ecosystem.
Bottom line: if you want an easily rooted/unlocked device it would be best to shop elsewhere. There is zero business case for Amazon to move in a different direction.
Personally I can't see it happening. The tablet is a bargain for the price and I feel Amazon sold it at such a cheap price in an attempt to gain revenue through their 'system'
I do not use any Amazon service (tablet was brought for me) so I have not registered it, although it was with special offers I do not get the annoying adds on the lock screen.
Davey126 said:
Wishful thinking. Let's say 10K owners choose to unlock the bootloader at $25 USD a pop. So $250K "income" for Amazon. Woohoo!! Amazon's 4Q16 revenue was $43.75 BILLION. Hello?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never said it was going to made/break the companies profitability. Right now, there's no incentive for Amazon to unlock the bootloader. Zero. If there was a business model and reason for them to do so, maybe they would.
These things are popular because they're $50. Would buying it for $75 but having a custom ROM still maintain its attractiveness? Not sure.
stonedpsycho said:
I do not use any Amazon service (tablet was brought for me) so I have not registered it, although it was with special offers I do not get the annoying adds on the lock screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not using any of the Amazon services either. I have mine using the Fire Nexus ROM, and I use it to Chromecast Netflix to my TV, something I can't do on the stock firmware. And Amazon wants me to use a Fire Stick, which doesn't work with my Nexus and laptops running Chrome.
crazyates said:
I never said it was going to made/break the companies profitability. Right now, there's no incentive for Amazon to unlock the bootloader. Zero. If there was a business model and reason for them to do so, maybe they would.
These things are popular because they're $50. Would buying it for $75 but having a custom ROM still maintain its attractiveness? Not sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. Let's make the unlock fee $250 USD. Still no economic insensitive for Amazon to unlock the bootloader given the small numbers involved and potential damage to their model if unlocked devices suddenly took off. Take a look at reviews on Amazon's site. Some folks have a hard time figuring out how to perform the most basic functions. The target audience is not those who hang out on XDA.
Related post: https://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/general/5-3-2-1-root-t3547136/post71645003
People might as well start taking the tablets apart and modifying the motherboard itself to see if something can be done to unlock it. Or maybe just create custom motherboards for it. Not sure how ideal that would be, but at least it's something to combat Amazon's ridiculousness.
Jake1702_ said:
People might as well start taking the tablets apart and modifying the motherboard itself to see if something can be done to unlock it. Or maybe just create custom motherboards for it. Not sure how ideal that would be, but at least it's something to combat Amazon's ridiculousness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or just purchase another device that can be rooted/unlocked ...
Davey126 said:
Or just purchase another device that can be rooted/unlocked ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... that may actually convince Amazon to start allowing it. If there's a dramatic drop in sales because of this, it may be a good idea.
Jake1702_ said:
Hmmm... that may actually convince Amazon to start allowing it. If there's a dramatic drop in sales because of this, it may be a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A "dramatic drop in sales" is hard to envision under any scenario.
Davey126 said:
A "dramatic drop in sales" is hard to envision under any scenario.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if we purposely try to cause a dramatic drop in sales.
Jake1702_ said:
Not if we purposely try to cause a dramatic drop in sales.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The weather on a particular day is far more likely to impact overall sales than if the entire XDA community vowed to never purchase another Amazon device again. Neither would likey show up on Amazon's radar unless some junior data miner (let's call him Skippy) went for a deep dive.
Davey126 said:
The weather on a particular day is far more likely to impact overall sales than if the entire XDA community vowed to never purchase another Amazon device again. Neither would likey show up on Amazon's radar unless some junior data miner (let's call him Skippy) went for a deep dive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just saying, you'd be surprised as to what even a small group of people can accomplish as long as they continuously GAIN supporters.
Not to be a Debbie downer for anyone looking for an uprising against Amazon devices, but not only would a boycott by the XDA community not likely change anything, but it's likely you'd only get a small fraction of this actual community to do it. For the money, it's really hard to complain about Amazon Fire tablets. You get a cheap tablet with decent specs that's customizable or at least semi-customizable for those willing to put in at least a minimal amount of effort. I just recently purchased a new one with the understanding that I probably wouldn't be able to root the device, since 5.3.2.1 isn't rootable at this time. I happened to luck out and get a device that shipped with 5.3.1. But even without that, it was worth it to me to get the cheap tablet, customize it to the extent that I could without root and just sit and cross my fingers hoping for a future exploit that would give me that access.
That brings me to my second point. This is a community of amateur to professional tinkerers. Part of the appeal of this device is taking it and doing with it exactly what they don't want you to do with it. People actually enjoy the challenge of it. Why pay Amazon money to do something that we can eventually figure out how to do ourselves? I mean, unlocking the bootloader may not be within reach right now, but what's life without the occasional holy grail?
My point is that not only is it not in Amazon's financial interest to unlock the bootloader, but it's also not going to be worth it to most people here to even bother begging Amazon for the opportunity to pay to do that. The Fire tablet is what it is in part due to the low price that we're paying for it. If it were more than what it is, we'd all be paying a lot more money for it. And if that were the case, it probably wouldn't be worth buying in the first place.

Carrier unlock price

Why is carrier unlock so expensive on this phone? It's not a high end phone and people are ditching them like the plague because of the ban, so I scored a cheap new in box one from someone who's afraid of the ban, but unlocking it seems rather expensive. Is there a reputable site that anyone here has actually tried? For that much money I want to be sure I'm getting what I pay for.

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