The Samsung Galaxy S24
iHenry's profile

Teacher

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19 Messages

Monday, September 7th, 2015 4:46 PM

Locked Bootloaders & product liability

Just wondering if anyone knows of any [Edited to comply with Guidelines]or any other company that locks the boot loader of its cell phones. It would seem to me that if a carrier locks the boot loader, they are making you dependent on them for updates and upgrades. Since these often don't happen, these phones are left vulnerable to malware.

 

I've been thinking about contacting one of those [Edited to comply with Guidelines] to see if they would be interested. Personally, it's not about money, but to force companies either start providing reasonable product updates that protect consumers from malware or to unlock the boot loader so that customers can seek 3rd party solutions.

 

Teacher

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19 Messages

9 years ago


@GLIMMERMAN76 wrote:
its about security nothing more.  Root is an exploit by nature.

 

Now samsung has said that it may lock the bootloaders on all its phones because of banking regulations with samsung pay.  Also google will not allow android pay to run on a rooted phone why security.  A rooted phone can be hacked into easier than one that has not been.


A rooted phone is not easier to hack that a standard phone. Don't know where you are getting that from, but it isn't true. Root access give you better access to the hardware. 

Just because a phone is rooted does not mean that every application on the phone has access to root. That arguemnt may work on the uninformed. A rooted phone that is used only on secure networks using apps only from the Google store, is much less likely to be infected than a phone w/o root access that connects to Ad-hoc networks and uses apps from unknown sources.

Professor

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3.1K Messages

9 years ago


@iHenry wrote:

@GLIMMERMAN76 wrote:
its about security nothing more.  Root is an exploit by nature.

 

Now samsung has said that it may lock the bootloaders on all its phones because of banking regulations with samsung pay.  Also google will not allow android pay to run on a rooted phone why security.  A rooted phone can be hacked into easier than one that has not been.


A rooted phone is not easier to hack that a standard phone. Don't know where you are getting that from, but it isn't true. Root access give you better access to the hardware. 

Just because a phone is rooted does not mean that every application on the phone has access to root. That arguemnt may work on the uninformed. A rooted phone that is used only on secure networks using apps only from the Google store, is much less likely to be infected than a phone w/o root access that connects to Ad-hoc networks and uses apps from unknown sources.


You buy a device that does not grant root access. You take advantage of an exploit to gain root access. And this, by your logic, is not a security risk?

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

9 years ago

Rooted phone is just that. You have root access to the file system on the
phone. Superuser is a whole separate thing. You can get code injected
thru a text if a phone is rooted. On a non rooted device that can't happen
because of the sandbox that google has in place.

This article says it best. You maybe careful but 1000's others are not.

http://m.androidcentral.com/there-no-magic-root

Tutor

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14 Messages

8 years ago

That is not true. Like I stated in my earlier post, Galaxies, Motorola phones, and other devices in AT&T network aren't unlockable while those same devices are unlockable on T-Mobile or Sprint. 

 

Why would manufactures specifically choose to lock bootloaders of their devices only on AT&T? It makes nonsense.

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

8 years ago

Bootloaders are locked on all phones by default. Att and verizon sign
there bootloaders that is the main difference.

Tutor

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14 Messages

8 years ago

That means AT&T encrypted it and drop the password down that creek so no one will ever recover how to unlock that crap even the manufacture itself. 

Teacher

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19 Messages

8 years ago

I believe it's an attempt to keep phones off the used market to increase sales. I paid cash for this phone and did not purchase it through AT&T so it really bothers me that they still have control over my device. I'm looking at Google Nexus phone now. I've also started looking at internation versions.

 

There are so many things that the different networks do that are purely to generate profit. During the day I listen to FM radio. But the hardware is disabled by AT&T so I have to listen to streaming radio. Even though streaming music or news takes little bandwidth, if you're complaining about bandwidth users, wouldn't you do everything possible to offload bandwidth, no matter how minor?

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

8 years ago


@iHenry wrote:

I believe it's an attempt to keep phones off the used market to increase sales. I paid cash for this phone and did not purchase it through AT&T so it really bothers me that they still have control over my device. I'm looking at Google Nexus phone now. I've also started looking at internation versions.

 

There are so many things that the different networks do that are purely to generate profit. During the day I listen to FM radio. But the hardware is disabled by AT&T so I have to listen to streaming radio. Even though streaming music or news takes little bandwidth, if you're complaining about bandwidth users, wouldn't you do everything possible to offload bandwidth, no matter how minor?


they want data usage since they can charge overages.  There are less unlimited data plans than there were 3 months ago.  poeple are getting rid of them to save money.  And once you cant upgrade for cheap on unlimited data people will give them up even faster.  Look at verizon they are charging 50 bucks for unlimited data that increase went into effect this month.

Teacher

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19 Messages

8 years ago

Its a "screw the customer" mentailty. Comcast is now charging an extra $35 for unlimited download service on it's internet service. I have AT&T's unlimited and I've been reading where people have been taking them to court over throttling. I actually use less that 5GB a month. I keep the unlimited because it's better than going over. Many times I've tried to watch Youtube videos and had problem after problem with buffering. When I check the network speed, it jumps up, which leads me to believe that when you are contacting sites known to monitor network speed, the throttling stops. 😞

ACE - Expert

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23.9K Messages

8 years ago


@iHenry wrote:

Its a "screw the customer" mentailty. Comcast is now charging an extra $35 for unlimited download service on it's internet service. I have AT&T's unlimited and I've been reading where people have been taking them to court over throttling. I actually use less that 5GB a month. I keep the unlimited because it's better than going over. Many times I've tried to watch Youtube videos and had problem after problem with buffering. When I check the network speed, it jumps up, which leads me to believe that when you are contacting sites known to monitor network speed, the throttling stops. 😞


throttling starts at 22GB.....  And no customer can sue ATT its all done in arbitration its in the fine print.  Now ATT got fined for throttling.

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