They have already practically ended it. The official process makes the user jump through so many hoops - registering account, using it for 30 days (!!!), installing their app, begging for unlock through it, getting random errors which the official support refuses to explain (!!!) and only after that having the chance to try to hit the daily unlock request window which lasts less than one minute each day (!!!) - that it is practically non existent. Fuck the fucking fuckers.
having the chance to try to hit the daily unlock request window which lasts less than one minute each day (!!!)
Holy shit, are you serious? Can you elaborate on how does that work? You get an email saying you can do that between 3:27:15 PM and 3:27:50 PM or something?
No, it’s the same minute every day, for everyone in the world. 0:00 GMT+8
Oh, ok. Still crazy though.
GMT is subject to DST. You sure it isn’t UTC?
I don’t think the GMT time zone ever changes. Some countries going in and out of GMT but the GMT hour never changes forwards or backwards
We do, twice a year and it annoys me no end since I work some shitty continental hours and sometimes have to watch the clock go backwards through the night.
Return it
Unfortunately not easy in my country - only for repeated warranty claims.
ASUS did this recently & lost a lawsuit in the UK for lying to customers to say unlock servers were only temporarily down for a couple months (lol)
Glad I didn’t buy a zenfone, looked like a great option but that sucks
I had it in my cart & went to double-check nothing changed about unlocking… happy I took a step back
It is wretched that you have to maintain constant vigilance on this bullshit, though.
Remember when phones just came unlocked out of the box? You could just flash whatever you wanted on day 1 and without any data loss
It was a matter of time. We really need a good(or at least better) company to step up and make a phone. A framework phone would be fire but its gonna take years if they wanna fo it.
Motorola is pretty good or at least my current older device is solid
Sony still welcomes unlocking without anything special—you get a headphone jack & microSD too.
My current phone is an F5. One of my worst Android experiences has been this phone before I put a different ROM. Never would buy another one without being able to unlock the bootloader.
When I was trying to unlock the bootloader, Mi flash tool told me there’s an update (v7.?) and gave me the link to download the newer version, when I tried to download it every browser I used gave an error in the website even with VPN Now reading this news , even if it’s still unofficial… I was wondering if Xiaomi retracted the update because it’s actually preparing to close the program
i miss the early 2010s
I’ve decided a long time ago I won’t buy Xiaomi phone again unless it’s my only choice… if that’s true then it’s no more a choice Anybody knows what are OnePlus and Oppo polices with unlocking bootloader ?
Xiaomi was the only manufacturer I recently kept buying my “new flagship every 3 years”. If it is not possible to unlock, I’m out. I guess a Pixel will be my choice. The only thing keeping me away from Pixel were the low performance CPUs.
The performance may not be on par with other Flagships Socs. But, it can be considered a decent upper midrange flagship smartphone. The pixel phones after Pixel 8 are decent and do not have the bad heating issues of the past Pixel generations.
Pixel cpu is embarrassing though. Very low performance, and they somehow manage to convince the press it’s fine by saying it’s AI optimized. Wtf…
To 99% of people, battery life matters much more than it being 8% faster compared to last year’s model. Though it can be argued that the pixel’s efficiency sucks and that it affects the battery life significantly. For example on my phone I would gladly use the low power mode that reduces the cpu perf to about 70%, except it also forces the display to go to 60hz
Yeah that’s true, but it’s supposed to be a top model if you look at the insane price. So what do you actually get for that money then? I don’t know what they are the best at, and also the camera housing is very ugly.
If that’s true, the temperature in the frog’s pan goes up a little more… soon, we will lose all freedom in the mobile world :(
Xiaomi can suck my balls, the very first automatic updates they force on a new phone is the stuff that sticks advertise EVERY. FUCKING. WHERE. Gallery? Have some ads. Settings? Get yo ads! Calculator? ADS ADS ADS! I can’t tell whether they’re on par or worse than Samsung with stupid bloat, data harvesting and ads everywhere. The fucking phones are also infuriatingly condescending, treating you like a dumb toddler, showing warnings about “daaaaangeroooooooous” actions you might be doing and putting 30s timers before you can hit “LET ME FUCKING CONTINUE”
Unlocking the bootloader is such a hassle, too, I gave up and used ADB Bridge to uninstall some of the bloatware to make my experience less insufferable.
The official process was a pain anyway, as it required sending personal identification data to China. Anyone that wants a custom ROM on their phone should be looking elsewhere, although I don’t know of any brand that makes that process easy anymore
although I don’t know of any brand that makes that process easy anymore
https://github.com/melontini/bootloader-unlock-wall-of-shame#ℹ️-safe-for-now-trollface
Pixel or OnePlus
OnePlus phones have green lines on screen and damaging motherboard issues.
I’ve had the OnePlus 6 and the OnePlus Nord N200 and I’ve not seen those things occur but thanks for the information.
Those are prehistoric phones in no way relevant to this discussion
The nord n200 is 2021
Heard about this too I believe this was mostly an issue in India because of their slightly different models?
Agreed, the official process was a massive pain and borderline non functional.
Pixel devices are trivially easy to unlock
Well, Pixel still unlocks freely.
Assuming you dont get the phone through your carrier
can we use Google Wallet to tap pay with an unlocked bootloader?
I do with my Pixel 7 Pro. You need Magisk + Play Integrity Fix by Chiteroman at the moment.
yeah, on previous phones I played cat-and-mouse with magisk and all kind of patch to have Wallet work, but it breaks every 2 or 3 weeks and you have to chase down how to re-fix it…
It’s slightly more reliable right now, but for sure, it’s going to be cat-and-mouse for awhile at least. Google is phasing out legacy Play Integrity checks, and while it looked like there was no future for workarounds after they deprecated legacy methods, now at least it looks like the community has replicated a functional full keybox attestation chain so there’s hope we can continue to workaround indefinitely into the future.
So yes, while you don’t need to program your own solution and can just - in the end - install a pre-built fix still, it takes attention to keep up. If the above all sounds like gibberish, it’s a good indication of the level of commitment you have to have to keep up with it. For me, it’s worth it, but definitely understand, it gets tiresome.
My Fairphone 5 was easy to unlock.
So far I couldn’t unlock the bootloader because whenever I add a number it tells me to try again tomorrow
Is this a good news or a bad news?
Bad news. Because you wouldn’t be able to flash custom ROMs or do other modifications to your device.
If you are not familiar with rooting and custom ROMs. It should not matter to you.
Damn I thought we would have more easier unofficial methods to unlock bootloader.
This is horrible because Xiaomi devices have a great scene in custom ROM community.
sad as fuck if true. i really liked xiaomi.
The source on this is one guy from X (formerly Twitter), from Vietnam.
I mean, it sound plausible and expected, but it’s not some official news.
