Remember the Asus Transformer Prime? The once-saviour of the Android tablet market is all-of-a-sudden persona non grata amongst a very vocal developer community due to the discovery of a locked bootloader.
The first Transformer was a developer’s dream tablet due to a very easily-unlockable bootloader, making it easy to load custom ROMs, kernels and recoveries. Its powerful sequel appears to have a 128-bit encyryption scheme between you and a custom ROM, causing hundreds of users to pledge to return theirs, or wait until the next developer-friendly tab.
It’s not known why Asus decided to lock down its new flagship so absolutely — it’s virtually impossible to crack the key with brute force — but it’s causing quite a stir.
But what’s the big deal? A lot of Android phones have locked bootloaders and users merely accept it as the status quo. But a tablet, untethered to any carrier, has no business having a locked bootloader, according to these developers; they are usually implemented at the behest of the mobile carrier to prevent unauthorized tampering with network settings such as SIM unlocking. And since the carrier is often the first line of support, a locked bootloader prevents user-induced bricked devices from being returned en masse. In short, the carrier enforces a set of legitimate security rules on a handset that need not be there on a tablet.
Whether Asus will change its stance on this remains to be seen, but at the moment there is no indication it will. A Facebook campaign has already begun to try change Asus’ mind.
Source: XDA-Developers
Via: Electronista
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