The LG Optimus G is the carrier-locked sibling to the developer-friendly Nexus 4. While we loved the device for its sleek glass finish and excellent performance, we were equally perturbed by LG’s insistance on a locked bootloader. Since it has largely the same hardware as the Nexus 4, it would be a prime candidate for custom ROM lovers everywhere.
Turns out, the developer community intended to fight back against LG’s closed door. XDA-Developer thecubed announced Project FreeGee today, a tool to unlock the bootloader of the Optimus G. While it currently only works for Korean and American versions of the device, the developer says that Canadians are next on the list for the bootloader unlock treatment.
And what can you do with such an unlock? “Install whatever you want,” he says, including versions of Android 4.2 meant for the Nexus 4. “This phone is essentially a Nexus 4, with minor differences in GPIOs, memory address space, and partition table layouts. Kernel source is iffy, since we’ve got Eco mode and a few other things that actually make me like the Optimus kernel more than the Nexus kernel.”
In other words, it may take some time, but developers should be able to mimic the Nexus 4 experience on the Optimus G.
To keep in the loop about this, head to XDA-Developers.
Via: Twitter
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