Motorola drew fresh respect after it vowed that its Android device customers could unlock their bootloaders, starting with the Photon Q LTE. Nearly everything about that process was kept in the dark, but it's now been blown wide open: the company has posted a full page dedicated to the process. Getting started will demand the Android SDK, fastboot, new USB drivers and a slightly scary warranty release, but it otherwise goes through a very HTC-like process that provides an unlock key. Verizon subscribers who were hoping for a surprise Droid RAZR MAXX unlock won't be happy, mind you; the Photon Q LTE is the only device on the list so far that isn't already unchained as a matter of course. Motorola did characterize the unlock option as a forward-thinking option, which leaves us not so secretly wishing that high-profile future releases expand the list of unlockable devices a bit further.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs

Motorola posts Android bootloader unlock page, lets just one device pass muster originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 19:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.