14 DAY TRIAL // Mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility hasn't unlocked the bootloader that its newly unveiled Motorola PHOTON 4G smartphone arrives with on shelves at Sprint, some of the latest reports on the matter suggest.
Apparently, although it promised that new device will arrive with unlockable / relockable bootloaders, Motorola decided to add the feature only to handsets that will be released later in 2011, and to leave PHOTON 4G out of this.
The company already released an Android device with unlockable bootloader, the Motorola XOOM, and the entire community was expecting this to happen with all of the company's new devices, though it seems that we should wait a little longer before that happens.
“As we’ve previously communicated, it is our intention to include the unlockable / relockable bootloader in software releases starting in late 2011, where operator and channel partners will allow it,” Motorola reportedly stated.
“However, this feature is not included in the software found on PHOTON 4G,” the mobile phone maker continued, without explaining whether it plans on bringing the feature to this device as well.
Of course, even if they did not confirm it, there is a great chance that Motorola PHOTON 4G would receive the unlockable bootloader as well, just as HTC plans on making with its HTC Sensation smartphone.
The same as PHOTON 4G, the Sensation is a high-end dual-core Android device that landed on shelves with a locked bootloader, preventing users from installing custom ROMs on it. However, HTC promised that a future software update will change that.
For those out of the loop, we should note that there has been a lot of talk regarding the inclusion of locked bootloaders on Android devices, with many users claiming that these devices should provide users with the possibility to easily load any software they like on them.
Motorola is among the companies that agreed to unlock their handsets, but it seems that it would take a while before they actually make the move, so stay tuned.