14 DAY TRIAL // Several weeks ago, mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson announced that it planned on coming up with an official solution that would enable users of its Xperia smartphones to unlock the bootloaders on their devices, and the company has just went live with the website it promised for this project.
According to the company, the new bootloader unlocking website was put in place for all of the latest Xperia handsets it officially introduced to the market this year, including the Xperia PLAY, Xperia arc, Xperia pro, and the Xperia neo.
One thing that should be noted here is that, even if the solution is an official one, it would still involve tempering with the devices, which would result in voiding their warranty.
Those users who would like to unlock the bootloaders on their devices would do so at their own risk, and they would be the only ones to be held responsible for that.
“Please note that you may void the warranty of your phone if you unlock the boot loader,” the company notes on the aforementioned website.
“Sony Ericsson can then no longer guarantee the full functionality of your phone, and will not be responsible for any unsigned custom software being flashed to the phone after the boot loader is unlocked.
“Certain functions in your phone might cease to work, and performance might not be ideal. You might also damage your phone permanently. In the worst case, unlocking the boot loader will cause physical injuries or material damage, for example, due to the phone overheating.”
Users interested in unlocking the bootloader on their devices would be able to do so through heading to the website, and entering their name, email address and the first 14 digits of the phone’s IMEI number.
As soon as they complete this step, they would receive a bootloader unlock key, which they would need to save/write down for the unlocking process.
According to the mobile phone maker, the unlocking of the handset's bootloader should be performed only by advanced users, and not by all owners of one of the aforementioned devices.
“[Y]ou should only unlock the boot loader of your phone if you are an advanced user with good knowledge of the technology and risks involved. We strongly recommend that standard users NOT unlock the boot loader, as it is not needed,” the company notes.
However, those enthusiasts who understand the risk but would still want to move forth with the unlocking process should head to the company's website here.