I will never buy a phone directly through a carrier instead of the OEM. They are offering me some nice discounts right now, but I have no interest in a phone where I can’t unlock the bootloader. (Or the carrier lock!)
I don’t think I’ve had a locked phone since around 2012.
I’m guessing people still get them because they need financing? Seems like a poor choice most of the time.
I remember when carriers not just locked the phones, they also had custom firmwares filled with bloat and customized skins and even locking down features and all that shit. For example, I had a Sony Ericsson K700i and it had a disgustingly customized FW on it, and aside that it was ugly, I could only play MP3 files that I purchased through Vodafone. Sending them via bluetooth (or even with IR) didn’t work, the phone refused to play it back.
(Then of course I found out that Sony Ericssons were pretty moddable phones so I replaced the FW with an original one and that solved all my problems. For some reasons, the fact that I patched the FW with countless of VKP patches and even unlocking it with a patch, didn’t void my warranty so whenever I fucked up the FW beyond my abilities to repair it or simply bricked it, I just sent it to Vodafone and they fixed it.)
And they did this even when Android became a thing. (Though, it was a Vodafone branded phone so… it was sort of OK. (technically it was a Huawei though, also pretty moddable phone))
I loved firmware modding on pre-smart phones! My first eBay purchase ever (with the help of my parents) was a USB cable for the ridiculously large port on my flip phone. I blew my friends’ minds with my custom text on the front panel
Because a locked loader only really affects an absurdly small percentage of people.
That is a separate issue. This is a lock to prevent use with other service providers,
Which people don’t care about. They were getting a new phone when they switched.
People… don’t care about being able to switch phone carriers while keeping their phone? I think you’re quite mistaken.
Even if few people actually do that, they certainly care about the effect of the resulting competitive pressure on the market.
Man, this guy was on a mission and I respect it.
Wonder how he got this done. Hiring a lawyer and setting this up and going to court can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Roach estimated he spent 20 or so hours on the suit, including arranging to have a summons served on Verizon and arguing his case in a court hearing. Roach didn’t get much of a payout considering the amount of time he spent, “but it wasn’t about that,” he said.
He did it himself and the ruling includes compensating for the costs associated with.
Usually the lawsuit itself isn’t considered damages. Maybe in this case he was awarded something, but usually it costs a ton. You get what you sued for awarded, but often nothing else. At 20 hours for self service, which isn’t possible for most people to deal with properly, you’re in for at least that plus court appearance fee… Maybe 500/hr from a lawyer all in starting… 10,000 minimum. This guy got his out of pocket costs covered and probably not all of them, but nothing for time.
