I’ve decided a long time ago I won’t buy Xiaomi phone again unless it’s my only choice… if that’s true then it’s no more a choice Anybody knows what are OnePlus and Oppo polices with unlocking bootloader ?
When I was trying to unlock the bootloader, Mi flash tool told me there’s an update (v7.?) and gave me the link to download the newer version, when I tried to download it every browser I used gave an error in the website even with VPN Now reading this news , even if it’s still unofficial… I was wondering if Xiaomi retracted the update because it’s actually preparing to close the program
Xiaomi was the only manufacturer I recently kept buying my “new flagship every 3 years”. If it is not possible to unlock, I’m out. I guess a Pixel will be my choice. The only thing keeping me away from Pixel were the low performance CPUs.
Pixel cpu is embarrassing though. Very low performance, and they somehow manage to convince the press it’s fine by saying it’s AI optimized. Wtf…
To 99% of people, battery life matters much more than it being 8% faster compared to last year’s model. Though it can be argued that the pixel’s efficiency sucks and that it affects the battery life significantly. For example on my phone I would gladly use the low power mode that reduces the cpu perf to about 70%, except it also forces the display to go to 60hz
Yeah that’s true, but it’s supposed to be a top model if you look at the insane price. So what do you actually get for that money then? I don’t know what they are the best at, and also the camera housing is very ugly.
Fair point, it should get better for the pixel 10 though because iirc they will be switching to TSMC from Samsung foundry
The performance may not be on par with other Flagships Socs. But, it can be considered a decent upper midrange flagship smartphone. The pixel phones after Pixel 8 are decent and do not have the bad heating issues of the past Pixel generations.
They have already practically ended it. The official process makes the user jump through so many hoops - registering account, using it for 30 days (!!!), installing their app, begging for unlock through it, getting random errors which the official support refuses to explain (!!!) and only after that having the chance to try to hit the daily unlock request window which lasts less than one minute each day (!!!) - that it is practically non existent. Fuck the fucking fuckers.
Return it
Unfortunately not easy in my country - only for repeated warranty claims.
having the chance to try to hit the daily unlock request window which lasts less than one minute each day (!!!)
Holy shit, are you serious? Can you elaborate on how does that work? You get an email saying you can do that between 3:27:15 PM and 3:27:50 PM or something?
No, it’s the same minute every day, for everyone in the world. 0:00 GMT+8
GMT is subject to DST. You sure it isn’t UTC?
Well this is how the app states it. It resolves to this: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=0%3A00+GMT%2B8
I don’t think the GMT time zone ever changes. Some countries going in and out of GMT but the GMT hour never changes forwards or backwards
We do, twice a year and it annoys me no end since I work some shitty continental hours and sometimes have to watch the clock go backwards through the night.
Oh, ok. Still crazy though.
ASUS did this recently & lost a lawsuit in the UK for lying to customers to say unlock servers were only temporarily down for a couple months (lol)
Glad I didn’t buy a zenfone, looked like a great option but that sucks
I had it in my cart & went to double-check nothing changed about unlocking… happy I took a step back
It is wretched that you have to maintain constant vigilance on this bullshit, though.
Remember when phones just came unlocked out of the box? You could just flash whatever you wanted on day 1 and without any data loss
Interesting. I hadn’t heard about this. I got this response from Xiaomi earlier today after complaining they mis-sold me a phone as their unique selling point was the ability to unlock the bootloader.
“We hope you could understand, that such an operation will disable some of the built-in security features of the system, and those security features are part of what keeps the operating system safe and your data secure from exposure or corruption. And this misuse will void your phone’s warranty and it may render your phone useless depending on the security measures in place on your phone.”
What a shame. I don’t get why they would do that. Didn’t I pay for the phone?
There is money to be had
That’s the problem. You paid only once. The companies want you to pay indefinitely. And if they control your OS, well, they can shove ads or broatware into your face all they wish gaining more revenue.
Okay. I’m not buying it then
Not to mention both phones and TVs are crazy expensive to manufacturer. They can’t effectively sell a device at a reasonable price so they make it cheaper and make up for it elsewhere
Is this a good news or a bad news?
Bad news. Because you wouldn’t be able to flash custom ROMs or do other modifications to your device.
If you are not familiar with rooting and custom ROMs. It should not matter to you.
Damn I thought we would have more easier unofficial methods to unlock bootloader.
This is horrible because Xiaomi devices have a great scene in custom ROM community.
No android phone has a decent custom ROM scene, let alone a great one. All these ROMs do is changing the wallpaper to some anime character and overclocking the device.
Enjoy no contactless payments, no support for bank, transportation tickets, ID apps etc.
On a custom ROM your phone is essentially a leisure tablet, but even then you can forget majority of games working and limited widevine support means it sucks for Netflix.
Yes, you can make some of these work, but not only does it consume lots of time, it has to be done regularly.
Plus all the launchers I’ve seen so far, all the options available are just crap compared to any OEM skin
I wish there was at least one good ROM, but there never will be, it is only getting way worse each year
You make a fair point but it’s not all doom and gloom. Custom ROMs are a great to way to boost an old phone and run it a bit longer. Your use cases are definitely not mine hence I had a great experience using custom ROMs for the past 4yrs. Agree on it being a time taking process.
The real goal that the community should be working on is to strengthen the political efforts to give people the rights to do whatever they want with phones they PURCHASE, and prohibit manufacturers from locking them down so the OWNER can’t make any changes. I would totally accept that it voids the warranty because they can’t cover all the bricked devices that result from reckless modding… but there should not be allowed any barriers between the OWNER and the software within.
And the reason for my emphasis of certain words is that the corporate world is really truly beginning to indulge the delusion that nobody ever owns anything and that purchases consumers make are merely the manufacturer granting them the privilege of indefinite loan. It all needs to stop hard and now.
The source on this is one guy from X (formerly Twitter), from Vietnam.
I mean, it sound plausible and expected, but it’s not some official news.
Sad to hear
My current phone is an F5. One of my worst Android experiences has been this phone before I put a different ROM. Never would buy another one without being able to unlock the bootloader.
sad as fuck if true. i really liked xiaomi.
It was a matter of time. We really need a good(or at least better) company to step up and make a phone. A framework phone would be fire but its gonna take years if they wanna fo it.
Motorola is pretty good or at least my current older device is solid
Sony still welcomes unlocking without anything special—you get a headphone jack & microSD too.
Xiaomi can suck my balls, the very first automatic updates they force on a new phone is the stuff that sticks advertise EVERY. FUCKING. WHERE. Gallery? Have some ads. Settings? Get yo ads! Calculator? ADS ADS ADS! I can’t tell whether they’re on par or worse than Samsung with stupid bloat, data harvesting and ads everywhere. The fucking phones are also infuriatingly condescending, treating you like a dumb toddler, showing warnings about “daaaaangeroooooooous” actions you might be doing and putting 30s timers before you can hit “LET ME FUCKING CONTINUE”
Unlocking the bootloader is such a hassle, too, I gave up and used ADB Bridge to uninstall some of the bloatware to make my experience less insufferable.
