What do you know about bootloader?

We are happy to be able to prevent HTC from locking the bootloader of its Android device in a timely manner, and to allow the manufacturer to listen to the voice of a few users, I am very happy to realize that unlocking bootloader can increase the product value. We will continue to track the progress and effect of this incident. At the same time, we also received a lot of questions about why bootloader caused such a big noise, so we had this article trying to answer this question, this article tries to answer this question in the form of no geek. Let's make a pot of tea and read it ~

Who cares about bootloader, hboots, Flash, and Shenma?

Few people, but it depends on your perspective. Currently, 0.4 million Android devices are activated every day. Most of these devices have no idea (or even none of them) about bootloader. These people may send text messages when a sister paper is making hair, or a father is buying bolts with a shopping order, or a good guy is carrying Evo 4G 13 in xingbaba. Android is now a mainstream mobile phone, and you are reading this article, it means that you are more advanced than other Android users.

Because many people care about bootloader, manufacturers such as HTC, Moto, and Shenma dare to lock bootloader. However, some companies dare to jump out of the bootloader lock club. For example, Sony Ericsson and HTC have actually changed their old strategy, even with a few calls for unlocking bootloader (Do you hear Moto), they face this problem and are preparing to provide an open bootloader to cater to all consumers.

For those who are very concerned about bootloader, they just want to have full control over their mobile phones, they may be programmers, theme makers, developers, or even mobile phone hackers-these normal 13 people always want to be able to squeeze the performance of their mobile phones at, or make their mobile phones better. These people are so active on the Internet that our group of users always think that hacking geek is the main body of the android user group. In fact, this is not the case. (Note: it is true that many strange people on the streets of UK are Android users ).

Why do mobile phone manufacturers and carriers want to lock bootloader? What is the significance of this?

Simply put, for security-for economic benefits, whether for your carrier or for end users.

Whenever we discuss a locked bootloader, we usually refer to a disk image, which can check an important module of the mobile phone and check whether the signature meets the requirements when the mobile phone starts. Let's take a closer look at this matter.

When you press your Atrix 4G or HTC sensation, bootloader first takes effect and passes it to bootimage (the boot image contains the Startup File of your mobile phone ). Boot Image reads the cell phone's kernel (kernel), then starts Android, and then there is no more. The boot image is flushed into the mobile phone's memory when you flash the machine, not the RAM or running memory. This is the so-called risk. If this Xiami is used, for example, if you have a wrong boot image, then the mobile phone may have Xiami (Translator's note: for example, I have brushed Xiami over a G1 ), the mobile phone has become a brick-and-mortar, but this risk is not very big. Of course it also depends on what underlying file you plan to change to. It also depends on the mobile phone.

If your mobile phone is unfortunately locked for Bootloader, you can only brush the ROM with the official signature file (Note: for example, the current Moto milestone is one of the cups, the so-called milestone flash machine is a fake Flash machine, which is achieved through a mix of Flash brush, and the effect of the real Flash machine is not the same day), and you cannot compile and brush yourself into the phone. This is also the case for recovery. It will also check the signature. After that, you do not have a signature, so you cannot refresh the customized recovery. The meaning of this word comes down to one point:

We cannot install the self-made kernel or any startup file on the mobile phone that has the bootloader locked.

However, the mobile phone that locks the bootloader does not affect root ). Root only uses a flaw in system security to inject related cracking files into system files, so that we can obtain the root permission at any time. (For example, if you do not have the root permission, you cannot delete the system loader, or openvpn ).

Continue to discuss the security section. If the software on your mobile phone is installed by the operator and mobile phone manufacturer, there is basically no security risk on the mobile phone (except for the mobile phone in the shanzhai factory ), in addition, the vendor also regularly releases patch packages for you to upgrade. Of course, the vulnerability fixing process is basically endless. By locking bootloader, the manufacturer can control and fix security holes on your mobile phone as much as possible. But do you still remember that we mentioned at the beginning that not every android user can read this article, and not everyone knows what the upgrade packages released by the vendor are. Manufacturers that sell your mobile phones will not only provide upgrade services for you alone, but also provide upgrade packages for N mobile phones of the same model.

Therefore, by tampering with some files on the mobile phone, we can undermine the interests of operators. For example, you can use the 3G signal of Verizon to roam the Optimus v mobile phone that is under the virgin contract by starting the prolactin, and then burn the bill to the sprint. (Note: Virgin Mobile, Verizon, and sprint are both carriers in the US), or enable the HSPA + function of HTC Spire to bypass the data traffic limit of T-Mobile, without authorization, you can use the wireless network to share, or tamper with the time slice cycle time, and delete the default Bing search engine Microsoft and the operator agreed to use on their mobile phones. The strategies of these operators are totally unreasonable to us, but if you do anything above, they will greatly harm their interests.

So they have to find a way to stop it from happening.

But does thunderbolt lock bootloader? Can it still have a self-made ROM and cyanogenmod for Mao?

Well, that's right. thunderbol locks bootloader, and there are also homemade ROM and cyanogenmod. Developers who crack thunderbolts use tips and luck to succeed. They used a new version of bootloader, which they could use, so they used this vulnerability to break into the system and then rediscovered it. Instead, they could use machines to brush unsigned images. It often requires skill and luck, so we have no reason to always look forward to this kind of stuff in the sky.

That's enough. Don't talk about it. I know that the unlocked bootloader is gorgeous. What does it have to do with me?

There are n multi-relationships. First, you get a mobile phone that has unlocked Bootloader and you can do almost everything.

Droid X developers are a group of very good 13 people, because they can not brush clockworkmod, installed in a self-made image or kernel, so they took another simple and crude line. However, despite Droid X, they still come up with some names. So the same thing will happen to evo 3d, which also locks bootloader. In contrast, the Nexus S 4G has just been listed as root, and then the kernel has been re-compiled and the custom recovery ing has been completed almost within one day, all because Nexus S 4G is a machine that does not lock bootloader.

We don't know how HTC intends to deal with this policy of unlocking bootloader, but we all guess it is likely to be similar to Sony Ericsson's method-first lock the bootloader's mobile phone, then provide the methods to unlock users who are willing to unlock them. They may make these unlocked devices jump out of the same with the operator, but all this is just the result of our YY release, but I'm sure HTC will give a response soon.

After you get a mobile phone to unlock the bootloader, the process of mining the mobile phone is similar to the macro recorded in advance: first there will be root, followed by custom Rom, and then new features will be transplanted from other Rom or devices. This is why so many people like android. All in all, the unlocked bootloader means a custom kernel. You can use a cell phone with a high frequency, enable the USB Host function, and implement a lot of features that cannot be implemented by devices that lock bootloader. Of course, it also means that, in particular, HTC devices can use miui and cyanogenmod.

Like you, everyone is happy to see a bunch of custom ROM on their mobile phones. If this is what you like to use a mobile phone, you can find a mobile phone with the most Rom support. If you do not like it, so continuing to use the original Rom is also a very stable choice. In any case, we hope this article will answer your questions about bootloader.