Bootloader: a noob question

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Hi All,
apologies in advance if I'm asking something obvious...

I haven't purchased the Defy yet as I'm checking if this would be suitable for my wife and I'm struggling to understand the differences with the only other Android device I already own, a Galaxy S.
What I don't understand is this "bootloader locked" concept: it seems to be agreement on the fact that unlocking it is not proving to be an easy feat but exactly how does this "lock" affect the upgradeability of the phone?

I see that there are already several firmwares available, an advanced recovery mode, an application to flash the firmware and few custom ROMs so what's the bootloader for?

I have already flashed a dozen of different ROMs (both official and custom) on my Galaxy and the only thing I need to worry there, is the ROM itself and eventually the kernel...

Thanks for shedding some light on this subject: this phone looks great, far better than the "little" HTC & Samsung

Locked means that no matter what you put on the phone, certain pieces of the firmware have to be signed by Motorola or it will not boot. This makes it incredibly difficult to create fully functional firmwares. For example on Nexus One, new kernels can be compiled from open source, to help enable certain new features in the OS. On a Motorola locked bootloader, you can't load those kernels or it won't boot.

Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

Thanks for the answer, cmstlist.

What about firmwares 2.21, 2.34 & 2.51 (just to mention the ones I see more in the threads here): are they not fully functional and/or bugged?

As this is going to be my wife's phone I don't plan to tinker much with it (unlike my Galaxy which I never let rest for more than few days ): to be honest Froyo (because of flash support) and the possibility to recover if things go wrong are the only things I'm after

The 2.21, 2.34 and 2.51 releases are fully functional and the latter two do lack much of the Blur features of the stock rom (which is appreciated by many users).

I run the 2.34 for a week now and didn't run into any problems, although there are some aspects of the phone I didn't use yet (e.g. bluetooth).

All of the above mentioned roms are 2.1 Eclair roms.

For the Fryo roms posted the picture is different. I didn't flash a 2.2 release yet, but from what you can read there are some issues. However, maybe someone running a Fryo Defy has more info on that.

Those ROM's are pretty much fully functional, but I guess you can hunt down a bug or two in just about any ROM, on any phone. The only one I've discovered so far (I'm on 2.34.1) is the inability to sync Facebook contacts with the phones contact book.

As you probably know, an official FroYo is on it's way, but there's no telling exactly when it'll be released, sometime during Q2.
I think it's a great phone, a huge bang for the bucks, as it's rugged, water resistant but still really light. And it does it's job, no lag, no freezes, good battery time. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk

The fact that one Froyo build exists, means that devs have something to work around to make other Froyo ROMs. On the other hand, if devs were trying to port Gingerbread? This would be a huge problem, because no matter how many pieces of delicious crispy Gingerbread you stick into this ROM, the kernel is still soft-serve Froyo, and the results will be kind of mushy.

Hmm, I'm hungry now.

Thanks for all the input.
If I understood correctly, in spite of Motorola's bootloader lock, there is development and customization going around this phone and this doesn't prevent new firmwares being flashed.
As the specs look really great and many people on this forum seem to be extremely happy with it I think I'll get one for the missus and we'll soon try how rugged it is with two little devils always trying to get at papa & mama's toys (I had to build a force field around my Galaxy!)

Originally Posted by chotto69

Thanks for all the input.
If I understood correctly, in spite of Motorola's bootloader lock, there is development and customization going around this phone and this doesn't prevent new firmwares being flashed.
As the specs look really great and many people on this forum seem to be extremely happy with it I think I'll get one for the missus and we'll soon try how rugged it is with two little devils always trying to get at papa & mama's toys (I had to build a force field around my Galaxy!)

There is customization, but there just isn't the flexibility to craft entirely new firmwares. You can't simply compile a ROM from source and flash it to this phone... you have to take the compiled ROM, extract pieces of it, inject them into a stock ROM that the phone is signed to accept, pray that it all works, and then come up with dirty little hacks to get around the bits that fail.

But if you want your durable Android, the Defy is still the only game in town. So that's still the selling point. =)

and Motorola will never ever change their policy on locked bootloader.. am i right?

i pretty believe with all the hardwares they have, they can simply double the number of users if they have the same policy as other big name like HTC..

Originally Posted by irenic

and Motorola will never ever change their policy on locked bootloader.. am i right?

i pretty believe with all the hardwares they have, they can simply double the number of users if they have the same policy as other big name like HTC..

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