Beware of cheeky carriers and Bootloader

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adoneill

Senior Member
Apr 16, 2011
81
42
Sao Paulo
So, Seeing that I couldnt get the Moto here in Brazil, I went for the Sony XL.
I had an Xpoeria mini X10 before and loved it, loads of great roms and a great phone.

I am British, but live in Brazil, so the best option was to buy it from Wallmart, carrier unlocked.
When the phone arrived, it was branded to the local operator Claro, however, it accepted any sim I put in there.
I checked the bootloader, and it said it could be unlockled - OK
I decided to use stock for a few weeks, to see if I was happy with the device, but there are a few features I miss, and I especially miss being able to underclock.
I can't remember what firmware it came on, but it was quite outdated, so I decided to update through Sony PC companion.
latest firmware and a few days later, I decided it was time to check out all the hard work that the Dev's here have been doing.
Having already backed up the TA as soon as I had bought the phone, I got my boot unlocker code from sony and excitedly fired up flashtool, installed the drivers in unsigned mode and was ready to go.
to my horror - FAILED OPERATION with both flashtool and the android SDK to unlock.
Checking again the bootloader status, there is no longer and OK next to it, it is blank!!!
The latest update to 1.14 with Claro Brazil has locked my bootloader.

Wether this is some freak accident, or if an operator can lock the bootloader with an update, I have no idea, but i just wanted to warn people in case this is a new thing !!

For now, I've happily installed dextrodroid, but If Sony doesn't update us officially to KitKat, than this purchase has been an absolute waste of my time and money. Brazil has an insane markup of nearly 100% on foreign imports, so phones arent fair prices, and the stock that we receive is limited in brand and selection.

Keep your eyes open people!!!
 

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    So, Seeing that I couldnt get the Moto here in Brazil, I went for the Sony XL.
    I had an Xpoeria mini X10 before and loved it, loads of great roms and a great phone.

    I am British, but live in Brazil, so the best option was to buy it from Wallmart, carrier unlocked.
    When the phone arrived, it was branded to the local operator Claro, however, it accepted any sim I put in there.
    I checked the bootloader, and it said it could be unlockled - OK
    I decided to use stock for a few weeks, to see if I was happy with the device, but there are a few features I miss, and I especially miss being able to underclock.
    I can't remember what firmware it came on, but it was quite outdated, so I decided to update through Sony PC companion.
    latest firmware and a few days later, I decided it was time to check out all the hard work that the Dev's here have been doing.
    Having already backed up the TA as soon as I had bought the phone, I got my boot unlocker code from sony and excitedly fired up flashtool, installed the drivers in unsigned mode and was ready to go.
    to my horror - FAILED OPERATION with both flashtool and the android SDK to unlock.
    Checking again the bootloader status, there is no longer and OK next to it, it is blank!!!
    The latest update to 1.14 with Claro Brazil has locked my bootloader.

    Wether this is some freak accident, or if an operator can lock the bootloader with an update, I have no idea, but i just wanted to warn people in case this is a new thing !!

    For now, I've happily installed dextrodroid, but If Sony doesn't update us officially to KitKat, than this purchase has been an absolute waste of my time and money. Brazil has an insane markup of nearly 100% on foreign imports, so phones arent fair prices, and the stock that we receive is limited in brand and selection.

    Keep your eyes open people!!!