[Q] Droid 4 -- custom kernels & bootloader lock

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I am a current Sprint customer with an Epic 4G and I found out I can terminate my contract this month if I so desire.. My only option would be to switch to Verizon with a Droid 4. The network is certainly better and the phone has a better CPU, but I would hate to be stuck with a locked bootloader, no upgrades, and a crappy Motoblur skin on my phone. Has anyone managed to crack this encryption on ANY of these Motorola phones yet??? How about the number of developers working on Moto phones? I see very few posts in this forum section so that is a major red flag to me.

My current phone has fully functional CM9 ICS and a custom kernel -- what are the chances this will EVER happen on the Droid 4? I am guessing Slim to None, but I still have to ask.

With a locked bootloader you will never see custom kernels. However, custom ROMs are already being developed and ported from the Droid Razr. I came from a Droid 2 which had quite a lot of dev support despite a locked bootloader. Was running CM7 when I upgraded to the Droid 4. The only thing really holding the phone back right now is there are no fastboot files that allow you to restore the phone should you screw up trying to run a custom ROM. Root has been achieved and it is quite easy to go in and freeze the bloatware with Titanium Backup and install whatever launcher you choose so you don't have to see Blur. I haven't seen a ton of activity yet on XDA or Rootzwiki but DroidForums.net is buzzing pretty good. Remember the phone hasn't even been out 2 weeks. As soon as fastboot files become available I think you will see quite a bit more going on with custom ROMs for the Droid 4.

In summary, only thing you are really going to give up is custom kernels. Dev support seems decent especially with the ability to port Razr ROMs relatively easily. Root, app freezing, and custom launchers like Go or ADW get rid of most of the Blur.

Originally Posted by kwyrt

With a locked bootloader you will never see custom kernels. However, custom ROMs are already being developed and ported from the Droid Razr. I came from a Droid 2 which had quite a lot of dev support despite a locked bootloader. Was running CM7 when I upgraded to the Droid 4. The only thing really holding the phone back right now is there are no fastboot files that allow you to restore the phone should you screw up trying to run a custom ROM. Root has been achieved and it is quite easy to go in and freeze the bloatware with Titanium Backup and install whatever launcher you choose so you don't have to see Blur. I haven't seen a ton of activity yet on XDA or Rootzwiki but DroidForums.net is buzzing pretty good. Remember the phone hasn't even been out 2 weeks. As soon as fastboot files become available I think you will see quite a bit more going on with custom ROMs for the Droid 4.

In summary, only thing you are really going to give up is custom kernels. Dev support seems decent especially with the ability to port Razr ROMs relatively easily. Root, app freezing, and custom launchers like Go or ADW get rid of most of the Blur.

Thanks for the detailed answer... I'm still trying to determine what exactly I will be losing by switching to Verizon (besides unlimited data )

Couple more questions about kernels -- aren't custom kernels necessary for overclocking? Or is there a way to hack the in-memory kernel to allow setcpu to increase the clock speed faster than stock? Also, what is the nature of the moto-lock? Does it just prevent flashing over a certain area of ROM that holds the bootloader, or does it go further than that (like encrypted memory or something)? I thought I heard that devs have found a way to make other Moto-locked devices like the Droid 2 boot the stock kernel from ROM and then load a new custom kernel from the SD card into RAM using kexec.

Oh man, now you are going to expose how little I really know about how all this works! I DO know that you do not need a custom kernel to overclock. There were overclock options on my Droid 2 and I have seen you can use mattlgroff's utility to overclock the Droid 4 already. I am not sure HOW it is done, just that it CAN be done.

Other than that I am not real sure what is involved in getting around the bootloader issue. I think it has something to do with 2nd init? I have heard the term thrown around but honestly could not explain exactly what that does. I assume it is what allows dev's to bypass the locked bootloader which I think is what a bootstrap does.

Probably didn't help too much. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge of the process can give a better explanation. And correct what is probably a horribly inaccurate explanation of bootstrap/2nd init.

Originally Posted by kwyrt

Oh man, now you are going to expose how little I really know about how all this works! I DO know that you do not need a custom kernel to overclock. There were overclock options on my Droid 2 and I have seen you can use mattlgroff's utility to overclock the Droid 4 already. I am not sure HOW it is done, just that it CAN be done.

Other than that I am not real sure what is involved in getting around the bootloader issue. I think it has something to do with 2nd init? I have heard the term thrown around but honestly could not explain exactly what that does. I assume it is what allows dev's to bypass the locked bootloader which I think is what a bootstrap does.

Probably didn't help too much. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge of the process can give a better explanation. And correct what is probably a horribly inaccurate explanation of bootstrap/2nd init.

Well, thanks for the attempt to explain, anyway.. I am glad to hear I should at least be able to overclock. And I suppose somebody should be able to come up with a TUN module for OpenVPN support and CIFS module for mounting Samba shares.. So I'll be missing Voodoo Sound/Voodoo Color and... I dunno, that's probably about it? How about tethering, is there a way to tether undetected on a locked Droid phone with Verizon?

NOW the big question is -- Do I really want to sign a 2 year contract with Verizon and commit to 2GB/month data caps with overage fees? That just feels dirty.. What's the point of even having ridiculously fast download speeds if I will hit the cap in the first two days of the month? Does Verizon even offer any plans with more than 2GB/month?

Originally Posted by christophocles

NOW the big question is -- Do I really want to sign a 2 year contract with Verizon and commit to 2GB/month data caps with overage fees? That just feels dirty.. What's the point of even having ridiculously fast download speeds if I will hit the cap in the first two days of the month? Does Verizon even offer any plans with more than 2GB/month?

I have no idea how long it's running for, but right now Verizon is offering to double the cap for anyone you signs a two-year contract:

http://shop.verizonwireless.com/?id=Double%20Data

That makes the idea of a cap a little more bearable.

If you root your Droid 4 you can tether using an app, bypassing Verizon's BS. I believe there is another thread here devoted to that topic. As far as data goes I know right now Verizon is offering 4GB for the price of 2GB. I was grandfathered in with unlimited but honestly, I don't think I have ever used more than 1GB myself. I would think 4GB would be more than enough for most people. I don't tether that often either though. I am pretty sure Verizon offers other data packages with higher caps but I don't know what the prices are on those. Something ungodly I am sure.

Originally Posted by christophocles

Well, thanks for the attempt to explain, anyway.. I am glad to hear I should at least be able to overclock. And I suppose somebody should be able to come up with a TUN module for OpenVPN support and CIFS module for mounting Samba shares.. So I'll be missing Voodoo Sound/Voodoo Color and... I dunno, that's probably about it? How about tethering, is there a way to tether undetected on a locked Droid phone with Verizon?

NOW the big question is -- Do I really want to sign a 2 year contract with Verizon and commit to 2GB/month data caps with overage fees? That just feels dirty.. What's the point of even having ridiculously fast download speeds if I will hit the cap in the first two days of the month? Does Verizon even offer any plans with more than 2GB/month?

Theres no source drop yet by Motorola for the D4's kernel. Once there is, I'll be building the TUN/CIFS modules and getting them in the ICS CM9/AOKP builds.

Originally Posted by kwyrt

If you root your Droid 4 you can tether using an app, bypassing Verizon's BS. I believe there is another thread here devoted to that topic. As far as data goes I know right now Verizon is offering 4GB for the price of 2GB. I was grandfathered in with unlimited but honestly, I don't think I have ever used more than 1GB myself. I would think 4GB would be more than enough for most people. I don't tether that often either though. I am pretty sure Verizon offers other data packages with higher caps but I don't know what the prices are on those. Something ungodly I am sure.

If I can hit 1GB on Sprint's ridiculously crappy 3G network (without any tethering), then I am SURE that I can EASILY hit 4GB on Verizon 4G. It seems like they post falsely high numbers in the speedtest.net app, but the Verizon LTE in my area (really small really crappy little town) hits 30mbit down/5mbit up. That's faster than my Roadrunner "XTREME" landline, lol. So it's still tempting, cap or no cap..

i have been tossing around the idea of dropping my home internet and paying for the tether package from verizon as my main connection