With the signed ROM, should I get Atrix 4G or go with a more 3rd-party friendly phone

---

Hi XDA,

I am deciding the next phone to get. I am a tech person and am aware of the android fragmentation problem. Fortunately there are XDA folks who make the world a better place by building 3rd party close-to-stock ROMs, and I admire their work a lot.

The Atrix 4G has a signed ROM. Some people say signed ROM is not a big problem, mentioning Droid X that has custom ROMs. However, I do not know why among those ROMs of Droid X, there is no CM ROMs. I am not familiar with Android so I think CM ROMs are good because CM sounds famous. Correct me if wrong.

So between getting Atrix 4G with an uncertain future of OS update, and a more 3rd-party friendly phone like MyTouch 4G (that already has CM7 ROMs for Gingerbread out there), what would you pick?

The Droid X has an encrypted bootloader therefore CM cannot be installed on it since you cannot change the kernels. The atrix has a signed rom which, in time, hopfully be broken, allowing custom kernels. Even with a signed bootloader you can install custom ROMS that do not change the kernel.