[Q] Moto X AT&T stock version, does it come with a lock?

[dagoban]

Hi guys,
total n00b question.
A friend of mine brought an AT&T Moto X (1st generation) phone with him for me from the U.S. to Germany.
He bought it from the motorola.com page directly 2 years ago through the Thanksgiving promo, never got it activated and its still stock and everything, never used before.
He paid the full retail price of 400$ at the time, does it however still come with a sim/netlock?
I thought since it didn't come with a contract (where you pay only a few $ and you are bound to a 1y/2y contract) and he paid the full 400$ for it, it doesn't have any sim/net lock?

Sadly I don't have a nano sim card to try it out, before I order one from my carrier I was hoping someone could help me out with this

I know that simlock threads are not allowed, I'm not asking for an unlock, just whether a retail 400$ phone has that lock or not?

Thanks in advance!

 

[nhizzat]

If it's stock and on 4.4.2 or below, invest in Sunshine to unlock your bootloader. I'm not sure if AT&T sim-locked their Moto Xs. They should provide the code for free, if necessary, though since the phone was paid in full.

 

[dagoban]

Thanks for the quick reply, already looked into SuneShine for unlocking the BL (its a shame that I didn't pick the T-Mobile version over the AT&T, hmm)
But worth spending another 25$ for it!

Now I'm still curious about the sim/netlock.

From what I found out by googling and reading for hours, if it has a simlock, AT&T will not unlock it cause I've never been a customer and it never was hooked up to an AT&T account, kinda bad if you ask me for a full price cell phone... The T-Mobile version comes 100% sim and BL unlocked...

Moto chat support cant help, they didn't even know that there are different versions of the Moto X 1st Gen...

 

[Darth]

It's usually less than 20 dollars to unlock them on a website that offers Sim unlocking. Not sure if at&t devices are usually OK to do so, but I would think they are. The carriers usually charge more even... In Canada anyway. ?

 

[dagoban]

OK, thanks a lot!
I'm really just surprised that if you pay the full retail price for a phone it can still be sim/netlocked...

Hope you guys don't mind asking me another few questions, I'm just transiting over from my Razr I so a few things are different

If I don't need a custom recovery but planning on installing a different official Moto firmware which is signed by Moto (would love to flash the EU firmware to have full German language support) do I still need to unlock the BL or will this work with a locked BL since its an official Moto firmware?
Also are there any files I should not flash, therefore remove from the xml?

And I know that the BL unlock has nothing to do with the sim unlock, but any change if I unlock the BL and flash a different firmware, I won't need to enter a sim unlock code then?

I'm just trying to get as many answers before I try it and find out the "hard" way it won't work and that it results in a completely bricked device in the end...

AND sorry, but another question
Are the LTE bands hardware or software coded? Cause we use different bands over here in Europe and I know from the Sony Z1C you can activate all bands software-wise, so I was thinking maybe its the same with the Moto X?

Thanks again!

 

[mmaslo1124]

Hello, I was wondering if I also could install a pure Android on my at&t Moto X 2014?

Sent from my XT1097 using XDA Free mobile app

 

[Darth]

Hello, I was wondering if I also could install a pure Android on my at&t Moto X 2014?

Sent from my XT1097 using XDA Free mobile app

Wrong section, This is the 2013 section. And this thread has nothing to do with your question, that's called thread hijacking.

So you should go to the Moto X 2014 section, and if you don't see a thread on the same sort of topic.... Then post your own thread in the Q&A section. ?

 

[dagoban]

So I read an insane number of pages and somewhere I found this great page:
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/?#/

Long story short, I reveived a nano sim card today, AT&T Moto X is locked, contacted AT&T via the above mentioned website, it took 2 days and today I received my sim unlock code via email from AT&T for free, no account with them needed and it works!

 

[KidJoe]

If I don't need a custom recovery but planning on installing a different official Moto firmware which is signed by Moto (would love to flash the EU firmware to have full German language support) do I still need to unlock the BL or will this work with a locked BL since its an official Moto firmware?
Also are there any files I should not flash, therefore remove from the xml?

With the bootloader on the ATT XT1058 being locked, you'll only be able to flash Moto Signed Roms for your phone's CID or carrier branding. You will not be able to flash the XT1052 EU rom, or other X roms. Only the ATT XT1058.

If you are lucky and your ATT XT1058 has not yet been upgraded to Android 4.4.4 and bootoader 30.B7, you should be able to use JCase's Sunshine tool to unlock the bootloader. Note: Because this is a HACK, do NOT try to re-lock the bootloader after using it, or you will be permanently bootloader locked.

And I know that the BL unlock has nothing to do with the sim unlock, but any change if I unlock the BL and flash a different firmware, I won't need to enter a sim unlock code then?

I don't believe flashing a different ROM would give you SIM unlock.

You're only option is getting it from the Carrier if you meet their terms/conditions. Or buying a SIM unlock code from an online seller.

AND sorry, but another question
Are the LTE bands hardware or software coded? Cause we use different bands over here in Europe and I know from the Sony Z1C you can activate all bands software-wise, so I was thinking maybe its the same with the Moto X?

Thanks again!

I've read different things. So I can't say for sure which is correct.

I know that the Verizon X, XT1060, initially game supporting only LTE Band 13. Band 4 was later enabled by firmware update.

But I've also seen posts of some losing their entire cellular radio when flashing other model's full roms, and not getting it back by flashing the correct rom. (I don't recall the full details, sorry!).

On other phones, I've seen things like "edits" to turn on other bands. But no so for the 2013 X.

So I wouldn't mess with it.

 

[dagoban]

Thanks for the explanations @KidJoe
Until know I didn't know that a signed Moto firmware is not just bound to the model but also to a CID, always thought you could flash any region firmware over the phone as long as its the same model.
Sunshine is def. an option, I didn't take the OTA (even thou it reminds me at least once a day cause I suspected already there would be more exploits available with a lower android OS.

SIM unlock is no problem anymore, AT&T provided me the unlock key via website request (took me a while to find that link, thou) and you don't need to have an account with them and the phone does NOT need to be hooked to an AT&T contract.


About the LTE bands:
OK, I don't want to mess with the modem / radio and lose all bands in the end but could I just flash the system files from the EU version via fastboot?
Which files should I flash and which files should I avoid flashing?

Basicially what I'm trying to achieve is getting German as android language and not just have German as keyboard language.
Or is German included in the CM11 as well cause then I imagine it would be much easier to just flash CM11 without damaging any bands...

All in all, I'm just looking for a fully stable KK OS that is in German


Thanks again for your replies!

 

[KidJoe]

About the LTE bands:
OK, I don't want to mess with the modem / radio and lose all bands in the end but could I just flash the system files from the EU version via fastboot?
Which files should I flash and which files should I avoid flashing?

You could try using mFastboot and flash only System.img... BUT!!!! Its going to cause issues with OTA updates, and having mismatched parts always increases the risks for bricking and/or things just not working correctly!! So I usually don't recommend mixing things up.

Basicially what I'm trying to achieve is getting German as android language and not just have German as keyboard language.
Or is German included in the CM11 as well cause then I imagine it would be much easier to just flash CM11 without damaging any bands...

All in all, I'm just looking for a fully stable KK OS that is in German


Thanks again for your replies!

I've not messed with adding additional languages. Nor have I used CM as I like my Moto features too much, and stock (rooted) runs just fine here.