Wait, is this for real? The company that striketh console jailbreakers with smite and other things that sound Biblical now actually launches a site specifically for unlocking its Android phones? Yes, Sony Ericsson just launched a website where owners of the company’s latest Android phones can go to to unlock their devices. It’s unreal – but a very welcome move, and hopefully a sign of things to come for other companies.
In a world where you never actually really own any device you buy, a world in which your devices are locked down, it’s actually incredibly refreshing to see a phone maker supporting enthusiasts this way. Of course, the company does clearly state that rooting your device – unlocking your bootloader – to run custom ROMs may void your warranty, and that it’s unsupported. They even cover their bums by stating it could damage your phone or even cause injuries due to overheating.
“Therefore, you should only unlock the boot loader of your phone if you are an advanced user with good knowledge of the technology and risks involved,” the site reads, “We strongly recommend that standard users NOT unlock the boot loader, as it is not needed. We are proud to deliver great phone experiences through our rigorously tested and official software releases.”
The actual unlocking is a 14-step process which requires the Android SDK, but overall, it doesn’t look particularly difficult of complicated. It currently only works for or will work for phones from 2011, such as the Xperia arc, Xperia neo, Xperia pro and Xperia PLAY, and then only of they are unbranded.
This is a great move by Sony Ericsson, and I’m hoping this will set a trend. It would be awesome if other phone makers set up similar websites, finally opening up to us enthousiasts. It’s about time these companies realise that locking down devices is fruitless, because they will be hacked anyway. Now all we need to do is kick some carrier butt and we’re all set.
“Son Don’t be a bully !”
But you can bully THAT kid.
Damn Hypocrites !
Massive thumbs up!
Too bad I am on an old X10 – at least we get gingerbread anyway.
Suddenly, it has occurred to me that I may think about buying a phone from Sony.
Been waiting patiently for Rogers to get a phone with a hardware keyboard. They’re bringing in every other SE phone (Arc, Neo, Play, etc). No mention anywhere of Pro. Okay, so it’s not slated for delivery until the end of June (end Q2), but Rogers announced the others way before you could actually buy them.
It’s getting harder and harder to stick with Rogers. Bell isn’t much better, but at least they have the HTC Desire Z. And Telus doesn’t have any keyboard phones worth using.
All the SE forums and whatnot are full of people asking for the Pro to come to North America…
Here’s hoping …
Was leery of SE Android phones due to the cockup they made of the X10 (poor hardware, slow updates, broken updates, etc). But these … look good … and having an “official” way to root them / install ROMs? Icing on the cake.
Just bring the damned thing to Canada already!!!
Personally, I don’t care how many steps it is, just as long as it is feasible.
I’d reckon the fact that it is a 14 step process is a good way to wean out those that probably would not benefit or could not root by themselves.
To unlock sony is getting a list of everyone who is.
Nice way of having a list of who has unlocked and saying warranty void on any hardware failure.
Now of course this is also a god send to projects like meego. Since it gives them more devices to test their code base on.
Also it is good for the customers as well. Ie phone goes end if life you can still update it.
Note that Sony Computer Entertainment (the ones behind the PS3) is mostly a different entity to Sony Ericcson.
Really that they are different sub branches we do have to watch out of the same stunts. Like providing means to unlock and if it does not go the way they like closing the door on us.
This market is different. If the means to unlock comes a item if a person chooses the phone or not Sony can be walled out from removing it this time.
SonyEricsson is a joint venture between Sony and Ericsson. It is not a 100% controlled Sony branch.
Indeed. Besides, jailbreaking an iPhone is legal, so why not try to attract some positive press? If you also consider Sony’s shrinking market share[1], this is a logical move. Geeks would love it and might just as well forget that GeoHot business.
[1] http://bit.ly/futm6h
Edited 2011-04-14 14:25 UTC
“Indeed. Besides, jailbreaking an iPhone is legal, so why not try to attract some positive press?”
Isn’t the legal status of jailbreaking any phone the same?
I don’t think laws generally say anything about making jailbreaking illegal. Not that this actually matters; Corporate resources make for an impossibly unfair fight. The legal victims can either settle or sacrifice a decade of their lives defending from corporate harassment.
At most, manufacturers can forbid jailbreaking through their terms of service such that owners can lose their rights to support, warranty, and even be banned from app stores (Not that any app stores would be stupid enough to enforce it).
By giving users explicit root access to their own phones, it’s no longer appropriate to call it “jailbreaking”, as the user is free to modify the code from the get go.
In the US, the DMCA originally made it illegal to jailbreak a cell phone, as you had to “bypass a technological lock” in order to do so.
Last year (or maybe late 2009), an exception was added to the DMCA making it legal to jailbreak a cell phone.
phoenix,
“In the US, the DMCA originally made it illegal to jailbreak a cell phone, as you had to “bypass a technological lock” in order to do so.”
The DMCA, as misguided as it was, was never to protect cell phones from hacking. It was to prevent digital copy protection from being broken. The original DMCA had exceptions for things like security research and compatibility. In fact, in 1201f, it explicitly permits reverse engineering for purposes of compatibility with other programs.
After just reading it again, I still get the impression that even if the hack resulted in broken copy protection, it should be permissible under the compatibility exception.
Can you elaborate why you feel the US DMCA outlawed jailbreaking?
Well, considering they added an explicit cell phone jailbreaking exception to the DMCA … why do you think it was permitted before that?
“Well, considering they added an explicit cell phone jailbreaking exception to the DMCA … why do you think it was permitted before that?”
I already explained it.
I read the EFF’s submission to the copyright office, and it is a good read, but I think that they were asking for clarification and explicit permission. Jailbreaking was not explicitly illegal before, the EFF was just pusing for it to be explicitly out of the scope of copyright. The EFF makes a very interesting argument for this in their proposal.
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/dmca_2009/EFF%2BRM%2Bprop…
Incidentally, I never knew how much the EFF disliked aaple. Go read section III. B. Nothing about apple there that we don’t already know, but it’s still damning that apple was mentioned specifically in terms of why jailbreaking should be made explicitly legal for phones.
I’d further recommend reading section III C. titled “Jailbreaking a Smart Phone for the purposes of Running Lawfully Obtained Software Does Not Infringe Copyright”.
Everything they talk about refers to how they interpret existing law. They are not making a case for new laws, just for the Librarian of Congress to take an official stance on jailbreaking, which they did in the EFF’s favor.
So, if you believe jailbreaking was ever illegal, I ask you again to back that claim.
That’s the point, isn’t it? If you jailbreak an iPhone, it’s you against evil Apple, which tries to stop you from tinkering with their mega-secret-full-of-IP-and-trade-secrets device that you think you own. Now s/Apple/Sony/. Doesn’t sound very pleasing, does it? If, however, Sony gives you the tools to root your Android phone, it’s “those good guys from Sony” that let you “modify the code from the get go” as you say.
Edited 2011-04-14 20:08 UTC
A company that understands the value of the development community. Looks like my next phone is going to be a sony.
Being a *huge* fan of sony legal/executive departement, for their lawsuits, rootkit , mis-communication about promising harware, use of proprietary format, and less than consumer-friendly policy. This look like an amazing move from one of the entity of sony.
It probably means that the Ericsson branch of the company is in deep trouble. Sony’s MD players started to play MP3s and tolerate to be used as mass storage devices near the end… (For those who haven’t known the MD era, yes that was a lot).
Personally, I’m a really big fan of their practice of giving broadcast-quality cameras the same sort of 2-button/menu interface as my alarm clock. It’s not like people expect a $15k camera to have physical controls for any of the basic functionality, I can’t wait until they stick the zoom and focus controls in menus 4 or 5 levels deep.
Several things have changed in Sony. They are currently in deep trouble. They lost several employees, plants and subcontractors in the Fukushima area. Pretty much all their new products have been delayed by several months or more than a year. They are trying to stay relevant while they are rebuilding themselves.
Not to mention that SE phones are no longer amongst the top selling brands like they were in the K700+ era.
In fact, here in the UK they’ve almost completely fallen into obscurity.
Does it only occur to me that maybe this is linked to GeoHot’s super-secret hush-hush settlement he’s so happy about?
I doubt it. The world doesn’t really revolve around minor celebrity hackers. It’s more likely due to Sony Ericsson listening to their customers, who have been voicing their opinion over at SE’s developer blog. For the most part, they have been asking for three things: 1) faster updates (the original Xperia range started out at 1.6 after 2.1 had gone mainstream, and got 2.1 only after 2.2 was available for a few other phones), 2) multi-touch, and 3) bootloader unlocking, so the community can fix the phones themselves.
Now the new Xperia range comes with the latest 2.3 version, the X10 finally got (limited) multitouch, and SE even promised an update to Gingerbread later. It just might be enough for the old, unhappy customers to consider Sony Ericsson again.
… when Motorola does the same for all their Android phones.
There is one thing that bothers me about the whole thing with Sony, it’s that you can’t easily say that “Sony did this”… Sony is a conglomerate, like many companies put together. Some of it is awesome, some is crap. I had to deal with different divisions (warranty for example) and had a totally different experience depending where I called.
Let’s not forget that Sony Ericsson is largely Ericsson with Sony tacked on top. Knowing that, it would almost make sense that this part of Sony has a certain opinion while SCEA has another one. Although, it would be better if it all went inline together as open to hackers…
Sony permanently lost me as a customer long ago. This one positive step doesn’t begin to make up for all the garbage they have forced down the consumer’s throats for years. Too bad their corporate offices weren’t in Sendai.
…join an encourage them.