Sony Ericsson - Making Android as difficult as possible !

[miffed]

Jesus H ! Looks like I've been spoiled by owning Android handsets that are easily (although I didn't appeciate it at the time !) But these idiots really do make things hard.

Just to explain , I bought an xperia play , just out of curiousity because it seemed like a well specced device at a cheap price , also I like the look of the build quality and the general "chunkiness" , not that I'm really a gamer myself , but I know a little boy that will be happy to take it off my hands !

What really narks me is that people make all this fuss about what a "closed" system iOS is , and how Android is akin to running naked through a field of daisies in terms of freedom.

So , obviously the first thing you do with an Android phone is root it and remove the "pc like" crap that is bundled with it at the very least , or even better , flash it with a decent ROM - One that is knocked up by a 14 year old in his bedroom , rather than a crap one made buy a multi billion $ company , who always seem to be hindered by their unlimited resources.

OK so , lets look into this , to Root I need to unlock the bootloader , - Ah look Sony have a dedicate web service that gives you your code !

Oh but wait , it only give you a code if your device is eligable (sim free) - mine isn't , so what do I do ?

NOTHING - Simply can't be unlocked , can't use ADB, can't be rooted - Ah well , not to worry

Last time I buy anything from these muppets !

[Wilt]

To be fair, the fact they make it somewhat easy to unlock the bootloader for sim free phones is pretty decent.

This is a market where operators seem to think they still own the phones if you acquire it through them. If the operators want the phone locked, the phone needs to be locked.

Motorola does a similar thing, and HTC don't guarantee that they can unlock all models via their bootloader unlocking system either.

I don't think there are any phones (other than the Nexuses) being sold via operators today that can be unlocked by design.

[hecatae]

you dont need to unlock the bootloader to root a sony ericsson device,

@miffed: what firmware version are you running?

[miffed]

2.3.4 - I thought Gingerbreak etc only worked with 2.3.2 ? and the only other way was thought ADB (Which is blocked by the locked BL) ?

[The Mullet of G]

This is heartbreaking, you always think that these things will never happen to you or anyone you know. My friend bought a Sony Ericsson once and I was equally heartbroken, I felt completely powerless to prevent the impending train wreck, and when it was finally recalled I felt a sense of relief akin to that of a Dignitas patient, unfortunately his misery continued for a good while longer.

There are people you can call about this, Samaritans are always a good option. :)