Good and EVO

Retail version of HTC EVO 3D still has locked bootloader

Evo-3d-son-bootloader_wm See that? It's the bootloader from a freshly unboxed retail version of the HTC EVO 3D that will be released to the masses next Friday.

Unfortunately, as you've no doubt already noticed, that "SHIP S-ON" in the first line means the bootloader is locked. There are some early pics floating around showing S-OFF instead but those are from the engineering bootloader, which is an important distinction.

HTC confirmed that locked bootloaders on their devices would be a thing of the past. The company made the announcement on May 26th, six days after the date you see in the bootloader, so don't get prematurely wound up or start accusing HTC of lying.

We're still more than a week away from EVO 3D's national launch, which is plenty of time for an update that unlocks the bootloader so custom ROMs and other types of hackery can commence as soon as possible. Whether the update happens before the 24th, at first boot, or when customers activate their new phones is unknown, but there's no way that HTC would turn their back on us when we were the ones who got them to change their mind in the first place.

So rest assured that an unlocked bootloader is likely still in the EVO 3D's future. It's just not part of its reality right now.

Thanks, ArmyAdams!

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Jenn K. Lee

Jenn K. Lee is the founder of Pocketables. She loves gadgets the way most women love shoes and purses. The pieces in her tech wardrobe that go with everything are currently the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Sony Tablet P, and Nexus 7, but there are still a couple of vintage UMPCs/MIDs in the back of her closet.

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