Transformer Pad 300 gets official bootloader unlock tool
We’re working on big things behind the scenes at Pocketables – stay tuned! – and expanding our coverage to include devices that fit into bigger pockets (e.g., backpack, messenger bag, backseat, etc.) is something we’re introducing now.
Asus’ Transformer Pad 300 is out in the wild now, offering up a package similar to that of the Transformer Prime but with certain specs and material choices that makes it a $399 tablet rather than a $499 tablet, while still retaining the features that makes this generation of the Transformer great: Tegra 3, optional keyboard dock, ICS upgradable, and so on.
Asus is also continuing what it started when it made it possible to unlock the bootloader of the Prime, and is now offering a simple .apk file that unlocks the Transformer Pad 300 as well. This makes it a whole lot easier for people to tinker with the device beyond what it was originally designed for, which is a great option for Asus to give its users (and something that other companies should really start doing too, for both tablets and phones), but don’t mistake this for an endorsement of “that kind of behavior” from Asus. Along with the download is a rather clear message from Asus regarding how this turns your Original Product into a Revised Product (it transforms, I guess :D) that is the next best thing to the plague as far as Asus and its warranties and satisfaction guarantees are concerned. In other words: this will make your Pad 300 easier to tinker with, and more difficult to get repaired.
Even so, it’s nothing new that hacking an Android device will affect warranty (in theory anyways), yet people do it anyways. Legal talk aside I think Asus recognizes this, and it’s understandable that it wants to cover its own behind when it actually goes and does something like this that isn’t completely self centered.
[Asus via Android Police]
