229

Asus says they will unlock my bootloader for ...money. (xdaforums.com)

submitted 2 months ago by umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml to c/android@lemdro.id

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

How come this wasn't getting more attention?

all 31 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 43 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I was expecting something like $15 to deter script kiddies that are following outdated/misleading/incomplete YouTube flashing tutorials and will end with a brick but $200????

It's a giant "FUCK YOU" to the paying customer. If it was me, I'd flip the phone on eBay and never ever buy anything from Asus anymore

[-] limerod@reddthat.com 22 points 2 months ago

Yeah, $200 is like the price of a fully functioning entry level samsung A15/16 series smartphone which would get 5-6 years of updates! This is ridiculous. Being a niche brand and pulling these stunts is stupid.

[-] vxx@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

You can get a middle class phone for this money. That's what I paid for my current phone and it's just missing the AAA camera.

[-] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 37 points 2 months ago

What the actual fuck.

[-] iturnedintoanewt@lemm.ee 35 points 2 months ago

I think after all the bad press they got with the gamernexus warranty mess, it might be something to point them out to.

[-] burgersc12@mander.xyz 30 points 2 months ago

Been hearing lots of bad things about Asus, especially the whole Gamers Nexus thing

[-] Ilandar@aussie.zone 22 points 2 months ago

Probably because no one here cares about ASUS. It was only relevant because the Zenfone line was small. As soon as that returned to a normal (massive) form factor, any reason to buy an ASUS phone disappeared.

[-] umami_wasbi@lemmy.ml 23 points 2 months ago

It isn't just about one company, but precedent. If today Asus can get away with this, other will look and copy the behavior. Apple and Samsung started a lot of anti-consumer precedents and no one can sure Asus isn't the next.

[-] Ilandar@aussie.zone 6 points 2 months ago

No one is copying ASUS, they are an irrelevant company with a tiny market share.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 5 points 2 months ago

Name and shame everywhere you can, leave comments, reviews everywhere, make sure they know how pissed you are. If you're within the return window I'd say just return it with that reason.

[-] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

And they have a jack. And I think they had the phone with the single camera right? I don't need a front one. That was a cool feature.

[-] Landless2029@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago

Damn some 15 years ago I loved Asus hardware but so much crap has surfaced in recent years.
I don't know if they were always scum or they sold out/enshittified.

[-] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 months ago

A little of both, but I think it's mostly enshittification. I've had nothing but trouble with Asus, to the point where I don't buy their products anymore and try to persuade others to avoid them.

[-] scorp@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

not even Google prevents you from unlocking the bootloader on their phones so why are these Manufacturers doing this? what's their reasoning behind this ?

[-] smeg@feddit.uk 19 points 2 months ago

not even Google

Google are one of the best manufacturers for this, they have always supported and provided instructions for unlocking as far as I can remember

[-] Lawn_and_disorder@hexbear.net 2 points 2 months ago

Google benefits from the development made. Asus not so much. Been using pixel phones for ages now.

[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

Xiaomi's reasoning was they produce different phones for Chinese internal and for global market. A lot of scalpers bought the Chinese version, took it outside China, flashed a global rom and sold it. Chinese versions have limited frequency support and sometimes different chipsets, the problem was buyers of these phones nagged to Xiaomi's support and left bad reviews, even though it wasn't Xiaomi's fault.

Yes, it sounds bullshit, I'm just illustrating, that if you ask companies for reasons, they can tell you some similar stories.

The good part, is that bootloader opening workflow was not the best, but at least acceptable for me compared to Asus'. You had to register your IMEI with a Xiaomi account, than wait a week and you could open it (This was the workflow like 5 years ago, and I still have the same phone, I don't know if they changed it). This way they could slow down the scalpers, and they could see if someone want to mass open a lot of phones at the same time.

[-] dinckelman@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

This is borderline extortion, for a feature that should have been available at launch without any requests needed

[-] independantiste@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 months ago

That's the worst part, it was offered at launch and it was very easy: simple APK install and the click of a button! But suddenly they decided to remove it without any prior warning, and now, after a year or two of promises of BL unlock coming back "in a few months", they simply said fuck you

[-] keyez@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

Sad to see this hasn't improved. I really wanted a zenphone 10, was my ideal set of hardware but when it released was around the time the unlock tool went away and they said month after month that "next month the new version would be out". Sad since the phone doesn't have the best update support to begin with so wanted something I could unlock.

[-] Alsephina@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 months ago

Guess I'll have to avoid ASUS products if they're willing to fuck over customers like this

[-] ElectroLisa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 months ago

Looks like another job for Gamers Nexus

[-] node815@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

I lost my respect for Asus when I had a Zenwatch 2 (I still have it), and they promised at the time Android Wear 2.0 in front our faces for months promising it would be released, but refused to even give an estimated time of release to OTA. This was well after WearOS 2 was released. Their online forum staff members were rude sometimes about it and other times, never responded to passionate asks about when it would be made available. The fact that they didn't reply and care about giving any updates or indication at the time, was enough to push me far away from them.

[-] Facebones@reddthat.com 2 points 2 months ago

I had a similarly nightmarish experience with Asus over their phone some years ago. I was a long time Asus fan in the PC sphere, now none of my tech is ASUS.

[-] BlueLagoon@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

Even trying to buy anything from them directly is damn near impossible. Tried purchasing a desktop from their website a few weeks back, and the system wouldn't accept my address as valid. I talked to their support team, they told me they have to escalate it and I'd hear back in 24-48 hours.

Never heard back. Ended up going through Lenovo, and that was painless.

I used to almost exclusively recommend Asus or Lenovo to my family and friends, but I guess its just Lenovo now.

[-] chottomatte@lemdro.id 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Well they lost a customer with recommendations to other possible customers... you're not the loser here

this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024

229 points (99.1% liked)

Android

17668 readers

34 users here now

The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!

Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.

🔗Universal Link: !android@lemdro.id

💡Content Philosophy:

Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.

Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: !askandroid@lemdro.id

For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: !lemdroid@lemdro.id

💬Matrix Chat

💬Telegram channels / chats

📰Our communities below

Rules

Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to !askandroid@lemdro.id.
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to !androidmemes@lemdro.id.
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.

Quick Links

Our Communities

Lemmy App List

See thread

Chat and More

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

ijeff@lemdro.id

ladfrombrad@lemdro.id

Paradox@lemdro.id

multimoon@lemdro.id

mikestevens@lemdro.id

Devgard@lemmy.world

limerod@reddthat.com

Netrunner@lemdro.id