How come this wasn't getting more attention?
Asus says they will unlock my bootloader for ...money.
2 years ago by umami_wasabi to c/android
limerod 20 points 2 years 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.
independantiste 37 points 2 years ago
What the actual fuck.
iturnedintoanewt 31 points 2 years ago path: 0 12527284, hotness: undefined, score: 31, children: 1
helenslunch 16 points 2 years ago path: 0 12527284 12529487, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 0
burgersc12 28 points 2 years ago
Been hearing lots of bad things about Asus, especially the whole Gamers Nexus thing
umami_wasbi 22 points 2 years 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.
scrubbles 5 points 2 years 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 4 points 2 years 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 15 points 2 years 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 2 points 2 years 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.
independantiste 10 points 2 years 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
helenslunch 5 points 2 years ago path: 0 12526382 12529497, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
infeeeee 4 points 2 years 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.
keyez 10 points 2 years 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.
node815 7 points 2 years 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.
ElectroLisa 6 points 2 years ago
Looks like another job for Gamers Nexus
CameronDev 5 points 2 years ago
That's for the motherboard replacement, not the bootloader unlock.
They've already unlocked and bricked their device, so they need a new motherboard.
BlueLagoon 2 points 2 years 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 2 points 2 years ago
Well they lost a customer with recommendations to other possible customers... you're not the loser here
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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
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