Asus sheds some light on Zenfone 9 and 10's bootloader unlocking tool

09 August 2023
It doesn't tell when the tool would be available, though.

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Anonymous, 11 Aug 2023Then shoo them away after telling them physical/water damag... moreWell you have the point but there are techs which aint yet developed and exist only in videogames and other Movie and computer artifical made scenarios.
Like nanobots capable of self repairing everything even broken screens or parts.
Tiny robots which you barelly see under microscope but can repair them selves even everything you order them to.
Yes it sounds like a Sci-Fi but noone can say this Sci-Fi cant be real in near or far future.

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    • Anonymous
    • R5v
    • 11 Aug 2023

    Asus excuses!!! Removing the tool to unlock bootloader already tells they will remove unlocking bootloader altogether.

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      • Anonymous
      • R5v
      • 11 Aug 2023

      Cpt.Power, 11 Aug 2023Well yes but often happens. From clumsy people you can ex... moreThen shoo them away after telling them physical/water damage ain't covered by warranty else call the cops if they insists or tell them go to 3rd party repair to fix that damage.

        Anonymous, 11 Aug 2023Physical damage is different from software bricking the pho... moreWell yes but often happens.
        From clumsy people you can expect the unexpected.

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          • Anonymous
          • R5v
          • 11 Aug 2023

          Yong Farlight84, 10 Aug 2023The good old days are gone. Only Google Pixel smartphones i... moreSony also allow bootloader unlock for a long time now albeit their phones are expensive to boot.

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            • Anonymous
            • R5v
            • 11 Aug 2023

            Cpt.Power, 10 Aug 2023And why not. If user dont know what to do or damages his ... morePhysical damage is different from software bricking the phone though & regular users rarely unlock their bootloaders or knows about custom firmwares. Bricks do happen due to buggy software updates that usually auto-installs on most Android phones.

              Anonymous, 10 Aug 2023Why ban when users could just relock them anyway? Only Sams... moreAnd why not.
              If user dont know what to do or damages his device in the process all his warranty is gone anyway.
              You have no idea how much costpmers comes to our stores each week claiming their device been damaged by unexpected accident when its certain it was them those clumsy customers who did that damage.
              For example leaving your phone on rain or dropping it onto a solid ground etc.

                ya, 10 Aug 2023in Europe the warranty period is two years, regardless of w... moreYes unless you break your device by your self but will come to a shop you bought your phone claiming the damage been made by unexpected accident.
                Same goes for said bootloader.
                Once you root you device your warranty is gone.

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                  • ya
                  • DGV
                  • 10 Aug 2023

                  Cpt.Power, 10 Aug 2023Such a stupid movement to void customers warranty. This sh... morein Europe the warranty period is two years, regardless of what the company communicates

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                    • Anonymous
                    • vaS
                    • 10 Aug 2023

                    Cpt.Power, 10 Aug 2023Such a stupid movement to void customers warranty. This sh... moreWhy ban when users could just relock them anyway? Only Samsung afaik does this ugly thing called e-fuse when users unlock theirs.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • vaS
                      • 10 Aug 2023

                      kevinmcmurtrie, 10 Aug 2023That's funny because I remember how amazing it was tha... moreThey dropped enthusiast users a long time ago as they make more money off people excited about the brand new "camera" coming out. SW also gets restricted in the name of consumer protection.
                      Now if say you want a HWKB phone, all you have are the old BBKey2, Unihertz, or the Indiegogo funded Astro Slide 5G.
                      It's sad that project ara died but they probably knew they will end up like the desktop market so they killed it.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • vaS
                        • 10 Aug 2023

                        Yong Farlight84, 10 Aug 2023The good old days are gone. Only Google Pixel smartphones i... moreEven if I let go of the jack AND sd slot, I don't want to play Russian roulette with Pixel hardware. The previous ones like the 5 lineup were plagued with mobo issues and all they did was extend the warranty as replacement boards still end up bricking. And the connectivity issues are on of the complaints on the newer models.

                          Such a stupid movement to void customers warranty.
                          This should be banned and prohibited in warranty devices.
                          Once you unlock your bootloader and install custom ROM your phone lost all the warranty and been made useless. Because most people just dont now what to do.

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                            • Anonymous
                            • a0x
                            • 10 Aug 2023

                            Anonymous, 10 Aug 2023is it though wouldn't someone else just make oneNo, they couldn't. As far as I know, to unlock the bootloader each device requires its own key that is stored in an Asus database, hence why the Unlocking App required internet access (apart from Asus wanting to learn of a device being unlocked to maintain deniability in case of a warranty request). Thus making a replacement would necessitate either leaking this data, brute-forcing or finding some exploit.

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                              • Anonymous
                              • NU4
                              • 10 Aug 2023

                              Why is there an unlocking tool at all to begin with? Pixel phones don't require anything like that. You just allow oem unlocking in the developer settings on the phone and then use fastboot to unlock it. This is a problem of Asus' own making.

                                kevinmcmurtrie, 10 Aug 2023That's funny because I remember how amazing it was tha... moreThe good old days are gone. Only Google Pixel smartphones is development friendly and that is what I will be buying going forward. Not Xiaomi, Asus, Oneplus. Pixels only for Custom ROMs which come in handy when your phone doesn't receive latest updates and security patches on time or updates stop completely.

                                  Yong Farlight84, 09 Aug 2023OnePlus starting with 10 series have a locked bootloader no... moreThat's funny because I remember how amazing it was that the Oppo Find 7 encouraged replacing the OS. Oppo offered two of their own and maintained a list of third party OSes. The phone even had a built-in recovery tool so you didn't have to worry about bricking it.

                                  Also: Hot-swappable battery, replaceable back, 1440p screen, microSD, headphone jack, and a protective rim around the screen. It still works today, though slowly and without some important radio bands.

                                  Other than speed improvements, the last few years have been really bad for phones.

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                                    • AnonD-454049
                                    • X@K
                                    • 10 Aug 2023

                                    Darth Caesium, 09 Aug 2023Making you wait is never okay. It bars people from doing wh... morexiaomi's argument is that the delay deters malicious individuals from installing malware ridden operating systems on devices but idk if it works. It's still better than a completely locked bootloader. The edl authentication though is a crime.

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • kEq
                                      • 10 Aug 2023

                                      Yong Farlight84, 09 Aug 2023Not releasing the unlocking tool is same as not allowing bo... moreis it though wouldn't someone else just make one

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                                        • AnonD-454049
                                        • X@K
                                        • 10 Aug 2023

                                        Anonymous, 10 Aug 2023Xiaomi's software is so bad even making users wait a d... moretrue lol