Motorola's Droid X debuts, includes self-bricking 'protection'?

[Jos]

The greatly anticipated Motorola Droid X has officially launched today on the Verizon network -- and it seems the timing couldn't be better for both the manufacturer and the carrier. With so much controversy revolving around iPhone's reception problems and talk of a possible recall, some current or potential AT&T customers may instead turn to this high-end Android smartphone.

The device sports a huge 4.3-inch touch display, a fast 1GHz OMAP processor, 8-megapixel camera with 720p video recording, HDMI output, GPS navigation with full turn-by-turn directions, FM radio, 24GB of storage capacity out of the box (8GB on-board plus a 16GB microSD card), and Swype support which lets you "type" faster by sliding a finger from letter to letter.

The Droid X ships with Android 2.1, the second most recent version of Google's mobile platform. But, like many Android phones, it comes with a modified version of the operating system that's exclusive to the manufacturer. There has been some talk that Motorola is using a chip called 'eFuse' to verify that your Droid X is running approved software at bootup or else it could be deactivated.

While the chip is indeed under the hood, there's no evidence that it will be used to brick your handset should you want to root your phone and load Android 2.2 "Froyo" before a Motorola-sanctioned version is out. In fact, the same 'eFuse' chip can reportedly be found on a number of previous Motorola handsets. In any case, the Droid X is available now for $199 after rebate with a two-year contract, and it seems plenty of units will be available to avoid any shortages.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/39662-motorolas-droid-x-debuts-includes-self-bricking-protection.html

 

[thatguyandrew92]

Oh god I WANT ONE!

 

[EXCellR8]

looks like this is aimed to compete with the htc evo...

 

[aj_the_kidd]

looks cool, wait for the Droid 2 though

 

[Guest]

I just picked this phone up this morning and it is everything that they promised. It is sick and will give the Iphone 4 a run for its money

 

[Guest]

Some of these stupid phone companies are getting WORSE than the RIAA!
It's MY phone, I paid for it, I should be allowed to do with it as I please!
I long for the day, when the when the wireless carriers become JUST A CARRIER.
You bring your compatible phone to the network, and they provide the service.
Get the flip out of the hardware end of it! The old wire line phones, YOU provide
the phone, the PHONE company provides the service.
Oh, the consumer won't want to pay full retail. Yeah, right, when every tom **** &
Harry starts selling the phones, you think ANYONE is going to pay full retail?

 

[Burty117]

Guest said:
Some of these stupid phone companies are getting WORSE than the RIAA!
It's MY phone, I paid for it, I should be allowed to do with it as I please!
I long for the day, when the when the wireless carriers become JUST A CARRIER.
You bring your compatible phone to the network, and they provide the service.
Get the flip out of the hardware end of it! The old wire line phones, YOU provide
the phone, the PHONE company provides the service.
Oh, the consumer won't want to pay full retail. Yeah, right, when every tom **** &
Harry starts selling the phones, you think ANYONE is going to pay full retail?

I see where your coming from, but the reason its done how it is, is because soo many users out there fiddle with the software or hardware and break it, then call motorola up and complain its broken, or at&t and expect them to fix it. the new iPhones probably a good example.

So yeah, it would be nice to have it so that we bought the phone then they were just the service but in reality, that may never happen.

 

[tengeta]

iPhones have that kind of chip too, and I don't see it stopping any unauthorized software use. Its getting funny how much these companies spend in protecting their proprietary crap when it just gets cracked faster by the year. I mean look at Windows 7, its "new anti-piracy" system failed even faster than Vista's did.

 

[peas]

The eFuse (alleged "self-bricking") rumor has been debunked many times over. There's a lengthy discussion over at Slashdot and many other forums. The same TI OMAP chip with the eFuse is used in many other smartphones (Android or otherwise).

 

[ViperSniper2]

It's not the manufacturer, because there have been phones from them that didn't have the bricking feature! .....it Verizon's modified Android OS or I mean boot loader software. So stick it to both Verizon and Moto. They're just Sony Wantabees bricking PSPs and PS3's!!!

 

[Guest]

This is why eFuse is a good thing – http://misterreiner.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/efuse/

 

[Tedster]

No physical Qwerty keyboard and no physical send/end buttons are a deal breaker for me. I have a regular droid and the latter is a royal pain and we won't even mention the sorry keyboard. If I could get my HTC touch Pro 2 fully working with Android (and I have installed it) that would be great, but alas, android only partially works on the HTC TP2.