AT&T has released the HTC One X for purchase on their network but astute buyers have already noticed a glaring issue with the smartphone. It seems that HTC has locked the bootloader on their new flagship phone through AT&T, reneging on a promise that the company made to customers last year.
MoDaCo has had the One X from AT&T in their possession for the past two weeks and just assumed that the locked bootloader might be a non release issue. But now that the phone is officially on sale to the general public, not much has changed.
Engadget contacted HTC for comment and received the following reply:
HTC is committed to listening to users and delivering customer satisfaction. Since announcing our commitment to unlockable bootloaders, HTC has worked to enable our customers to unlock the bootloader on more than 45 devices over the past six months. In some cases, however, restrictions prevent certain devices from participating in our bootloader unlocking program. Rest assured, HTC is committed to assisting developers in unlocking bootloaders for HTC devices and we'll continue to unlock additional devices in the future.
The wording is a little suspect regarding the restrictions that prevent the device from being unlocked, but it sounds like AT&T likely played a role in that decision. The publication notes that they have reached out to AT&T for comment but as of this writing, there's no official word from the telecom.
HTC chief Peter Chou announced via Facebook post a year ago that the company would no longer lock bootloaders on future handsets. The company said they made the decision to do so after overwhelming feedback from their customer base that wanted more control over their handsets.
Here's to hoping that the unidentified restrictions don't turn into a common occurance.