The Android ecosystem is known for its relative “openness” which allows a user of an Android-powered device to tinker with his handset and get access to tons of personalization and customization options and the reason why a lot of power users and hackers tend to gravitate toward the Android platform. But before you get to the nitty-gritty of hacking your handset, you need to make sure that it has an unlocked bootloader (or an unlocakable one at the very least). Otherwise, things could get messy and a bit more complicated.
If your handset came with a bootloader, it ain’t the end of the world yet. The developer communities usually work very hard in ensuring that those who are interested in hacking their devices would have the freedom to do so, locked bootloader or not. Take the case of the Verizon version of the Samsung Galaxy S III for example. When it hit the shelves, Big Red decided to have the bootloader of the handset locked and instead offered a Developer Edition of the device which came with an unlocked bootloader. The developer communities would have none of this though and worked in cracking the code of the handset’s bootloader – which they did successfully.
This is almost what happened to the Motorola Atrix HD as well. The device came with a locked bootloader and to add insult to injury, the handset is not included in the list of devices supported by Motorola’s Unlock your Device website which basically lets a user have the bootloader of his handset unlocked via official means. What Motorola did however was to offer a Developer Edition of the Motorola Atrix HD with an unlockable bootlader via the manufacturer’s official support site.
And to those interested in getting their hands on the Motorola Atrix HD Developer Edition, you will be interested to know that your wait for the handset to make its debut in the shelves is about to end. As it stands, Motorola has confirmed that it is now accepting pre-orders for the handset via its official website. The handset will dent your budget by $459.99 at its off-contract price point and will be shipped out starting December 16.
Though Motorola will let you unlock the bootloader of the Motorola Atrix HD Developer Edition in an official manner, the OEM is still quick to point out that tinkering with your handset is the fastest way of saying adios to your warranty.
As for the Motorola Atrix HD Developer Edition, the handset has its circuitry built around a QualComm MSM8960 SnapDragon chipset which comes with a dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor and a full gigabyte of RAM. The handset comes with 8GB of onboard storage but a dedicated microSD card slot in the chassis of the handset enables memory expansion of the Motorola Atrix HD Developer Edition. As for its display, the smartphone packs a 4.5-inch TFT capacitive multitouch panel with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels while its dual-shooter configuration features a rear 8MP shooter and a front 1.3MP video call and self-portrait camera.
