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How did they give up?
If you're in the US, OnePlus and Google are the only ones who create mobile with bootloaders that can be unlocked. Or are you taking about physical modifications?
It just so happens I was looking into this recently. Yes, the bootloaders can be unlocked, but iirc, the OnePlus 9 pro was their last phone that they released an msm tool for. I don't remember what that stands for, but it's a software that's capable of reliably unbricking the phone and restoring it's factory software. Currently, only the people doing repairs and service at OnePlus have access to this tool, but they used to make it public. If you check out xda, phones since the 9 pro haven't seen ANY custom ROM development because it's too risky. Without the msm tool as a safety net, one wrong move can brick a phone. It can be difficult enough flashing a proven ROM, successfully developing a ROM without soft-bricking the phone at least once is probably just about impossible
Edit: okay the 9 pro was the last flagship with an msm tool. https://onepluscommunityserver.com/list/Unbrick_Tools/
@0ops @MigratingtoLemmy I heard this had something to do with one of the owners of the company leaving and starting his own phone company which left the other guy who didn't really care about the modder community.
This is just what I remember so its prob not 100% accurate
You're talking about the Nothing Line of mobiles. So maybe they take over as the custom ROM favourite in the US? Who knows.
I do not see why this is a problem though; I just found instructions on how to unbrick a OnePlus 11 device with fastboot. Why has this stopped development?
What you'll find out after you go down that rabbit hole is maybe the instructions work, maybe they don't. Worse, they'll point to links to 3rd parties that will charge you to use their tools.
I spent two weeks with an N20 trying to root it and gave up after hitting a batch of files with really ugly viruses. I gave up after I got it factory reset, but the cell radio wouldn't work. It was just obscure problem, virus, scam, obscure problem...over and over.
It's the first time where I've hit that level of scamminess in the modding community and a total lack of support from the manufacturer.
Which other brand would you suggest, for the US other than Google?
Most Motorola phones have unlockable bootloaders. The ones in their range that don't are the carrier specific models.
Many people on Reddit told me that Motorola mobiles in the US don't have unlockable bootloaders.
Does Samsung have locked bootloaders in the US, or is that carrier-specific?
Samsung is a separate kettle of fish in that they make things difficult while keeping the bootloader technically unlocked. Things like a lack of fastboot option, or bespoke for Samsung security changes, and a whole mess of other things. Carriers do also impose addition restrictions for locked models.
Does Odin still work for Samsung devices in the US? I was warned against getting a budget Samsung because someone said ODIN is just for the European models
From what I can tell, Odin should still work on US devices, but I don't think that its been kept current with devices and Android versions. Most of what I'm seeing is support for Android 9.0 and later, which is pretty out of date at this point. That being said, it's not something I've messed with much, so I'm happy to defer to someone else with more direct experience.
You can't unlock the bootloader of Samsung devices in the US?
AFAIK no
Ah wow, what a weird regional lock. Is there any explanation for this? I can unlock my S23 here in Brazil just fine, and the hardware is supposedly the same regardless of region this time around.
European models don't have this problem. This is specific to America
Go try to find an MSM tool (the official one) for anything after the OnePlus N200. They're just not there...and worse, the ones you do find are password locked (that cost 15$ to unlock) or virus ladden garbage.
I'm done with OnePlus and will go to more mainline phones with better support from here on out.
someone on XDA said that they cracked the msm and since then, they have provided it to certain well-known devs working on one plus 11
one plus 11 is going to have a lineageos build soon, check on xda https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/wip-porting-lineageos-20-to-the-oneplus-11.4551767/
Which other brand other than Google allows for the bootloader to be unlocked easily, in the US?