4 ms·

I was going to buy one of these... Could it not be argued this is anti-competitive?

Terretta 15y ago
Is what anti-competitive? Against what "competitors"? Sounds like locking the boot rom is good for ASUS' competitors based on the comments there and here.
- alexchamberlain 15y ago
  I'm sure you could get a stock ARM Linux distro booting on there if you tried hard enough... Think Microsoft and IE.
  - Terretta 15y ago
    Except ASUS isn't in the OS business or software business. They're purely in the hardware business. If you can't run other stuff on their hardware and you want to run other stuff, the rational response is to buy other hardware – hence, good for ASUS competitors. It's not anti-competitive, it's free market.
    - alexchamberlain 15y ago
      There will be a custom Android build shipped with the hardware...
marshray 15y ago
I was about to order one too. Instead I went out last night and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. https://twitter.com/#!/marshray/status/154039917322838017 https://twitter.com/#!/marshray/status/154039917322838017 The bootloader isn't locked, but the 'Heimdall' flash backup/restore tool doesn't work with it. (yet :-)
- alexchamberlain 15y ago
  Were there any other reasons (than just the bootloader) to buy this over the Asus?
  - marshray 15y ago
    Not that I am aware of, other than it's been on the market longer and maybe it will have fewer "version 1.0" bugs. I'm actually trying to not be disappointed about taking a step down in CPU and GPU capacity. I think the ASUS probably had some ports the Galaxy Tab doesn't.
- cdh 15y ago
  It's great that you got one that isn't locked, but worth mentioning for others thats Samsung is indeed locking the bootloader on some (many?) of the wifi-only 10.1 devices. (As far as I know, all of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 7 Plus devices are sold unlocked, for now.)
  - marshray 15y ago
    Well, heck, maybe I'm wrong. :-) I haven't actually done it yet, but I can pull up a "Warning: Installing a different OS can void your warranty, are you sure?" message. Do you have any specific links?
    - cdh 15y ago
      I suggest starting here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1050 http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1050 I don't have a 10.1, but I did spend a few hours reading through many of those threads last week before I decided against purchasing one for my wife. (We ended up going with the 7+ model instead.) For what it's worth, my understanding is that there are workarounds to flash an unsigned kernel, it's just a real pain. Also, I think you would get the message you are seeing even if it were unlocked... my Galaxy S2 gives me the same warning before letting me into download mode.
noarchy 15y ago
Let your money do the talking, where this product is concerned. There are reasonable alternatives, in this case, and their market position should be improved by what Asus is doing.

Is what anti-competitive? Against what "competitors"? Sounds like locking the boot rom is good for ASUS' competitors based on the comments there and here.

alexchamberlain 15y ago
I'm sure you could get a stock ARM Linux distro booting on there if you tried hard enough... Think Microsoft and IE.
- Terretta 15y ago
  Except ASUS isn't in the OS business or software business. They're purely in the hardware business. If you can't run other stuff on their hardware and you want to run other stuff, the rational response is to buy other hardware – hence, good for ASUS competitors. It's not anti-competitive, it's free market.
  - alexchamberlain 15y ago
    There will be a custom Android build shipped with the hardware...

marshray 15y ago

I was about to order one too. Instead I went out last night and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. https://twitter.com/#!/marshray/status/154039917322838017 https://twitter.com/#!/marshray/status/154039917322838017 The bootloader isn't locked, but the 'Heimdall' flash backup/restore tool doesn't work with it. (yet :-)

alexchamberlain 15y ago
Were there any other reasons (than just the bootloader) to buy this over the Asus?
- marshray 15y ago
  Not that I am aware of, other than it's been on the market longer and maybe it will have fewer "version 1.0" bugs. I'm actually trying to not be disappointed about taking a step down in CPU and GPU capacity. I think the ASUS probably had some ports the Galaxy Tab doesn't.
cdh 15y ago
It's great that you got one that isn't locked, but worth mentioning for others thats Samsung is indeed locking the bootloader on some (many?) of the wifi-only 10.1 devices. (As far as I know, all of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 7 Plus devices are sold unlocked, for now.)
- marshray 15y ago
  Well, heck, maybe I'm wrong. :-) I haven't actually done it yet, but I can pull up a "Warning: Installing a different OS can void your warranty, are you sure?" message. Do you have any specific links?
  - cdh 15y ago
    I suggest starting here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1050 http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1050 I don't have a 10.1, but I did spend a few hours reading through many of those threads last week before I decided against purchasing one for my wife. (We ended up going with the 7+ model instead.) For what it's worth, my understanding is that there are workarounds to flash an unsigned kernel, it's just a real pain. Also, I think you would get the message you are seeing even if it were unlocked... my Galaxy S2 gives me the same warning before letting me into download mode.

noarchy 15y ago

Let your money do the talking, where this product is concerned. There are reasonable alternatives, in this case, and their market position should be improved by what Asus is doing.