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Just as a hypothetical example, let's say I want to hook up a Wiimote to an Android device. The Wiimote cannot enter a code and hit enter, but apart from that
by quink 13y ago
Just as a hypothetical example, let's say I want to hook up a Wiimote to an Android device.
The Wiimote cannot enter a code and hit enter, but apart from that it's a normal Bluetooth device. Pre-Android 4.2, it was perfectly fine to connect it. Bluetooth uses the code '000000' for this and a third party application can hook through.
With Android 4.2 and 4.3, the ability to connect Bluetooth devices to connect without using a code determined by the phone was removed. It was possible to root the phone and set it to a specific MAC address for the Bluetooth interface, from which the Bluetooth code was generated, so that this Bluetooth code would be '000000' and the Wiimote would connect correctly.
Now with Android 4.4 the answer is going to effectively be 'forget it'...
I'm sorry but if what seems to become the most ubiquitous operating system out there cannot connect to probably the most ubiquitous gamepad in recent memory (and quite a few others that exhibit the same problem), using a standard that both of these devices support, then that's just a tad ridiculous. Especially if it's something as simple as this that was supported in the past.
And that's just one example.
Sure, I'm also going to complain about the fact that "it's my device, I want to use it as I want". But when you actually see the reasons coming through behind this you might understand why rooting might not be such an unreasonable request - it makes things like that, things that should work, work.
- aray 13y agoRight now there's two ways to root some devices -- though the bootloader (unlock), which allows you to securely do the changeover. And root exploits, which are security holes in the operating system and can be used to persistently write insecure/root functionality on the filesystem. The former can only be done by you (the device owner), but in theory the latter can be done by any manner of malicious applications. dm-verity only addresses the latter. You should still be free to unlock and flash your own ROM to your hearts content. This includes flashing rooted images that have whatever bluetooth functionality.
- makomk 13y agoOf course, the reason root exploits are so popular as a way of unlocking devices is because most Android devices don't have unlockable bootloaders. I mean, I guess technically Google aren't stopping people from unlocking their devices, they're just giving the device manufacturers and phone networks a more robust way of doing so, but that doesn't really make much difference to the end user... Also, at least on ChromeOS unlocking the bootloader disables playback of DRMed content.
- quink 13y agoUnlocking the bootloader nominally both voids the warranty and requires a complete wipe of everything on the phone.
- aray 13y agoRequiring a wipe is by design. If an attacker steals your phone, whats to prevent them from flashing a new system partition that lets them read off all the existing data? You can backup most (all?) of your data manually, then unlock and restore the data. Otherwise unlocking would be essentially the easiest attack vector to owning a device without the user knowing.