unlockable

[darkoshi]

I'm ready to unlock my phone's bootloader, as the first step for rooting it. I have the unlock code, though I haven't actually used it yet. To get the code from Motorola, they make you accept a legal agreement, which states that unlocking the bootloader will void the warranty, and all kinds of other scary things, such as it may lead to DEATH. ::eep! goes hide under a rock for a bit::

That's like saying that loading custom software onto your computer could lead to death. Perhaps so, if you got some really bad software that made your CPU overheat and purposely disabled the fans and any normal safety shut-down mechanisms from working. Or various other highly unlikely things that could be imagined.

I also backed up my phone apps and contacts as well as I could, as unlocking the bootloader will delete it all. Unfortunately, some of the best backup apps can't be used unless the the phone is already rooted.

But based on some things I read, maybe I should delay rooting the phone, as it could prevent the phone from upgrading from Marshmallow to Nougat. Per this page, the Moto G4 got the Nougat update a year ago. But per this page, the Moto G4 Play (which I have), just started getting the update in February - but only the Verizon and international unlocked versions. Mine is a local unlocked version. But maybe the update will come to my phone soon too.

Oh! The whole reason I started writing this post: The word "unlockable" can mean 2 things. I keep reading it as "unable to be locked", whereas in this context it instead means "able to be unlocked".

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Now, a note about the Android SDK Tools. The adb (Android Debug Bridge) and fastboot utilities are required for unlocking the bootloader. Most of the instructions I found tell you to download the command-line (non-Android Studio) version of the tools (which are available at the very bottom of the above page), and then to run "sdkmanager.exe" (a GUI app) to get the other tools. But that exe is no longer included in the command-line tools. Now they only include "sdkmanager.bat" which is a non-GUI version. To use this batch program to download adb & fastboot, do the following.

1. You should have the Java JDK installed (version 8 worked for me), and your JAVA_HOME environment variable should point to the JDK folder. Otherwise you'll get an error that JAVA_HOME is not defined.
2. Open a command prompt to the downloaded Android SDK's tools\bin folder.
3. Run this command to get a list of the installed and installable packages:
sdkmanager --verbose --list
4. The list should include an entry for "platform-tools". This is the one that includes adb and fastboot.
5. Run this command to install that package:
sdkmanager --verbose "platform-tools"
6. Enter "y" to accept the license agreement.
7. The \platform-tools folder will be created with adb.exe and fastboot.exe.

Or, this may be a simpler method.

Comments

[marahmarie]

So (just getting back up to speed, here) have you unlocked it, yet? Would love to see any updates from you on this. I can't root my Galaxy s4 as it's one of the models that is specifically impossible to root; any tuts you find online will warn against it since it won't really do much except brick the phone. That said, I've never personally known someone to root a phone so would love to learn what I can from you for future phones I might be able to root, should you choose to do it.

[darkoshi]

I put that task on hiatus for now, as I'm hoping that the upgrade will occur sometime soon. From what I read, once it is rooted, an OTA upgrade is not likely to work. If the upgrade doesn't come, then I'll eventually give up on waiting and root it without the upgrade.

I rooted my last phone by following instructions I found online. I didn't have to unlock the bootloader that time; the prior owner must have already done that. Or maybe that step wasn't required on whatever Android version that was back then. The main reason I wanted to do it that time was to remove the startup sound that always played when turning on the phone.

For this phone, I found instructions online too. Otherwise I'd have no idea of what to do. There's always a chance it won't work, and I will brick the phone. But I'm optimistic and willing to take the chance. This time, the main reason is that I want to try increasing the number of volume steps that the volume button has. It's nothing I couldn't live without, but once I found info on how it might possibly be done, then I wanted to try doing it, and it requires root.

[marahmarie]

I had wanted to root my s4 to upgrade beyond Lollipop. And on many, if not all s4s, you can do that, but on my particular model, you can't. It's no biggie, I just wanted to try out a more modern OS and have the cooler/more convenient features that it would come with.