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HTC announced that software updates would soon appear to unlock the firm’s new high-end smartphone, the HTC Sensation, the first in what the firm described as a "commitment to unlocking bootloaders and supporting the developer community."
HTC boss Peter Chou, said at the end of May: "There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices."
However no HTC, other than the HTC-made Nexus One ‘Google Phone’, has yet arrived with an unlocked bootloader and only now is the firm unlocking the latest smartphone, the HTC Sensation. HTC said unlocking the bootloader, which enables using third-party Android operating system builds such as the popular Cyanogen Mod, was a "complex challenge that requires a new software build and extensive testing."
Concentrating resources on updates for currently shipping products ahead of older models will be quite familiar to owners of older handsets that experienced extensive delays in receiving Android updates in the past.
Even unlocking the Sensation is expected to be "fully operation by early September". HTC would only say that the firm would continue rolling out bootloader unlocking updates to other devices as "part of maintenance releases."
Unlocked bootloaders have become more common since manufacturers first began to draw attention to unlocked bootloaders, designed to be attractive to an enthusiast market. The same market that are often the early adopters of the latest and greatest high-end Android handset.
Samsung have warmed to the third-party Android developer market to such an extent that they sent free Galaxy S II handsets to the Cyanogen Mod team.
