Too many products are easier to throw away than fix—consumers deserve a ‘right to repair’::There was a time when the family washing machine would last decades, with each breakdown fixed by the friendly local repair person. But those days are long gone.
Phones should also have unlockable booloaders by default to flash your own updates when your manufacturer stops supporting it.
I understand security risks and all, but it really should be an option for people who buy their devices.
Google’s Pixel phones are very open for ‘convenrional’ Smartphones, which is why GrapheneOS can use a complete verified boot chain
Same with Fairphones.
Xiaomi used to do this, untill some middlemen decided to install malware that looked like Xiaomi’s MIUI ROM. So they had to lock it somewhat. They used to install malware and sell the device to the emd consumer. Atleast till now you can unlock the bootloader as the end customer of the device.
For me that’s the most egregious case of not letting users actually own their hardware. Samsung is notorious with this on their US Snapdragon phones.
A prime of example of this is the BlackBerry Playbook. A decent device for people who don’t need a very powerful device but being locked into BlackBerry’s OS needlessly complicates things. Used models around me sell for around $10.
I know BlackBerry has their own reasons for not unlocking their bootloaders but it can be a bit frustrating