The Dark Side of Android Hacking

What the hell? He used an unsupported procedure to install software of unknown functionality, compatibility and provenance on his phone, and blames <i>Google</i> for bricking his device?<p>It's never been very clear what "open" means, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean "untrained persons can perform major surgery risk-free".

Once your carrier gets its hands on the phone, it's not gonna be open, no matter how badly Google wants it to be.<p>Let's give kudos to Google for making it <i>possible</i> for us to get open devices (either directly from Google, or through one of several niche manufacturers (I'm watching Always Innovating and the Open Pandora people here (also, I was a Lisp programmer in a former life))) and leave the blame where it really belongs: The carriers.

Wow..<p>I assume he's just trolling for pageviews and links, but it makes me wonder if real people actually think like that? I suspect a few do.

The hardest part of rooting my android phone was reactivating it via Verizon's minimally qualified tech support. (I'm pretty sure it is required for all baseband upgrades but even then you could just write down the steps and codes for the next time)<p>The most <i>dangerous</i> part was actually rooting the phone as I had to flash a downgrade then upgrade from the rooted downgrade, if I expected it to brick it was here.<p>I knew the risks however and this author doesn't seem to understand that this voids any warranty provided by the manufacturer and is most definitely not supported in any way other than instructions on how to do it.

How is this a story? The author happily acknowledges that android doesn't prevent you from being stupid, and then he complains that it doesn't prevent you from being stupid.<p>You cannot have it both ways.