Google Finalizes Acquisition of Motorola Mobility 109
zacharye writes with news of the end of the regulatory saga that was Google acquiring Motorola Mobility. From the article: "In line with earlier reports, Google on Tuesday finalized its acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The $12.5 billion merger was approved by regulators in China on Monday after having been given the green light by the United States Department of Justice this past February. Chinese regulators did stipulate terms for its approval, however, namely that Google must continue to make Android open-source and freely available. Former Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha has stepped down and Google's Dennis Woodside will replace him as chief executive..."
Now can we see some bootlocker unlock love... (Score:5, Interesting)
The biggest thing I've been hoping for with the Google/Motorola merger is that Google could offer a method to unlock bootloaders on newer Motorola phones, such as the Atrix 2, Photon, or others.
I'm just hoping this comes to pass now that all the big names have signed onto this.
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While we are hoping for stuff that will not happen, I hope they kill Blur.
HTC still will not really unlock a phone, by that I mean lack of S-OFF. Sure you can live with that, but this is why I did not buy an HTC phone.
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well if they dont unlock the bootloaders, then goodbye google.
And then go where? To Apple?
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I would assume he means he would stick with dev devices. Which is what those of us who want an unlocked bootloader do now.
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Yup. I've been buying HTC phones since they were doing Windows Mobile 6.x phones for T-Mobile (T-Mobile MDA/Wizard). I even took my HTC HD2 and learned to put Android on it. When I switched to Sprint, found that I couldn't do an S-OFF on my HTC Evo 3D, and had to jump through hoops just to change ROMs, I traded it in and "downgraded" to a Nex
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I used to swear by HTC phones, because I had a T-Mobile MDA/Wizard (WM 5.x initially, flashed to 6.x, and overclocked) and that phone lasted over four years without an issue. Battery life? Could go for a week on standby, few phones made these days could brag about doing.
The one thing I wish Google would do with Motorola is what they have done on all Nexus phones --
fastboot oem unlock
accept the "you can't just walk into Mordor" dialog, have it erase the filesystems, and then go about what you want to do.
No
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a render server streaming video to devices
Would the render server be in the same building? Or would it be in The Cloud(tm), using up the user's monthly allotment of data transfer like OnLive?
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Those monthly allotments are still pretty rare in the USA. Even place that have them like comcasts 350GB limits, are pretty decent. It would take something like 5 hours a day to go over.
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You are right a little bit.
HTC may not straight out give you S-Off, but they really have made S-Off not hard to get.
Before they let you unlock the boot loaders it was still trivial to get yourself Rooted, Unlocked and S-Off on most HTC phones.
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I should mod you but S-OFF can be gained on an HTC pretty easily using Revolutionary. Then you can gain root access of even change your ROM from there. I don't know if this method works on the newest of the new but it works on most HTC's out there.
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I meant from HTC. I have 0 interest in rewarding people who sell boot loader locked phones.
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Yes that's what I meant. You can gain S-on here:
http://revolutionary.io/ [revolutionary.io]
SuperOneClick wont break an HTC. You have to do a little more work.
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That is not from HTC.
Which means you should just not buy HTC phones. Much easier.
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Why do you want S-off if you don't want to root your phone? I just gave you the crack that will break the NAND lock on most HTC phones. It's a simple matter after that to just copy over SU using ADB. Even though I have a LG now, I kind of miss that old HTC that I had. In any case it's not HTC's fault. The phone companies are going to keep making this harder on all phones so you can't delete their crap ware. Most newer Android phones with ICS wont even let you change the memory card, just like Apple.
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The phone companies are going to keep making this harder on all phones so you can't delete their crap ware. Most newer Android phones with ICS wont even let you change the memory card, just like Apple.
I thought that was solely due to the fact that people are too stupid to unmount their devices after writing to it....Apple just assumed that about their users from the start. ;-)
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No, you just about have too root every device to be able to delete that stuff unless you go for a plain Jane Google model and don't go on contract. I think those are devoid of it but all Verizon and AT&T phones have that stuff in internal memory. Apple probably has less bloat but for now they also have higher prices, smaller screens, and are really behind except in the tablets. Apple looks to have the best tablet with the dumbest name "iPAD 2". It sounds like you are buying tampons or something. Why not
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Google has also been trying to increase their brand presence in Android, which could be another motivating factor for the purchase (in addition to their IP portfolio). I'm afraid you're right that they might lock down their new devices even further, all in the name of security and to protect their brand image.
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Right that's why I just kept 2.2.2 on my LG Thrill (Optimus 3D). Just rooted it and added in the features that I want. Now just about all apps work with it that didn't before, mainly Open GL games that 2.2 apparently doesn't support. It was actually easier to do that then it would have been to upgrade to Gingerbread which is available now with Ice Cream Sandwich coming soon but I now have a decent screen capture and a bunch of other software that gets more out of 2.2 and finally sets that 1ghz dual core pro
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I want a way from the OEM to flash a new OS or make any modifications I want without any cracks.
I want to use my money to support only those who sell what I want. Is that really so hard to understand.
The phone companies are why I own a nexus, and my next phone will be a nexus as well.
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Well I think with that phone all you have to do is copy Superuser in the proper directory and you are done. HTC has a NAND lock which is still no big deal to root. As I understand it a Nexus wont allow you to upgrade your memory. IMO that is a larger issue as to go from 16gig to 32gig there is quite a price premium like Apple has their phones priced $100 more for an increase in $10 worth of memory.
What is worse than rooting one is upgrading one and getting all of your stuff transferred. I have a phone that
Wont happen... (Score:4, Insightful)
Bootloader unlocks on phones wont happen so long as carriers like AT&T, Verizon, Rogers, Telstra etc etc etc wont sell such unlocked phones (or in some cases wont even allow them on their network)
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Verizon has the galaxy nexus, they don't seem to be doing well with updates but the bootloader is not locked.
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The'll let you have them but most will block tethering if you don't pay for it which is kinda crazy. The only reason I rooted my old android phone was to get the crapware off. Still crapware on new phone but have no desire to root yet as it is still under warranty and I can't see it hurting performance as it did on my old one since the new one has more internal memory and I have an app that pretty much kills everything when the screen is off.
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Well an unlocked boot loader might be what you need since Moto isn't going to update the DROID 2 or X2, well unless google changes that.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/21/3033966/motorola-android-ice-cream-sandwich-upgrade-statement [theverge.com]
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Finally! Google's in charge, and Moto can finally be made non-evil (does official "happy dance"). I was about to give up hope.
I have a Photon that was lobotomized by Moto's 2.3.5 update last week (which killed our ability to unlock the bootloader through guerrilla means). I listed it on eBay on Sunday after deciding I had no desire to own a crippled phone with a locked bootloader. As a direct result of this good news, I cancelled the auction a few minutes ago, and decided to wait at least another week or tw
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The biggest thing to hope for here is that Google will now control some hardware like Apple does, so they can make an OS that works just as well - at least on some hardware.
My wish... (Score:5, Interesting)
... is that the superb Motorola cell phone radios get implemented in the Google phones. I live in a rural area and although I really like both the iPhone and the Samsung android phones, I rely almost exclusively on my Motorola Defy.
The reception and voice quality is incredibly better than any other cell phone I have used (and that is a lot). I have never experienced a dropped call with it and it always connects unless there is absolutely no signal.
Sigh
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Exactly. So Moto should do what they do so well: build cell phone guts. Let Samsung and apple design the rest of the device.
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Not really, look for example at apple. With an outstanding marketing department you can get people to want barely working tech encapsuled in what is pretty much a black brick.
Lord knows I'm not a fan of Apple, and there is much to criticize the company for--setting up walled gardens, trying to lock consumers into their product lines, patent shenanigans, etc. Say what you want, though, but criticisms that their "black brick" is "barely working" are way off-base. Two things I do admire Apple for are 1) the aesthetic design of their products, and 2) the out-of-the-box tech polish they give everything, including brand newly launched products.
As fun as it is to make fun of the "cul
Agreed (Score:1)
I haven't owned an Apple product since the Mac OS 9.x days and have vowed never to set foot in their walled garden again, that is not to say their products are without value, even at their inflated prices. Their code runs on a very limited range of hardware, and so they are able to optimize their software to an extent that would be unthinkable on Windows or Android, and it shows.
It's not the right choice for everyone, and it is not the right choice for me, but that doesn't mean it's fair to imply that it is
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P.S. This is why I have such high hopes for Google. They do tend to be quite open with their products, arguably too open in some respects. Still, if they get to the level of design expertise, polish, and outright raw power in small form factors that Apple has gotten to, all the while keeping their thriving corporate culture intact, there's no telling how much it can achieve, changing the industry in ways we (or they, for that matter) haven't even dreamed of yet.
It's a shame that Apple and Google seem to b
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P.S. This is why I have such high hopes for Google. They do tend to be quite open with their products, arguably too open in some respects. Still, if they get to the level of design expertise, polish, and outright raw power in small form factors that Apple has gotten to, all the while keeping their thriving corporate culture intact, there's no telling how much it can achieve, changing the industry in ways we (or they, for that matter) haven't even dreamed of yet.
Google is an advertising company that derives
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Yeah, that seems to be a common complaint but it seems mostly with early production units. Mine has had no issue and it has been severely abused. I think the replacement speaker is quite cheap and easy to replace. Easier than the iphone which has had similar issues.
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... one more thing: this speaks to my point that Motorola is good at making great cell phone radio electronics. They have about 50 years experience with communication gear and it shows.
They should be making radios for every phone the way other manufacturers make displays, wifi chipsets, etc. Apple could certainly benefit from Motorola RF guts and every Japanese/Korean phone I have used has terrible RF characteristics. Its like they never expect you to be more than 500 m from a cell site.
My provid
Just one thing... (Score:5, Funny)
I still think "Motorola Mobility" sounds more like a company that makes scooters for disabled people than mobile phones.
Warming up the three new superpowers (Score:2, Interesting)
Apple has a range of consumer electronics, app and media markets, etc.
Amazon has some consumer electronics and is expanding, and has app and media markets.
Now Google will have a range of consumer electronics branded under their own name, a likely well manicured phone and tablet, app and media markets.
All three have the potential to develop sophisticated soup-to-nuts ecosystems.
Goodbye Microsoft...
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Goodbye Microsoft...
It's not like Microsoft was much of a player in this market anymore, anyway...
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I don't think Microsoft is going to be a player in any market anymore. It appears that their only trick is to shove windows onto small platforms where its not needed. Unless you have an xbox (which is hard to haul around with you), they don't have much in the way of a viable full platform set with apps and music and books. Lets face it, Bing/xbox live/whatever they're calling it these days sucks.
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MS has the X-Box
you know that box that sold tens of millions of units and you can watch cable TV on it, youtube, movies and lots of other services? most people still watch this stuff on a TV, not a phone or tablet
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I use a blu-ray player for all the functionality you listed above, I just can't play games on it or HD-DVD.
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Can't play HD-DVDs on most XBoxes, either. The HD-DVD drive was a separate add-on which very few people got and has been discontinued for years. That's one of the reasons HD-DVD got beat by Blu-Ray--every PS3 came (and comes) with a Blu-Ray drive standard.
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Not really. PS3 was a distant 3rd and most people were buying it because it was the cheapest (at $600) blu-ray player out there (rest were $1000+, and HD-DVD players were cheaper at $300-500).
The big reason was the drying up of HD-DVD content because the s
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Let me guess. You have a HD-DVD library, don't you?
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Hard to carry an xbox around with you. Plus motorola has plenty of set top boxes and google has google tv. Not a high end gaming console, but when you can have the same thing on your tv, phone, tablet and computer with access to most music, books and apps...whats not to like?
Not to mention Google swears that a huge percentage of tv's made in the second half of this year will have google tv incorporated.
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Yet another reason to stay with dumb computer monitors.
Give me inputs and leave your all-in-one-box crap out of my displays, thanks.
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Isn't Motorola Mobility the biggest maker of Cable TV boxes?
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The part of the old Motorola that did Cable STBs is the part that was spun off as "Motorola Mobility" and purchased by Google.
So, while the second half of your sentence is true, its irrelevant to the first half.
Translation: (Score:4, Funny)
Orange is getting sweeter and juicier.
Banana is getting a bigger bunch
Goodbye Pear...
(seriously, this is how stupid you sound)
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While it's partially true that the industry standard pushed hard against the proprietary systems, that's no entirely true. Some of it was simply that the established proprietary system companies didn't try hard enough. It seems that color, video, and animation took Apple by surprise on the Mac.. they were offering what, the Apple ][ GS for that market? And they're the one that survived... only barely, and mostly because Steve Jobs came along and converted them into a high profit luxury CE company, not a pe
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Define game console (Score:2)
Microsoft has its own games consoles. Apple, Google, and Amazon? Nope.
If you want to claim that a company "doesn't have its own game console", I would imagine that you would first have to define "game console" so that the discussion won't derail later [c2.com]. Can the iPad be connected to a TV? Can the Mac mini be connected to a TV? And if so, what specifically makes a tablet or a personal computer not a "game console"?
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Regular computers can generally be attached to a TV these days too (what doesn't have HDMI?) but they're not sold as such.
Why aren't they? Is it that Microsoft discourages Windows OEMs from building and selling home theater PCs in favor of use of its Xbox 360 console as a Media Center Extender?
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Microsoft has its own games consoles. Apple, Google, and Amazon? Nope.
If you want to claim that a company "doesn't have its own game console", I would imagine that you would first have to define "game console" so that the discussion won't derail later [c2.com]. Can the iPad be connected to a TV? Can the Mac mini be connected to a TV? And if so, what specifically makes a tablet or a personal computer not a "game console"?
Hell for that matter, Amazon's Kindle Fire could be, scratch that, should be a game console. Amazon would do well to target/attack the iPod Touch market, just as the iPod Touch attacked the Gameboy/DS market. I'm still waiting, they finally fixed their "login to device == authorization to buy anything" problem on release, but if they create great games exclusive for Kindle Fire (or v2, v3, etc) then they'll be in a great position.
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Then there is the FaceBook wild card. They now have some money to through at stuff like this. I wouldn't bet against Microsoft ever as they also have a ton of money to play with.
Nexus Line (Score:2)
Google could now potentially make an entire line of Nexus phones through Motorola. Say goodbye to MotoBlur crap?
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China (Score:1)
The $12.5 billion merger was approved by regulators in China on Monday
How does China relate to this exactly? I looked at the wiki page and it seems they were an American company, HQ in chicago, etc. Did they own a lot of factories or property in China, thus needing permission?
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Where do you think the actual phones are built? It sure as shit isn't America.
Samsung produce chips in America...Although I'm not really sure of why "Made" trumps "Sold"
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'Made' in America tends to imply that the jobs to create the object are assembled/fabricated in the USA. 'Sold' just means the company that is selling the end product is an american company.
Re:China (Score:4, Informative)
They would like to be able to sell their product in China.
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Those numbers will change in a year. Apple is spending a shit ton of money for ramping up manufacturing equipment, forecast for $7B this year. What other company has ever spent that much just on mfg equipment? One obvious reason is growth in China.
http://www.asymco.com/2012/05/22/up-to-eleven/ [asymco.com]
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How about a look at some numbers [mtsgsm.com] in a nearby region: Russia
According to this report, Windows Phone sold more units than iOS during Q1 2012. Furthermore, 3 of the top 5 most popular p
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Apple has almost 100% of the market that counts: people who spend money.
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They do own factories and other operations in China (actually, I believe they own a subsidiary which is a Chinese company which owns those operations.)
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Yes, they are right here in good old LIbertyville, IL (about 35 minutes north of downtown chicago on the highway). However, yes, they have a very heavy presence in China, I believe with factories. it's been that way for at least 7 years, probably longer.
ICS 4 (Score:2)
Maybe we Europeans can get our Xooms updated to ICS now.
Nexus Razr (Score:1)
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Bzzt wrong. Needs a better display. 1280x720 is the minimum I am now willing to accept.
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And a hardware keyboard. I basically use my phone like a pocket computer, and there's no way I could survive without a hardware keyboard. Virtual keyboards don't cut it for SSH sessions.
finally, kill it! (Score:1)
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Motorola has actually backed off a bit, not on motoblur completely, but on the mandatory web-based account registration. I have an XT860 (Canadian version of the droid 3) and it does have motoblur, but does not have the mandatory web-based account registration.
Cableboxes (Score:2)
Oblig. Borg (Score:2)
We are Google. You will be assimilated. Your technological, biological, and patent distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.
Confusing Google with Microsoft? (Score:2)
I have never seen any borg like activities from Google.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Google
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Aside from the netting of $1B per week from operations...
Apple sells by keeping competitors off the market (Score:2)
Lawsuits are huge part of Apple's business model. Apple patent trolling keeps competitors off the market. There is also the chilling effect of having a $500 billion company ready to slaughter you with lawsuits, whether you are right or wrong.
Lawsuits may not be *directly* profitable (Score:2)
But that's not the idea. The idea is bully the competition out of business.
IP scams are huge part of Apple's business.