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Dozens of Huawei and Honor devices with Kirin processors can now be bootloader unlocked which can allow custom ROMs and kernels to be installed (www.xda-developers.com)

submitted 3 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Defeating Huawei’s draconian security measures wasn’t an easy task, but a developer named Andrey Smirnoff actually managed to decipher the bootloader unlock code generation algorithm for devices that are based on HiSilicon Kirin 960/659/655 chipsets. Apart from that, what makes PotatoNV possible is a low-level bootloader flashing method discovered by XDA Senior Member hackintosh5. The tool, which makes use of the VCOM_DOWNLOAD mode, requires users to open up the target device and access the test points on the motherboard.

With the release of PotatoNV, owners of the aforementioned Huawei and Honor devices are finally able to flash all the custom ROMs and kernels they desire. So this can mean being able to replace the Huawei software with a custom ROM like LineageOS or others, where you can optionally install the Google apps if you wanted to. Point is Huawei still gets to sell their hardware device so there is no loss to them, it just opens up additional options for users.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-honor-bootloader-unlock-potatonv/

#technology #mobile #huawei #rooting

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[–] zorrothefox2001 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I miss when this was common. It feels wrong that I'm unable to use a custom ROM on my phone that I own outright

[–] RaoulDook 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Then you shouldn't buy a phone that doesn't let you do that. The options are there for the gettin'

[–] zorrothefox2001 1 points 1 year ago

The ownership of this particular phone is purely circumstancial and I really like it otherwise (Note20 Ultra).

Despite its locked down nature it has quite a few features that I really like so until it's truly obsolete I don't see any reason to replace it.