I have the Motorola Droid. I love the Motorola Droid. The thing is a workhorse and will take almost anything you can throw at it, including bleeding edge custom roms. But with the discovery of the DroidX’s locked boot loader, the future of customized Motorola phones looks grim.
When the Droid launched, one of the catchphrases (that sadly didn’t catch on) was “Compromise Deactivated.” The thing was a pristine Stock Android build, with non of the Verizon lock downs that the carrier was infamous for. It was also easily rooted, something it didn’t have in common with it’s international cousin, the Milestone. It was also built like something deserving the Droid name. All black metal and glass, It was like something out of a sci-fi film. Geeks of the world rejoiced.
But the new Droid X and (presumably) the Droid 2 have a Locked Boot loader which makes custom Roms practically impossible. This seems to be par for the course for Motorola phones from here on out.
I like Motorola Android phone designs more than Samsung or HTC. I feel they are built better, and the processors/GPU they use are among the best in the industry. But if this trend of actively fighting the development community, the Motorola Droid will be my last Motorola phone.
