yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] biff6789:
I appreciate the responses, I sincerely mean that. But neither of you actually answered my question with 100% certainty :)

Could someone CONFIRM that flashing back to the stock image in Odin either does or does not get rid of the boot screen that says "unlocked"?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ExodusC:
I flashed the stock system.img and then wiped to factory settings, and this caused the "Custom" indicator to disappear in my case.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] griffis:
I dont know whar happened when I used Rom Toolkit Lite to change ny screen density, but when I reverted back to the stock 320 setting and rebooted,the unlock symbol was no longer on my boot up screen...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] myredfast:
I flashed the stock image w/root (root66) a couple days ago, and have rebooted my phone several times (at least a dozen) and the "custom" boot screen just decided to pop up this morning for the first time! WTH!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NegativeOne:
This is not a thread about rooting or the custom boot screen. Please keep this on topic and discuss that elsewhere.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] shimp208:
Well guess we are one step closer to the developer edition with the unlocked boot loader being released

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/16/galaxy-s-iii-dev-edition-coming-soon/?m=false

http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/16/...tion-for-verizon-appears-on-samsungs/?m=false

This is great news as someone should be able to extract the unlocked bootloader from the developer edition allowing us to then flash it through Odin unlocking our bootloaders!

Full custom kernels without kexec you are within our grasp!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dnoyeb:
Pretty sure it won't be that simple bud. :banghead:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] supermandroid:
I don't know for sure, but I feel like it just might be that simple... Maybe a few extra tweaks here and there, and this may be coincidence, but on the Samsung website the device is referred to as the sch-i535, so I don't see it being a whole lot more than an export and import. Of course, I'm no dev, so this is all hopefulness and speculation.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] OldManJames:
It wont be that simple. Samsung is not that stupid. All they have to do is sign it with a different key and we cant use it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jsmasterx:
it is lwgal to do that ????

Verizon block the phone if you have a custom.firmware. i think its not legal
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NotATreoFan:
My SGS3 arrives on Thursday. I'm not worried because of the awesome developer community working on this minor snag with an otherwise amazing phone. If I have to run stock for a few weeks, no big deal here.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] neyenlives:
finally a rational response
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] faehsemc:
So I don't know much about any of this. Is there a "downgrade" exploit like on the droid incredible 2? We were able to downgrade to an older bootloader and soff with revolutionary. Thus was before the HTC dev unlock bs. I was thinking downgrade vzw's bootloader to one similiar to the other s3's..
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ooofest:
In my experience, the Verizon network is far better than AT&T and Sprint in my area, plus many of us have grandfathered unlimited data plans from this preorder and would lose that if we returned the phones.

Yes, I researched other provider options before going this route. Didn't expect an encrypted bootloader, though.

- ooofest
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] xgunther:
Okay, playing the role of the rational policeman is equally as annoying as the doomsayers.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] burpootus:
I'm coming from a DroidX, which I stood in line for on launch day 2 years ago. The whole locked bootloader was going to be broken thing, all that jazz. My previous exposure to android, or what got me hooked, was the original Droid with all of the customizations and cool stuff going on, which I naturally assumed would be taken to a new level with the X. Well we all know how that turned out, 2ndinit was finally figured out, but the ROM's basically sucked running in that fashion. So the Nexus finally hit verizon and I was stoked, but it wasn't my time to upgrade. Since then we've all seen how verizon has basically not supported the GNex and it seems doubtful they will continue in the Nexus program when the new round of phones hits in a couple few months. So the S3 was where it was all going to finally come together. Unlocked phone, very popular, lots of love from the devs, probably get updates as fast as a Nexus, running Jelly Bean in a couple of weeks, etc., etc.. So it's pretty disappointing that they've encrypted the bootloader, but like you say, it's not the end of the world. I got a lot of good use out of my X. I might have to swallow my pride and keep the S3, which I said I would never do (encrypted bootloader). 2 more years of unlimited verizon 4G data is a real pull...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ooofest:
I kinda agree. We don't need to take artificial sides, here - everyone wants to see this phone get unlocked for custom ROMs, we just have different ways of expressing that desire.

Guess I can understand the emotional swings after we've all been rather impatient waiting for this phone . . . only to find a hidden snag thrown up by Verizon.

- ooofest
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] s197:
I think right now the devs are trying to circumvent the bootloader. They can already boot an unsigned kernel, it's just a long way around. Find a more practical method and the locked bootloader doesn't really matter.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AdamLange:
OP updated:

As it looks like hacking bootloader will not be such easy task and may take a days/weeks/months i strongly suggest to NOT buy this phone from Verizon if you want to "play" with it xda style. If you're normal user who can live with stock and bloatware from verizon, then go ahead

Not buying this phone from verizon may affect unlocking bootloader quicker than we can probably do it (if we can.)

Adam
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ooofest:
We had this conversation in another topic and I feel the numbers of XDA-style users vs. overall sales won't make much of a dent in Verizon's sales for this phone - especially for those of us who pre-ordered to keep our unlimited data plans with Verizon for at least the next two years.

From past history, I have more faith in the helpfulness of our Developers than in Verizon.

- ooofest
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ZServ:
Is my reading comprehension bad or is this just a useless update to the OP that's misleading?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] stang6790:
Since we only have root will it be possible to disable that stupid a** "connect to wifi" icon in the notifications? And could we also add the wifi toggle back to the toggles in the pull down?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] aatrek:
Same here. As long as I can get root to run the apps and make Nandroid backups, I can put a launcher like Nova on there to change the look of things. Maybe we'll get a full unlock down the road, but the basics will serve me just fine for the meantime.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] chakra:
And with root I can change the dpi so I feel better.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] neyenlives:
agreed, please remove the opinion from the OP, keep it factual, keep the personal agenda's of "showing Verizon who the man is" out of it
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] andreiantal:
The only way vzw will do something if they are forced by legal means.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Div033:
Just so I understand this correctly, because people seem to be getting excited about it:

We can flash an alternate, modified boot.img to mmcblk0p18, where our recovery SHOULD be. Then when you boot into what is supposed to be recovery, it boots the phone using the custom kernel.

This means you end up with:

Locked boot.img

Unlocked boot.img

Unlocked system.img

Unlocked cache.img

This leaves us without a recovery and is not purely a solution. However the ability to boot into a modified kernel may give us more options for unlocking mmcblk0p7, correct?

I just want to dispel the rumors that we found a workaround.

Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AdamLange:
My personal opinion deleted from the OP.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] catalyst11:
Exactly what I did. Rooted my SIII earlier, it was super easy and I've never used Odin before. Coming from a GNexus & TBolt. Using Nova Launcher...

Sent from my SIII
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] supermandroid:
I don't see where Samsung's intelligence comes into play on this matter.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] OldManJames:
Well Verizon wants consumer devices locked. The developer edition is a way to save face for Samsung. If they made it so the bootloader was flashable to the consumer edition that would piss off vzw. Pissing off the largest carrier in the US would be a stupid business decision. Samsung had a chance to take a stand on the bootloader issue before this phone was ever released and they let vzw get their way. To facilitate bootloader unlocking on these devices would be a stupid decision on their part unless vzw was on board.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] supermandroid:
I see what you're saying now, and this is only my opinion, but I feel like that's the whole point of the developer edition. While yes, I do agree that pissing off the largest carrier in the US is a risky business move, Verizon also can't afford to piss off Samsung, the largest handset maker. Technically, they wouldn't be officially facilitating anything as the dev community would work all their magic while Samsung could stand behind their dev phone.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] kman79:
Is it too early to throw in the idea of maybe getting some funds together to purchase a Developer phone for one of the Developers here?

I know nothing about hacking/coding/developing, but I would love to have Custom ROMs on my GSIII, and have it be truly my phone.

Unfortunately, since I have no skills to offer, I would like to propose an idea of getting a developer phone to one of the Developers.

You guys would have to vote as to who you guys think would benefit in having the phone in hand the most.

What do you guys think?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AdamLange:
Dev phone is not avail yet. We are still focusing on locked phone.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] newuser134:
Verizon would be the one losing the most if they ever decided to "get pissed", I don't see what they could do except lose sales if they ever decided they didn't want to sell any of Samsung's phones. If Apple is unable to touch Samsung as we've seen, I doubt Verizon would be able to, and besides, Apple doesn't make any changes to their phone firmware and software for Verizon (other that radio differences), so why should Samsung? I don't really understand why Samsung ever agreed to do what Verizon wanted to do with the bootloader in the first place, since ALL other carriers in the world, who are selling the SGS3, are selling it the way it came from Samsung, unlocked, I don't see why Samsung had to agree to Verizon's request or anything at all? They should have said this is our phone the way it is, sell it or don't. If Verizon was stupid enough not to sell it, then they would be the one standing on the side with their sales going down while every other carrier in the US, including T-Mobile and US Cellular, would be taking millions of preorders. I think Verizon would have given in if Samsung stayed firm on the subject and said we are not locking bootloader for any carrier since none of the other ones did it, it's not like Verizon could have said "well so and so other carrier did it". I wish Samsung would have stayed firm on this subject and made Verizon agree to it. This phone was popular enough that unlike other phones before (like the SGS2) even if Samsung didn't give in to the requests of the carriers to make custom changes to it for them, they would still want it so they wouldn't lose to competition. This is where Samsung should have made a stand. They didn't make any modified hardware versions for any carrier like they did with previous phones, why? Because this phone was way too popular for any carrier to miss out on it, so they should have also made a stand on the bootloader thing.

---------- Post added at 07:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:04 AM ----------

I've rooted my phone and just removed or frozen all sorts of Verizon bloat and original software using Titanium BU, I have also changed the boot animation to the custom one from invisiblek's root thread, but I have never seen the "unlocked" or "custom" message boot while restarting my phone, at least not so far. Is there any way I or someone else may have got an unlocked consumer edition by coincidence? Is there any way for me to flash the custom boot.img (custom unsigned kernel) through odin and test this? I already have CWM recovery as well, so if I flash the custom boot.img, can I use odin or CWM and flash back to stock boot.img or restore my NAND so I can get my phone back the way it is now in case that doesn't work after flashing custom kernel?

Also, if my bootloader somehow is unlocked, is there a way for me to dump it and send it to a dev so the masses on this site will get benefit from it as well?

Where do I find the custom boot.img? Will this brick the phone, or can I just flash original boot.img and go back to normal?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] skennelly:
Someone posted this on Droid Forums. Could it be possible, or is it all based off of misinformation?

www.phonesreview.co.uk/2012/07/16/v...pdate-to-unlock-samsung-galaxy-s3-bootloader/

*Sent from my Galaxy to yours through tapatalk
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] newuser134:
It's either meant to keep the preorder people from returning their phone during the 14-day return period, or (not that Verizon ever cares about the future when their customers get tired of them) Samsung's release of the dev edition made VZ go doodoo in their pants and get worried about what this will mean to them in the long run, how it will make them look like the bad guys, and make Samsung look like they came to the rescue (which they did), and will eventually erode (however insignificant it may be) at their sales of the SGS3 in the future. There may be some truth to this because if you think about it, MOTO bootloaders are locked too, but Motorola doesn't normally release dev editions for the public to buy, at least not as soon as a phone is released, and so VZ doesn't release OTA unlock tools for MOTO phones, but Samsung is almost doing this as a slap in the face to VZ, so VZ may be taking some action to respond to this so it doesn't completely cause a backlash to them because of having locked this bootloader. There might just be some truth to this.

We should however be careful about running and applying the OTA though if and when it does come out. We should let a dev look at it first to make sure it doesn't close down the current /system root and recovery loop that we have currently, that VZ didn't come out with a OTA to lock this phone down completely and take root away from us all the way. I wouldn't put it past them.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Hypnosis4U2NV:
+1 :good:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] biff6789:
Gotta love you self-appointed thread police... I'm not quite sure why you feel that asking for a news update question specifically about locking and unlocking the bootloader in a thread titled "locked bootloader research and news" is irrelevant here (notice the similar keywords) - especially when the OP felt it was an appropriate enough question to respond himself - but whatevs.

Thanks to those who provided helpful insight.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Zennmaster:
If you read that article, it references the famous VZW rep "Levar" (probably NOT his real name ;) ).

Looks to me like this is based on information that we've already seen here and that has already been debunked.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] mattydangerfox:
I don't trust Verizon, but I think there is a possibility that this OTA to unlock the bootloader might actually be released. This whole situation has been a disaster for Verizon. Every tech publication has been talking about this, and every article I read has basically said Verizon has an excuse for locking the bootloader that doesn't really hold any water. Plus, that (intern?) running the Verizon twitter account blamed Samsung for the lock and the press reprinted that all over the place. That has obviously been proven untrue. The pressure is on, especially if Verizon realizes people are going to start returning phones and going straight to Samsung with their money.

Now that articles are being printed about an OTA unlock, Verizon will be screwed again if they don't actually do it. It will look like they either flat out lied to their customers, or they hire people that don't know what they are talking about. Both situations make Verizon look stupid, and these situations are adding up.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Hilbe:
The truth shall not set you free...

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/1...re-update-to-unlock-the-galaxy-s3-bootloader/
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] mattydangerfox:
Ha, well I guess that's that. Back to the devs...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] StrumerJohn:
Give it to someone with a Recognized Developer Tag or a Developer Group. I don't know too much about Samsung developers, but from what I've seen posted, it looks like CMTeamEpic or

AdamOutler

would be a few to hand it off to. Or perhaps anyone who posts in the Original Development forum...
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NormB:
Response from VZ support

Received the following reply from VZ yesterday:

At present, Verizon Wireless does not offer the ability to unlock the boot loader on the Galaxy S III; however, it may be offered in future software updates from the manufacturer. Please be confident Verizon Wireless is always looking for ways to enhance its products and services to better meet the needs of the customer. If you are not already doing so, I encourage you to sign up to receive free e-mail updates so you can be notified when new products and services are available.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] neyenlives:
What an empty message. The sun may fall from the sky too. That is all.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] tgmorris:
With Samsung potentially selling unlocked GS3 versions at some time in the future it would seem that Verizon's arguments are fallacious considering they already have Android devices with unlocked bootloaders on their network. That said, one thing that flashed across my mind was if Samsung could sell an unlock code that was specific to a particular device, as opposed to unlocking every GS3 on the network. This would essentially provide a path for both Sammy and VZW to save face over this whole debacle.

Do we know if this (unlocking a single device based on some ID such as IMEI) is possible. If so, Sammy may be planning on selling codes to convert phones instead of unlocking everybody. Just a thought.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] newuser134:
Could anyone post a link to the AdamOutler dev research thread for the VZ SGS3? I saw it here yesterday and looked at that thread, but now I can't find it. It would be very helpful to follow the progress there.

Thank you
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Robster180:
It's under the vzw original s3 dev section
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] kman79:
This one? http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1769411

Its on the first post as well
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] mav3rick478:
It's in the OP bottom of the post. here it is anyway.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1769411
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Zennmaster:
Of course. It's the same thing, for example, that Asus did with the TF201 and the TF300T. Just make an app available that unlocks the bootloader. This is certainly how Sammy would do it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jdhas:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/105844328547178759011/posts/NaZUCL6oe1q
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NegativeOne:
Yes. I want to keep up with the NEWS on the BOOTLOADER, but I don't want to get an e-mail every time someone has an irrelevant question. Rooting, hacking your files, deleting them, freezing applications - all of this is not related to your bootloader. Even if you get a stupid unlocked graphic.

If you want to discuss that stuff, it will get more attention if you make your own thread.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NedDasty:
Here's an update from Austen Dicken from Cyanogenmod via Google+:

Link to post here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/117962666888533781522/posts/amkBtU8G9cr
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Skunk Ape1:
If verizon unlocked everyone it would have very little effect. 95% of the phone buying public will never root their phones and probably doesn't even know it's possible. So even if all of Verizon's phones were unlocked very few people (percentage wise) would take advantage of it.

As far as I'm concerned, Verizon has no legitimate reason for locking down their boot loader.

________________

Just Flash It !!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] zanktank:
To prevent, or reduce free wifi-tethering. They prefer to charge people a monthly fee for the same data. Now while we can achieve free tethering simply by rooting, the root process is more advanced currently than many people are willing to try.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Poloasis:
Exactly. VERIZON, give what the people want!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] leewongfei:
This thread is about unlocking the bootloader on the subsidized device.

I myself and a lot of other people already paid a bounty to get a locked device in the hands of Adam Outler. Adam is a very capable person who, in my opinion, can find a way to open the bootloader.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nerdydesi:
Locking the bootloader doesn't prevent this at all. Root is possible on the Verizon model to enable 3rd party wifi tethering. In fact, I can wirelessly tether right now without root thanks to an app called FoxFi and right now, you can even use a widget to enable Verizon's own tethering, even though I am not paying for that package.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] IN8skillz:
I thought Adams device was donated by an anonymous source and your bounty it's still intact...... NO?

*EDIT* WRONG ADAM, MY BAD CARRY ON:D
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] skennelly:
I emailed Samsung last night and here is the response I received today. Unless the devs get this thing unlocked, we are all f'ed.

*Sent from my Galaxy to yours through tapatalk
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ylexot:
You can free wifi tether without root using FoxFi. ;)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] skennelly:
Control. If it's locked then they control the your phone's destiny, i.e. the ota's it receives, it's end of life, and for most people, how often you upgrade your device. An unlocked phone can stay current with software much longer than a locked phone.

*Sent from my Galaxy to yours through tapatalk
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Boss428man:
I am very curious about the legality of it.. Its kinda like locking the hood of the car you just bought. But either way they made no mention of any differentiation from other phones when we purchased the phones and that is considered miss sales.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jdubau55:
This is true, however why do it to some and not others. Practically all the HTC and LG phones can be unlocked. The Nexus is.

Samsung has long been know to be modder friendly.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] flamus:
I think jdubau55 hit it on the head. People are upset do this issue. Why they are selective, I don't know. If you are doing it security then any phone "unlocked" will be a security risk in itself. If you allow these "unlocked" phones, then you accept these "security risks" and the reason why you lock some is invalid.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] OldManJames:
Actually every HTC device comes locked and the community finds ways to unlock them. HTC has an unlock tool that is entirely useless and doesn't unlock the kernel partition. I know nothing about lg though
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Cvballa3g0:
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=28883421

Sent from my locked Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III