Thunderbolt Rooted Despite HTC’s Vice-like Grip
To further the update that HTC would be getting serious with locking down handsets, HTC has done everything to lock down the Thunderbolt to prevent rooting, however, despite their best efforts(including signed images, a signed kernel, and a signed recovery,and locking the memory) the thunderbolt has been rooted and reportedly stable. Why a cell phone manufacturer would choose to support an open OS and then try its damnedest to lock down the phone (Motorola, im also looking your way) is beyond my comprehension. They don’t care about the open source community which is what the android OS was founded on. They only care about its popularity and the $ signs that follow. Check out a video tutorial on how to root the thunderbolt as well as a link to the people over at android police to see the original story.
The Mattfactor
There is a big deal in the open source community *cough* XDA-Develapers *cough* about being able to root, and putting a custom rom on your phone. I am a big supporter of this my self, I’m running a custom rom on my hero(CDMA) right now. But should companies make it easier or harder to flash a custom rom? Thats something that I think should be standard on all android device, they should come with an easy root, and easy flash ability. It looks like HTC joining the likes of Motorola and trying to block all the fun out of android in an effort to “protect the interests of the end user”. 
Sprint feels a little neglected coming off the big news. AT&T has agreed to purchase T-Mobile USA for $39 billion pending the typical regulatory road blocks and formalities. The merger will take approximately12 months top finalize. AT&T is touting a large LTE footprint as the primary benefit for consumers. As of now it appears the two will still opperate under separate entities until the merger is complete. At that time all T-mobile subscribers will be forced to get new 3G handsets as AT&T will be using T-mobiles 3G 1700 MHz AWS spectrum to use for their LTE path and migrate current t-mobile 3G users over to the new multi-mode phones with WCDMA 850/1900,and no there will; NOT be a T-mobile iPhone. Hit the jump for Comments from both T-mobile USA and AT&T. 
