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Asus Transformer Prime bootloader is locked, say xda devs

Asus Transformer Prime bootloader is locked, say xda devs

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Members of the xda-developers community are reporting that Asus has locked down the Transformer Prime tablet's bootloader with a 128-bit encryption key.

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Asus Transformer Prime Android Honeycomb Update Logo
Asus Transformer Prime Android Honeycomb Update Logo

As if Asus didn't have enough software headaches with the Transformer Prime already, it's now added one entirely of its own making: an angry homebrew community that has just discovered that the Prime's bootloader is encrypted. A 128-bit encryption key stands between eager Prime modders and the ability to load custom ROMs of their own, which has been greeted with an understandable mix of disgust and frustration.

HTC was the most recent other company to dabble with encryption-locked bootloaders, which incited enough of a customer backlash for CEO Peter Chou to personally reverse course and promise that bootloaders on all recent HTC phones would be set free. Inspired by that course of events, there's now a thread on the xda-developers forum advocating a similar strategy be adopted with Asus, urging current and potential owners of the quad-core Eee Pad to take to the social media soapbox and decry Asus's decision.