It's great that you got one that isn't locked, but worth mentioning for others thats Samsung is indeed locking the bootloader on some (many?) of the wifi-only 10.1 devices.
(As far as I know, all of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 7 Plus devices are sold unlocked, for now.)
Well, heck, maybe I'm wrong. :-) I haven't actually done it yet, but I can pull up a "Warning: Installing a different OS can void your warranty, are you sure?" message.
I don't have a 10.1, but I did spend a few hours reading through many of those threads last week before I decided against purchasing one for my wife. (We ended up going with the 7+ model instead.)
For what it's worth, my understanding is that there are workarounds to flash an unsigned kernel, it's just a real pain. Also, I think you would get the message you are seeing even if it were unlocked... my Galaxy S2 gives me the same warning before letting me into download mode.
Also, I think you would get the message you are seeing even if it were unlocked
Right. I was thinking that if it were locked it wouldn't have such a thoughtful warning and the option to proceed. But this reasoning could be wrong obviously.
Well there are little folios and docks for the Samsung too, and Bluetooth keyboards, etc. I got an accessory which looks to allow functioning as a USB host...so perhaps I will be able to use a USB keyboard and mouse?
This is my first tablet so it's something of an experiment for me to figure out how practical it's going to be for me to use it in various circumstances.
Not that I am aware of, other than it's been on the market longer and maybe it will have fewer "version 1.0" bugs.
I'm actually trying to not be disappointed about taking a step down in CPU and GPU capacity. I think the ASUS probably had some ports the Galaxy Tab doesn't.
Let your money do the talking, where this product is concerned. There are reasonable alternatives, in this case, and their market position should be improved by what Asus is doing.
Except ASUS isn't in the OS business or software business. They're purely in the hardware business. If you can't run other stuff on their hardware and you want to run other stuff, the rational response is to buy other hardware – hence, good for ASUS competitors. It's not anti-competitive, it's free market.
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I was going to buy one of these...
Could it not be argued this is anti-competitive?
I was about to order one too.
Instead I went out last night and bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. https://twitter.com/#!/marshray/status/154039917322838017
The bootloader isn't locked, but the 'Heimdall' flash backup/restore tool doesn't work with it. (yet :-)
It's great that you got one that isn't locked, but worth mentioning for others thats Samsung is indeed locking the bootloader on some (many?) of the wifi-only 10.1 devices.
(As far as I know, all of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 7 Plus devices are sold unlocked, for now.)
Well, heck, maybe I'm wrong. :-) I haven't actually done it yet, but I can pull up a "Warning: Installing a different OS can void your warranty, are you sure?" message.
Do you have any specific links?
I suggest starting here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1050
I don't have a 10.1, but I did spend a few hours reading through many of those threads last week before I decided against purchasing one for my wife. (We ended up going with the 7+ model instead.)
For what it's worth, my understanding is that there are workarounds to flash an unsigned kernel, it's just a real pain. Also, I think you would get the message you are seeing even if it were unlocked... my Galaxy S2 gives me the same warning before letting me into download mode.
Yes I plan to be a regular on those fora.
Also, I think you would get the message you are seeing even if it were unlocked
Right. I was thinking that if it were locked it wouldn't have such a thoughtful warning and the option to proceed. But this reasoning could be wrong obviously.
wasn't the whole appeal of the transformer prime that it could be turned into a laptop with the keyboard dock?
Well there are little folios and docks for the Samsung too, and Bluetooth keyboards, etc. I got an accessory which looks to allow functioning as a USB host...so perhaps I will be able to use a USB keyboard and mouse?
This is my first tablet so it's something of an experiment for me to figure out how practical it's going to be for me to use it in various circumstances.
Were there any other reasons (than just the bootloader) to buy this over the Asus?
Not that I am aware of, other than it's been on the market longer and maybe it will have fewer "version 1.0" bugs.
I'm actually trying to not be disappointed about taking a step down in CPU and GPU capacity. I think the ASUS probably had some ports the Galaxy Tab doesn't.
Let your money do the talking, where this product is concerned. There are reasonable alternatives, in this case, and their market position should be improved by what Asus is doing.
Is what anti-competitive? Against what "competitors"?
Sounds like locking the boot rom is good for ASUS' competitors based on the comments there and here.
I'm sure you could get a stock ARM Linux distro booting on there if you tried hard enough... Think Microsoft and IE.
Except ASUS isn't in the OS business or software business. They're purely in the hardware business. If you can't run other stuff on their hardware and you want to run other stuff, the rational response is to buy other hardware – hence, good for ASUS competitors. It's not anti-competitive, it's free market.
There will be a custom Android build shipped with the hardware...