All new HTC phones get unlockable bootloaders, don’t ask Verizon or AT&T

Earlier today we reported that HTC’s official bootloader unlock program on HTCDev.com had been updated to work with the Evo View 4G and the MyTouch 4G Slide. That’s true. A few users have found that the update also works with AT&T’s HTC Vivid and Verizon’s HTC Rezound, though those models don’t appear anywhere on HTCDev’s documentation. Now the company has come right out and said it: all devices released after September of 2011 are unlockable using the official method.

Presumably this generous policy extends to all future devices as well, at least for the time being. And if that’s true, then very well done, HTC. (I say “very well done” because if you write “WOOOOOOO HELL YEAH” they take away your Professional Blogger badge.)  The company promised to do so earlier this year and they’ve followed through, even if they’re being somewhat surreptitious about which phones work and which ones don’t. This is probably at the behest of AT&T and Verizon, who famously aren’t all that down with geeks messing around with their phones. That they bought. With their money.

Since HTC is generally pretty quick to release the source code for their devices, this opens up practically unlimited options for custom ROMs and mods. And since HTC is second only to Samsung in the number of high-end devices it releases and you can pick one up on just about any carrier, that’s very good news for advanced users. Get ready for an inundation of custom kernels and ROMs for all recent HTC devices. Motorola: are you watching this?

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