Motorola has some good news for Verizon owners of the 2014 Moto X, as they can now unlock the bootloader and load custom ROMs onto the handset.
The company went under a firestorm of criticism a while back, when it announced that it would not push Android 6.0 Marshmallow to the carrier-locked versions of its second-generation Moto X.
More specifically, Motorola announced back in October that it would release Android 6.0 Marshmallow for its Moto X Pure Edition, but the AT&T and Verizon versions of the handset would not get the upgrade. Owners of the $500 handset were understandably furious to hear this news, but those on Verizon may now be a bit happier.
Motorola is now giving codes that make it easy to unlock the bootloader of the Verizon Moto X (2014) and install custom ROMs such as CyanogenMod or others. AT&T, however, is still left out in the cold, as this option applies only to Verizon subscribers.
At the same time, it's worth pointing out that Motorola is simply providing an easy way to quickly unlock the bootloader, but doing so will still void the warranty. Here's Motorola's announcement on its forum:
"Hey, everyone. Just wanted to let you know that we did get the green light to unlock the bootloader on Verizon 2014 Moto X (2nd Gen) devices. Unfortunately, we can't do this for devices on other carriers. Also, the usual caveats apply - if you unlock your device, you void the warranty. But we know some of you want the flexibility and we're glad we can offer it," explained Matt, the forum manager.
It still remains a great mystery just why Motorola decided not to upgrade the Verizon and AT&T variants of its second-generation Moto X to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, while offering the update for the Pure Edition model. It's also baffling to see that Verizon owners of the 2014 Moto X now have a way out, but those on AT&T don't.
Some have suggested that a carrier issue may be behind this matter, but none among Motorola, AT&T and Verizon are saying anything in this regards.
Either way, Verizon owners of the second-generation Moto X who are interested in Motorola's new offer can head over to the "Unlock your bootloader" page on the company's website and load custom ROMs on their device.
