Some good and bad news coming from Virgin Mobile regarding Android devices. The carrier took a stand and ensures that no custom skins (aside from bloatware) will be on its Android devices. It’s a rarity to find a stock Android device these days, and it’s definitely cool to see one telling the manufacturers to back off. Virgin Mobile also took a stand about hacking its Android devices. It doesn’t like it.
A spokesperson from Virgin Mobile had this to say about modifying its devices,
“We do not endorse in any way end users using a non-officially tested operating system nor do we approve of ‘rooting’ devices. This constitutes a violation of our terms of service and puts our network in jeopardy. We endeavor to provide users a customizable Android experience within the limits of the tested and network approved Android OS.”
While this is a bit depressing to hear from the one carrier who is against custom skins on its devices, there’s one thing to keep in mind. Rooting your Android phone is legal, and at the end of the day, there’s little that the carrier can do about it. Unless the carrier can identify that you’ve rooted your device and does something rash like locking the handset out of the network, we wouldn’t fret too much about the carrier’s views. If you spend money on your device, you should have every right to do what you please with it, no matter what the place you bought it from has to say about it.
Of course, Virgin Mobile has its reasons as to why it’s so against rooting Android devices. With malware on the rise, especially for Android, the carrier is looking out for its customer, but ultimately itself.
Mobile carriers, provide the users service and stop trying to make your customers use a phone like you want them to. If anything, having such a strong stance against rooting Android devices may only make more people look into it and see what the fuss is all about.
[Via: PCMag]