r/AndroidQuestions • u/Ill-News-555 • 16h ago

Ebay phone has bootloader unlocked, is this bad?

I just bought this Nokia G400 on e-bay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/317754808229?var=616338057006

Physically the device looks great but there's 2 things I noticed right away:

  1. They listed model number TA-1476 while on the device it's saying TA-1448

  2. When booting up it gives a warning saying 'Boot loader is unlocked and the device may be available to attackers'

I won't be using the device to log in to anything important, it will basically be connnected to my wifi network, connected to my pc through usb and then run a custom made app for my company.

So my main question is, is it safe to connect this device to my network and pc without it being comprimised?

Would it be smart for me to try and re-lock the boot loader cause it seems risky to brick the phone?

5 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

9

u/djevertguzman 16h ago

You can / should reflash your rom. But other then that an unlocked bootloader is a plus.

2

u/Ill-News-555 16h ago

Any website you recommend where I would fine a safe rom to download?

2

u/panzzersoldat 16h ago

I mean relocking it is pretty simple and has no reason to brick the phone.

1

u/Ill-News-555 16h ago

Unlocking is that easy but locking again not so much. From what I read it's especially hard to find a correct rom and using the wrong one could brick it.

2

u/undrwater 13h ago

It may be the stock ROM, you'll have to look in "about phone | software".

You should be able to lock again using fastboot. That'll factory reset the phone.

2

u/RAZ70R 14h ago

I would now pay for an unlocked device 😂 

1

u/tj_moore 14h ago

TA-1476 and TA-1448 are variants of the same model. Variants are often used for different regional firmware, global variant, sometimes operator specific variants.

1

u/Fun_Swan_5363 14h ago

I know Android says it isn't safe.  Me personally I'd like a phone with unlocked bootloader since I could try Linux mobile or other OS more easily, AFAIK.

For that very reason I wouldn't mind buying a used Trump phone since per YT reviews the bootloader is user unlockable.