The bad news here is that the bootloader of Motorola’s upcoming beast, the DROID X, is locked down with the same encryption that Milestone hackers have been struggling with for six months. This means that root access is a good possibility, but that custom ROMs are either a long way off or flat out impossible. But considering the quality of the hardware found in the latest generation of flagship Androids, I’m starting to wonder: is it really that big of a deal?

I understand that one of the primary benefits of Android is its openness, and that the possibility for hacks is a primary point of interest for a large community of Android hackers. But with root access, which facilitates the use of CPU adjustment apps and the like, can the phone really be considered “locked down?”

I’ve been a fan of flashing cooked ROMs to my phone since I first rooted my G1. I get it. I know how cool it is to be able to test out a new UI before it’s released to the public or to experience the optimizations of hackers who seem to be more on top of OEM releases than the OEMs themselves – fixes come before the big wigs acknowledge a problem, and dead weight can be shed for optimal performance. So the value of hacked boot loaders is not lost on me.

Do we need to be able to flash ROMs on every single Android that launches? Is this a reason to purchase another, more hackable device? Let us know in the poll below and leave a comment!