Shortly after the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 launched this summer, hackers figured out how to unlock the foldable phone’s bootloader and root the device. But there was a catch: if you unlocked the bootloader, the phone’s cameras would stop working. So users had to choose between unlocked and rooted or… you know, fully functional hardware.

Now it looks like you may not have to choose anymore: over the weekend xda-developers forum member exocetdj discovered that if you have a Galaxy Z Fold 3 running the latest beta firmware, unlocking the bootloader no longer causes the cameras to stop working.

exocetdj / xda-developers

In other recent tech news from around the web, Mozilla has released an update for the Firefox web browser, many of Intel’s 14nm Comet Lake-H processors have less than a year to live, and the KDE Plasma Mobile suite of software for Linux phones has seen a whole lot of updates in the past month or so.

It’s now safe to unlock the bootloader on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 [xda-developers]

Unlocking the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 bootloader no longer causes the cameras to stop functioning. Now when you start the unlocking process you’ll see a warning letting you know that doing so will allow you to install a “custom OS,” but that those operating systems haven’t undergone the same level of testing as an official build of Android from Samsung.

Previously the warning let users know that the camera would be disabled and “may cause your phone or apps to stop working correctly.”

白い熊 / xda-developers

One thing that hasn’t changed is that unlocking the bootloader will result in a factory reset, which will wipe all date, files, contacts, and settings from the device. So make sure to back up anything important before beginning. 

Firefox 95 release notes [Mozilla]

Firefox 95 released with RLBox technology for all platforms, providing more security against vulnerabilities in third-party libraries, site isolation to protect against side-channel attacks, and efficiency improvements for macOS.

Intel to Scrap 14nm Comet Lake Mobile Processors [Tom’s Hardware

Intel plans to discontinue 10th-gen Intel Comet Lake-H series chips in 2022 as the company starts to close the door on 14nm. Affected chips include the Core i5-10200H, Core i5-10300H, Core i5-10400H, Core i5-10500H, Core i7-10750H, Core i7-10850H, Core i7-10870H, Core i7-10875H, Core i9-10885H, Core i9-10980HK, Xeon-W-10855M, and Xeon W-10885M. 

Plasma Mobile Gear 21.12 [Plasma Mobile]

Plasma Mobile Gear 21.12 released with a switch from oFono to the more actively developed ModemManager for telephony, shell, keyboard, and external display improvements, support for custom Quick Settings panels, app updates, and more.

Keep up on the latest headlines by following Liliputing on Twitter and Facebook and follow @LinuxSmartphone on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news on open source mobile phones.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,545 other subscribers