The United Kingdom recently announced that starting by the end of next year, the sale of carrier-locked phones is banned. Now there is a chance the United States may follow suit. However, it may likely not be as easy.

Unlike the UK where the order banning the sale of carrier-locked phones comes from The Office of Communications a.k.a. Ofcom, the current administration of the FCC, which is the US equivalent of Ofcom, may not have the ban on its agenda. However, a post by Wired explains a way it can be pulled off.

The likelihood of the ban being enforced by the current administration of the FCC which is led by Ajit Pai is very slim as it has been reported that the regulatory body has been friendly toward private companies and broadband provides. However, Kerry Maeve Sheehan who is the repair policy lead at iFixit, believes it may be easier under Biden’s administration but doesn’t know if it can or cannot happen. But all hope isn’t lost.

Another way it can be achieved is via the US Library of Congress and Copyright Office rulemaking proceeding which accepts public comment. The proceeding which is done every three years provides an opportunity for amendments of Section 1201 of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act which allows companies to use software to implement locks on their products. Originally designed to provide protection for publishers of books and games or content which can be illegally copied, operators have used it to defend the locks they put on phones.

The alternative now is for citizens to send in their comments to have the section amended and if a strong case can be established, it can be changed. A proceeding is said to be underway and the first batch of comments has to be sent in by December 14. It won’t be instantaneous as the whole process is expected to go on until Spring next year. It will also require money to cover the legal fees, however, it can be achieved.

UP NEXT: The United States is reportedly considering to add China’s Ant Group to the trade blacklist

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HTC has today officially announced its latest smartphone reputed to feature a super fast download speed which makes it adopt the name- HTC Bolt. The Bolt, which was unveiled in the US, is exclusive to US carrier Sprint and is touted as the fastest smartphone on Sprint’s network. To give the Bolt’s fast download an iconic outlook, the smartphone  has the endorsement of Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man.

The HTC Bolt looks a lot like last years HTC 10, adopting the same design with a little modifications here and there. The Bolt features a full-metal unibody which said to be water resistant, HTC’s first device to have such capability. The smartphone also does not have the 3.5mm audio jack, instead packing a USB Type-C headphone that can adapt their sound to your specific hearing.

The HTC Bolt features a slightly larger 5.5-inc quad HD display, making it a little bigger than the HTC 10. The device is powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC as found on the HTC 10 as well as packs 3GB of RAM on-board, instead of a higher and more modern Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4GB RAM. The device also features a 3,200mAh battery with support for Qualcomm’s Quck Charge 2.0 fast charging.

On the camera end, the HTC Bolt sports a 16MP (non-Ultra Pixel) rear camera with LED flash and Optical image stabilization, as well as an 8MP front-facing camera. There is also a front fingerprint sensor as well as capacitive buttons. The HTC Bolt has an IP57 water resistance capability which lets the device survive submersion in 1m depth of water fro up to 30 minutes. Also, the Bolt is already certified for Sprint’s 3×20 carrier aggregation. In addition, the Bolt runs on Android 7.0 Nougat out-of-the-box, making it the first HTC smartphone to run Google’s latest Android platform.

Read More: Leaked Photos Reveal HTC Smartwatch, Project Rumored To be Shelved

Pricing

As for the price, the Bolt doesn’t come cheap as the device is available starting today for $600 (around 4,088 Yuan). An outrageously expensive amount for such specs, I’d say. What do you think?

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