Just minutes after the Motorola Droid X was officially released by Verizon, we heard some disheartening news about the device’s anti-modding security features.

According to the Android Police and My Droid World Chief of Staff and founder p3droid, the Droid X features an eFuse chip that will permanently brick the phone if the device’s bootloader is tampered with.  That means no custom ROMs and no modifying the phone’s bootloader and kernel in any noticeable way.

To be fair, although Android Police and p3droid claim that the phone will be permanently bricked, this is not completely accurate.  You can apparently repair the phone, but only by taking the device to Motorola itself.

Motorola issued vague comments on the Droid X’s security features, saying:

“Securing the software on our handsets, thereby preventing a non-Motorola ROM image from being loaded, has been our common practice for many years. This practice is driven by a number of different business factors. When we do deviate from our normal practice, such as we did with the DROID, there is a specific business reason for doing so. We understand this can result in some confusion, and apologize for any frustration.”

However, the company did not comment specifically on “permanently bricking” devices, and if true this would be a huge slap in the face to the Android community.  Openness, after all, is central to the Android platform – a platform that Motorola has championed, and a platform that has helped to bring Motorola back to prominence in the mobile phone market.

More importantly, the openness of Android is often a key factor that drives purchases of Android devices.  While Motorola has the right to lock down their devices, they shouldn’t market the Droid X as a typical Android 2.1 phone if the device is not in fact open.

As you can see above, Motorola advertises the use of the “Android Platform” and “Android 2.1” on the Droid X.  If the company is indeed implementing security features that limit the openness of Android, this should be clearly stated in the company’s marketing materials.

Hopefully Motorola will clarify the purpose of the eFuse chip, and respond to reports from p3droid and the Android Police.  We want to give the company the benefit of the doubt here, but if p3droid’s assumptions are correct, Motorola has clearly been deceptive in their marketing of the Droid X and prospective buyers of the device should respond accordingly.