Hmm. Depends. These phones have been made to be disposable nowadays; just how great a deal are these high-end-hardware devices if they'll be heading into the trash in twelve months? The manufacturer is going to drop them like a hot rock asap, and try to get you to buy their next beautiful-disposable product. (I mean, that's gotta be the main reason anyone would create a locked bootloader in the first place...)

I'm still happily using my N900s. I sincerely doubt any other smartphones of that age are still in heavy use. Over time, the price I paid for them is certainly less than the total someone would pay for buying these less-expensive phones over and over and over again...