Galaxy S4 Rooted Even Before Release

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has not started shipping anywhere yet. But that hasn’t stopped folks from rooting this year’s Samsung’s flagship.

I9000, a senior developer at the xda-developers forums has posted online instructions on how to gain root access to the Galaxy S4. The root has apparently been worked on by a couple of more developers. Users could follow the steps to root their phone whenever it is shipped.

There’s a catch though: Currently, these instructions apply only to the GT-I9500 variant – that is, the model powered by the Exynos 5 Octa Core processor. The other variant – the one with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (model number GT-I9505) will require a different approach in order to be rooted.

The successor to the hugely successful Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4 is available for pre-order in limited countries – like the US, UK, Portugal, among others. However, it is the Snapdragon model that will be hitting these markets, while the Exynos 5 variant could be made available only in select regions. The Galaxy S4 also features a 5 inch Super AMOLED display at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It’ll be running the latest version of Android – Jellybean 4.2.2 out of the box, complemented with 2GB of RAM.

Along with a 13 megapixel rear camera, it also has 2 megapixel front camera. It’ll be available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB storage options, with a microSD card slot too.

Rooting your phone enables you to install custom software on the device, and make system-wide changes that would otherwise not be possible under normal circumstances. Android handsets are mostly rooted in order to change, or ‘flash’ a custom OS on the phone.

However, if not done right, rooting can cause a lot of inconvenience. Apart from unintended results, phones can get bricked. If you are going to root your S4, follow the instructions very carefully. Also, it would be prudent to make a backup of all your data before you go on to root. Rooting has its advantages, of course, but you’re responsible for whatever happens to your device during (or after) this process.

The Galaxy S4 officially releases on April 26 across the world. Pre-orders in the USA start on 16th April. The rooting guide is available at Xda-developers here.