By When Samsung announced the Galaxy S3 for Verizon it almost immediately let us know that a developer edition would be on its way. You see, Verizon’s versions typically get developer releases because the consumer-ready devices come with locked and encrypted bootloaders.
Since the same announcement wasn’t made immediately following the announcement of Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy Note 2 we feared there wouldn’t be a developer edition of the device coming. Of course, developer Adam Outler put all worries to rest when he unlocked the Verizon Note 2’s bootloader not too long ago.
Still, it would have been nice to have that sort of access straight from Samsung and/or Verizon. Well those looking to get an official developer edition of the device — which will either ship with an unlocked bootloader or ship with a method to unlock its bootloader — can now rest easy because Samsung has seemingly confirmed its existence on its own website.
A new product page for a 16GB developer edition has been published this morning. The page doesn’t feature anything we don’t already know about the device itself — it will still feature 16GB of internal storage, a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos 4 processor, 2GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera, and that glorious 5.5 inch HD display with S Pen — and there isn’t even an email sign up form to be notified of its arrival, but there it is regardless. We’ll be reaching out to Samsung and Verizon for more formal word on the release, but until then just know that a developer-friendly edition of one of the biggest (both figuratively and literally) devices of the year is on its way.
[via Samsung]
Want one!!!
no need for it anymore since Adam Outler unlocked the beast!
If only i was a Nexus device, then it would be perfect.
I don’t agree with this. Touchwiz actually has some really nice features you won’t find in stock Android, multiview being the epitome of that.
I think every manufacturer’s UI adds a nice feature to their phones that the stock Android doesn’t offer…
You’re right. I was all about stock until I cracked my gnex and bought a used vzw gs3. While I am running a ROM called cleanrom, its basically a touchwiz version of bugless beast. Very solid, and minimal. I haven’t missed my gnex at all. And some of the touchwiz additions are nice. I haven’t even considered moving to cm10.1 yet bc of it. BUT I do know that without our awesome community of developers I would have had to wait for updates, like the jb update vzw just finally released.
Pointless !! .. There are no new features from the regular Note II. Developers have already torn apart the Note, unlocked, rooted, rom’d, overclocked it .. whats the point?!?!? If anything at least release it at the same time .. Phone has been on the market for months now .. irrelevant !!
I think the point works for EG, someone like myself who isnt very tech savvy (to say the least) but likes the xda site more than he should! If i unlock and root and something happens…bad rom etc…. with a standard phone I think im screwed, but with a developer phone I have recourse!……I hope anyway. I mean even Mr. Outler is cautious about unlocking the note 2 and if you read the threads there have been some scary moments :)
I’m pretty sure this phone comes with a VERY limited warranty. As in unless it’s a blatantly obvious hardware failure your screwed. Also you will likely have to go through Samsung for any warranty claims which will take significantly longer than walking up to a Verizon store. In any case personally I feel that if you want to root and flash your phone then if you break it you buy it.
youre probably correct…thanks for responding. on the plus side, limited warranty is better than none :) on the plus plus plus side, the note 2 is so good as is, rooting etc doesnt stir the imagination
You get the same warranty for running custom firmware on a locked and unlocked device.
thanks…..if you dont hear from me again, its a sign revison 3 ate my phone :)
I’m considering buying the Note 2 on vzw so should I wait for this one or buy the existing? I like the idea of an unlocked bootloader but if it can’t offer other features why should I wait?
N2 is already unlocked thanks to Adam Outler. Get the Verizon version, follow his steps, and profit. I unlocked mine following his steps and it was easy.
The only known difference between the store version and the DE version is the bootloader’s unlocked out of the box on the DE. You have to do a couple things to unlock the VZ version, but after that you’re good to go.
Get it from vzw, this phone makes no sense
You can get higher memory options if you skip the developer edition.
Dang, I was hoping it’d be 64GB.
Interesting you bring that up .. I asked yesterday ..
Manufacturers don’t make good phones like that. They sell unlocked versions of the cheapest model, then charge more. Look at Motorola. They don’t sell MAXX versions of their developer devices.
There will be ZERO development for this, which defeats the purpose of a developer edition.
Exactly. If the cheaper one (subsidized) is unlocked that’s what the devs are going to work on. Anyone who bought the dev GS3 is lucky that they even have the stock Odin tars. Due to some subtle differences in the device, as I understand it, ROMs are not compatible back and forth between dev and standard versions.
Yep due to the work of my team, this device is irrelevant.
If I was paying outright then I think it would be fair to remove the Verizon Nascar Edition stuff off of it (excessive branding) as well as put back in stock samsung features in it such as blocking mode, wifi toggle, no wifi persistant notification, etc.