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Samsung told us to expect the developer edition of its flagship device to come to Verizon and AT&T “soon,” and at least one of those carriers have gotten the release out of the way. Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy S4 Developer Edition is now available for an off-contract price of $650. This version of the phone is nearly identical to the subsidized version, save for the ability for you to unlock the bootloader and make the device as free as you want it to be out of the box.
It’s quite a big deal for those who want to be able to run custom ROMs on this thing, though community-developed bootloader unlock methods have already made their rounds. Unfortunately Verizon users won’t have quite as much choice as AT&T folks, who can expect an AT&T-compatible Nexus Experience Galaxy S4 with stock Android 4.2.2 to launch in the Google Play Store tomorrow.
Still, we’re happy Verizon is still open to allowing a developer edition device on its airwaves and we can’t wait to see what developers end up doing with it. Head to Samsung’s site today and put your order in for the 16GB version if you’re interested.
Seriourly Verizon???
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130520135720/mlp/images/d/d5/FANMADE_TheWorstPossibleThing.jpg
no thanks
Screw Verizon!
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Hooray! Goodbye to my Bionic! I
don’t want to be locked into a contract, plus this gives me more
freedom in how I use the S4. Only thing better would be the Google
Edition, but I’m not leaving Verizon.
Hooray! Goodbye to my Bionic! I don’t want to be locked into a contract, plus this gives me more freedom in how I use the S4. Only thing better would be the Google Edition, but I’m not leaving Verizon.
Where’s my 32GB GS4, Verizon? No one who roots and ROMs cares about this as we’ve cracked the bootloader. Give us more onboard storage dang it!
I was hoping to get the 64 GB version on T-Mobile but it seems that Samsung only gave US carriers the 16 GB version :(
Here’s the deal — all pure speculation: Money. It always comes down to money. Let’s see, who DOESN’T have a Dev Edition, but has a 32GB GS4? AT&T! Who threw hoards of money at Samsung? AT&T!!! It’s an exclusive at the moment. That’s why we all don’t have higher capacity GS4s at the moment.
Doesn’t it always come down to money?
I already have my developer version of the S4….I got it from T-Mobile and unlocked the bootloader myself, and I only paid $150 up front for it! :)
Hi, i would like to know after unlocking the boot loader the updates for google products will be automatic or you have to update it manually. I mean it will be like google s4 with nexus experience.
If you unlock your bootloader you usually won’t get OTA (over the air) updates but I forget since I haven’t gotten an OTA update on any of my phones in god knows how long since I’ve always ran AOSP ROMs on them. I’m not really clear on what you’re asking, but if you mean will the updates come from Google instead after unlocking it? Nope, they’d still come from Samsung, even if you got this developer edition. The Google Edition S4 is still on the fence because apparently the kernel comes from Samsung but the rest of the ROM comes Google so it could come from either.
Thank you for your reply. I have Samsung S4(4G) can i make it work like Samsung Google edition by unlocking the boot-loader or installing custom rom and still get updates from google. Instead of purchasing the costly Google edition S4 i can just update the software to Google edition as my hardware is the same.
You’re welcome buddy, now it’s a lot clearer :) The general consensus is that it will most likely be as easy as flashing the GE ROM but we won’t know until someone tries. We’ll know soon!
Verizon charges $40 a month for the phone for their “subsidized” plans, that’s $950 over the two years of the contact so $650 for a no contract phone is a no brainer. Here is the math,
Share everything paln, $40 for the phone, $60 for unlimited talk and 2G data, $70 for unlimited talk and 4G data.
Prepaid plan, $60 for unlimited talk and 2G, $70 for unlimited talk and 4G.
Notice anything?, the actual plan prices are the same price but in the contract plan there is additional $40 per phone. Unless you have at least three phones on the same plan there is no rational reason not to buy an “unsubsidized” device and get a pre paid plan.
The pre-paid plans are showing only 3G usage not 4G usage
You’re right, I just checked with Verizon. That sucks. If they don’t change that when my contract is done at the end of the year I’m gone.
tinyurl.com/l3cselt