Samsung GALAXY S 4 Rooted Before Hitting Shelves

Samsung's much-touted GALAXY S 4 flagship handset, which was launched with quite the fanfare early last month, isn't available to the public yet, only going up for pre-order in certain markets. That hasn't stopped the handset from being rooted, however. Specifically, the folks over at XDA have rooted the Exynos 5 Octa 8-core variety of the smartphone.

This news was first reported by Android Authority, which spotted a rooting guide for the handset on the popular XDA developer forums by a long-time and trusted poster. While this is good news for those who have already pre-ordered the handset and want to root it without delay, the sticking issue is that the rooting guide is only for the Exynos 5 (GT-I9500) model.

While this is certainly good news for those destined for that particular version of the handset, it's not for those who receive the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 model, which is the majority of the United States and the United Kingdom. That means those of use located in either location – or others slated for the Qualcomm variety – will have to wait a tad longer until a guide rolls out for the non-Exynos 5 model.

And, of course, if you decide to give the guide a go when your Exynos-version GALAXY S 4 shows up, keep in mind that you're taking on a bit of risk. We'll be keeping an eye out for the Qualcomm rooting method whenever it becomes available, so stay tuned. For now, you can check out the guide in its full glory over at XDA here.

[via Android Community]