Samsung had previously announced the upcoming availability of the Developer Edition GALAXY S 4. This model had been expected for AT&T and Verizon Wireless and as of today it looks like the availability has arrived for one of the two carriers. That carrier is Verizon Wireless and the handset is priced at $649.99 and arriving with the ability to unlock the bootloader.
Given that ability, this model could be a good option for those who prefer to have their handset rooted and like to jump from ROM to ROM. The price certainly isn’t cheap, but it does mean you will have the ability to play around a bit. Not to mention, those picking this model will not be tied to a two-year carrier commitment.
Aside from the ability to unlock the bootloader, this handset will bring a familiar set of specs. The GALAXY S 4 Developer Edition will have support for Verizon 4G LTE as well as a 5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a pixel density of 441. The handset will also have the quad-core 1.9GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and microSD card slot with support for cards up to 64GB in size.
The Developer Edition GALAXY S 4 will also have a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, 13 megapixel rear-facing camera and arrive running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. All that being said, those who had been considering this handset now have a decision to make — pick up this model or wait a day and grab the Google Edition GALAXY S 4.
The GALAXY S 4 Google Edition will be available by way of the Play Store on June 26th. This handset will also be priced at $649, and while the hardware remains the same, the software will be a bit different. The GALAXY S 4 Google Edition will be running a vanilla version of Jelly Bean and also be given quick updates that mirror the updates we see for the Nexus line of devices.
SOURCE: Samsung
Can this also be used with a SIM in Europe or on another US carrier? Something like one of VZW’s unlocked global phones?