Tweakers and enthusiasts eager for Samsung‘s latest flagship need no longer pine, provided they are willing to be or are already under Verizon‘s flag. The carrier has added the Samsung Galaxy S5 Developer Edition to its catalog precisely for these people, but it’s going to cost them quite a bit more than usual.
Last month, Samsung hinted that such an edition would be coming via Verizon, but details were scarce. Now the device has officially been unveiled and, unsurprisingly, it differs very little from the standard Galaxy S5 specs. So you have the same 5.1-inch 1080p display, 2.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801, a 16 megapixel rear camera, and 2 GB of RAM. For this edition, however, the internal storage is capped at 16 GB only, but there is always the option to add more via a micro SD card.
Of course, the main selling point of this version of the Galaxy S5 is that it is a developer edition. While Samsung has not divulged the fine details, this usually means that the device comes with an unlocked bootloader, ready for some flashing activity. It doesn’t come rooted though, but that should be easy enough to fix. And flashing a ROM will still void warranties, but people who will be buying this type of device will be pretty much aware of such consequences.
They might also be aware that developer editions usually come with a higher price tag, if only because it doesn’t come with carrier subsidy. The Galaxy S5 Developer Edition will cost you $599, pretty much the same if you go for the full retail option under Verizon. Not exactly a bad deal when you consider that the Galaxy S 4 Developer Edition was launched last year with a higher $649 price tag.
SOURCE: Samsung
A waste of money since Sammy didn’t support s4 or note 3
This should have been a 32 GB phone with 3GB of memory. Aside from it not being as locked down and bloated this isn’t worth buying.