Samsung Galaxy S4 rooted before launch

Folks at XDA Developers Forums have posted detailed instructions on how curious owners of Samsung Galaxy S4 can root their smartphone, the moment they can lay their hands on Samsung's latest flagship.

However, this root is only for the model number GT-I9500, which is Samsung Galaxy S4 that will come with Exynos 5 Octa processor. Samsung Galaxy S4 comes in another variant, model number GT-I9505, which is the smartphone that comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor.

Samsung Galaxy S4 is expected to retail from April 26. The smartphone is currently on pre-order in markets such as UK and certain countries in Europe. As per news reports, AT&T will start taking pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S4 from April 16 for $250. The amount is $50 above the usual introductory price for high-end smartphones, including Apple's iPhone 5. There were unofficial reports that the unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available for approximately $579, but based on the US contract pricing and the unlocked pricing in other countries, the actual price should be much higher.

Samsung is also rumoured to be working on the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, which is expected to be launched this week. As per leaks, Samsung Galaxy S4 mini will sport a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display with 256ppi. The smartphone will allegedly come with 1.6GHz dual-core processor. It is expected to run on Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) along with TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0. News reports also suggest that Samsung will be launching Galaxy S4 mini in both single-SIM and dual-SIM variants.