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Verizon Galaxy S III with Unlockable Bootloader Coming for $599

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Samsung and Verizon will be offering a Samsung Galaxy S III Developers edition for those that wish to pay a premium for an unlockable bootloader.

Android Central is reporting that Samsung is going to offer a new variant of the Verizon Galaxy S III that will come without an encrypted bootloader.

Samsung will sell the smartphone directly through its website and it will be available at a steep $599 cost.

Besides the price tag, Samsung and Verizon won’t be offering any sort of warranty with the phone. This means that if something happens when flashing a ROM, owners will be on their own.

The Verizon Galaxy S III will likely never have its bootloader unlocked.

Read: Verizon Galaxy S III Launch is a Mess.

The company has not said when the Galaxy S III Developer Edition will be made available but it should be arriving in the company’s online store at some point in the near future.

This move by Samsung seems to suggest that the Verizon Galaxy S III that the carrier has been selling will never see its bootloader unlocked. Instead, those who want to have an unlocked bootloader on a Galaxy S III on Verizon’s network will have to fork over $600 for the privilege.

The Galaxy S III devices on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile all have unlocked bootloaders and the device that is headed to U.S. Cellular tomorrow will likely feature one as well.

An unlocked bootloader allows users to install custom third-party ROMs, something that Verizon thinks could negatively impact the phone.

Here is how Samsung explains it:

Depending on the device, an open bootloader could prevent Verizon Wireless from providing the same level of customer experience and support because it would allow users to change the phone or otherwise modify the software and, potentially, negatively impact how the phone connects with the network. The addition of unapproved software could also negatively impact the wireless experience for other customers.  Unlocking the device also voids the warranty.

We’ll let you know when the device officially goes on sale.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Julu Nair

    07/10/2012 at 9:13 pm

    Instead of waiting too long i bought this factory unlocked version which is available here

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007VCRRNS?ie=UTF8&tag=neonsh-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B007VCRRNS

  2. selena

    07/15/2012 at 11:37 pm

    Should it really come to this? Why does Samsung need to provide a “different” phone for their customers. How would a customer know whether or not he/she is getting a device that has an unlockable bootloader?
    Galaxy S III “Developer Edition” Coming to Verizon — Hackers and modders rejoice!

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