The same developer who warned that the initial attempt to root the Exynos 5 Octa version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 had not worked has now successfully tested a root of the other version of the S4.
The U.S. is set to receive the GT-I9505 version of the S4 running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, so this root should be more useful to American consumers.
"To continue on with all this talk about the S4 and root, I've just rooted the XXUAMD2 firmware (dated April 2) for the I9505," Chainfire wrote on Google+.
"If you've followed the story so far, you know there has been trouble rooting the S4's until now. SEAndroid was set restrictive on some firmwares (easily circumvented) and aside from that we had the mystery reboots. You could have the su binary and apk's installed just fine, but once you used the su binary to gain root access, the device would reboot," the developer wrote.
Chainfire warns the latest root has only been tested on the current S4 firmware, which might not be the firmware that the phone actually ships with when it's officially released.
However, progress on these roots seems to be quick, and it's likely that there will be one available within a few days of any new releases. A working root for the Exynos 5 Octa version is also probably due soon.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 1.6GHz eight-core Exynos 5 Octa processor or a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (depending on country), 2GB of RAM, a 5-inch 1920x1080 Full HD AMOLED display at 441 ppi, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video, a 2-megapixel front facing camera, internal storage between 16 and 64GB, an SD card slot that can accommodate an additional 64GB, a polycarbonate body, Smart Pause and floating touch tech and runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.
Check back for the latest info on the Galaxy S4 as it becomes available.