In case you're a future Galaxy S5 owner wondering how long it will take to root the device, you'll be happy to know it's already been achieved before the smartphone hits the streets.
Rooting an Android smartphone allows you to do things to the device that the manufacturer has fit to block. It also allows users to remove skins companies like Samsung, HTC, Amazon, Sony, and LG put on their devices to make them more user friendly. These skins can take up a ton of space and can also slow the device down due to all of the snappy animations these companies like to use.
If you're counting the days until April 11, which is the date Samsung will release its flagship smartphone of 2014, the Galaxy S5 and was wondering how difficult it would be to root the new smartphone. You'll be glad to know that a user by the name of Chainfire created a CF-Auto-Root for the Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F), that is the international Galaxy S5 variant and not the one destined for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. The tool is expected to be updated to include support for the U.S. variants, which is expected to happen shortly after the smartphone is released on April 11.
A word of caution; rooting the Galaxy S5 will void your warranty and could permanently brick your smartphone. As long as you follow the instructions and are willing to accept that you are voiding your warranty, the process should run pretty smooth using the Auto-Root tool. This will also open up the door for you to really customize your Galaxy S5 through the use of custom ROMs. If you don't feel like running TouchWiz, there will likely be a custom ROM made available that will bring a Google Play Edition ROM to the Galaxy S5, especially since Google has only added the HTC One M8 as its latest Google Play Edition device.
We'll keep you posted on rooting kits and guides for all Galaxy S5 variants as they become available. Expect to see many released on April 11 alongside the Galaxy S5.
