Galaxy S4 probably not rooted
So, various Android, mobile, and tech news sites picked up that the S4 (I9500) was rooted today. It seems nobody has bothered checking anything out in depth in this case, and the news is premature at best.
All instances I can find point back to modified ROMs posted on XDA have the apk and su binary for Superuser or SuperSU pre-installed, but that nobody has tested.
With a lot of (Samsung) devices in the past that really has been all there is to rooting - just get the files in place somehow and voila - and flashing a modified stock firmware to do this is certainly a valid method for this.
However, I would like to point out that we've tried this trick with the I9505 weeks ago (and we actually tested it on a real device), and this time around, it is not a simple case of injecting the files. There is some further protection in the firmware that prevents the su binary (which is needed for root access) from functioning properly - without any known workaround at this time. No doubt somebody will quickly figure it out when they have the device in-hand though.
Now, I played with an I9505, which is not the same as an I9500, and the firmwares are weeks old by now, and a lot more disclaimery stuff - but so far nobody has actually posted anything resembling proof, or even a comment that they tried the root and it has worked.
As such, I would take any news that the S4 has been rooted with at least a spoonful of salt until somebody posts some convincing evidence ...
(please, don't actually eat a spoonful of salt, that's dangerous)
I'd love to be proved wrong, and no doubt the S4 will be rooted soon, but I remain extremely skeptical as to the current claims, without any further proof. Maybe we all got lucky and Samsung decided to drop this protection in the I9500 or all new S4 firmwares, but I somehow doubt it.
Installationshinweis beachten!