Besides Sony, Samsung is the first major Android manufacturer to take a stab at designing a smartwatch aimed to the mass market. Despite the enormous power and experience Samsung has, the Samsung Galaxy Gear has yet to make a lasting impression on the Android ecosystem. While it is certainly the most promising offering on the market currently, there seems to be plenty of room for improvement. The major complaints so far is that the the device is too limited in terms of functionality and doesn't offer enough customization.

A major leap forward was the recent hack that allowed the device to run traditional Android applications, something that it cannot do out of the box. Now, the device has gained another important milestone in that it has been successfully rooted. While most of you know what this means, for those who don't, this will mean that developers will now have root access, allowing for software modifications such as custom ROMs. Having a strong developer community behind a smartwatch isn't something we've seen before so hopefully this advancement will lead to some unique functionality. It could also entice more users to try the device out if it means they will be able to surpass Samsung's unique restrictions.


XDA user photonicgeek is the one credited with the root and goes into great detail in his thread on the XDA Developers Forums. Before you attempt the process, you need to make sure you have Samsung's official drivers and the Cydia Impactor from Saurik. Beyond that the process is pretty straight forward, however, please note that we are not responsible for any damage that may occur to your device during the process. There is always a risk involved when it comes to rooting so please do so at your own risk.

Once you have completed the process, your device will look exactly the same, just with root access enabled. You must then install SuperSU or Superuser, which is common practice on any device that has been rooted. If you are in fact interested on doing this or are interested in seeing what can be done with this new discovery, head over to the XDA thread to join in on the discovery.