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Samsung Captivate and Vibrant unlock codes are stored on the devices

Vibrant unlocked

Sure, the ability to unlock a phone for use on another carrier has been around for ages, but Samsung has made the process painfully simple on the Captivate and Vibrant.  Dagentooboy over at XDA-Developers has discovered that the unlock codes for the Galaxy S devices are stored in a .BAK file on the actual device which can be found with a hex editor.  After entering the code along with your new SIM card, you're ready to roll on your new network.  The best part of all this?  T-Mobile's Vibrant is capable of using AT&T's 3G network.  Unfortunately, the Captivate is stuck using T-Mobile's EDGE network, but hey, at least you just got your device unlocked for free!

The fact that Samsung has packed in the unlock codes for these Galaxy S phones is great, and I would love to see more manufacturers make the unlocking process simple like this.  Most of the time if you want to unlock your handset, you have to hack the device or pay someone anywhere from $10-$30, so the fact that you can unlock a Captivate or Vibrant for free without even rooting the device is awesome.  If you own a Captivate or Vibrant and want to try your hand at unlocking, you can find everything you need right here.  So, how many of you are going to get your feet wet in the waters of another carrier?

Via Engadget, XDA-Developers

About the author

Alex Wagner
Alex is the News Editor for PhoneDog. He digs mobile tech and just about every other kind of tech, too. He's also into cooking, sports, his two cats and drinking lots of coffee. - full profile
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