Samsung introduces “try before you buy” initiative at some Galaxy Studio retail locations

BY Evan Selleck

Published 27 Jun 2014

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Ever since T-Mobile kicked off their Uncarrier initiatives, it’s become normal to see companies follow suit in their own ways. Now that the Magenta carrier is offering a “Test Drive” of their network for seven days, it should have been expected that some companies would do the same thing.

Samsung has officially started the trend with their own Test Drive-like initiative, but their effort is far more limited in scope, at least to start. As it stands right now, if you want to test drive a Samsung-branded Android device, like a Galaxy S5 or a Galaxy Note 3, you’ll have to find yourself at one of five Galaxy Studio retail locations in the United States. Those locations are:

  • Santa Clara, California — Westfield Valley Fair
  • Los Angeles/Canoga Park, California — Westfield Topanga
  • Houston/The Woodlands, Texas — The Woodlands Mall
  • Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco, Texas — Stonebriar Centre Mall
  • New York City, New York — Samsung Galaxy Studio SoHo
  • It isn’t just the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 3 that’s available for trial periods, though. You can opt to try out Samsung’s new Gear 2 and Gear Fit, if you want to try out Samsung’s wearable effort. You’ll be able to test out the devices for 21 days in total, and Samsung says the trial period is free, but you’ll have to hand over a deposit from a credit or debit card to take the devices out of the store. That deposit will get refunded to you once you return the devices to the store.

    This is just the beginning for Samsung, more than likely. We’ll probably see this effort expand to other Galaxy Studio retail locations across the United States, and it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch of the imagination to see them expand it internationally in time. Of course, now that Samsung has jumped on board we’ll probably see other manufacturers start doing the same thing, in some capacity or another.

    If you live in the areas, do you plan on giving these devices a trial run?

    [via Samsung]