Have a desire for a top-notch Android device, but just don’t want to deal with skins on top of stock Android? Well Samsung and HTC have you covered, as recently announced, both prepared Google Edition versions of their flagship devices, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One.
From now on, starting in the US, both Google Edition phones are available on Google Play running pure stock Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2. Along with pure Android, both devices bring an unlocked boot loader for all your developing needs.
Being Google Edition phones running pure stock Android, software updates will be handled directly by Google with no interference from carriers, meaning you should get timely updates over-the-air as you would get with a Nexus device.
With this new Google Edition smartphones Google added some subtle changes to Android Jelly Bean. The app drawer now has a 4×5 configuration to better fit the S4′s bigger screen and the camera app has now a redesigned menu to ease navigation. On top of that you’ll also find a new orange phase beam live wallpaper (as seen on the cover picture).
The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available in 16GB version priced at $649.99 US while the HTC One will be available in a 32GB version priced at a lower $599.99 US. Both devices will be unlocked and able to work only on GSM networks. We’ll be sure to let you know as more comes in on further availability for the flagship Google Edition smartphones. Head over to the comment section below and leave your thoughts on this new trend in the Android world.
[Via Talkandroid]