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Google will be selling a second raw-Android phone this summer, confirming that the HTC One will soon be shipping in a Nexus-ified ‘Google Edition’ form.
Confirming rumours to that effect, Google’s Sundar Pichai outed the HTC One Google Edition at an AllThingsD conference in the US. The announcement follows that of a Google-flavoured variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4.
The phone will be sold through Google’s Play Store and goes on sale on 26 June for $599. That equates to about £394, but there’s no word yet on whether this stock Android mobile will go on sale in the UK.
Indeed, Google has already confirmed that the S4 Google Edition is the exclusive preserve of the US for now. HTC’s website also says that the “special edition device” will be available in the US “initially”, which means there may be hope for Brits in months to come.
The variant will look exactly like the HTC One and will feature all the same hardware, but will be powered by an untouched version of Google’s Android operating system.
That’ll put this phone at the front of the queue when it comes to new updates, and will make it easy to tinker with, if you happen to be a dab hand at rooting mobiles or installing ROMs.
Pichai stated that Google’s current method of building bespoke Nexus hardware like the Nexus 4 will also continue.
Would you buy the Google Edition HTC One? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
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Galaxy S4 Google Edition explained
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