Gadgetory

no it wasn't just the Samsung Galaxy s4 that was given the Google Play edition treatment the very well-received flagship from HTC has been Google fide as well hey it's Josh regard from Android I thought hey what's going on everybody and this is the HTC one Google Play edition it should be obvious already that this phone is nearly identical to the original HTC one as such I won't be getting in-depth into all of the details that remain the same for a closer look at those specs check out Chris's full review of the original HTC One everything down to the battery is the same and of course it is the software that has really changed in this Google Play edition of HTC's phone this aluminum clad smartphone brought a bro freshing industrial look into the smartphone market it is metal smooth and although a black edition of the original is available only the silver version is found in the Play Store the HTC One didn't get into the 5-inch screen game and instead brought a 4.7 inch screen capable of 1080p resolution at 469 PPI the stock Android experience looks great on this display performance wise you get the same great performing Snapdragon 600 clocked in at 1.7 gigahertz and backed by the audrina 320 and two gigabytes of RAM even though Sense 5 worked really well in the original the Google Play editions jellybean speeds through its elements as quickly as ever when it comes to hardware the HTC One doesn't have expandable memory or a removable battery 32 gigabytes of onboard memory provides plenty of space to work and play the main attraction however is of course the two front-facing boomsound speakers they sound just as great on this version of the HTC One and are great for sharing media straight from the phone the 2300 milliamp power battery found in the HTC one is it removable but gives the same good longevity and so we get to the camera which is the very same four megapixel shooter from the original these are HTC's patented ultra pixels which are supposed to bring better picture quality by focusing on good light capture instead of high megapixel count the app itself has obviously been stripped in lieu of android stock camera in the conversion you do lose HTC Zoe and the original interface the stock Android camera app is stylishly simplistic though as the whole screen becomes the viewfinder and only a few buttons lay on the side the settings are accessed by touch and swipe navigations through arches as far as modes go there are some preset scenes HDR and of course the photosphere quality of the pictures is just about as good as was found on the original HTC one as the ultra pixel still do their job low-light performance is still good though it does seem that losing the software optimizations from the original HTC one camera app causes photos to lose a little bit of fidelity I will have a full versus that will go more in depth on the camera but I can say that the stock Android camera performs just below the original and finally we make it to software at least for me one of the best parts about the original HTC One was its upgraded Sense UI blinkfeed helped to make sense 5 more attractive and useful well you lose all of that in the Google Play edition and gain the stock Android experience that many of us do Pine over and really it is a very welcome change the real jellybean experience translates very well to the HTC One personally as far as operating system experience goes I would have had fun with either stock Android or even sense 5 it made more sense to change the game with the s4 as its TouchWiz is definitely getting old anyway the experience is quintessential Android do you have your home screens your AB drawer the notification drop-down with the elegant shade for frequently used settings you also get the daydream app to make the HTC One O'Clock or extra display while charging lock screen widgets are available as well oh and you can't forget about Google now jellybean is a well featured operating system that ops for simplicity and utility over numerous extras or quite on over trying too hard it fits right into HTC ones design and should please just about anyone who puts down the money to enjoy it speaking of that price it is probably the only difficult part about the HTC One Google Play edition it got the nexus treatment but it didn't get the Nexus price users who want this version will have to shell out five hundred ninety nine dollars for the full unlocked version in the Google Play Store and so there you have it the HTC One with the real Google experience I actually think that the HTC One makes even more sense to get Google fied because much of what was included with the original can somewhat be translated over if you miss Beats Audio you can easily find an equaliser app and enhance your sound if you miss blinkfeed plenty of other news and social media aggregators like Flipboard are available HTC Zoe quirky camera apps can have your back there when it comes to hardware the front-facing speakers and the ultra pixel powered camera you can still enjoy what the HTC One has to offer through the vanilla Android operating system yes the price point is a little bit tough to fathom have the moments which is probably why the expected exodus to these Google Play edition devices hasn't exactly happened yet but let me present to you a possibility if you really wanted the stock Android experience on your HTC one then of course rooting and flashing custom roms is definitely a route anyone previously skeptical about doing so can look to the GPS and see that Google is pretty much saying to you it would be ok especially if you wouldn't missed a few main extras that are available in the original HTC one rest assured that the quintessential Android experience is definitely a great way of enjoying your HTC One no wonder we love our stock Android like I said earlier I will have a full versus pinning this Google Play edition of the HTC One against its original make sure you stay tuned to Android authorities youtube channel for that and all of our coverage drop us a like and don't forget to subscribe and once you're done with all of that head on over to android authority comm because we are your source for all things Android