Gadgetory

don't say Google never did anything for you because here we have one of the most recent examples the masses asked and they delivered hey it's Josh McArthur manager I thought oh what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy s4 Google Play edition as should already be obvious this is the exact same phone as the original Galaxy s4 and thus has nearly every same attribute in terms of design all the way to the hardware and the battery so instead of going through each one in depth make sure you check out my original s4 review if there is a lot about this phone you don't already know about yet aesthetically this is the white version of the galaxy s4 with no changes whatsoever you get the same nimbleness and easy handling of the 5-inch screen along with the same button layout all around the screen is the same five inch Super AMOLED display that is very saturated and is capable of 1080p resolution at 441 PPI I will say that jelly bean overall less flamboyant than Samsung's TouchWiz looks absolutely gorgeous on this screen if you thought that the Nexus 4 was easy on the eyes try getting your Nexus kicks from the Galaxy s4 it still scores very high in benchmark tests as it is sporting the same Snapdragon 600 at 1.9 gigahertz with the Adreno 320 and 2 gigabytes of RAM and going through the elements of jelly bean is as buttery smooth as ever hardware is where the story gets a little interesting as this phone still comes with all of the same inner bits including every sensor and the IR blaster will get to their applications in the software section but it is important to note that they are still there of course you get the removable battery and the micro SD card slot underneath the back cover the battery is the same 2600 milliamp hour unit that provides a great deal of longevity that can easily support your busy day ok so as a pretense to the overall software section we will start with the camera the same 13 megapixel shooter is found here but that is about all that returns instead of the full-featured TouchWiz camera with all of its modes and settings the stock Android camera brings it simplistic but stylish interface to the Samsung camera the entire screen becomes the viewfinder and there are only a few buttons on the side all settings are accessed by touching anywhere on the screen and swiping through the small arched menus when it comes to the modes you get HDR and a few different preset scenes to choose from and of course there is photo fear the picture quality is largely the same as the optics do well to capture details and they do a great job in good lighting a more in-depth look between the two cameras will be done in an upcoming verses video but rest assured that any differences you may see in the pictures from either phone aren't explicitly noticeable and finally we make it to the software section the crux of the Google Play edition you get the familiar Samsung Galaxy s4 hardware with a new operating system baked in Android 4.2 jelly bean it sounds like a dream pairing and for the most part it actually is the stock Android experience is widely regarded as the best way to enjoy Google's operating system and until now the only way to get it was to buy a Nexus device anyone who has used anything from TouchWiz to sense and lament it over the extra software it will really enjoy the stripped down simple yet elegant look and feel of jelly bean proper the user interface gets back to basics you get your app drawer the home screens ripe for widgets and folders and the notification drop-down what the original shade for settings hold down the tactile home button and you get to the great Google now some people might see every setting and feature of the original Galaxy s4 and get overwhelmed that is far from the case here you get simplistic elegance that is ready for customization once your adventurous side takes over but of course you lose quite a bit when you convert over to vanilla jelly bean think about everything you saw in commercials or on online ads that made the galaxy s4 special pretty much none of that is available here and it is almost painfully obvious from the get-go in the notification shade no s-health group play or watch on though apks of these apps could be acquired for installation all of the sensors that you might use for air view and hand gestures will lie dormant as none of the software in the installed operating system here can take advantage of them so the galaxy s4 gets traditional and everything you do with it is the same as it ever was perhaps the most controversial part about this device is its price while it is great that the galaxy s4 now has the nexus experience it doesn't bring the nexus price you will still be paying about the same full price unlocked for the galaxy s4 Google Play edition $649 from the Google Play Store and so there you have it I do have to admit that using stock jellybeans on this best-selling Android device was very refreshing you could argue that getting very vanilla with the operating system and losing all of the extras might quickly make the phone boring but for us seasoned Android users that isn't what it's all about the look and utility of stock Android is pretty unanimously loved and everything else about the general experience is a blank canvas ripe with customization possibilities that's why we love our Nexus and it only gets better on the s4 hardware unfortunately plenty of people are finding it difficult to handle the price point of what is kind of supposed to be a Nexus device there is a pretty hefty price to pay in order to enjoy this phone but let me present to you a possibility I never really hated TouchWiz on the original s4 but I did wonder what stock Android would have been like on it I didn't really pull the trigger though because I was afraid of losing all of the extras and losing all of the features but these Google Play editions are Google pretty much saying to us it would be okay as I was using the Google Play editions of the galaxy s4 and also the HTC One I found myself not really missing those extras that were on the original devices so if you were anything like me take the Google Play editions like a sign google telling you that it would be alright and making it clear to you that the original stock Android experience works beautifully on these devices so if you've been waiting until now perhaps these phones are assigned for you to go ahead and root and flash away like I said before I'm going to have a full versus available soon pitting the Google Play edition galaxy s4 versus the original stay tuned for that and all of our other coverage drop us a link down below and don't forget to subscribe and when you're done with all that head over to android authority comm because we're your source for all things Android