Earlier this morning, Google’s Hugo Barra announced a variant of the Samsung Galaxy S4 running stock Android and covered by the Nexus experience. It’s a pretty big deal, and it’s even more awesome to see Samsung doing it with their flagship device. In the same breath before unveiling the device, he noted the HTC One as being a great Android device which foreshadowed the idea of a Nexus experience HTC One. Well HTC have just nipped that in the bud.
HTC are obviously quite content with their Sense-laiden device that they don’t see a need to ship a HTC One via the Play Store that runs stock Android with updates provided by Google. What HTC are missing, however, is the rapport that a device like this gives them in the developer/tech-head community.
Would you guys jump onboard the HTC One bandwagon if you could get a pure Nexus experience with it?
I’ve heard on reasonably good authority that there will be a Google HTC One in the summer (northern hemisphere).
I definitely would have bought a nexus edition of the htc one. (hard to say that without saying htc nexus one)
Instead I’ll buy the nexus galaxy s4, oh well.
Snse 5 is actually not as bad as you think it is. Coming from a Galaxy Nexus and a Nexus 4, I actually find Sense 5 very pleasant to use and probably better than stock Android.
Would love an HTC One with stock Android.
If only they upgraded the Xperia z software as quickly as Google does for its nexus devices, then it’d be the GOAT
Too late, I just got a GS4 to replace an Incredible S. The most important thing to me was the screen and I liked the GS4’s. If I could have had a One with stock android I would have taken that. However a GS4 with stock android would have won.
Im not a fan of the plastic back of the S4 but a carbon fibre skin can make almost anything look kickas$ … So bring on the Nexus 4S
Personally I’m not phased, sick of this “build quality argument when aluminium is prone to dents, chipping and is just as likely to break as a plastic build.
Don’t forget scratches and scuffing like my 4 day old Silver One has. I actually didn’t expect the scratches or scuffs. 🙁
Unfortunate mate.
I’m just glad I changed my mind on getting a black one (got a Silver instead). Can you imagine how terrible the black would have looked with these scratches and scuffs ? Downside of aluminium, I suppose. The sad part is that the scratches and scuffs happened in my pocket (against the 2 x $1 coins that I had in there). Got my new case so it shouldn’t too much of an issue now.
Yeah, I don’t think metal phones are really worth it IMO. I mean I have a Nexus 4 but I got a case ASAP.
I would throw my wallet at the screen if HTC brought one out.
Samsung devices with their plastic build and AMOLED screens don’t do anything for me.
All phone manufacturers should offer a stock phone through the play store in addition to their own versions. I would have thought this was a no brainer.
Honestly, I have a SGS4 with touchwiz and I’m eagerly awaiting a stable build of CM, AOKP or PA! In my opinion, Bloatwiz has completely ruined a very nice piece of hardware, so much so that I am contemplating ditching team Samdroid and going for the One! I think the google edition S4 will absolutely FLY! I’m just curious as to whether it’ll be the equivalent of the 9500 or 9505 though. Also it’ll be nice to have more than 9.4GB free space on a 16GB device :/ If I had the choice between a S4 Nexus or a One… Read more »
It will probably the equivalent of AT&T’s S4 since it’ll work on their LTE network which the i9505 doesn’t support. Basically the same as the i9505 in specs but support less 3G and different 4G frequencies.
would prefer the one over the S4
I’d take a HTC Nexus 5
Don’t know if I’d bother upgrading my One to a Google Experience version.
Absolutely! The things that I would do to that device… *drools*
The earlier HTC tweet – “So you can pay $649 for a piece of plastic running stock or… You can wait :)” – could have hinted that HTC are developing an actual Nexus device. This just clarifies that the HTC One model won’t be getting the pure Google treatment.
If HTC released a Nexus version of their HTC One I’d be ALL OVER IT. No question. Sold.
This Galaxy Nexus S4 thingy is just a demonstration of what is possible – Google picked the wrong flagship phone!
I don’t think Google had a choice. HTC clearly doesn’t want to go down the Nexus route. Samsung, on the other hand, can do whatever they like with their intense market share.
Yeah probably. But it’s
still massively frustrating. The Galaxy S4 is a POS compared to the HTC One.
In other ways, they picked the right flagship phone as now there’s a pure Google experience with SD card and removable battery.
Battery sure but if SD card was the problem then they could just ship the Chinese model which does sport an SD card slot.
I wasn’t suggesting that Google deliberately chose the S4 because it had a SD card. In fact, it’s more likely quite the opposite and they chose it despite it’s SD card slot. I was just saying it was fortunate for many potential buyers that they did. If there was a HTC One with stock Android, Google certainly wouldn’t go out of their way to try to convince HTC to ship a version with SD card slot (like the Chinese version) as they are on record as being opposed to the concept of SD cards in Android phones in general.
As I’m only buying Nexus devices in future, I will consider any device that is easy to root and running stock Android (for quick updates) when I buy my next phone. I like the look of the HTC One.
Definitely would go for an HTC One with stock Android over an S4.
Purely for its aesthetics?
It’s more than that. It’s also the screen, the dual stereo speakers, the camera (I like the low light performance) along with yes, the aesthetics and feel of the phone.
I would have loved a stock Android HTC One over S4.
better speakers and low light camera. Only reason I would go the GS4 is uSD and removable battery.
Totally! Even thought the Sense 5.0 experience has been quite pleasant.
No point in nexus edition of the one, it doesn’t have the touchwiz problem. The only downfall of the S4 is that is loaded with samsung bloatware. This is good, now will we get a 32GB and will it remain with the same internals (including sd card slot).
I think you’ll find a lot of people have a differing opinion.
People think that HTC sense is bloatware? Didn’t realise it was such a problem that it was comparable to touchwiz.
we just don’t like the extra software layer. imagine buying a windows laptop and not even being able to recognize that it’s windows because dell has put another layer of UI on everything… by nature it’d be less stable, consistent, and fast as the pure windows experience… just like sense/touchwiz/etc… one may be worse than the others but both are bad.
if htc has good apps, let them provide them as apps, uninstallable.
I’ve had the HTC One since launch and don’t see a need to for a stock version. Sense 5 is great. It runs way better then my Nexus 7 running 4.2, and it has some nice software additions. I was on the camp that just wanted stock on my devices but Sense 5 has taught me otherwise. Having owned a S2, I can see why people are desperate to leave touchwiz!