Speaking at AllThingsD’s D11 conference this afternoon, Google’s Sundar Pichai has confirmed that Google will be selling a Nexus-like HTC One ‘Google Edition’ with stock Android on board.
Just as was rumoured in the last week or so, HTC has made quick plans to follow Samsung’s lead and offer a variant of its flagship Android smartphone without all of its own bells and whistles. The HTC One Google Edition will run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with no signs of HTC’s Sense user interface, Beats Audio or the new features HTC Zoe and BoomSound.
It seems Pichai has let slip the phone’s existence before HTC has put any information online, but so far it seems that the Google Edition model will be identical to the Galaxy S4 equivalent – its then down to which design you prefer.
The HTC One Google Edition will be sold through the Google Play Store from June 26th for $599, which is actually less than the S4 Google Edition! Of course, the Google Edition model will receive Android updates sooner than the regular version, which is certainly an advantage. Stay tuned for more details on HTC’s Nexus phone.
UPDATE – Here’s HTC’s little press snippet introducing the new phone;
“A special edition of the new HTC One running stock Android will be exclusively available through the Google Play store in the United States starting on June 26th. This edition pairs the all-metal unibody design, low-light capabilities of the UltraPixel camera and dual front-facing stereo speakers of the new HTC One with the stock version of the latest Android software, Jelly Bean 4.2.2.”
No word yet on whether this phone will come to the UK and Europe or, like the S4 Google Edition, it will be US-only for the time being.