Vanilla HTC One from Google

Compared to the Nexus 4 which can be had for $300 less.

1. Has LTE
2. A really, really good camera.
3. More and faster storage
4. A metal hard-body form factor.
6. Arguably the best 1080p display on a phone today
7. Best speakers on a phone today

P.S. I plagiarized a bit from a comment taken from Anandtech
 
I wonder if there will be an option to enable the soft keys and disable the hardware keys.

I know they can do this with root and some simple tweaks to INI files but it would be interesting to see if the option came stock.
 
My only concern is how good is that camera really going to be without HTCs software helping it. They are including Beats with it so maybe there will be some tweaks to the stock Android camera to help that 4MP sensor.
 
xJeganx said:
My only concern is how good is that camera really going to be without HTCs software helping it. They are including Beats with it so maybe there will be some tweaks to the stock Android camera to help that 4MP sensor.
Click to expand...

They're including beats with it? Do you have a link?

As for this phone, it doesn't interest me as it doesn't address my main faults with the HTC One. According to HTC, this phone will have the same radio setup as the unlocked model, so no AWS HSPA+ for T-Mobile (Nexus 4 and S4 GE have this). Sense, to me, wasn't the issue here. It should get faster updates for a longer life, which is a benefit.

Due to the extra LTE bands over the S4 GE, this phone will be more popular for other markets. However, if it remains to be sold only within the US, those markets won't be easily exposed to it. They should have used the T-Mobile radio setup for the Google Edition.
 
Medion said:
They're including beats with it? Do you have a link?

As for this phone, it doesn't interest me as it doesn't address my main faults with the HTC One. According to HTC, this phone will have the same radio setup as the unlocked model, so no AWS HSPA+ for T-Mobile (Nexus 4 and S4 GE have this). Sense, to me, wasn't the issue here. It should get faster updates for a longer life, which is a benefit.

Due to the extra LTE bands over the S4 GE, this phone will be more popular for other markets. However, if it remains to be sold only within the US, those markets won't be easily exposed to it. They should have used the T-Mobile radio setup for the Google Edition.
Click to expand...

Could have sworn I saw something about Beats but I can't find the link right now. If there is no AWS HSPA+ for T-Mobile, that is a deal breaker for me right there.
 
xJeganx said:
Could have sworn I saw something about Beats but I can't find the link right now. If there is no AWS HSPA+ for T-Mobile, that is a deal breaker for me right there.
Click to expand...

Official Press Release from HTC

Nothing on Beats, which is not included with stock Android anyway. As for the radios:

GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900
HSPA/WCDMA: 580/1900/2100
LTE: 700/850/AWS/1900

Please note that 2100 is not the same as the 2100 used in AWS. This will not "partly" support T-Mobile's AWS HSPA+. I'm not going to turn this into a T-Mobile thread though, so for more information, head over to this reference.
 
Blown 89 said:
It will have the hardware but not software for it. I'm not sure what that means:
http://www.androidcentral.com/faq-google-edition-htc-one

"The Google HTC One will feature the hardware parts of HTC's Beats Audio enhancements, but there'll be no software indicator for Beats in the status bar as there is on the HTC Sense version"
Click to expand...

That's a "journalist" speculating that there are hardware elements to beats audio.

I don't know much about beats audio. My understanding of it was that it was just a glorified equalizer setting. My understanding of the HTC One is that it uses the same Qualcomm DAC as other Snapdragon S4/600 devices. If there is any "Beats-specific" hardware in the HTC One, that's news to me. (And I mean that literally, because as I stated, I don't know jack about Beats Audio).
 
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_...fered-in-very-limited-quantities-report-says/

Good luck even getting "One" of these :p

HTC One Google Edition to be offered in very limited quantities

That means that if you were hoping to get your hands on the 'Google Edition' of the popular Android flagship, you'll have to look hard to find it. According to Pocket Lint's sources, HTC will release just "around one percent of total sales of the device so far." And with HTC having announced roughly five million in sales for the HTC One recently, that could mean as few as 50,000 of the HTC One Google Edition phones to go around.
 
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/30/4380574/htc-one-with-stock-android-hands-on

Of course, the big question with running stock on the One is how HTC's unique hardware features will work without its software, and it sounds like there's good news: Barra told me Beats Audio will still work — the hardware optimization is active all the time, but it won't put an icon in the menu bar. HTC's UltraPixel camera module is still present, but it's being made to work with the stock Android camera app — Barra said it'll just "do what it does," adding that more details would be forthcoming as Google and HTC work on the software.
Click to expand...

Yes on Beats Audio says Google.
 
Medion said:
That's a "journalist" speculating that there are hardware elements to beats audio.

I don't know much about beats audio. My understanding of it was that it was just a glorified equalizer setting. My understanding of the HTC One is that it uses the same Qualcomm DAC as other Snapdragon S4/600 devices. If there is any "Beats-specific" hardware in the HTC One, that's news to me. (And I mean that literally, because as I stated, I don't know jack about Beats Audio).
Click to expand...
I'll be damned. A quick google search showed that it is indeed software on otherwise normal hardware.
 
Blown 89 said:
I'll be damned. A quick google search showed that it is indeed software on otherwise normal hardware.
Click to expand...

Hugo Barra seems to indicate that there is some hardware. See Chang3d's link in the post above yours.

All I can think is that the DAC is tuned differently, but again, this isn't an area of my expertise. Audio quality has never been a sticking point with me so long as it sounds better than FM radio.
 
Blown 89 said:
I'll be damned. A quick google search showed that it is indeed software on otherwise normal hardware.
Click to expand...
I know that the HTC One has an additional amplifier chip thingy, which allows deeper lows and higher highs. The bass is enhanced.

Found this a moment ago:
http://www.androidauthority.com/htc-boomsound-audio-poll-217424/

From Sound & Vision:
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blog/2013/05/07/htc-one-video-and-audio-measurements (look at page 2 for the amp info)
 
I wonder if it is also some people mixing in "Boomsound" (the dual speakers) and associating it with Beats.
 
limitedaccess said:
I wonder if it is also some people mixing in "Boomsound" (the dual speakers) and associating it with Beats.
Click to expand...

Possibly. Everything that I've seen so far indicates that there are three parts to the HTC One's audio system:

-"Boomsound" speakers
-Beats software (equalizer) optimizations
-high definition audio recording
 
limitedaccess said:
I wonder if it is also some people mixing in "Boomsound" (the dual speakers) and associating it with Beats.
Click to expand...
That's true, but the additional hardware amp also equal "Beats," and, evidently, it works very well on bass like no other mobile device.
 
Zorachus said:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_...fered-in-very-limited-quantities-report-says/

Good luck even getting "One" of these :p

HTC One Google Edition to be offered in very limited quantities

That means that if you were hoping to get your hands on the 'Google Edition' of the popular Android flagship, you'll have to look hard to find it. According to Pocket Lint's sources, HTC will release just "around one percent of total sales of the device so far." And with HTC having announced roughly five million in sales for the HTC One recently, that could mean as few as 50,000 of the HTC One Google Edition phones to go around.
Click to expand...

When I was trying to get my Nexus 4 16gb phone, I was starting to wonder if it was a "limited" edition.. lol.. that was one tough phone to finally get, given the limited stock they kept putting out! :p

In all seriousness, though, I get the feeling that getting an HTC One Nexus flavor won't be too difficult to obtain. I am irritated by the lack of microSD support, but the regular One doesn't have it either. I am assuming it will have USB OTG support (unlike the Nexus 4)?? Still, its interesting to see this model coming out. I will likely just keep my N4 though, and hold my breath for the N5 (I may pass out by then, though..).
 
txsizzler said:
In all seriousness, though, I get the feeling that getting an HTC One Nexus flavor won't be too difficult to obtain. I am irritated by the lack of microSD support, but the regular One doesn't have it either. I am assuming it will have USB OTG support (unlike the Nexus 4)?? Still, its interesting to see this model coming out. I will likely just keep my N4 though, and hold my breath for the N5 (I may pass out by then, though..).
Click to expand...

That might be the best thing to do. I've been on the full-price upgrade every 2 years path. If I were to switch to the Nexus, I could literally upgrade annually for nearly the same cost (Nexus 4 is roughly half the price as the Galaxy S4 Google Edition). And I've STRONGLY considered this.

But the Nexus 4, despite its price, has so many flaws that it's very hard for me to consider it. And, there's no guarantee that Google will fix these flaws with the next revision. It is highly unlikely that the Nexus 5 will support expandable storage and a removable battery, given that Google has gone away from both in their designs. Changing the storage to 32GB is a stronger possibility, given the criticism they received over it, and the fact that they've already had three straight Nexus phones with 16GB being the core version. But I honestly would not be shocked if the Nexus 5 still does not support LTE. Google showed with the Nexus 4 that they prefer to make one device as compatible with as many GSM-based networks as possible in one shot, with no variations. They still can't make one device that hits even half the world's LTE networks and still supports quad-band GSM and penta-band UMTS. Google will either make multiple variants of the Nexus 5 to obtain LTE compatibility, do one variant with just USA LTE bands, or forego LTE yet again.

And even with that said, the Nexus 4 was still cheaply made to help soften the blow of selling it at such a cheap price. It had low quality mics/speakers, the back was fragile, the camera is of subpar quality, and the display was weak for a modern mobile IPS. The Nexus is a baseline, and I am loving this new Nexus Experience program where a true flagship is given vanilla Android.

Is a $650 S4 or $600 HTC One worth getting despite there being a $349 Nexus 4? It's no different than opting for a BMW or Lexus over a Ford or a Chevy. It's all about relative value for those bells and whistles.
 
All the rumors I read on the "Google Edition" One, make it sound like winning the Lotto is more realistic, than actually getting a hold of one of these rare unicorns. HTC has said that less 1% of "One" production will be used of this special G.E. version, and if it sells well, they will then bring more to market down the road.

Can only imagine the E-Bay price on these things :eek:

But then again, I think just get the "Developer" edition that HTC already sells, I am sure an exact port of the G.E. ROM will be all over the net, shortly after it's release.
 
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