HTC One Google Play Edition: Not the One You're Looking For

The HTC One is a phone whose consumer-friendly version of Android is a key differentiator. Based on HTC Sense, the company's Android skin, the One boasts features no other Android phone has, including BlinkFeed, a Flipboard-like news feed that serves as the phone's default home screen. Some of those features are even useful.

It's a bit strange, then, that the HTC One Google Play edition ($599 unlocked, available today) even exists. The Google edition of any phone is a special version that purges the phone of the manufacturer's software, replacing it with a stock (read: Google-centered) Android experience. While that sounds like an great idea for most Android phones (even earlier HTC models), for the most part, it's a downgrade on the One.

SEE ALSO: 5 Free Android Apps for Tethering

Android skins got a bad name over the years as every manufacturer felt the need to create customized software to differentiate their products from others on the market. Some, like Samsung's TouchWiz, have evolved over time with useful features that don't slow things down, while others, like Motoblur, ended up in the trash bin for adding little value — often at the cost of performance.

Clear Skin?

HTC Sense was arguably more skin than enhancement up until the HTC One. But the One introduced a Sense-powered feature package that includes the aforementioned BlinkFeed, TV remote control abilities, and my favorite feature of the HTC One: Zoe. An add-on the Gallery app, Zoe creates 30-second slideshows from the pics and clips you shoot around an event. It's also totally automatic, so you don't have to do anything to create them. And it actually does a good job.Zoe is missing from the Google Play version of the HTC One, leaving a 30-second hole in my heart. The Gallery app is neater, I'll give it that, but in addition to deleting Zoe, it doesn't have a way to view photos from sources other than Google services. On the original One you could browse pics from Facebook, Dropbox and Flickr, among other services.
The absence of BlinkFeed doesn't hurt as much. BlinkFeed is a decent idea in theory, and I even found myself tapping on a few updates now and then. But its functionality is limited when compared with Flipboard, which you can get as a widget on the Google Play One. The widget doesn't encourage "snacking" on updates as much, but more often than not I just want to get to my app-filled home screen anyway.
Although I miss Zoe, the camera on the Google One has a nice bonus: photo spheres. This feature, introduced in Android 4.2, is similar to panorama, although it results in sharper photos that span a complete 360 degrees. They're easy to take and fairly addictive once you start doing them. Photo spheres are a standard mode on the Google Play One, and its 4.3 "UltraPixel" camera (same as the regular model's) is well suited for them.

Search Me

It's a little weird that there's no clear way to search the content on the phone once you get to the apps screen. The original One has a search field you can access by pulling down, but there's no equivalent on the Google One. Sure there's the Google Now widget on the home screen (which is undeletable, natch), but it makes more sense to have easy search access when you've just been presented with a daunting array of apps. Not a huge deal, but it's ironic that search is actually better handled on the non-Google phone.
I was also bummed that there's no default remote control app. The HTC One is equipped with an infrared blaster, so it's completely ready to act as your TV remote, and the original version provides a pre-installed remote app. To
That doesn't sound like a huge burden, but I couldn't find a remote control app that worked with the IR blaster. There are a host of remote apps, of course, but most appear to work with an accessory or control your devices via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Others, such as MyURemote, are expensive paid apps. And HTC's TV app is hard-wired into HTC Sense, so that's not available at all.
For what it's worth, the Google Play edition of the HTC One doesn't seem

Pleasing to the Eyes

So is there anything to recommend the HTC One Google Play Edition? I have to admit, any better at pairing with Google Glass. Both versions are buggy (or is it Glass that's buggy?).admit,

I prefer the aesthetics of stock Android to HTC Sense

I prefer the aesthetics of stock Android to HTC Sense. For starters, it makes better use of space: The all-apps screen shows 20 apps per page instead of 12. The icons along the top are smaller and a little more clear. The Google look has functional improvements, too. Looking at the weekly view in the calendar on both phones, more information was visible on the Google Play edition One. On the original, calendar events are highlighted with big blocks of color, whereas the Google One shows the names of events wherever it can.
Finally, I love how the background image works on the Google One. Instead of a static background that stays the same as you swipe through your five home screens, the image is actually spread across all five. But it's done in a way that simply shifts the image slightly as you swipe — a noticeable but subtle effect that lets you know how far, and in which direction, you are from the center-position home screen. Very hot.
In the end, though, a somewhat prettier experience isn't enough for me to recommend the Google Play edition HTC One. If this phone were available in a vacuum, and there was no original version, it would be a great choice. But with One proper right there next to it — complete with remote software, better search and Zoe — the HTC One Google Play edition is an Android with no soul.

The Lowdown

What's Good

• Excellent UI
• Photo spheres are extremely cool
• Winning hardware

What's Bad

• Throws out good HTC features with bad
• So-so search experience
• No built-in remote app

Now, the handset has been spotted in logs of Bluetooth SIG (Bluetooth Special Interest Group) running the latest operating system, Android 4.3.
The Bluetooth SIG is the body that manages Bluetooth standards in the handsets and gives licenses for the usage of Bluetooth technologies to handset manufacturers.
HTC had announced the Google Play edition of HTC One running 'stock' Android 4.2 instead of Sense 5 UI and other customisations that come in the regular HTC One. Samsung had earlier announced a similar Galaxy S4 minus the customisations and its own TouchWiz UI on top of Android 4.2
Google is yet to announce the roll out of its next generation Android operating system. However, speculation is rife that Google could unveil the next version of Android as well as a possible facelift of the Google Nexus 7 tablet by end of July.
We've seen various Android 4.3 related leaks in the past, with the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition spotted running a camera app that's supposed to ship with Google's next Android update.
Earlier, HTC rolled out the Android 4.2.2 update for its flagship model, HTC One, for some European countries. With the update, the handset is expected to get new features like the Daydream screensaver, picture frame mode, quick settings toggles and lock screen widgets and is also expected to get a revamped Sense 5, HTC's user interface layer on top of the Android OS. However, there is no confirmation about the update to reach HTC One phones in India.f you were one of the eager souls who pre-ordered a Google Play edition of either the Samsung Galaxy S4 or the HTC One, you might like to know that orders are beginning to ship today. Tracking numbers are going out and trucks are being loaded up, so be sure to check your account and your inbox for the latest information on your order to see when, exactly, it will arrive.
Overnight and two-day orders should definitely arrive before the end of the week, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that things go off without an issue and that we won’t be facing another Nexus 4 debacle (although, at the price these things are being offered, I’d be surprised if they sold out quite as fast as that phone did).