Google threw a little surprise at the end of last week’s Google I/O event: The search giant has teamed with Samsung to produce a “Google Edition” of the insanely popular Samsung Galaxy S4 (stay tuned for our review). Due out June 26 in the United States, the handset will feature Android in all it’s naked glory.
At last, you can use Samsung’s kick-butt hardware without dealing with TouchWiz/NatureUI, the Samsung skin that bastardizes Android. TouchWiz has its roots in Windows Mobile (as does HTC’s Sense solution), an operating system that desperately needed a helping hand interface-wise. Android, however, has arguably not needed one since well before version 4.x. For now, TouchWiz and other such solutions serve as the fence around the hardware maker’s handsets, a way to keep you from a pure Android experience and make sure you know that this is a Samsung/HTC/Sony device. Oh, and thee skins also serve as a hurdle to getting timely OS updates.
The S4 Google Edition will be a premium device, priced at $649. People used to subsidized phones may balk, but for those willing to pay a premium, that’s not terrible. More importantly, this phone means that someone is destined to release a pure Android ROM for existing S4 units.
Rumor has it that HTC is considering doing something similar for the HTC One. With the Google-owned Motorola going pure Android soon, it’s possible we may be seeing the start of something wonderful.
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