As many of you have known, HTC has been working with Google to release an HTC One Google Edition which is a completely stock version of their popular HTC One with Sense UI. This new version will be available from Google directly and can be purchased for full price from the Google play store. This version will be completely scrubbed of HTC?s own Sense user interface and will instead run on Google?s Stock Android 4.2 user interface, for some users this is a pretty big deal.
Personally, I do like Sense UI, but I still enjoy the stock experience above all else. The main reason why I would prefer to go stock over the Sense UI on the HTC One has to do with the Blinkfeed and the lack of 3rd party application support for it. HTC really needs to work on this in order for users not to complain about the lack of functionality that Blinkfeed is responsible for. Not to mention, you can?t actually remove Blinkfeed, you have to simply change your default to another page that isn?t the Blinkfeed one (the primary page).
In conjunction with this announcement, HTC has also released the source code on their developer website for the HTC One Google Edition. What this enables is for ROM developers and users wanting to run the stock Google ROM to download this ROM and to use it for their own purposes. This will not only improve the quality of the ROMs made for the HTC One and the speed of their development, but it will also give users the choice of running a stock Google ROM on a carrier branded device if they want to. Since the image that HTC is providing is a global one, users across the entire world can run this version of the HTC One software, and not just specific regions.
In addition to this two-part announcement, HTC also announced the HTC 8XT (above) for Sprint, which is one of the first Windows Phone 8 devices out there on Sprint and delivers an improved media experience for users. This device features an adaptation of the HTC One?s Boomsound which features two very powerful front-facing speakers that deliver what I would consider to be the best audio experience I have ever had on any phone, ever. Delivering such a device on another OS platform is a good thing for HTC and will bring them more attention and hopefully more device sales. This kind of an audio experience should be available to everyone and at $99 on contract, this device is half the price of the HTC One at $199.
