HTC One vs. HTC One Google Play Edition Review

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This year HTC really has managed to excite its customers with their new flagship phone HTC One with the great idea to move the speakers on the front of the phone rather than the back but now they seem to be starting to manufacture HTC One Google Play Edition which mostly has the same hardware specification but it has stock Android. So which one should we prefer?

Design and Display

The design is identical – classy aluminium panel and solid construction – since the major changes are in the software. However, the design remains superior to a lot of products available on the market.

Both HTC One Google Play Edition’s and HTC One’s display is 4,7” with the spectacular resolution of 1080×1920 and the wide array of colors which make looking at it a real pleasure.

Software

Here comes the huge difference between these seemingly identical handsets and this is the software. While the HTC One Google Play Edition runs on stock Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean the original HTC One has Sense 5 UI running on top of the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and this is the area which people will be basing their decision on. On the one hand we have the people who will prefer the HTC One because they are quite used to the effectiveness of the BlinkFeed with social networking and on the other hand we have the people who are all about Android and want to really feel the stock experience of the operating system. The HTC One Google Play Edition has one more advantage with its stock Android that the firmware updates will come out significantly faster than in the case of HTC One.

If we take a look around the style and arrangement of the organizer apps we will notice some differences although in the end their functions and characteristics remain the same. There is a little difference, though, in the keyboards. When it comes to them the original HTC One maximizes the space and packs the most content – not only letters but punctuation symbols also but we do not regard it as significantly superior than the stock Android keyboard because both are extremely responsive and quick to touch.

Hardware

Although it is expected the HTC One Google Play Edition with its stock version of Android to be more quick to respond and to have more lightness to it because there isn’t any additional software added like the Sense 5 it isn’t necessarily the case. It’s not that the HTC One Google Play Edition is slow it’s just the Sense 5 doesn’t really affect the performance of the HTC One so much except maybe for the BlinkFeed which is a little bit more visually intensive and demanding and this is what may slow down the response, of course, we are talking about milliseconds here.

Connectivity wise the situation is pretty tied too. Both phones feature the Google Chrome which provides phenomenal web browsing experience since the quick page loadings, the silky navigation controls and the instant page rendering is all there and doing fantastic job at providing the customers of HTC with delightful  internet browsing on handset device.

However, here we should mention that the Google Play Edition, can work with AT&T and T-Mobile’s network and that it does not have the proper radio to support TMo’s specific AWS band for HSPA+ connectivity. Except that everything else concerning the connectivity is the same they feature aGPS, Bluetooth 4.0, 5GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, NFC, and DLNA.

Camera and Multimedia

Maybe you would also expect that there would be some significant difference in the ultrapixel Camera acting with the stock Android but it is now confirmed that the picture quality in a lot of different lighting environment is identical. Moreover the 1080p recording preference and qualities are also very much alike and the quality of the videos shot by both cameras are really similar and there is not any surprise here but we should also say that the video quality is really high so a major improvement maybe accomplished over a longer period of time maybe in the next HTC phone or its Android stock edition.

Overall in the Camera department there isn’t a clear victor that can be claimed. Having said that, a minor difference may be of importance to some people the HTC One Google Play Edition has the option of Photosphere mode which allows the user to take the full 360 degrees angle image.

When it comes to players and difference the things are yet again with minor visual changes the same. This is further supported by the fact that both the Google Play app and Sense’s music app offer the same functionality and options and the front speakers of both phones produce the same astonishingly sharp and clear audio quality.

Nevertheless, when things get to the visual aspect of multimedia it should be stated that the HTC One with the Sense 5 supports some high quality video encoding formats such as Xvid, H.264 and MPEG-4 out of the box which goes with taking a video screenshot feature. It also supports infrared remote controller.

Conclusion

Obviously the two devices are very similar partly because they’re produced by one and the same manufacturer and partly because the HTC One Google Play Edition is specially designed for users who prefer to have stock Android and developers but it is undoubted that in the end the client’s preferences is what determines which handset he will buy. So, if you prefer social networking HTC One is for you and if you prefer more software updates and stock Android you should look at the Google Play Edition