YOU GUYS! Google just announced at I/O that it’s going to be selling a Samsung Galaxy S 4, unlocked, with stock Android, on Google Play starting June 26. Just to pick out the important words for you: “STOCK” “ANDROID” “GALAXY S 4.”
The phone will be unlocked GSM, so it’ll run on AT&T or T-Mobile (suck it, Verizon), and be the LTE version. It’s the 16GB version (expandable), and is bootloader unlocked, you know, for the nerds. Best of all? It’s going to get “prompt” updates for every new version of Android.
The not best part? It’s $650.
It’s a huge step towards stifling Android fragmentation; too many premium phones have had updates stalled out because of bulky skins put in place by manufacturers. This S IV, though, abandons all of Samsung’s TouchWiz bells and whistles for the clean, clear usability of stock Android. Expensive? Sure. But it’s a small price to pay for a roadmap of how Google might make sure that when you’re buying and Android phone, you’re also buying all the latest and greatest improvements that come with it.
