Background: During the Keynote of Google I/O in May, 2013, Google announced the Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition. Both this device and the HTC One (M7) went on sale June 26, 2013 as the first two Google Play Edition devices. They officially began shipping to customers on July 9, 2013, although many of us received them days beforehand (I didn't ). This was the start of a new program for Google that now has 6 existing Google Play Edition devices by Samsung, HTC, Sony, LG, and Motorola. And as part of another bold step, all current Nexus devices (except the 2013 Nexus 7 LTE), GPE devices, and Motorola unlocked devices (X, G, and E only) started receiving 4.4.3 within 24 hours (for initial the rollouts).
I was one of those early adopters of the Google Play Edition program, and I'll be replacing my S4 GPE this upcoming week. I wanted to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of this program as well as speculate on what's to come down the road.
Google's Intent: It's hard to get into the minds of Google, so one can only speculate based on the way that they treated this program. Clearly, high sales volume was not intended. This was evident based on a multitude of factors, including; USA availability only, limited numbers with no configuration options, no price subsidy, no installment plan options, and no carrier availability.
Also, these devices aren't like Nexus devices. Whereas unlocking the bootloader and rooting a Nexus is encouraged and does not void the warranty, the same cannot be said of GPE devices. For one, it's beyond pointless to purchase a GPE device and then customize it via root/ROM. You could do the same with a carrier-branded version that will also run the GPE ROM. A Galaxy S4 GPE cannot run standard S4 ROMs due to the different partition (to date, I believe that only the HTC devices allow full conversion). The point of purchasing a GPE was to get the Nexus-like experience out of the box in terms of usability and speed of updates, but with the hardware of different devices.
Strengths: When the first two GPE devices were released, they existed alongside the Nexus 4. The Nexus 4 came with a 4.7" display with a 768p 16:10 display, 8 or 16GB of internal storage, and no official LTE support. The GPE program allowed users to get the Nexus 4 software but with more storage (32GB on the One, 16GB + MicroSD on the S4), LTE support, and 1080p displays. There were also other distinguishing features unique to each or both devices. For the first time, users could get a Nexus experience with more hardware choices.
Further releases included an excellent tablet that many would take over the Nexus 7, as well as three more phone choices. All hints suggest an S5 GPE coming soon as well. The Moto G GPE was the first to offer some real choice, allowing the user to select 8 or 16GB and having the same custom shells as the non GPE (it is, after all, the same hardware).
Weaknesses: But as with all options there's a downside too. As I mentioned before these devices are nearly pointless to root/ROM unless you're doing it just to say that you can. The non-GPE versions are far more flexible in hardware customization (storage sizes, colors) and in terms of ROM availability. You buy these devices purely for the Google Experience.
Another issue was the "red-headed stepchild" approach that Google took with their software. It became apparent after initial release that these were just tweaked Nexus 4 ROMs on non-Nexus hardware. While the S4 and HTC One supported LTE, LTE support was not properly baked into the software. The Nexus 4 had a sofware toggle for HSPA (3G, "4G") and Edge (2G). The GPEs had the same toggle. If you set your phone to 2G only for the sake of saving battery, you could never get LTE back (without a hack or 3rd party app). Reverting to 3G/4G only gave you HSPA+ support. A workaround was added in the 4.3 update. A proper fix was added in the 4.4 update, where these devices moved to the Nexus 5 software (which had proper LTE support).
This software issue was apparent in numerous other design choices. With KitKat, Google rolled out a feature called "Storage Access Framework," or SAF. This is their file picker that applications can call upon to access shared content. On third party devices the SAF will detect both internal and external (MicroSD) storage banks and let you move files between them. On a Nexus device, there is no MicroSD. As a result, GPE devices with MicroSD cards (S4, One M8, Z Ultra, G Pad 8.3) do not have the MicroSD card supported via SAF. This is yet another issue that Google overlooked (and they've confirmed to me that it will be fixed in a future update). It took them two weeks to address the LTE issue after I reported it directly, so I'm optimistic that this could be fixed soon.
Another issue was that the software simply wasn't optimized for the hardware. There were very few comparative tests but the ones that were conducted unanimously showed that the respective Touchwiz and Sense versions of phones outperformed their GPE counterparts in battery life (without or without battery saver options turned on) and camera performance.
What Does the Future Hold?
The future undoubtedly has a Silver lining All rumors point to an Android Silver program replacing both the Nexus and GPE programs. While I fully expect there to always be a development phone available (like there was before the Nexus One), I don't think Google will be offering it at a low price (which began with the Galaxy Nexus and only shortly before the Nexus 4 release).
I suspect that after toying with Motorola and the GPE program, Google has decided that the Moto E, G, and X are models of what we can expect from Android Silver. That is, a predominantly stock experience with some minor customization by the OEM, customizations allowed by the carrier for their models but unlocked models available to users at full price, and fast/simultaneous updates across all devices within the program. Also, this allows the software to be truly optimized for the device for the sake of performance, battery, and using available hardware (like the camera).
It's been a great year with my GPE, but I always felt that I was part of a Beta program. And really, that's what GPE was in my mind, a beta for Android Silver. Going by how the Beta went, I suspect that Android Silver will truly be something special. With the right marketing and availability, it should appeal to both purists and mainstream users.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to the comments
I was one of those early adopters of the Google Play Edition program, and I'll be replacing my S4 GPE this upcoming week. I wanted to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of this program as well as speculate on what's to come down the road.
Google's Intent: It's hard to get into the minds of Google, so one can only speculate based on the way that they treated this program. Clearly, high sales volume was not intended. This was evident based on a multitude of factors, including; USA availability only, limited numbers with no configuration options, no price subsidy, no installment plan options, and no carrier availability.
Also, these devices aren't like Nexus devices. Whereas unlocking the bootloader and rooting a Nexus is encouraged and does not void the warranty, the same cannot be said of GPE devices. For one, it's beyond pointless to purchase a GPE device and then customize it via root/ROM. You could do the same with a carrier-branded version that will also run the GPE ROM. A Galaxy S4 GPE cannot run standard S4 ROMs due to the different partition (to date, I believe that only the HTC devices allow full conversion). The point of purchasing a GPE was to get the Nexus-like experience out of the box in terms of usability and speed of updates, but with the hardware of different devices.
Strengths: When the first two GPE devices were released, they existed alongside the Nexus 4. The Nexus 4 came with a 4.7" display with a 768p 16:10 display, 8 or 16GB of internal storage, and no official LTE support. The GPE program allowed users to get the Nexus 4 software but with more storage (32GB on the One, 16GB + MicroSD on the S4), LTE support, and 1080p displays. There were also other distinguishing features unique to each or both devices. For the first time, users could get a Nexus experience with more hardware choices.
Further releases included an excellent tablet that many would take over the Nexus 7, as well as three more phone choices. All hints suggest an S5 GPE coming soon as well. The Moto G GPE was the first to offer some real choice, allowing the user to select 8 or 16GB and having the same custom shells as the non GPE (it is, after all, the same hardware).
Weaknesses: But as with all options there's a downside too. As I mentioned before these devices are nearly pointless to root/ROM unless you're doing it just to say that you can. The non-GPE versions are far more flexible in hardware customization (storage sizes, colors) and in terms of ROM availability. You buy these devices purely for the Google Experience.
Another issue was the "red-headed stepchild" approach that Google took with their software. It became apparent after initial release that these were just tweaked Nexus 4 ROMs on non-Nexus hardware. While the S4 and HTC One supported LTE, LTE support was not properly baked into the software. The Nexus 4 had a sofware toggle for HSPA (3G, "4G") and Edge (2G). The GPEs had the same toggle. If you set your phone to 2G only for the sake of saving battery, you could never get LTE back (without a hack or 3rd party app). Reverting to 3G/4G only gave you HSPA+ support. A workaround was added in the 4.3 update. A proper fix was added in the 4.4 update, where these devices moved to the Nexus 5 software (which had proper LTE support).
This software issue was apparent in numerous other design choices. With KitKat, Google rolled out a feature called "Storage Access Framework," or SAF. This is their file picker that applications can call upon to access shared content. On third party devices the SAF will detect both internal and external (MicroSD) storage banks and let you move files between them. On a Nexus device, there is no MicroSD. As a result, GPE devices with MicroSD cards (S4, One M8, Z Ultra, G Pad 8.3) do not have the MicroSD card supported via SAF. This is yet another issue that Google overlooked (and they've confirmed to me that it will be fixed in a future update). It took them two weeks to address the LTE issue after I reported it directly, so I'm optimistic that this could be fixed soon.
Another issue was that the software simply wasn't optimized for the hardware. There were very few comparative tests but the ones that were conducted unanimously showed that the respective Touchwiz and Sense versions of phones outperformed their GPE counterparts in battery life (without or without battery saver options turned on) and camera performance.
What Does the Future Hold?
The future undoubtedly has a Silver lining All rumors point to an Android Silver program replacing both the Nexus and GPE programs. While I fully expect there to always be a development phone available (like there was before the Nexus One), I don't think Google will be offering it at a low price (which began with the Galaxy Nexus and only shortly before the Nexus 4 release).
I suspect that after toying with Motorola and the GPE program, Google has decided that the Moto E, G, and X are models of what we can expect from Android Silver. That is, a predominantly stock experience with some minor customization by the OEM, customizations allowed by the carrier for their models but unlocked models available to users at full price, and fast/simultaneous updates across all devices within the program. Also, this allows the software to be truly optimized for the device for the sake of performance, battery, and using available hardware (like the camera).
It's been a great year with my GPE, but I always felt that I was part of a Beta program. And really, that's what GPE was in my mind, a beta for Android Silver. Going by how the Beta went, I suspect that Android Silver will truly be something special. With the right marketing and availability, it should appeal to both purists and mainstream users.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to the comments