Flashback: a look back at the "pure Android" Google Play Edition phones and why they failed

10 October 2021
While the idea was excellent on paper - the same high quality hardware, none of the bloat - Google did everything it could to kill the GPE program.

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Stock android sucks

I have to download to many other apps from bunch of different developers

That bloats the phone

    I probably was one of the few who enjoyed BlinkFeed. It looked better than Flipboard. But when I bought another M7 four years later back in 2017, BlinkFeed no longer worked like before. Even the TV remote app stopped working. Then I used the M8 earlier this year and same thing. BlindFeed no longer showed me news I wanted to see.

    Even if HTC revived the M7 design, nobody is really going to buy it. The original M7 only sold 5M. It's not worthy of a reboot and nobody cares about HTC any more except hardcore phone fanatics who visits sites like this often. HTC is a dead brand in mobile. As niche as Nexus, Pixel, and even Sony Xperia flagships.

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      • Truther
      • g35
      • 10 Oct 2021

      Good riddance. I always hated stock android. It's ALWAYS better to have option to more features that you can disable if you like. If you're paying 500$+ for a phone then why why settle for a software that you can find in a 200$ smartphone?

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • vGE
        • 10 Oct 2021

        DMX, 10 Oct 2021I fully agree with your comment, it was and is a beautiful ... moreThat's sweet. I'd like to get one as well maybe one day. Even if is old but just for the memory and to have it on collection. There is a limited edition model if I'm right about it, the beats edition perhaps it was called

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • vGE
          • 10 Oct 2021

          Zero, 10 Oct 2021Sorry if I disagree with this, but for me the HTC 10 is the... moreYes it does look better than the glass and metal design curently in the market. For me the One M7 and M7 mini were the best ones, and M8 and M9 thereafter

            Scram, 10 Oct 2021Not to knock on your preference, but the front of the HTC 1... moreYes the front of the 10 did appear somewhat bland in comparison to the rear which was pretty and showed the real beauty of the HTC design. The predecessors had a slightly different front which looked better tho it was with quite big bezels but dual stereo speakers on top and bottom were what added to the design. I can pick that phone anyday over all-the-same looking and boring phones of today

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • KZK
              • 10 Oct 2021

              Android One is the only way for me to get Pixel-like experience on budget and entry-level smartphones from the likes of HMD Nokia. It's almost stupidly fast compared to other equivalent spec smartphones with custom UI.

                Scram, 10 Oct 2021Why did you have to dignify him with a response? Anyone ... moreThat is very true. The One was the one to look in 2013 when it first arrived. HTC had amazed fans by far with that phone and the ones that arrived later with similar designs. Unfortunately it ended with the last One, the 10 in 2016. The other phones you mentioned also are beautiful designs. Forever been an Xperia fan myself, and used a few of them as well. Truly elegant designs were those, notably the Z and XZ series with the Omni Balance design and the ones before that featured light strips on the bottom. The S8 too was a classy looking phone, always wished to buy that or the S9 that had a slightly different rear arrangement but otherwise sleek and gorgeous especially with that glossy finish. Never been into iPhones but the 5s was a nice compact one. Almost bought the original SE that was the same as 5 with few updates. Unfortunately, phones like these do not exist anymore

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • LkA
                  • 10 Oct 2021

                  Razr 5G Fan, 10 Oct 2021I wish Samsung still released phones like that. Would love ... moreYou need to replace your Flip then.

                  Because it has UFS3.1 (made by Samsung), capable to reach 1,7GB/s (some chinese phones have cheap UFS3.1 version that goes 0,85GB/s).
                  While pixel 3 has ufs2.1, not even 0,7 Mb/s.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • vGE
                    • 10 Oct 2021

                    Scram, 10 Oct 2021Why did you have to dignify him with a response? Anyone ... moreThat is very true. The One was the one to look in 2013 when it first arrived. HTC had amazed fans by far with that phone and the ones that arrived later with similar designs. Unfortunately it ended with the last One, the 10 in 2016. The other phones you mentioned also are beautiful designs. Forever been an Xperia fan myself, and used a few of them as well. Truly elegant designs were those, notably the Z and XZ series with the Omni Balance design and the ones before that featured light strips on the bottom. The S8 too was a classy looking phone, always wished to buy that or the S9 that had a slightly different rear arrangement but otherwise sleek and gorgeous especially with that glossy finish. Never been into iPhones but the 5s was a nice compact one. Almost bought the original SE that was the same as 5 with few updates. Unfortunately, phones like these do not exist anymore

                      Scram, 10 Oct 2021Why did you have to dignify him with a response? Anyone ... moreHTC One M7 and iPhone 5S are still beautiful phones. To me, 2013 is when Android really started to mature. HTC meshed it with their beautiful hardware.

                      After experiencing the One M8 briefly earlier this year, I think it's no doubt the better of two. BoomSound is louder. Better battery life. M7 had a lot more issues like the purple photos, short battery life, and overheating. But M7 looked better than the M8. The M8 felt a little more comfortable to hold for the rounded edges but was very slippery.

                      I'm more about function over looks. Nexus 4 looked better than Nexus 5 by a mile but I'd rather have a Nexus 5 even with only 2 to 3 hour SOT which I still do. The first iPhone SE is my all-time favorite iPhone but I've grown to hate it a littlebecause battery life is so awful on iOS15.

                        I wish Samsung still released phones like that. Would love them on their foldables. I'm growing to enjoy One UI but I still find the Pixel experience to be much more fluid. Was using my Pixel 3 last week and the software is still silky smooth. And its storage write speeds is actually faster than my Flip 3. Pixels are really the iPhones of the Android world.

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                          • Anonymous
                          • BC8
                          • 10 Oct 2021

                          Android one was one of the main reason why i bought the slightly overpriced Nokia 7 plus. I never regret getting that and was one of best choice, it still works smooth and faster. bought it when it was android 8.0(received official update of android 9 and android 10, now no more update) but even still with android 10 phone still works so smooth and fast.
                          Actually i think all phones should ship with stock android and let the customer choose what customization they want. all customization should be allowed via app downloads which can be made available by OEM(I mean launchers apps, also other customization which can be made available as apps for each phones). This will make updating of original software updates faster compared to IOS by all companies.
                          For example: Smsung should ship their phones with stock android and the One UI should be made available as a big app whcih customers can download. they can make the app in such a way that all features will only work in certain samsung phones as intended. This will allow people will ther phone companes downloading and using it for their benefit without buying samsung. (similar like gcam. gcam works perfectly only if used with pixel phones but with other phones it wont give 100%. maybe upto 70 or 80% can be achieved)
                          Oneplus should provide color OS as an app, and so on just naming 2 phones i meant all phones should make available their customized version as launcher apps or something else

                            • S
                            • Scram
                            • r3a
                            • 10 Oct 2021

                            Zero, 10 Oct 2021Sorry if I disagree with this, but for me the HTC 10 is the... moreNot to knock on your preference, but the front of the HTC 10 was generic and felt like a regression to adopt the Galaxy S III aesthetic from 2012. It's back was quintessential HTC. Excellent.

                            The package did not feel holistic. It felt like a mythical hybrid.

                              • S
                              • Scram
                              • r3a
                              • 10 Oct 2021

                              Anonymous, 10 Oct 2021You have an ugly taste and choices that million disagree.Stop embarrassing yourself! The HTC One won design awards and billions agree it is a marvel. You need to have your eyes and brain checked. You need help!

                                • Z
                                • Zero
                                • Dpk
                                • 10 Oct 2021

                                L.O.R.D, 10 Oct 2021The HTC One was and still is one of the best looking metal ... moreSorry if I disagree with this, but for me the HTC 10 is the best phone from HTC by miles, it was really a beautiful concept.

                                  • S
                                  • Scram
                                  • r3a
                                  • 10 Oct 2021

                                  L.O.R.D, 10 Oct 2021The HTC One was and still is one of the best looking metal ... moreWhy did you have to dignify him with a response?

                                  Anyone who didn't get an HTC One in 2013 had it as a close second.

                                  The HTC One, iPhone 5S, Galaxy S8, and Xperia XZ are eternal classics. Can't take your eyes off them. Absolutely mesmerizing.

                                    • D
                                    • DMX
                                    • JQ4
                                    • 10 Oct 2021

                                    L.O.R.D, 10 Oct 2021The HTC One was and still is one of the best looking metal ... moreI fully agree with your comment, it was and is a beautiful phone, I had it in 2 colors

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • LGu
                                      • 10 Oct 2021

                                      the problem is we have no choice or way out, on pc you can simply fresh install an OS and enjoy whatever you prefer, here we cant even uninstall a bunch of redundant apps, some even reach so far into critical functionality that getting rid of them breaks the UX

                                      google should mandate that all damn hardware works as intended on plain old android, that hardware makers submit standard drivers and stuff to make sure it all works on the latest stock android so that the user can choose to fresh install and update as long as the hardware allows, like on pc

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                                        • hmm
                                        • m2J
                                        • 10 Oct 2021

                                        I would say they failed mostly cause of there price and hardware. Mostly low end hardware and then expensive in that price range with competition that offered a lot better hardware.

                                        When you buy budget phones you want the best hardware you can get for the price so the phone will last longer. At up to 200 euro phone with stock android had so low hardware that when you got all your apps installed the phone started to lag. While up to 200 euro phones with custom rom had good enough hardware that was matching up to 450 euro phones with stock android. even Xiaomi tried stock android but it also failed cause there phones had also higher price cause of the stock android and for the same money you got a lot better hardware phones from them also.

                                        Higher price just limits the masses of people who buy them while lower price sell them a lot more in numbers of devices. And now we are already in a time where even 100 euro phone have enough hardware to last long time and are even able to run games that need more hardware. Helio G80 probably go for 100 euro phones now so it have enough cpu and gpu to run asphalt 9 on stable 30fps. while that game is really badly optimized and get updates that add issues all the time

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