Google Will not provide Factory Images, Binaries and OTA’s for Google Edition S4 & One

The title on this post says it all, Google will not provide Factory Images, Binaries and OTA’s for the Google Edition Samsung Galaxy S4 & HTC One. Instead it is upto the OEM’s (Samsung & HTC in this case) to do so. Bummer, huh!

Trust me I am as disappointed as you are after reading this, I do not see the point of selling these devices in the Google Play Store if Google ain’t taking any responsibility for them. Considering the S4 and One are way too expensive than the Nexus 4 I am pretty sure the sales are not going to be enough for Samsung & HTC to update them first when compared to International and carrier branded versions.

Google already provides all OEM’s with stock Android code before release and it always takes OEM’s months if not years to update the devices. I agree that OEM’s add features to stock Android and have to go through the carrier testing and approval cycle but will Samsung and HTC give the Google Edition devices priority over other models of S4 & One. I don’t think so.

Trust me all even if I there was 1% chance of me buying a Google Edition S4 or One, that just went down the drain. If you are a sucker for latest Android version like me I suggest sticking to a Nexus device. If updates are not coming from Google then there is no point in buying the Google Edition S4 or One because you are at the mercy of either Samsung or HTC. I am so glad I didn’t pull the plug today on buying one of these Google Edition phones. Rather than trust Samsung & HTC with timely updates I have more faith in the devs over at xda. They are more talented and faster than the engineers at Samsung & HTC.

Would you buy the Google Edition Galaxy S4 or HTC One after knowing that you are still at the mercy of Samsung & HTC for Android updates, I wouldn’t. I would rather wait for the Nexus 5.

Source-AndroidPolice