When Google unveiled the Samsung Galaxy S4 with its Nexus users experience many people were interested in getting a Samsung Galaxy S4 without all of the Samsung extras, like TouchWiz and duplicate apps like its own Samsung versions of Android's built in apps.
All of this takes up space, and as we all know the 16GB Samsung Galaxy S4 ships with only 8.82GB of available storage due to Samsung's "extras." The Galaxy S4 Google Edition drops those for a Nexus user experience. Consumers outside of the U.S. looking to get the smartphone at launch are out of luck, Google has confirmed that the Galaxy S4 Google Edition will only be available in the U.S. initially.
CNET UK has confirmed that Google only plans on making the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition available in the U.S Google Play Store when it launches. It's unclear if Google plans on expanding and offering the smartphone in other countries. It might want to see how well the $649 unlocked device sells before it begins mass producing the Galaxy S4 for more countries.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition will feature a 5-inch, 441 ppi (pixels per inch) 1920 x 1080 full HD display protected by Gorilla Glass 3, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, a 1.9GHz quad-core processor, and 16GB of internal storage. It also packs 2GB of RAM, a microSD expansion slot with support for up to 64GB microSD cards, a 13-megapixel rear camera with auto flash and zero shutter lag, and a 2-megapixel front camera with full HD 1080p video capture at 30fps, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, and 4G LTE radio with support for AT&T and T-Mobile's 4G LTE networks.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available unlocked on Google Play beginning on June 26 with a price of $649. The smartphone will only be available in the 16GB model and it will be the same exact version found on T-Mobile and AT&T currently, but without any of Samsung's exclusive apps or TouchWiz.
This is a complete stock version of Android, so you'll have to decide if it's worth giving up some of the cool features found on the Galaxy S4, like Air Gesture, Air View, and Samsung's new camera app that debuted with the Samsung Galaxy S4. On the plus side you'll also be getting more memory than Samsung's version of the Galaxy S4.
