Stock Android powered Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition coming to Google I/O?

A published report says that during today's keynote address for the Google I/O developer conference, a new version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 called the Google Edition will be introduced. Unlike the current version of the phone which runs Samsung's TouchWiz UI over Android 4.2.2, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition will run stock Android. Which build of Android that is happens to be unknown, but whatever new version of the open source OS is introduced at the developer conference, that is the version that will be running this phone.

The report says that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition will be available next month and will support T-Mobile's bands. We do not know at this point if the phone will be sold in the Google Play Store and what the pricing will be. Previous speculation had a newer version of the Google Nexus 4 being unveiled at Google I/O with 32GB of native storage and 4G LTE connectivity. That phone still might be unwrapped on Wednesday.

What makes a Google Edition of the Samsung Galaxy S4 so interesting is that for the last year, there has been some talk that Google was getting wary of Samsung's domination of the Android platform with the outstanding success of both the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Samsung GALAXY Note II. Speculation had started that the Tizen OS was eventually going to replace Android as the operating system found on most high-end Samsung smartphones. Instead, this alleged cooperation between the Korean manufacturer and Google seems to be making a statement, especially since it would take place on a fairly big stage like Google I/O.

source: Geek.com via UnwiredView