Samsung has already announced the Galaxy S5, and it comes with some powerful hardware and never seen before features in any Android smartphone. The Galaxy S5 will come with a fingerprint sensor, heart rate monitor, S-Health apps and Android 4.4. But now that the smartphone has been announced, many enthusiasts have started to wait for the launch of the Galaxy S5 Google Play Edition.
When the Samsung Galaxy S4 GPe (short for Google Play edition) was announced, it didn’t came with Samsung TouchWiz, but just pure Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. It didn’t have that fancy UI and other bloatware that Samsung usually bundles, but will Samsung ever announce a Galaxy S5 Google Play edition device? Well, yes, judging from the past.
Up until now we have many GPe devices such as the Galaxy S4, HTC One, Sony Xperiz Z, Moto G, all are running on vanilla Android, with no other bloatware. All the devices have been updated to Android 4.4.2 KitKat, which is currently the latest version of Android.
Why get a Galaxy S5 Google Play edition smartphone
So why should you buy a Galaxy S5 Google Play edition device and not the one from your carrier? Well, there are many advantages to getting the GPe device, such as quick and timely Android updates, less bloatware (which means more space), superb stock Android experience and no contract with any carrier. Let’s understand these points in detail.
Google Play edition smartphones means you’ll get fast updates to the latest version of Android. These smartphones will get updated right after the Nexus devices, and don’t depend on your carrier or manufacturer. If there’s an Android update, then you’ll surely get it faster than other non-GPe and Nexus devices.
Another advantage is that you won’t have a bloated phone with all those Samsung pre-installed apps. As a matter of fact, the Galaxy S5 comes with 16GB internal storage but over half of it is gone, all thanks to Samsung’s bloatware. On the other hand, a Google Play edition phone will only have the core Google apps suite and a few others, but that’s it. This also means that you’ll get more free storage space.
Having a Galaxy S5 Google Play edition also means that you’ll get a carrier unlocked and unbranded device which won’t have any carrier logo on it. Those of us who hate those Verizon, AT&T and other carrier logos must consider getting a GPe device. Plus such phones don’t need a contract, and can be used with a variety of carriers and not just in the US, but around the world. That’s an added advantage of owning a Galaxy S5 GPe.
It might be possible that we’ll need to wait some more months to get our hands on the Samsung Galaxy S5 Google Play edition smartphone, but honestly, it’s worth it. When released, this smartphone will be competing with the Nexus 6 and HTC One 2014 edition.
