HTC One M8 Google Play edition might be just days away from Marshmallow

The Google Play edition experiment mostly flopped, being essentially replaced with the Android One initiative in several emerging markets around the world, but at least a couple of GPe devices should still receive official Marshmallow updates.First in line, the non-skinned HTC One M8 broke cover in March 2014 running Android 4.4 KitKat,

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Google no longer listing any Play edition smartphones

Google’s Play edition of Android smartphones sounded like such a great compromise: take attractive handsets from major manufacturers and make them available to users with a pure Android, Nexus-like software experience. But for the better part of a year now, Google’s been slowly dismantling the program. While the HTC One M8 joined the lineup last spring, we never got a GPe Galaxy S5 from Samsung. And in the ...

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Google Play edition is a project worth continuing

Apple controls the entire user experience from hardware to the operating system that runs on its smartphones and tablets. Microsoft controls the operating system that OEMs put on their hardware. With Android, however, the story is a bit different. Google (and others) work on the core operating system, but OEMs are free to modify the experience to suit their branding requirements and make hardware that is more varied than any other mobile platform today. If that sounds like an invitation for chaos, you might be right!To try and rein things in, Google has three programs to help guide OEMs to ...

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Galaxy S4 Google Play edition now getting Lollipop

Back in August, Google retired the Galaxy S4 Google Play edition. It had been one of only three phones to survive the big July GPe purge – the other two, the One M8 and Moto G, continue to be listed on Google Play to this day (though neither’s currently available for purchase). But even with the GS4 GPe put out to pasture, support for the phone’s far from over, and tonight we witness it ...

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HTC One M8 GPe Lollipop update arrives today

Sony has managed to start the Android 5.0 Lollipop update earlier than HTC for its Xperia Z Ultra Google Play Edition smartphone. However, HTC has been teasing the refresh for more than two weeks now, but, after running into some problems, the entire procedure was postponed to a

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Google launches new Device Assist app for Nexus, GPe, and Android One models

Google may not be the best company around when it comes to selling hardware (how many of you are still trying to buy a Nexus 6 through the Play Store?), but it does a pretty solid job when it comes to customer support. Google’s rarely a company to be satisfied resting on its laurels, and today releases a new app designed to make accessing support easier than ever, while also offering some tips and tricks for getting the most out of your Android hardware.The app’s called Device Assist, and ...

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GPe Sony Xperia Z Ultra Lollipop update official

Yesterday we heard unconfirmed reports that the Sony Xperia Z Ultra Lollipop update for the Google Play Edition version of the phone has been rolled out, but today, we’re seeing official confirmation from the manufacturer itself concerning the latest and greatest from Google. A post on the official Sony Mobile blog confirms that Lollipop rolls out starting this week for the GPe variant, though some regions might get it earlier than others.Aside from the latest version of Android, with all the ...

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Google acknowledges carrier delays for Nexus and GPe device updates

We’re coming up on three weeks now since the first Android 5.0 Lollipop updates arrived for Nexus-series devices. In the time since, we’ve seen updates arrive for additional Androids, including a couple Google Play edition models. Not all of them have had the easiest time making the journey to Lollipop, though, most clearly evident in

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GPe Sony Xperia Z Ultra Lollipop update reportedly rolling out

While HTC is still struggling (and owners are still eagerly waiting) to get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update on HTC One Google Play Edition devices, other manufacturers who have GPe phones are offering the latest dessert treat to owners of their own GPe devices.The Google Play Edition Sony Xperia Z Ultra Lollipop update has been allegedly spotted reaching at least one phone, if the screenshot above turns out to be true. There is no official word yet but according to the information unveiled by that certain ...

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HTC insists One GPe Lollipop updates really, truly, nearly here

It all sounded so simple at first: Android 5.0 Lollipop had just emerged as updates hitting Google’s Nexus series of devices (as well as a few other early birds). HTC wanted to get in on this Lollipop update publicity, too, and took to Twitter to proclaim that updates for the Google Play edition One M7 and One M8 would be arriving early the next week – that would have been two weeks ago. Not only did

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HTC misses second GPe Lollipop release target

The only thing better than getting timely updates for your Android smartphone is also having a manufacturer that’s very open about its own progress towards those updates; sure, we could just keep ourselves in the dark and learn about the updates once they’re ready, but we’re the sort of users who crave information, and we want to know about testing, ETAs, and all the steps on the road to release. HTC’s been doing a great job about sharing its Lollipop update plans for the Google ...

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HTC Google Play edition Android Lollipop updates delayed, still coming this week

Android 5.0 Lollipop updates started arriving for Nexus phones right around the middle of last week. We saw factory images, OTAs, and everything we needed to start using the latest Android system software on our favorite Nexus models. With that hurdle out of the way, our attention starts turning to Google Play edition models, which while they aren’t privy to quite the same super-fast updates as Nexus devices (even if some other companies did give Google a run for its money this time around), are ...

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Google Play edition Lollipop updates should start landing early next week

Android Lollipop update momentum has hit a (temporary) lull. After those heady early hours of distribution for Nexus devices (to say nothing of efforts by Motorola or LG), the feverish pace at which update news arrived has slowed to a trickle; while last night brought us hope that the Nexus 4′s update would be arriving at any moment, as of now it’s still yet to surface. But even as we wait for that release to drop, ...

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Oversized and absurd: why I’m enjoying the Z Ultra one year later (Video)

Usually, when I hit Publish on a review, I’ve had enough time to mull over the words and reread everything enough to be completely certain of everything I wrote. And if I question anything, I can just grab the phone, double-check my thoughts, and reassure myself that I got it right – right then and there, firsthand proof.In all the phones I’ve reviewed, there was only one time I can recall that I hit publish and immediately wanted to take it back. It wasn’t that I was unsure of what I had said. It was that, no matter how certain I was, I didn’t want to believe ...

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition has disappeared: and then there were two

Google Play edition devices have been slowly picked off over the last couple months, with the last ones to go being the HTC One (M7), Sony Z Ultra, and LG G Pad 8.3 back in early July. Couple that with the unknown fate of the Samsung Galaxy S5 Google Play edition, and things are looking pretty glum for this line of phones. It hasn’t ended with that though, with the Galaxy S4 Google Play edition removed earlier ...

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