Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition Release Date and Specs: Ships Out Today with No Verizon Support

Tired of waiting months for a new Android update, but tired of Google's Nexus handsets not offering top-of-the-line specs? Enter the Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition, which begins shipping today, July 9, for some lucky buyers who pre-ordered.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition offers consumers a chance at getting the best from both Google and Samsung.  Typically, Android handsets from manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, or Sony receive Android updates weeks, if not months, after Google releases the new firmware. This is due to the manufacturers having to tailor the operating system to work smoothly, not only with their devices, but also with their customized user interface that's piled on top of stock Android (AOSP). In Samsung's case, this is TouchWiz.

What this means is that the Galaxy S4, although the most popular Android phone on the market now, will get updated slower than phones running AOSP. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition eliminates this by running AOSP. Theoretically, the phone should get its Android at the same time as Nexus devices, meaning it will be ahead of the pack. The only thing that will be missing is all of Samsung's specialized TouchWiz gimmicks, such as Multi-Window, which allows two apps to run simultaneously on screen.

Other perks of the Google Play Galaxy S4 include an unlocked bootloader, which means custom ROMS can be flashed with ease.

On top of its appeal to Android junkies, the Galaxy S4 Google Play edition is unlocked at its price of $649.99 and offers specs that won't be out of date for quite some time. The smartphone features a 5-inch 1080p HD Super AMOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB onboard memory, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 2-megapixel front shooter. The handset runs Android 4.2.2, the latest version, out of the box.

Sadly, the Galaxy S4 Google Play edition does not come with CDMA support. This means that the Galaxy S4 Google Play edition won't work on Verizon or Sprint networks in the United States, although it will run LTE speeds on AT&T or T-Mobile.

Let us know if you chose to order a Galaxy S4 Google Play edition, and why you chose it over the HTC One Google Play edition in the comments section below.