Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Edition shows up on the Bluetooth SIG as the GT-I9505G

BY Stefan Constantinescu

Published 23 May 2013

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 comes in three flavors. There’s the hard to find Exynos 5 Octa version known as the GT-i9500, the Qualcomm version known as the GT-i9505, and now there’s a third variant called the GT-i9505G. The discovery of the Google Edition S4 on the Bluetooth SIG’s website was made by MobiLeaks, and the fact that there’s a new model number suggests to me that there’s either a totally new Bluetooth software stack or a new Bluetooth chip altogether. We’re not going to find out until next month when people actually buy the thing and tear it apart.

Why is the Google Edition GS4 important? For purists out there who want stock Android, but don’t want to have to deal with the perils of rooting, they’ll finally have a highly competent smartphone to buy. I’m not saying the Nexus 4 is bad, it’s just “old” based on the specs we’ve come to enjoy this year.

There are several rumors floating around the internet that HTC will offer a stock version of the One, but those are just rumors for now. The Google Edition GS4 on the other hand, like I said earlier, it goes on sale next month in the United States for a cool $649.