HTC One M8 also available soon as a Google Play Edition
The HTC One M8 will also be available for AT&T and T-Mobile customers directly from Google as a Google Play Edition device. The phone will have all the same technical specs as the HTC One M8 with HTC Sense that was announced earlier today, but will run stock Android and receive updates directly from Google, usually around the same time that Nexus devices get updates.
Notably, it will take a NanoSIM to connect to GSM networks. Specifically, the HTC One M8 will be compatible with:
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz
- HSPA/UMTS quad-band 850/AWS/1900/2100MHz
- 3G (850, 1900, 2100MHz)
- HSDPA 21, HSUPA 5.76
- 4G LTE (700MHz, AWS)
This means several things for AT&T and T-Mobile customers: While the HTC One M8 should connect just fine to AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, and HSPA networks, T-Mobile customers will not be able to enjoy HSPA+ speeds at 42Mbps, but instead will be restricted to 21Mbps. Additionally, this should be able to connect to all of AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s existing LTE networks just fine, but both T-Mobile and AT&T are planning or have already started deploying LTE on 1900MHz, which does not seem to be supported on this device. This should, however, support T-Mobile’s 700MHz LTE network, once that is deployed.
Coming in at $699, this isn’t cheap – but it’s a darn nice phone.
[Google]
