HTC One: Turn Any HTC One into a HTC One Nexus (Google Edition)

The HTC One Nexus, or Google Edition, is now up for sale, but HTC hasn’t offered up an official HTC One Google Play Edition ROM for early adopters. Fear not, the smart people over at xda-developers already completed a file that will turn any HTC One, including the AT&T HTC One into a HTC One Google Play Edition.

In addition to delivering a Nexus experience on the HTC One, this file is also an unofficial HTC One Android 4.2.2 update.

While we’ve heard rumors that HTC will offer an official method of switching from HTC Sense 5 and BlinkFeed to a vanilla version of Android found on the Google Play Edition, there is no word on the timing of this release.

Read: HTC One Nexus (Google Edition): 5 Things You Need to Know

Users must root the HTC One to make this work, but that’s a pretty simple task and users that are looking forward to running stock Android on the HTC One shouldn’t have trouble completing the steps.

To get started, make sure you root the HTC One. The HTC One All-In-One Toolkit makes rooting the HTC One a fairly straightforward experience. The Hasoon2000 HTC One All-In-One Toolkit walks users through the installation process and steps needed to root the HTC One. Check out the detailed instructions in this thread.

After rooting the HTC One, users will need to download the HTC One Android 4.2.2 Google Play Edition ROM. This is a free download on the xda-developer forums. While this is not an official HTC One Android 4.2.2 update, it will likely deliver performance on par or better than anything HTC pushes out later this year. Though the official HTC One Android 4.2 update will retain Sense 5 and BlinkFeed.

The HTC One Android 4.2.2 Google Play Edition ROM comes from the official release on a HTC One Google Play Edition device and is rooted with superuser and busybox installed as part of the installation process.

The installation works on any GSM HTC One, but users of the AT&T HTC One may need to flash the file using TWRP, an alternate method of flashing the ROM, to make the installation work.

WiFi and Bluetooth are working, but the built-in personal hotspot app is not working, so users will need to download a third-party solution if they need this feature.  The IR blaster is also not working, which is the same as the official HTC One Google Play Edition, so it is not a surprise.

The HTC One Nexus (Google Play Edition) is available in the Google Play store for $599 unlocked with no contract. These instructions are for users with a previous model that want the Nexus or Google Play Edition experience.