Years after Android hit store shelves and even after the lengthy and sometimes arduous update process has been detailed, HTC releases a new infographic taking a look at the whole process from beginning to end.
Last week, Motorola announced that the Moto G would soon begin to be updated to Android 4.4 KitKat. Today, it looks like the update has finally started rolling out to users, as both Seth and I have received the update on our respective Moto G devices. The update comes in at roughly 191MB and bumps the device to build number 172.44.4.en.US.
New in the update are many of the changes we’ve come to know and love in KitKat. For one, all the new white-gradiants are present, replacing the blue, as is the new transparent notification bar. Not included is the new launcher found on the Nexus 5, though Google touts that as being exclusive to Nexus devices. You can always side load it, of course. Motorola also touts that new camera controls, such as manual focus and exposure, are included, though that was also included in an update to the Motorola Camera app on Google Play.
Just a few weeks after the device went up for sale, Motorola has announced that Android 4.4.2 is now rolling out to the Moto G. The update brings all of the KitKat features we’ve come to know and love. One of the biggest selling points of KitKat is the improved performance on lower-end devices that don’t have as much power under the hood. Given that the Moto G is own the lower-end of the totem pole, KitKat should drastically improve the performance of the device, not that it was bad before.
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You get KitKat, you get KitKat, you get KitKat! Well, Verizon isn’t the Oprah sure but with Verizon’s announcement via Twitter this morning that Android 4.4 is on its way to the DROID Ultra, Maxx and Mini it sure feels like a Oprah giveaway episode.
Just in time for the holidays and peak travel season, Google is adding some awesome features to Gmail on Android. Just announced via Google+, Gmail on Android now includes a vacation responder, attachment support for any file type and print capability for hard copies of emails for users on Android 4.4 KitKat.
Google Music for Android received an update this morning, bumping it to build 5.3.1316. Most notably, the update adds the ability to store cached music on an external SD card for KitKat users . For devices that still have an SD card, which aren’t many at this point, this is a very nice addition. Also coming with this update is the ability to share links to songs with social networks, as well as the ability to shuffle all songs by a specific artist. Design-wise, the update also makes some slight tweaks to the pull-out notification panel.
Full changelog:
The update is most likely a staged rollout, so it may take awhile for it to officially hit your device. If you don’t feel like waiting, head over to Droid-Life, where they have a direct APK link for sideloading purposes.
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As Google releases its newest platform version numbers for December we’re giving a warm welcome to Android 4.4 KitKat and its first appearance. Arriving on the board at 1.1%, it’s an impressive feat for Android’s newest software considering it’s still only on a handful of the devices it’s actually available for outside of the Nexus 5. When Ice Cream Sandwich debuted back in December of 2011, it was only at 0.6% at the end of January. Jelly Bean saw a similar result as it released in August of 2012 and made its debut at 0.8%.
We hear a lot about adoption of iOS updates vs the fragmentation that Android users are forced to deal with, but just how far behind are the top Android devices compared to iPhone when it comes to getting support? To answer that question, Fidlee.com has updated a chart that it first put together a couple years back in order to see if things have become any better for Android in recent years. It hasn’t.
In the chart above we see that many once flagship Android devices— the Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S3, LG G2 etc— have still not received the latest Android 4.4 KitKat update and in some cases are even further behind. Most of the devices on the list have been an upgrade or two behind since launch or not long after. In comparison, only the iPhone 3GS fives years after its release doesn’t support iOS 7. We also get a look at how much longer Apple devices generally stay available for sale and continue receiving support, nearly twice as long as Android in most cases.
Not only did Apple claim iOS 7 was “the fastest software upgrade in history” with more than 200 million devices installing the OS less than a week after launch, but analytics firms tracking adoption also noticed adoption was much higher than previous releases. Currently iOS 7 sits at about 77% of users, according to the latest data from Fiksu’s iOS Usage Monitor. While the chart above is only for devices released last year, things aren’t much better for newer Android devices. In comparison to iOS 7 adoption, Google reports that its latest release, Android 4.4 KitKat, is at just 1.1% weeks into launch. The previous release, Android 4.3, is at just 4.2%, while the majority of users remain on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean first released in July 2012. Currently KitKat is only available for Nexus devices and slowly trickling out to Moto X and Google Play Edition devices.
A couple more charts below from Fidlee showing just how bad things are on Android compared to iOS:
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A new report courtesy of the folks at ReadWrite is shining light on the steps and process Google’s engineers undertook to optimize Android 4.4 KitKat before its introduction to the world.
As Google’s engineers believed they reached a “feature parity” point, they turned their attention to performance and optimization, something that began with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and “Project Butter.” The hope was that Android would be faster, more reliable and devoid of the crashes that plagued many Android users.
I love good news in the morning and that’s why the opportunity to purchase the Moto G direct from Motorola’s website well before January has us smiling. Our very own Seth Weintraub was able to successfully purchase the device and receive a shipping order for two days. It’s a great surprise from Motorola, especially when the company originally indicated the US would be a part of “Wave 2” and ship sometime after Christmas.
Oh Google, you’re so good sometimes when you let the world know that the HTC One Google Play edition isn’t the only device receiving KitKat today. According to the +Android page on Google+, the Samsung Galaxy S 4 Google Play edition is also beginning its Android 4.4 KitKat rollout.
From 9to5Toys.com:
Future Moto X buyers take note as Amazon just dropped the price on both AT&T and Sprint variants to match the existing $0.01 price on Verizon. The deal lacks Moto Maker customization, but that’s a small “price” to pay for the opportunity to be among the first non-Nexus Android owners to have KitKat.
Just yesterday, Motorola began rolling out Android 4.4 KitKat to the T-Mobile variant of the Moto X, which was preceded by the Verizon model earlier this week. Today, the company has announced that the AT&T variant of its flagship will be the next device to receive the update.
Motorola says that the update will begin rolling out to Moto X users on AT&T today. The update will take the device to version number 140.44.5.ghost and includes all the features expected from KitKat, including the new design and much more.
We’re still waiting for a plethora of other devices to receive the update, including the Google Edition HTC One and Nexus 10. Motorola, however, finally appears to be on top of its game, and that’s certainly a good thing.
[tweet https://twitter.com/fakeninjitsu/statuses/403014466767691776]
Thanks to a tipster tweet, the boys at Android Central are reporting Android 4.4 KitKat is now en route to Nexus 4 smartphones. The update weighs in at a manageable 238MB and will of course add all the candy-tasting goodness Android 4.4 brings to the Android world.
Fresh from the Motorola Blog, it appears that Motorola will launch its first Android 4.4 KitKat update on Verizon first, with rollouts starting today. The KitKat update brings:
I say ‘unusual’ because Verizon is usually the last of the four US carriers to roll out Android updates, usually owing the increased wait to Verizon’s lengthier testing process.
Motorola and Verizon have an unusually close bond however with the Google-owned manufacturer now making all of the carrier’s Droid products as well as pioneering the Droid brand. I anticipate that other carrier versions will follow close behind.
Note that I’m still waiting on the 4.4 update to hit the Google Play edition HTC ONE, and even my Nexus 4 and 10!
I guess Google and Motorola are finally tearing down the firewall.
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According to some recent discoveries in Android’s open source code, Google is working on a new camera API for Android. Hip hip hooray! The code first discovered by Josh Brown and reported via Ars Technica on Google+ looks to originate as far back as December of last year which would make it appear that KitKat was a viable target for launch.
With the US being a part of the second wave of Moto G launches, we’ve now learned being in the later group has an intrinsic benefit. According to Motorola SVP Mark Randall speaking to Omio, “Wave 2, products that we ship after Christmas will start with KitKat…Wave 2 is in the US, there’s South East Asia, and other countries.”
Motorola’s Moto G announcement is going down and the company is making no bones about wanting to produce a smartphone that is affordable while providing a premium experience. Motorola has done exactly that and there’s little question they are making some aggressive moves that dare I say will be called…”game-changing.”
Motorola’s live-stream announcement of the Moto G is taking place as I type these very words, but a special announcement for Moto X users was just announced. Dennis Woodside, CEO of Motorola since its acquisition by Google in May of 2012 just told the world his company will be updating all Moto X devices to Android 4.4 KitKat in a “matter of weeks.”
If you have a Nexus 7 you’re waiting to activate on Verizon’s LTE network, there’s good news and bad news …
The good news is Verizon has acknowledged the issue that has been preventing the device registering on its network, and says that a solution is in hand. The bad new is that solution is to wait for KitKat to be installed on the tablet, and there’s as yet no word on when this may be. Google has said only that it will be “in the coming weeks” and that is for the Wifi versions …
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If you own a T-Mobile Moto X and are impatient to upgrade to KitKat (aka Android 4.4), the firmware has been leaked on xdaDevelopers.
As ever with unofficial ROM flashes, caution is your watchword. Make sure you have a good backup, and read the thread (a continuation of an earlier 4.3 leak) carefully before deciding whether or not to proceed.
Here we go again… It seems Google has slipped yet another as-of-yet-announced device into its KitKat promotional materials. You’ll likely recall that the Nexus 5, which was released earlier this week, was accidentally included in a video promoting Android 4.4 earlier this year.
Now Google has featured what appears to be an 8-inch Nexus tablet on the Android website. The image appears on the “apps and entertainment” page, which shows off some of the first- and third-party applications available for KitKat. The header image for the section about the Google Play media store shows a woman using a tablet that looks a little too big to be a Nexus 7, but too small to be the aging Nexus 10. The body design (specifically the bezel size) doesn’t match up with existing Nexus tablets either, so it’s pretty clear this is not one a tablet we’ve seen before.
Owners of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus were disappointed to learn that their phones would not receive official support for Android 4.4, the latest version of Google’s operating system, nicknamed KitKat. Of course, as is usually the case with situations like this, the Android community hasn’t taken too kindly to this oversight.
To correct this problem, community developers have released two separate builds of KitKat for the Galaxy Nexus. Since neither release is official, you can expect bugs and broken features. For example, PocketNow notes that in some cases Wi-Fi doesn’t always work with these builds. These issues will likely be fixed by the community in upcoming patches, but for now you may want to be cautious when installing unsupported ROMs on your phone, especially if you rely on it for day-to-day usage.
Google’s low-key press announcement yesterday focused on the launch of KitKat and the Nexus 5, but didn’t offer much detail or highlight some of the hidden gems. Google has added more and more features to the Google Now assistant over the last year and with the introduction of Android 4.4, they are going even deeper with more integration. As Android head Sundar Pichai noted, Google is “bring apps and the web together.” Everyone knows what Google is best known for: search and the company is now leveraging that by beginning to look inside your apps on your Android device.