Starting in August 2023, Google Play Services will discontinue support for Android KitKat in its new releases. KitKat, which was released in 2013, will lose support just before its 10th anniversary. This means that devices running on KitKat will no longer receive updates or support from Google Play Services, the company announced. Continue reading “Google to end support for Android KitKat in Play Services”
This month, Google’s Android platform distribution numbers reveal that the total Lollipop adoption has now reached to 12.4 percent, which is an increase of 2.7 percent from last month’s almost 10 percent overall (9.7 percent). Continue reading “Android Lollipop now on 12.4% devices, KitKat still tops with 39.2%”
Sony has a lot of phones and a few tablets in its Sony Xperia Z lineup which started way back during CES 2013 with the Sony Xperia Z. Sony had announced that it would be updating the list of the phones in the Xperia Z lineup to Android 4.4 KitKat during Q2 and now, there is information that the updates are well on their way and will likely be coming during May 2014.
Asus has announced Android 4.4 (KitKat) update for its Padfone devices, including Asus Padfone 2, Padfone Infinity in Asia and Russia, Padfone A80 in Europe and the new Padfone Infinity. The KitKat update would also bring new Asus ZenUI with a new user interface. Continue reading “Asus to roll out Android 4.4 KitKat update for Padfone devices starting Q2 2014”
HTC One family is a series of three similar looking smartphones that come at different sizes, different specifications and definitely different price points. HTC One, the company’s current flagship, was launched more than a year ago and is still the company’s flagship. In the interim, HTC has managed to push two HTC One lookalike devices in the form of HTC One Mini and HTC One Max.
Continue reading “HTC One family starts getting Android 4.4 KitKat update in India”
The LG G Pad 8.3, announced a couple of months back as the company’s first small Android tablet, has now gotten itself a Google Play Edition in the US. This tablet is the first OEM device to get the Play Edition treatment, which will let consumers get the latest versions of Android faster than the original, which might or might not get the updates as fast as this one. That’s the main purpose and selling point of the LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition. It will be free from any sort of OEM customizations, and is going on sale starting today, at a price of 350 USD. The tablet sports a great looking 1920×1200 8.3 inch screen and a metallic body to complement its huge phone-like looks. We had taken a hands on look of the original tablet at IFA in Berlin this year, take a look at the video –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AosOVdjrIZA
We saw Samsung and HTC post KitKat kernel sources for their Google Play edition devices yesterday and it has naturally led to the official Android 4.4 KitKat OTA update for both the devices starting its roll out today. Google announced this officially through their Android Google+ account and it seems like the devices will start getting the update anytime now. Both the devices had their own KitKat versions ready for a while now, but the green signal has been officially lit and hence these devices now join the ranks of Nexus 5, nexus 4, 7 and Moto X as the only devices running Android 4.4 KitKat right now.
Continue reading “HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 GPE officially get Android 4.4 KitKat from today”
Android is currently the number one smartphone OS in the world and as we all know Google owns Android(literally). However, because of various patent issues, Microsoft are reported to be making more money from Android than Google. This has been a huge problem for the search engine giant and they are working on it in their own terms. Android is open source and so every manufacturer forks Android and uses it, but they have to license Google Apps from Google. In the recent times, Google has been trying to distance itself from Android and trying to create a brand of its own which is profitable for them. This was evident when they renamed Android Market as “Google Play Store”.
As if Moto G wasn’t enough of an indication that Google and its subsidiary Motorola are working closely, today the company announced that its Flagship product – Moto X will be getting an update to Android 4.4 KitKat. This is only for Verizon Wireless customers who have bought the Moto X, but it still is way ahead of the KitKat OTA update that has been evading the Nexus devices so far. The Moto X is a neat little device that runs on stock Android, with a couple of hardware related enhancements like the always listening Google Now and the fact that it is now getting all the Android 4.4 KitKat goodness is a nice gesture from Google/Motorola.
Continue reading “Moto X gets Android 4.4 KitKat on Verizon before Nexus 4 OTA”
Google started rolling out the Android 4.4 KitKat update for Nexus 7 and the Nexus 10 few days back. Now the factory images and binaries for both the WiFi and Cellular versions of the Nexus, Nexus 10 and also for the Nexus 4 are available from the Google developers website. Google already announced that they will not release the Android 4.4 update for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus since Google doesn’t update its Nexus device beyond the 18 month period. The Android 4.4 KitKat was announced back in September and was released along with the Nexus 5 last month. Continue reading “Android 4.4 KitKat factory images for Nexus 4, 7 and 10 now available”
Google announced the Nexus 5 a while back, and with it came the latest iteration of Android – 4.4 KitKat. Within a day, Nexus 5 made its way into the hands of talented developers and Google too helped along, with the AOSP builds instantly going live. We then rapidly saw ports and AOSP builds popping up, with one for the Nexus 4 claiming to be a direct port of the Nexus 5 ROM. That was intriguing enough for a flashing opportunity, and so we jumped on it, right away. It turned out to be exactly that, with the complete feature set, rather than the lacking AOSP builds. We used it long enough to discover and use all the user-facing features of Android 4.4 KitKat and hence, presenting you an in-depth overview of the same in a 26-minute video –
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_fYgWEnns
Read past the break for a walkthrough in text and photos.
Google and LG have just unleashed a wave of announcements at us, and one of them is hardware – the Google Nexus 5. If you are curious about the other one, it’s none other than the software – Android 4.4 KitKat that comes preinstalled on the Nexus 5. The premier Android experience has received an update and will eventually roll out to Nexus 4 and other Google Play devices first, with OEM devices taking their own sweet time to implement them, as expected. Unlike Android 4.3, we have a lot of new features, user facing ones as well as under the hood features that will matter to you, a lot. Since there are too many to wrap your head, we shall be doing the service of compiling the most useful and obvious changes in Android 4.4 for you. So, what’s new in Android 4.4 KitKat?
So, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will not receive the Android 4.4 KitKat update if Google’s own FAQs are to be believed. The second Samsung-made Nexus device was actually the first device that came packaged with Play services and hence a subsidized price. The prices of the Galaxy Nexus got even lower just before the Nexus 4 was announced and hence managed to ramp up adoption in the mean while. It is safe to assume that this Nexus device is popular, but the cold hard truth is Google doesn’t update its Nexus device beyond the 18 month period. The Nexus S was the first victim, which also faced several hardware constraints, but this is the first time there are no hardware constraints but the update cycle will just not help the good old Galaxy Nexus out.
Read more – Google Nexus 5 announced, Nexus 5 shows up on Indian Play Store with prices and a coming soon tag.
Continue reading “Samsung Galaxy Nexus will NOT receive Android 4.4 KitKat – Google”
After multiple, high quality leaks detailing the specifications, design flourishes and benchmarks, the only things we didn’t know about the Nexus 5 were the price and a release date. Thankfully, albeit accidentally, Google have managed to add the price of the Nexus 5 to the repository of leaked information. Continue reading “Nexus 5 Price leaks via Play Store listing, 16GB for $349”
Another year, another Nexus smartphone and another bar story. The relationship between bars and yet to be announced phones never ceases to amuse the internet folks. A couple of weeks ago, just ahead of the IFA, Google announced their next version of Android – 4.4 KitKat with some theatrics and “accidentally” showed off the next Nexus smartphone in their video. Recent images from FCC filings have also identified the same device and it shows stronger evidence of a new Nexus device.
Yesterday, a Google employee supposedly left a Nexus 5 device unattended while it was put for charging in a bar(Yes, you heard it right, A bar) and an employee of the bar was able to make a quick video and get a couple of images of the supposed Nexus 5. The images show that the device is quite identical to the one spotted at FCC filings and the one Google showed off in their video. It has the Nexus logo at the back in horizontal orientation and there is a huge camera which was seen in the video. There is a LG logo at the bottom and a Not for Sale text above it. The design language seems to be quite similar to the Nexus 4, but with less rounded corners and a bigger screen. There are no navigation keys which is quite typical of a Nexus device.
The boot screen shown in the images supposedly belongs to Android 4.4 KitKat, but it seems quite similar to the ones on the Google Play Edition phones. And the video shows just the lockscreen of what is believed to be Android 4.4. KitKat.
The rumored specifications of Nexus 5 include
You can check out the video right below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPYVbaF1Jmg
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yJSYSuyKfY
What do you think of the new Nexus 5? Is it impressive enough?
