Android KitKat released

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

I agree. I even went for the full KitKat look like on the Nexus 5 by installing the GoogleHome.apk.

I use Nova Launcher Prime. Unfortunately, the option to have the transparent notification bar doesn't seem to be present as shown on the page you link to and I can't find Nova Launcher Beta on Google Play.

ETA. Never mind, found it and installed it. I now have KitKat 4.4 and Nova Launcher Beta with transparent notification bar. Very nice

[Teknikal]

I'm actually starting to reverse my negative stance on kit kat, my battery does seem to be lasting a touch longer and I only worked out yesterday how to disable the Google apps that were annoying me.

(I did try to the disable button before but I said no to restoring to the factory version of the app which apparently you have to accept)

That one little thing has made me feel much better about Android in general I was convinced the disable button was a cheap trick but now I feel like I have control over my own apps again.

Still hoping they bring back the wakelock stats it was an extremely useful function but in general I'm happy with both my Android devices at the minute.

[Purple Lady]

Has anyone noticed a problem with text reflow on the browsers? I saw that there was a problem on non mobile sites with text reflow. I always set my browsers to desktop mode because mobile sites tend to suck. I use Dolphin, Opera and Boat browsers - Chrome uses too much battery.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

I'm at work so can't really try that out now I'll update when I'm at home this evening.

Sound through my speakers seems as normal.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Sound through my speakers seems as normal.

Thanks. Yes, I'm sure now that this is nothing to do with the update to 4.4. Just a recent hardware issue. Apparently I can try to fix it myself as it's out of warranty, by removing the cover and adding some damping material to the speaker assembly.

Will give that a go sometime.

Graham

[mkozlows]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Just got a reply from Moon+ Pro Reader's developer

He's wrong about it being device-specific. I see it on my 2013 N7, the N10, and the N5 with Kit-Kat.

Additionally, I think it's nearly certain that Moon+ is doing something wrong, because its italics have always been broken -- it doesn't use proper italics, it just uses slanted roman. I emailed the developer about this a year or so ago, and got no reply. Ironically, the totally broken rendering under KitKat actually gives me hope that this might now rise to the level of something so broken that it'll get fixed.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by mkozlows

He's wrong about it being device-specific. I see it on my 2013 N7, the N10, and the N5 with Kit-Kat.

Additionally, I think it's nearly certain that Moon+ is doing something wrong, because its italics have always been broken -- it doesn't use proper italics, it just uses slanted roman. I emailed the developer about this a year or so ago, and got no reply. Ironically, the totally broken rendering under KitKat actually gives me hope that this might now rise to the level of something so broken that it'll get fixed.

You might want to try and email him what you posted. I'm fine with slanted better than what we got now.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I too got the update rather I wanted or not. Gsam Battery Monitor no longer works had to find alternative and I just bought the app the other day.

Gsam will work now if you are rooted. The dev of another battery stats app that I use is trying to get Google to change. Accessing battery stats is now a system privileged event. Here's a blog from Gsam's dev explaining the issue http://badassbatterymonitor.blogspot...m-battery.html

[Teknikal]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Gsam will work now if you are rooted. The dev of another battery stats app that I use is trying to get Google to change. Accessing battery stats is now a system privileged event. Here's a blog from Gsam's dev explaining the issue http://badassbatterymonitor.blogspot...m-battery.html

Thing with that is rooting can be risky and it instantly destroys any warranty you have, also it's been reported on a few sites Google has actually added a utility to 4.4 that has the ability to remove root.

Google hasn't used it their Nexus line "yet" which is hopeful but once oems and carriers realise it's there they will probably activate it so this could be a temporary fix.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

Thing with that is rooting can be risky and it instantly destroys any warranty you have, also it's been reported on a few sites Google has actually added a utility to 4.4 that has the ability to remove root.

Google hasn't used it their Nexus line "yet" which is hopeful but once oems and carriers realise it's there they will probably activate it so this could be a temporary fix.

I sincerely doubt that rumor. It is extremely easy to remove root, so nothing needs to be built in the OS to do it. There are apps available to remove root just to "technically" reinstate warranty protection. Google even provides the original factory image for Nexus devices for download, so a user can restore the device to just the way it left the factory. But even if the rumor is true, how many milliseconds do you think it will take until a root killer disable app appears.
Android is open source, so the entire community knows exactly what is in it.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

Thing with that is rooting can be risky and it instantly destroys any warranty you have, also it's been reported on a few sites Google has actually added a utility to 4.4 that has the ability to remove root.

Google hasn't used it their Nexus line "yet" which is hopeful but once oems and carriers realise it's there they will probably activate it so this could be a temporary fix.

Rooting in and of itself is not risky. Some things you can do with root *and* an unlocked bootloader can be risky like installing custom roms without following directions. You have to be trying to do risky things to have problems. I use root to be able to freeze bloat on non Nexus devices, to backup and restore apps, lower brightness below what is set by the os, and now to just get battery stats. None of this is risky. There are toolkits available to restore to factory state and I think Google knows better than to piss off devs by removing root capabilities especially on Nexus devices.

[citac]

I've been reading the thread and it seems to me this OTA is only for the Nexus devices. Am I wrong? What about devices made by other manufacturers? If I don't get an OTA update, where can I find KitKat to download?

[Prestidigitweeze]

[Deleted double post.]

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Rooting in and of itself is not risky. Some things you can do with root *and* an unlocked bootloader can be risky like installing custom roms without following directions. You have to be trying to do risky things to have problems.

Backing up from stock, rooting and installing a ROM has never been an easier process. Anyone can use Helium from the Play Store to back up their files, then use the new Cyanogenmod installer to root and install a thoroughly vetted ROM.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by citac

I've been reading the thread and it seems to me this OTA is only for the Nexus devices. Am I wrong? What about devices made by other manufacturers? If I don't get an OTA update, where can I find KitKat to download?

Google releases OTA updates for the Nexus family of devices. The source code for Android is public, so it is up to manufacturers to download the latest and generate new firmware versions for the devices already out there.

Most manufacturers have been rather slow at pushing updates, but Motorola seems to be doing it right and they've already released Kitkat for the Moto X, and the Moto G update should be coming soon.

For the other devices (Samsung, LG, Sony, ...) you'll probably have to wait a few months to get Kitkat - unless you have a Google Play edition phone.