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Hurry up, ladies and gentlemen! If you sprint to Walmart between November 20th and 26th, you can apparently pick yourself up a very vintage Moto X running none other than Android 2.3. Those on-screen buttons and #HOLOYOLO accents look pretty spiffy on this fine Gingerbread device, don't they?
Here Are The Manual Update Links For The Last Nexus Devices To Get KitKat OTAs - 2013 Nexus 7 LTE And 2012 Nexus 7 3G (Android 4.4 KRT16S)
Here Are The Manual Update Links For The Last Nexus Devices To Get KitKat OTAs - 2013 Nexus 7 LTE And 2012 Nexus 7 3G (Android 4.4 KRT16S)
Hooray! Shortly after the Nexus 4 OTA zip link was finally discovered, we can now say the same about both data-connected Nexus 7s - the 2012 3G edition and the 2013 LTE. These are the last devices we didn't have manual update links for, so now it's safe to say that the KitKat Nexus rollout has been fully completed.
Good news, everyone! The coveted Nexus 4 OTA to Android 4.4 is finally here after a brief delay caused by several serious bugs. It started rolling out very slowly a few days ago, but it wasn't until just now that we were able to finally identify the OTA zip urls for those of you who want to flash KitKat manually without having to wait any longer. No need to mash the Check for updates button over and over - let alone it doesn't actually do anything.
Back on Halloween, Google promised that proprietary binaries and factory images for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10 would arrive shortly after devices received their OTA updates. Even though some OTAs haven't even rolled out yet, as of a few minutes ago, all modern Nexus devices now have Android 4.4 KRT16O factory images and drivers available for download.
A huge Google Search update started rolling out earlier today. It is absolutely massive on many levels:
Following closely behind the 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7 KitKat OTA updates, it's finally the Nexus 10's turn to receive the same treatment. You can now flash the 219MB KRT16O Android 4.4 build without having to wait for your tablet to alert you, no matter what your rooting/bootloader situation is. Of course, if you've modified the system partition in such a way that the OTA won't apply cleanly anymore, you have to either revert those changes or wait for the factory image.
Yesterday, Google announced the kickoff of the KitKat OTAs for the Nexus 7 and 10, though we haven't seen the update for the 2012 N7 actually pop up until a few minutes ago. (If you have a 2013 Nexus 7, head over here.)
Now that the KitKat update has started rolling out to various Nexus devices, we're, unfortunately, seeing no traces of the Google Experience Launcher, which confirms an earlier report stating as much. No GEL means no transparency in the default and a pretty barebones boring AOSP launcher. It also means no Google Now integration and no "Ok Google" hotword support while on any home screen.
Last night, roughly two weeks after the Nexus 5's release, Google announced the first round of KitKat updates for the Nexus 10 and 2012/2013 Nexus 7. While most of us are still waiting our turn, maniacally mashing the Check for updates button, the over-the-air update url has been discovered.
It was understandable when early pre-release specs listed the Nexus 5 as having a fictional 802.11nc (as opposed to 802.11ac) Wi-Fi, which many definitely noticed at the time. After all, the Nexus 5 wasn't official yet, and something like that could have been a typo made by a PR person or an intern.
Following yesterday's unveiling of Android 4.4 and the Nexus 5, we've been enjoying a nonstop barrage of APKs which got here before any of us even got a chance to receive our own Nexus 5s in the mail thanks to the Nexus 5 factory image.
Earlier this week at a Google+ event, the company announced several important additions to Hangouts for Android. The updated version 2.0 comes with SMS support as well as location sharing, the ability to display animated GIF files, as well as the previously discovered in a teardown statuses and moods. AndroidPolice covered the rumor on October 7th following my initial Google+ report on October 4th.
Android 4.4 is out, and that means developers and tinkerers have already started digging through the code and various APKs in hopes of porting as many updated apps as possible for use with existing devices. The first and easiest app to extract is, unsurprisingly, the clock, which also acts as an alarm, timer, and stopwatch. I've installed it on my Galaxy Nexus without any issues and only had to clear data to get rid of the pesky force close, which is completely undestandable.
Nexus 4, 7, And 10 KitKat Factory Images And Proprietary Binaries Will Be Released 'In The Coming Weeks' Following Respective OTAs
Nexus 4, 7, And 10 KitKat Factory Images And Proprietary Binaries Will Be Released 'In The Coming Weeks'
Just a quick note to anyone waiting for full OS factory images and drivers for existing Nexus devices (outside of the Galaxy Nexus, which bit the dust with KitKat) - as is customary, they will follow over-the-air updates released according to Google's favorite timeline: "in the coming weeks."
After announcing KitKat and the Nexus 5 earlier today, and releasing the Android 4.4 SDK, tools, and other related goodies, Google has moved on to the next important step - source code. As announced on the Android Building forum, Android 4.4 is now trickling in, bit by bit, into the AOSP repos. If all goes well, we can expect it to complete within several hours.
Ladies and gentlemen, today is the day you've all been patiently (I kid, I kid - I mean, have you seen /r/Android lately?) waiting for.
Earlier today, Google started rolling out a major update to Google+ for Android. Together with our readers, we've examined every corner of the app and found a whole bunch of things that are new to this version 4.2 but haven't been mentioned in the official announcement. You should definitely read through the list if you haven't yet.
Earlier today at a livestreamed event in San Francisco, Google's SVP of Engineering Vic Gundotra announced a slew of new features slated for Google+ and Hangouts.
Earlier today, the Nexus and KitKat crowds almost had collective heart attacks when they saw that kitkat.com/android was now password-protected and likely hiding something behind the locked gates. Possibly even all the complete KitKat details we've been dying to see (or whatever is left of them anyway). Could it be? Did the site go down for the big update, and the launch is imminent? Not so fast.
[APK Teardown: YouTube 5.2.27] Hallelujah! Background Audio Is Finally Coming To YouTube For Android
I've been doing APK teardowns for a while now, and most of the time exciting updates end up being relatively boring under-the-hood, only rarely dropping really fascinating hints at future functionality. Today, I was pleasantly surprised, as the situation with YouTube 5.2.27 is exactly the opposite - the update itself couldn't be less boring, but the nugget we dig up inside will make a lot of you very happy.