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Android OTA: Device Updates & Firmware Weekly Report - November 22

Android OTA: Device Updates & Firmware Weekly Report – November 22nd Edition

By Tom Dawson
November 22, 2013

 

Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Gets Android 4.2.2, Starting in Europe

Samsung certainly know how to take care of their owners when it comes to updates and while their tablet line is often shunned a little bit in favor of their phones, they still do a good job there, too. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 from last year is getting updated to Android 4.2.2 in Germany, and other parts of Europe. It’s only for the WiFi model and should be available in Kies, too. For the most part, this is Android 4.2 with Samsung’s touch on top, there’s some features from the Galaxy S4 but nothing earth shattering.

Original Kindle Fire Gets Android 4.4 KitKat

 

The Kindle Fire HDX might well be the new hotness but, the original Kindle Fire is still out there and being used by a fair amount of people, no doubt thanks to its fairly decent-looking display. Now that the flood gates are open, and Android updates are flying all over the place, it’s only fair that the Kindle Fire get KitKat too, right? Well, thanks to an unofficial build of CyanogenMod 11, it too can take a break. You can read more about the build here, and you can head on over to XDA to take a look at the ROM yourself.

T-Mobile Finally Gives Xperia Z Users Android 4.2

 

At long last, T-Mobile users that bought an Xperia Z will be getting their update to Android 4.2. We can only assume that T-Mobile simply forgot about the update as the international version has had the update for 5 or so months now. Needless to say, this won’t change too much on your device, aside from the inclusion of lockscreen widgets and such but it’s a welcome update nonetheless. The version number you’re looking for is 10.3.1.E.0.191 and it should be rolling out right now.

ASUS Transformer TF701 Getting Android 4.3; Could be More Trouble Than It’s Worth

 

ASUS have a pretty good name when it comes to software updates and the 275MB update to Android 4.3 might tarnish that name a little. While the update not only brings with it Android 4.3 but, it’s apparently supposed to fix issues between the keyboard dock and the tablet itself. That might not be the case however, as there are reports of poor performance and stability issues. It might be best to look up these issues in your favorite forum of choice before taking the plunge.

Galaxy S III Users Get Android 4.3 Update

 

Finally, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean has hit the Galaxy S III. After months of waiting, it’s finally here and while it’s certainly had a rocky start, the update is now rolling out to more carriers than before. Making it AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and US Cellular users that are now getting the update to Android 4.3. Overall, this update brings a new version of Android and support for the Galaxy Gear, making it a hot update for those looking to get a new smartwatch and not a new phone at the same time. You can check for the update in your device’s settings or perhaps try your hand using Samsung’s KIES software.

HTC One Gets Tiny Update on Verizon

 

Verizon users with an HTC One might not have noticed but, the One has been updated to software version 1.10.605.15. What does this new build come with you might ask? Well, that’s the strange thing, the update is obviously too small to be anything of note and there are no major changes to the software so, we’re chalking this up to yet another tiny maintenance update.

DROID XYBOARD Gets Android 4.1.2 In Latest OTA

 

For the few of you out there with the Droid XYBOARD – of the 10.1 variety – you might be happy to know that you’re finally getting upgraded to Android 4.1.2. Which means, at long last you can finally find out what all this Google Now stuff is all about. As well as hopefully, a performance boost thanks to Project Butter. This is a sizable update and is perhaps best to pull down over WiFi but, we’re not sure how many of you are left. Anyone?

Ouya Rolling Out “Abominable Snowman” Update; Their Biggest Since Launching

 

Since it launched, Ouya has come out with a number of updates since then but, this is one of their biggest. Fitting of winter, it’s called the Abominable Snowman and you can read all about it here, as well as take a look at the changelog below.

  • External Storage is in open beta!
  • Just plug in a USB drive to get started. Please see the list below for details and known issues.
  • We support NTFS, FAT32, and ext4 file formats.
  • Games on external storage are currently associated with the OUYA they were downloaded from (so you can’t use the storage to transfer a game from one OUYA to another. Sorry!).
  • If you’ve modded your system with apps like Link2SD, you’ll want to undo your changes in order for external storage to work.
  • You may notice some slowdown while a game is installing to USB. This is expected and is something we hope to address in future updates.
  • After downloading a game to external storage, sideloading an app will put it on external storage.
  • Some games do not properly move their saved game data when moved to an external drive. If this occurs, you can move the game back to its original location to recover the save files.
  • When connecting a USB drive, scanning can take a few minutes if lots of games (100+) are installed. We plan to improve this in future updates, but if you download all of DISCOVER, scanning will take a while.
  • Occasionally on bootup with an external drive attached, the screen wil go completely orange while the scanning takes place. You can wait for the scanning to finish, or reboot. We are looking into a fix.
  • When ejecting the USB drive, sometimes it will say a download is still going even if one isn’t. We are working on a fix for this.
  • UI revamp! We’ve made some significant changes to the look and feel of the UI.
  • OUYA is now more intuitive, visually appealing, and better able to feature your games. It’s even got built-in functionality to allow us to update featured games and the wallpaper on the fly.
  • All game titles are now underneath the tile art, for easier browsing.
  • Tiles have new icons for installed games and game with available updates.
  • Controller icons now appear for all connected controllers and will give a low battery indication.
  • Double tap of the OUYA button will now bring up a System Menu instead of instantly exiting a game.
  • The System Menu allows you to exit games, eject a USB drive, turn off controllers, or put OUYA into sleep mode.
  • Games can now be set up to allow purchases from OUYA menus. Games that have enabled this will have a “Buy” button in their System Menu.
  • We’ll be expanding and adding more functionality to this menu in the future.
  • Support for faster system updates. We’ve enabled “Incremental Updates”, which means updates (after this one) will be much quicker. NOTE: If you’ve modified your system files, you’ll continue to get the full updates.
  • Developers can now create links that allow you to download their game to your OUYA from the web. These links aren’t just confined to the ouya.tv site, they can be placed on any webpage. Keep an eye out for these links! You’ll see them start to appear on our newsletter, which you can sign up for on ouya.tv.
  • Update Notes are viewable on the console. They appear after an update, or you can go to MANAGE -> UPDATE NOTES to view them.
  • Good ol’ fashioned bug fixes
  • Fixed an issue where users could not access the Internet because the system clock had reset, causing certificate problems.
  • Fixed an issue where the download button didn’t always display the proper text.
  • Fixed an issue where holding the analog stick to the side didn’t auto-scroll
  • Many minor issues
  • R2 and L2 can be used to scroll quickly in both PLAY and DISCOVER