Nope, this isn’t a joke. Motorola and Verizon are soak testing their Android 4.4 – KitKat update right now. I’ve been saying since the KitKat announcement, that I was wondering who would be the first one to update their devices to KitKat. I kinda thought it would be Motorola since their skin is basically stock Android. It now appears that I was right. As Samsung is still updating their devices to Android 4.3 as well as HTC.
During the Moto G announcement last week, Motorola’s CEO Dennis Woodside stated that the Moto X would get their KitKat update in the coming weeks. And now a week later (barely) it’s all but ready go. As long as there are no real issues with the soak test, we should see the update pushing out later this week. Hopefully the other variants aren’t far behind.
Here’s the full changelog:
Androidâ„¢ 4.4, KitKat® Android 4.4, KitKat, is the latest release of the Android platform. KitKat includes enhancements such as restyled status and navigation bars, a new full-screen mode, color emoji support, improved closed captioning support, stronger security, smarter power use, and more tools and capabilities for better app development.Phone dialer Improved the phone app with the ability to look up contacts directly from the dial pad, see and tap frequent contacts, and search your corporate directory easily.Camera – Focus and exposure Enhanced the “touch to focus” option with a new circular, on screen control that can be dragged by your finger around the viewfinder to adjust a photo’s focus and exposure.Gallery – Photo editingAdded new photo editing options to the Gallery app including new filter effects, draw on your photos, advanced cropping, and adjustments to color, exposure, contrast and more.Hangouts – SMS/MMS supportIncorporated a new version of Google Hangouts that supports integrated SMS/MMS messaging. Hangouts can be set as the default SMS app under Settings > Wireless > Default SMS app.Touchless Control – “Find my phone”Added a new “Find my phone” command to Touchless Control. Just say “OK, Google Now–find my phone” and your Moto X will ring loudly to let you know where it’s hiding when you’ve misplaced it nearby.NFC – Host card emulationEnhanced support for NFC Host Card Emulation (HCE), to improve experiences such as contactless payments, loyalty plans, transit passes, card access and more.Accessory supportAdded support for Square credit card reader
I’m actually very excited to see Motorola beating everyone to the punch of updating to Android 4.4 KitKat. Now where are those people that said “Motorola never updates their device”?