Last Updated on April 12, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake
The original Nexus 7 came mid 2012 with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean but by far our favorite tablet in this range came the following year in the form of the 2013 edition under the same name. It came with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and saw several updates since including the 4.4 KitKat followed by 4.4.2 and 4.4.3. We already showed you how to update using the KTU84L for 4.4.3, and now we are thrilled to let you know that all of you can install the very latest Android 4.4.4 Kitkat, which is the last stage in the chocolate software namely the KTU84P update. Today I’ll show you how you can fix this quickly without any hassles.
With all the different names being delivered for a bunch of different tablets and smartphones, it’s easy to get confused so I’ll break it down as clearly as possible so you can get out of here within the 15 minutes. Just try and read through the prerequisites before you start just in case you see something you weren’t aware of before hand and you are now glad it caught your eye.
Checklist
The first point I want to discuss is backing up. Always backup before upgrading software. It doesn’t matter if you re doing an OTA (over the air) or manual installation, it’s always a great idea to perform a full backup of documents, settings, photos, videos, call logs, SMS texts and more. We all know the Nexus 7 is great value for money because Google looks after it on purpose to keep the name untouchable and popular. However, it does have to cut costs somewhere, and they did it by not including the MicroSD card slot and dishing out limited memory internally. It does offer 32 GB built-in storage, and we want to use that for our backed up data. Some people refuse to delete the data they have because they don’t want to live without it. You are facing a dilemma that does have an answer that you might not be aware of just yet if that sounds like the situation in front of yourself. Google are offering 15 free GB’s worth of documents and data storage if you sign up to a service called Google Drive. It loves to host files in the cloud for you. There is even more space available, but it comes at a cost after you go over the 15 GB limit.
Keep in mind that there are two different versions of this tablet, and we only want to use the Google Nexus 7 2013 edition and not the tablet that came out in 2012. If you accidentally have the wrong one, it can brick the device.
Many people are writing guides for the Nexus range that involve using ADB sideload. While it is an effective method to use, it is also more difficult to those who don’t have experience with that. Many people know how to root using Odin, and they are familiar with custom recovery’s such as clockworkMod and TWRP. I have knocked up this guide so that the file loads via the custom recovery and not ADB. Keep in mind that it does not stock Android 4.4.3 KTU84L running right now for it to work. If it has anything custom installed on the OS, it will brick the tablet.
You can wait for the OTA to come and install it that way by tapping the “check now” button if this is too advanced for your liking. Everyone will get the system notification coming in but if that slips by you just go to Settings > About Device and check if the update is ready to install that way.
It will need an unlocked bootloader and root to have a custom recovery installed. There is another method out there as I previously mentioned that works for the locked bootloader and without root, but we find that process more difficult because of the number of people who don’t have sideload experience. It is to cater for those who know firmware/root with Odin and have experience with one of the custom recoveries suggested providing a more efficient way to update to the latest KTU84P firmware before we reach Android 4.5 L that is officially unveiled from Google I/O overnight.
Find the Develop Options menu and enable USB Debugging mode if it isn’t showing as a box with a mark inside it. Going by the usual standard of a mark means check and an empty box means unchecked we want to have the box checked as on before navigating back out of there.
Download and install the up to date Google Nexus drivers, so there are issues with connecting to the network. We will make a brief connection to swap the contents.
The 2013 nexus 7 comes with a 3950 mAh capacity battery and wireless charging built-in. It also comes with USB charging so when we connect it to the PC it will start powering the battery via the USB cable. It is an effective phone charger if you don’t have the real charger with you. However, as devices age sometimes they break down and some people might not have this working for a number of reasons. If you know, yours does not work make sure; you have enough battery power to see out the full guide without the tablet shutting down. If it does shut down that can be dangerous, and we want to bypass that at all expenses.
Flash Android 4.4.4 KTU84P Official Firmware For Nexus 7 2013 Wi-Fi Over Android 4.4.4 KTU84L
1. Download the new Android 4.4.4 KTU84P For Nexus 7 zip to the computer.
– use the desktop if you plan on deleting it after you finish or use the C: Drive if you want to store it for next time.
– if you use the C: Drive remember where you decided to save it, so it is easy to find next time.
– if using a Windows-based OS newer than XP just click Start > Start search and start typing in the file name.
2. Transfer the file to the tablet internal storage.
3. Turn the power off on the tablet. The computer work is all done.
– disconnect the tablet from the computer correctly using the “safely remove hardware” feature placed in the system tray of the taskbar.
– stop the USB Mass storage device before unplugging it and continuing.
4. Choose between one of the custom recovery options and boot into the mode.
5. If you chose the CWM recovery press the ‘install zip from sd card’ option
6. if you chose the TWRP recovery tap the install option.
7. Upload the file that you transferred earlier.
8. Wait for it to finish flashing the file.
9. Navigate back to the reboot system now option and when it boots it will be complete.