Last year’s flagship for HTC, the M7, and this year’s flagship the M8 are both receiving Android 4.4.4 KitKat over the air for selected Google Play Edition (GPE) smartphones. The new firmware will arrive as notification and if you want to accept it then or pout it on hold. However, if you choose to install it later the announcement will not come back, and users have to steer to Settings> About Phone> System Updates and lastly tap the ‘check now’ option. It will search for the update that we know is there because the information came and then begin downloading after you confirm. If you haven’t received any alert informing you that the update is ready then it likely hasn’t come in yet. It can take several weeks until the update finds its way around to all devices so don’t be shocked if it isn’t there. Anybody can always follow the steps I mentioned checking manually at any time if you are feeling paranoid that it may be ready, but the message didn’t appear.
It was hardly the day before that we beheld the GPE phones of the Moto G get the same treatment so it would seem that all Google Play handsets are starting to receive it around the same time. Interestingly this firmware is coming before the average M7 and M8 and not after it like it has with some other handsets. The original standard versions of the HTC smartphones are expecting to see Android 4.4.4 KitKat coming later this month or early August. HTC developer LlabTooFeR leaked out news telling us that HTC have tested Android 4.4.3 with Sense 6.0, and that means we will likely see the two updates rollout in quick succession. It was never a long break between the two anyhow because both updates are small in size and don’t come with a lot of features.
Android 4.4.4 comes short on features but does offer the end user better battery performance and overall performance. Most of the upgrades happen beneath the surface though embedded in the software we can’t see such as security fixes. If you are the type of character who doesn’t ever wish to comprise on security then this update will be one you will want to choose excepting as soon as you see it. For most people, it won’t even present any issue worth worrying about now.
Whenever we talk about software it is always a safe idea to update to the freshest version available because the older version are less secure regardless if any exploits were found or not. Keeping up to date always reduces the chances of hackers and your personal data leaking.
We’ve come to a time where Android software isn’t all that exciting, but that will change very soon when Android L starts rolling out to many smartphones and tablets. We only see tiny increments designed for small fixes, but the jump up to Android L. The latest Android L is available for developers with the Nexus 5 or Nexus 7 since June 26, and we have already seen the keyboard leak out.