Last Updated on April 12, 2017 by Mathew Diekhake
It’s not often we hear about an electronic device that has been through a lot in its life but if we were to use that metaphor for a smartphone, the Moto X would have to be a sure-fire target atop anybodies list. It started as an interesting mid-ranger that took the world by storm. It’s parents then went through an ugly divorce, and it was handed off to Lenovo and thankfully they haven’t screwed anything up towards the tail end of its life.
As if coming with the Moto maker wasn’t enough to please fans into customization, the Moto X is also being looked after software-wise and today it is receiving Android 4.4.3 Kitkat only a few days after the first Google-owned nexus handset saw it. I can’t speak highly enough about the Moto X, and they’ve outdone themselves again for coming in front of Samsung galaxy flagships including the S5 mind you for this new firmware.
Not surprisingly it is T-Mobile who owns the rights to this release first. They have also been the phone carrier who were first out with the Nexus and they also just updated the S5 today with an SMS text bug fix. That bug alone could be what has made them decide to bring it out for this handset instead. If you are with T-Mobile, be on the lookout for a system notification coming in anytime between now and a week or two down the road. On rare occasions, they can be missed so if you are feeling anxious and a little bit paranoid you also have the chance to take a look at what your system is doing manually by navigating your way to Settings > General > About device > Software update > Check now.
If you want to learn more about 4.4.3, it has already arrived for the Nexus 5 and the Nexus 7 plus the factory image. Google has done well releasing many factory images, and it has also come out to the HTC One M8 and the M7 as well Xperia Z Ultra. There’s news that the Samsung Galaxy S5 Google Play Edition is receiving it today so we’ll find out more on that.
Up until now we have been blind reporting this new edition to the firmware under Kitkat because we hadn’t installed it ourselves nor had we seen any reports. Today, though I’m proud to say I have witnessed it for the first time plus I, have additionally looked at others recording on the matter. Together I can fill you in on a lot of what it does have to offer so keep browsing after the drop if you engross to find out more.
Mostly this is just a small incremental update. I knew that after I saw the file size for the nexus was only around 56 MB. Obviously that isn’t packing a lot of features along with it, but we knew that would be the case anyhow with the launch of 4.5 coming soon enough. Most of everything here comes from under the hood. However, there are some changes including the Google phone app. The keypad is white and before it was black. The contacts app has changed the pictures to Gmail cards for contacts. Autofocus on the camera appears to be faster although it is laborious to tell from the naked eye. HDR or otherwise known as High Dynamic Range mode is working faster. There will be more coming to light. We are expecting a lot more news coming for bugs and performance enhancements. Android always manage to make the OS even faster than before with each release, and I can’t wait to check out the Easter Egg or two if they have any.
The Moto X begins with 16 GB of internal storage because it is only a mid-ranger. Moreover, only 12 GB of that can be used by us to store things because the other 4 GB is used by the operating system. You may necessitate to unblock some space on the built-in storage before updating, so there is room. One of the downsides with the Moto X is that it didn’t come with a Micro SD card expansion slot.