Android Kit Kat...

Exactly!

Google have a **** load of power over the OEMs and have done for sometime, especially the big ones like Samsung. They should have been more tight fisted like 1-2 years ago with the OEMs when it came to the updates i.e. "you don't provide the update in a timely manner then you no can longer use android on your phones", yes it would hurt google as well but it would hurt the OEM's far more especially the likes of HTC.

Although with what has been suggested with kit kat, the updates would be pushed through the google play services thing so OEM's can't do a single thing even if they wanted to :cool:

As said before, Samsung etc. can still keep their skins and update them but that will be separate to the android "base" updates.
 
Nexus18 said:
Although with what has been suggested with kit kat, the updates would be pushed through the google play services thing so OEM's can't do a single thing even if they wanted to :cool:

As said before, Samsung etc. can still keep their skins and update them but that will be separate to the android "base" updates.
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Where have you seen this? It sounds good in theory, but how will this work? Surely you can't get the updated features of a newer Android version without the OEMs updating the UI first?
 
Sunbed said:
Where have you seen this? It sounds good in theory, but how will this work? Surely you can't get the updated features of a newer Android version without the OEMs updating the UI first?
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Google have been slowly moving all the bigger features of android out of the base OS and into separate apps which are then managed through Google Play Services which allows them to update them without brining out a new version of android.

The best example of this is the new built in find my phone feature that was pushed to phones a couple of months ago, before the switch to the Google Play Services usage that would have required a new version to be released and then fiddled with by network operators before we got it.

Things like Google keyboard and calendar etc can now be found on the play store which weren't available before this move.
This way the only updates that will require a full on release from Google are ones buried deep in the code that can't be separated out.

It's also why new android version releases will become less packed with new features because most of them will have already been pushed out through Google Play Services.
 
There's tons of stock Android apps on the Store now. Play Services is the big one though, look it up on the store, and laugh at all the 1 star reviews from idiots who have no idea what it really is.
 
tom_e said:
http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/1...ntation-under-control-but-does-it-even-matter

About half way down that page it explains what I was trying to get at :)
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Even this more unified Android platform has what could be unsolvable fragmentation issues. We may never see Android coalesce around just one or two version numbers — the market is simply too diverse for that. Instead, Google has been moving services out of the core OS over the last several update cycles. Mountain View can now bring new features to the overwhelming majority of Android devices via the Google Play Services framework. Version number fragmentation isn’t the problem it once was.

When you look at the features that have been pulled out of the core OS, it’s really all the stuff you care about. Google Play Services includes all the components for account syncing, malware scanning, Google Play Games, and a lot more. The Play Store itself contains many of the apps that used to only be updated with the system like Search/Google Now, Hangouts, and the keyboard. The operating system itself is basically still home to the system UI, lock screen, APIs, the kernel, and drivers.

The result is that Google can bring many new features to Android without waiting on OEMs and carriers to push updates. For example, just last month it added the ability for users to track and wipe a lost phone via the Android Device Manager. This came to all Android devices, and no system update was needed.

Android is still technically fragmented, and will probably always be fragmented. Google has, however, taken steps to ameliorate the effects of fragmentation on users. We may be headed for a future where it simply doesn’t matter what version number your phone is running. Instead, it will matter what it can do.
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yup
 
xibinim said:
Nexus - are you slightly surprised, as I am, that HTC plan to start seeding 4.3 this month!?
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In some ways yes and no :p

Although I'll believe it when I see people's phones actually getting the update as you are well aware, what they say and do is very different. Generally when Samsung, htc etc. give an ETA like that, it ends up arriving a month or two later.....

The main reason they seem like they are getting it out as soon as possible:

- they have got most of last years devices updated to 4.2.2 and sense V5 over the last 3 months; one x, xl, X+, DNA, butterfly, no word on the S yet but ~I doubt it will get the update so HTC only have those 2 current devices to concentrate on now

- they seem like they are only bringing the 4.3 changes and nothing new to sense, which tbh is the best way of updating as that is usually what takes them so long as they modify the skin at the same time

- don't have many devices to bring the update too, only the htc one and htc one mini unlike Samsung and Sony who have well over 5 devices to support

- 4.3 doesn't contain too much that is new to sense/HTC devices i.e. supposedly HTC had TRIM enabled from the start of sense V4

I will laugh if HTC get the update out before the moto X gets 4.3! :D

Sunbed said:
Where have you seen this? It sounds good in theory, but how will this work? Surely you can't get the updated features of a newer Android version without the OEMs updating the UI first?
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Pretty much what everyone above has said :p

No reason not too as the skins are just another layer added on top really, obviously with some modifications to the base of android as well probably.

I am also slightly curious to see how google can do this without creating a ton of bugs as surely the skins will need to be updated/modified too otherwise things will just break?

Also another plus is that means OEM's won't have to worry about updating the core of android so they can just concentrate on their skins more.
 
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tom_e said:
http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/1...ntation-under-control-but-does-it-even-matter

About half way down that page it explains what I was trying to get at :)
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Thanks. That's jogged my memory. I rememeber watching an MKBHD vid about this I think.

One thing I'd like to see in 4.4 is the removal of the SMS app and full integration into hangouts. I'm happy for SMS to still exist but it should be taking a natural back seat to instant messengers now. I'd rather use Hangouts over WhatsApp (even though I like WhatsApp) purely because I can use it on my PC, but none of my noob friends use it because WhatsApp is the defacto IM app now. Therefore Google should ditch the SMS app and force Hangouts on to everybody (but still allowing SMS functionality within Hangouts), for my benefit :p

uvarvu said:
It helps to read the thread.
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I only read odd numbered pages.
 
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So has anyone been buying KitKats? I've purchased 8x4 packs from Sainsbury's as they are £1 each from there and won £10 in google play vouchers for the girlfriend.
 
Reportedly a nexus 4 running 4.4.. Supposedly....

android-4.4-leak-4.jpg


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