Google really hit us hard in the taste buds this time. The name of the K-version of Android was predicted to be Key Lime Pie, which Google also said so – but was eventually changed when they found out that Key Lime Pie was not a well-known dessert as compared to Nestle’s KitKat. They then hit up a partnership to use the trademarks of KitKat on Android.
Enough for the introduction – let’s skip on ahead to what’s new and great in the new Android 4.4 KitKat. Much has changed, and nearly all of it for the better.
A fresh flash of the KitKat ROM to my Nexus 4 was exciting enough, but seeing it boot up for the first time and asked me for my credentials, I was quite pleased about what Google did to make everything easier to see and cleaner as compared to previous iterations.
Onwards to the homescreen, I saw some even further changes.
Instantly we’ve been notified on what new things Google has done for the Hangouts app, alongside with a short introduction on how to manage the homescreens. It’s a surprise that Google never actually did include any new live wallpapers, but Phase live wallpaper has been optimized even further.
And oh – look! New icons!
Google redesigned some of the apps’ icons, particularly shown here is the Camera app. They opted to a much more simpler and silhouette-like design instead of some complexly shaped and coloured 3D icon.
The homescreen didn’t change much in terms of how it looked with the default browser since the Android version where we have the persistent search bar at the top for stock launcher. But wait – the “always listening” feature is here. Just say “OK Google” and the search by voice command just pops out. handy, and neat too!
Google now is also integrated to the homescreen – where you swipe to the left from your main homescreen page. Also, there is no fixed number of homescreens now – Google made is to become adaptive, so it follows your arrangement on how many shortcuts and widgets you want to put. It works pretty much like how Apple’s iOS is.
As for adding wallpapers and widgets, the menu changed quite a bit. Wallpapers are no longer categorizes as live wallpapers or static wallpapers, but it combined into an entire strip of wallpapers, sectioned by having static wallpapers first, then live wallpapers, and lastly wallpapers from other apps.
Adding widgets on the other hand got a cosmetic change and there’s really nothing much to it other than that. Everything became semi-transparent and has a mirror-ish grid to it, and that’s it. Same widget of multiple size is again not grouped together.
The app drawer also had a small change – it is now having a semi-transparent background instead of a solid black like last time. And that’s all to it.
Another interface change is how nice Google finally amended their problem of having to exit the app before accessing the notification bar in a full screen app. You can now swipe down the notification bar in a full screen app to show what’s new, and swipe again to show the entire notification menu.
Android 4.4 KitKat didn’t leave the keyboard alone as it is. They changed the blue colour theme back in the Holo days to the new white colour, matching up the entire KitKat design (?).
Google also said that they’ve made Android 4.4 KitKat to have “Emoji everywhere”. I have to agree with Google; they did a great job integrating the entire library of Emoji right on the keyboard! The design of the Emoji emoticons are also simplistic, minimalistic and silhouette-looking.
Lock screen widgets have been changed a little. Here’s the only thing I can’t get myself to like it – Google disabled lock screen widgets by default. I see no reason to do so, and really don’t see the effects of doing so too. Google put the tickbox to enable lock screen widgets at the Security menu. Do they think that third-party lock screen widgets will mess up the security?
The People and Phone app has been redesigned and now I don’t really see the difference between both apps. Google blurred the lines between them and definitely did it in a very nice way.
As for Hangouts as mentioned earlier, it is now the Google Talks app with video chat capability and and SMS app. Google didn’t force users to make the switch in an instant – Google actually gave users a choice to use Hangouts or the normal Messaging service that you’ve been using for years. One thing that bothers me is that the Messaging app didn’t get disabled by itself when Hangouts is selected to be used as the default SMS app.
Integration of SMS capabilities on Hangouts app is very well done, as it gets out of the way and is indeed subtle. Unlike Apple’s iMessage service, Google gave the choice of SMS or Hangouts to message. Select whichever number you want to message to, or choose the email to send out a online message.
Google also did a lot of backend stuff under the hood which really did maintain if not boost up the performance of my already-old Nexus 4. On Ultra-High Quality running at 100% resolution on Epic Citadel, I got this score.
Google also made a new notification Location icon beside the WiFi icon at the top right to tell if any location service are running. Google actually took care of users’ feedback on how location services can drink up the battery juice with one special menu.
Other than that, there are some other additions like Tap & Pay and Printing which I didn’t get to try out due to the lack of hardware available within my reach. Anyway here is a gallery of the Settings menu. You can also choose your homescreen launcher app by selecting Home in the settings.
So have you flashed Android 4.4 to your device? Or do you have a Nexus 5 already? Maybe tempted to root and flash a custom recovery to get KitKat? I’m personally loving mostly every bit of the chocolaty goodness!
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