KitKat is official - let the countdown begin!

[YAYTech]

Android - 4.4 KitKat

It's official, so we should expect to see KitKat for the Nexus 7 in the next couple weeks or so. Woohoo!

 

[NoraMelua]

I don't like the word 'weeks' in this context. :-(

Posted via Android Central App

 

[YAYTech]

I don't like the word 'weeks' in this context. :-(

Posted via Android Central App

It's a heck of a lot better than months for non-nexus devices, and who knows, it could be days, not weeks. AFAIK, Google hasn't said anything about a timeframe. I mostly said weeks because I know this is the point where everyone with a Nexus device (or heck, ANY Android device) starts squirming and complaining that they don't have it RIGHT NOW. lol The improvements sound quite good, but I don't really see any life-changing features for people to get uber impatient over.

 

[Android_1234]

Weeks? I thought the updates started rolling out ASAP on Nexus devices.

 

[Joe Joejoe]

It's not like the update is going to be noticeable. it's more geared toward stuff for the nexus 5 that you won't get or notice in the nexus 7.

 

[jerrykur]

I am curious to see how the new memory schemes work. I think the smaller OS memory footprint and new application management algorithms are interesting and may have an impact. Also, the reduced memory requirements of Google applications means more apps in memory at the same time.

On the UI side I am curious to see what Google means by the new immersive mode that hides everything except the application you are running. Hopefully it will give us larger images when watching videos or playing a game.

 

[Android_1234]

It's not like the update is going to be noticeable. it's more geared toward stuff for the nexus 5 that you won't get or notice in the nexus 7.

We can remove the nav bar and the status bar when doing something which means more screen estate. The bars and the app drawer are also transparent. They lowered the amount of RAM the OS takes so there might be some difference in the amount of apps you can run.

 

[systemind]

Can't wait!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[NewAge]

Already running it! There's an AOSP ROM on rootzwiki and working gapps!

(ROM)(AOSP) (4.4) Pure AOSP build for FLO - Page 2 - Nexus 7 (2013) Development - RootzWiki

No root and security force closes so you can't side load apps. But its all gravy besides.

 

[Joe Joejoe]

We can remove the nav bar and the status bar when doing something which means more screen estate. The bars and the app drawer are also transparent. They lowered the amount of RAM the OS takes so there might be some difference in the amount of apps you can run.

stuff you can generally do already. I don't think RAM is much of an issue for the nexus 7, I doubt anyone even fills the RAM near capacity. Main reason they added extra RAM was gaming, since it's shared system memory, a game taking up 500mb+ of video memory space, really eats into available RAM if you only have 1GB. A game will use both memory for videocard, and memory for the game executable. so gaming memory usage is not just limited to video memory. you're going to run into cpu/gpu bottlenecks before you run into a memory bottleneck.

most apps are just a couple MB's, you could have hundreds of these running at once and have plenty of memory left over. these improvements are largely going to be unnoticeable. I wouldn't consider a transparent app drawer a significant improvement, since it still takes up space. apps like video players and browsers can be fullscreened to hide the navigation and notification bars.

 

[jerrykur]

stuff you can generally do already. I don't think RAM is much of an issue for the nexus 7, I doubt anyone even fills the RAM near capacity. Main reason they added extra RAM was gaming, since it's shared system memory, a game taking up 500mb+ of video memory space, really eats into available RAM if you only have 1GB. A game will use both memory for videocard, and memory for the game executable. so gaming memory usage is not just limited to video memory. you're going to run into cpu/gpu bottlenecks before you run into a memory bottleneck.

most apps are just a couple MB's, you could have hundreds of these running at once and have plenty of memory left over. these improvements are largely going to be unnoticeable. I wouldn't consider a transparent app drawer a significant improvement, since it still takes up space. apps like video players and browsers can be fullscreened to hide the navigation and notification bars.

There are a host of new APIs that will let us developers make better use of memory and monitor and tune applications. These are a big deal, especially for me since I develop in the augmented reality space where we are constrained in all sort of resources including CPU, GPU, and memory.

In terms of screen real estate the new immersive mode provides developer access to areas that are currently designated for OS use. So apps using immersive can place control in areas such as the screen bottom that currently is reserved for the back and home buttons.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Little Darwin]

There are a host of new APIs that will let us developers make better use of memory and monitor and tune applications. These are a big deal, especially for me since I develop in the augmented reality space where we are constrained in all sort of resources including CPU, GPU, and memory.

In terms of screen real estate the new immersive mode provides developer access to areas that are currently designated for OS use. So apps using immersive can place control in areas such as the screen bottom that currently is reserved for the back and home buttons.

Posted via Android Central App

So the biggest benefit I see is that KitKat will let developers eventually give us better apps. That is cool, especially if the developers can do those things in a way that doesn't preclude their app from running on earlier versions of Android and therefore alienating the majority of their users.

 

[gerryp123]

Why all the fuss over KittKat ?
Seems to offer little for Nexus 7 users.
Google finally got (most of) the JellyBean problems worked out, and now here we go again.
I hope Google will include an option to keep JB on Nexus until all of the inevitable KK kinks are worked out.

 

[puch96]

...or maybe KK is the solution to all your JB problems....

 

[purplehaze50o]

I am running KitKat on my N7 2013 and I must say it is extremely smooth. Google has been working on this for a while and you can tell.

 

[gerryp123]

Great!
Most interested in hearing about the new N7 benefits and features that you see.

 

[Lestah_613]

Can someone translate all that into layman's terms, please? Also will I be able to hide apps, move pictures around? It's the little things I'm mad I can't do. Haha.

 

[purplehaze50o]

Can someone translate all that into layman's terms, please? Also will I be able to hide apps, move pictures around? It's the little things I'm mad I can't do. Haha.

You can already hide apps by going into settings----> Application manager ---> then slide all the over to the right and go to ALL apps -----> click the ones you don't want and either disable if on touchwiz or Turn off is on a nexus device.

 

[heggood]

I'm running Eclair on my Nexus 7 and love it!

 

[YAYTech]

I'm running Eclair on my Nexus 7 and love it!

I'm curious, what advantages you are seeing from going back that many versions?