Samsung unveils Android 4.4 KitKat update plans and devices, roll out starts today in the US

2. _Bone_ (Posts: 2155; Member since: 29 Oct 2012)

How's it in terms of performance, like UI smootheness, battery and whatnot?

5. ihavenoname (Posts: 1693; Member since: 18 Aug 2013)

Waiting for Kitkat on my Note 3, propably coming soon.

29. __0__ (banned) (Posts: 242; Member since: 07 Jan 2014)

Performance is hugely improved , it feels faster , better benchmarks , apps launch faster , unlocks faster . There are a lot more ram available

UI smoothness ? On 4.3 the note 3 doesnt feel as smooth as nexus 5 :-( , kitkat fixed that , even though heavy touchwiz is still here

Battery life is slighty shorter , just slightly .

But sadly touchwiz managed to remove some of the features of kitkat , like ART , dialer . Launcher and all samsung apps looks the same as before although they look flatter from AOSP 4.3 to 4.4 . There is a new swipe to the camera shortcut on the bottom right of the lockscreen , which is kinda pointless as i could swipe the the right to access the camera anyways , ( the new shortcut is prone to accidental opening the camera when i unlock my phone )

I use Nova launcher/Google experience launcher , Google keyboard , kitkat clock from AOSP to make the most out of kitkat . BTW , you notice that on 4.3 you could use whatsapp via Pen window ? That has been removed

34. Jayshmay (Posts: 82; Member since: 27 Mar 2011)

Yes! Feedback is always nice. Any performance differences?

68. tenho1982 (Posts: 68; Member since: 29 Dec 2013)

Not really impressive to you but I'm dying for Samsung's KitKat just because it has the built-in keyboard for Japanese and some East Asian languages (this means the switching between these keyboards are so much faster and easier than before). As a side note, the original KitKat I got on my Nexus doesn't have the built-in Japanese IME. Also the new Note application for my Notes has more functionalities in Galaxy's KitKat as well. Got Kitkat on Note 3 last month and really liked it.

24. Carlitos (Posts: 557; Member since: 23 Oct 2011)

Which carrier?

27. __0__ (banned) (Posts: 242; Member since: 07 Jan 2014)

International unlocked n9005 :-)

7. ihavenoname (Posts: 1693; Member since: 18 Aug 2013)

I'm 90% sure that it will get it, they would put "3G/LTE version only" if it didn't.

30. techaman (unregistered)

stupid little man dont you know anything apple copied finger print from moto atrix 4g and laptops htc did finger print scan apple copied samsung with plastic phone and android with notification and are using samsungs frand patterns for its 3g tech. maybe if you could afford a good phone you would not be bitchin about this.

57. willard12 (unregistered)

You do know that apple doesn't give all or most of the features to older devices when it updates.

12. Victor.H (Posts: 785; Member since: 27 May 2011)

Care to elaborate what you mean?

19. Just.Saying (Posts: 132; Member since: 04 Apr 2013)

In my country, the xperia V with jelly bean is R220 ( $20) per month on contact, including all costs. Cariers also have them with ICS for only $15 on the same package.

69. tenho1982 (Posts: 68; Member since: 29 Dec 2013)

Wow. That is ridiculous. Is that because of Sony or Android?

48. kaikuheadhunterz (Posts: 1157; Member since: 18 Jul 2013)

Phones with a newer version of Android, say Android 4.3, is priced higher than phones with an older version of Android, say Android 4.1.

Actually it's more towards Chinese-made phones

11. Victor.H (Posts: 785; Member since: 27 May 2011)

I guess it's because of how old it is, not hardware. Most manufacturers have agreed to deliver updates to devices for 18 months, and the S2 just falls out.

21. Wiki_jaan (Posts: 704; Member since: 24 Jun 2012)

even s3 is out of 18mnth limit

26. g2a5b0e (Posts: 3816; Member since: 08 Jun 2012)

That's because no one seems to understand that the 18 months is a minimum, not a maximum. OEM's can update their phones for as long as they'd like.

71. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

Not exactly. They're limited to the SoC vendors when it comes to updates. Manufacturers like Samsung and Apple who make their own SoC can update their devices for as long as the chip is capable of running the software.

31. techaman (unregistered)

but s3 is one of the biggest owned phones on s line. s2 is not most s2 people got s4 or s3 and the rest of use who got s3 seen no reason to get s4 and are waiting to see what s5 will be like my s3 has 2 gig ram and good for another year or 2 if i wanted.

53. __0__ (banned) (Posts: 242; Member since: 07 Jan 2014)

Some of the mid range crap don't deserve to be on the list

51. __0__ (banned) (Posts: 242; Member since: 07 Jan 2014)

GS2 is faster and better than the GS3 mini in every way !!! This is not fair

72. Berzerk000 (Posts: 4275; Member since: 26 Jun 2011)

But the GS2 uses the Snapdragon S3 chip in some markets, which Qualcomm dropped support for, so Samsung couldn't develop a 4.4 update for it even if they wanted to.

43. phonetekmek (Posts: 70; Member since: 04 Oct 2013)

S2? Time to move on! You couldn't have really thought it was? lol

52. __0__ (banned) (Posts: 242; Member since: 07 Jan 2014)

I have CM10.2 on my GS2 and its smooth as butter !