Android 4.4 KitKat: 5 Evidences of Major Android OS Coming in Oct 14, 2013
Android's fifth birthday is coming soon, and Google will celebrate it with 4.4 KitKat. As the release date comes close, more services from Google are starting to get updates and preparing for the next-gen Android. Here are five evidences of Android 4.4 KitKat due in Oct 14, 2013.
Google Play Books with New UI
Google launched its own Play Books which offers millions of e-book titles from new releases to classics which users can purchase and read online through a smartphone or tablet. Google Play Books just became available in nine Asia-Pacific regions - Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and New Zealand.
Aside from the international content, certain countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and New Zealand will feature localised content on their Play Books application.
With the arrival of Play Books, the Google Play Store UI has been changed as well, adding the blue icon of the new application add-on. Besides that, users will now see books from the "Editor's Picks" section, "Popular Series in Fiction" and "Leading Business Books" upon scrolling the app or via browser.
Play Books may be Google's defence for the recent announcement of Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet which features exclusive Amazon content from millions of book titles as well.
The KitKat Web Site
The Android Web site has been updated and the front line is the 4.4 KitKat OS version, putting the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean aside. Based on their promotional add, certain branded KitKat bars in stores will give a chance to win a Nexus 7 or Google Play credit.
KitKat's own Web site also changed and it describes the perfection of KitKat chocolate bars. However, certain descriptions for the chocolate bar hints something different and gave out clues as to what people may expect from Android 4.4. Moreover, you'll see technical specifications detailing new screen size and network coverage with Android appearance on the side.
Nexus 5 Leaked
LG seems to be the maker behind Google's Nexus 5 according to the unofficial technical specifications available at GSMArena. The next-generation Nexus smartphone features 5.0 inches of True HD IPS Plus display with 1080 x 1920 HD resolution, Android 4.4 KitKat, 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 3 GB of RAM, 13 MP camera and 16/32 GB internal storage.
The Nexus 5 was also detected from the GFXBench Web site, caught by PhoneArena, and the result matched Apple's iPhone 5S. Test result from the benchmarking Web site also revealed that the handset is equipped with Adreno 330 GPU chip which you can also see at the GSMArena site.
More CPU Support
Android 4.4 KitKat will be available for older devices to optimise them and reduce fragmentation in the ecosystem. This major revamp also indicates that the new software can support more processor types which is very useful on the growing industry of 64-bit CPUs.
Google has been working with the latest Linux kernel which includes additional support for NVIDIA Tegra and Samsung Exynos processors. Samsung has began developing 64-bit processor chips for the upcoming Galaxy S5 expected to be announced in 2014 which will match the iPhone 5S.
It is expected that Android 4.4 KitKat can run on devices with 64-bit processors without any problem.
Updated UI Leaked
Android 4.4 KitKat's UI has been revealed, and it features Palette colour scheme rather than the same blue theme found in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The UI also changes depending on which applications are in use such as phone dialler or messaging.
Stock icons apparently didn't take any drastic changes and remains comparable with Android Jelly Bean version including the static wallpaper seen on the leaked image. However, the notifications bar display icons brighter compared before. The user interface image leak may not be the final version of the system.
Google's Android 4.4 KitKat and Nexus 5 are all expected to be announced officially in Oct 14, 2013 in celebration of Android's upcoming fifth birthday in November.