Motorola has confirmed that an OTA 9 over-the-air update for its Moto G smartphone is now available in Germany and the UK, bringing the discounted Android phone up to date with the most recent 4.4 KitKat version of Google's mobile operating system.

The Android 4.4 KitKat update will soon roll out across Europe and should appear on German and UK Moto G phones over the next couple of days.

Owners can check if their phone is ready for update by going to Settings > About Phone > System Updates. Those who see a message saying, "Your device is up to date," should not worry because it can really take a while before the update reaches every handset.

Once the update arrives, the user can expect restyled navigation and status bars, new full screen mode, smarter power use which can potentially improve the phone's battery life as your processor doesn't have to work as hard and colored emoji emoticon support. Among the updated apps, the Phone dialer now lets the user look up his contact directly from the dial pad or simply tap "frequent contacts" to search his phonebook.

The Gallery now has new photo editing features, including improved cropping, new filter effects, exposure and contrast, adjustments to color and ability to draw above your photos. Wireless printing support through Wi-FI and Bluetooth is also now built-in on KitKat with Google Cloud Print. Android 4.4.2 KitKat also adds an improved security.

Google's hangouts app is included as a standard now. Hangout supports SMS and MMS messaging, and there is no reason to keep your old messaging app but if you prefer a different app for texts, you can simply set the default app under Settings > Wireless > Default SMS app.

While HTC, Sony, Samsung and other companies seem to be dragging their feet updating their devices to KitKat, Motorola has been racing ahead with its update schedule. With the new KitKat onboard, Moto G looks like an even better bargain. Moto G packs in a lot of value for money with a 5 MP camera, quad core processor and 720p screen.