Android 4.4 KitKat was introduced when Google released the
Nexus 5. Earlier this month we heard of an “incremental update” that was supposed to fix a few things specific to the Nexus 5 called
Android 4.4.1. Now, even before the 4.4.1 OTA update reached any of my devices,
Android 4.4.2 is being pushed to users. What’s with all the updates? What is new in Android 4.4.2 that wasn’t in 4.4.1 or 4.4?
Bugs and patches
One skill I bring to the Pocketnow team is my experience as a
software developer. As such I’m intimately aware of the product
lifecycle — and the fact that bugs are everywhere. Bug-fixes aren’t the
only reasons for deploying updates and patches.
Software modifications can fall into several categories — and may
even span categories. When something doesn’t function as the developer
expected, it’s usually called a “bug”. “Bugs” are one obvious category
that requires a change to the software. Bugs can range from simple
inconveniences to critical failures — and everything in-between.
The next type are “enhancements”. These are things that didn’t make
the initial cut, but were important enough to get attention going
forward. ”Enhancements” typically build upon existing features. Similar
to this are “improvements” which could be code that makes something
easier or simpler to use, or it could be an optimization to the
underlying code itself.
The last we’ll talk about here are “feature additions”. In this
context a “feature addition” is the inclusion of some new functionality
that was not present in the previous iteration of the software.
Now that we’ve got all that defined, we can talk about what Android
4.4.1 and 4.4.2 bring to our devices that wasn’t included in Android
4.4. Just remember that a change can belong in more than one of the
categories mentioned above.
General Changes
Fix for clearing the voicemail indicatorSoftware changes can be
lumped into general Android updates, as well as device-specific updates.
These are some of the more notable updates that every device running
Android will get with the 4.4.2 update:
- Fix for delivery of the voicemail indicator
- Various “additional software fixes”
- Security enhancements
- According to +JR Raphael, fixes the SMS denial-of-service vulnerability that had been previously reported
- ART-related bug fixes (including fixes to address the WhatsApp Messenger app)
- The new Photo application is now the default Gallery application when swiping out of the Camera application
- Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes
Nexus 5 Changes
According the update itself, “This update improves the Nexus 5 camera
with faster shooting (less shutter lag, less motion blur); faster, more
accurate focusing; better white balancing for truer colors; and more
accurate exposures. The update also includes other bug fixes and
performance improvements.”
As far as we can tell, these are the same camera updates that the
Android 4.4.1 update included, which go on to mention the ability to
pinch-to-zoom while in HDR+ mode.
Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10 Changes
The updates for these devices are much more generic than the update
for the Nexus 5. These updates say something like the following: “This
software update will upgrade your Nexus … to 4.4.2 which improves
performance and stability and fixes bugs.”
It’s likely there are some device-specific updates, but none that we were able to readily identify.
All in all
The update for the Nexus 5 is around 55MB in size, whereas updates
for others in the Nexus family are around 40MB. That 15MB difference
likely represents the camera changes specific to the Nexus 5.
We suspect that part of the delay some users are reporting in getting
the 4.4.1 update is likely due to the 4.4.2 update. The 4.4.2 update is
available as patches for devices running 4.4.1 as well as those coming
directly from 4.4, so it’s probable that Google has stopped rolling out
the 4.4.1 update in favor of 4.4.2.
Your turn
Have you gotten the 4.4.2 update on your Android-powered device? Have
you noticed any of the “improvements” that we mentioned above? How is
your “new” Nexus 5 camera? Head down to the comments and tell us about
your experience!
