General Kitkat Musings

[nickdalzell]

KitKat was a non-issue for my Note 3, which surprised me. but given that it was not much on my Nexus devices i didn't expect much. absolutely hate the all-white icons though.

and, like my Nexus 7 and 10, no surprise, no ART. that's all that makes KitKat KitKat was ART. but without it's just a version number with nothing changed. of course, given that i hate change anyway, i don't care. i like my phone as-is. now if only i can get my green icons and other color up there back without root.

Verizon's version does not have the ability to disable the auto-check. it uses SDM.APK, one of Verizon's own apps, to replace the options in the Settings-->System Update menu. instead of the menu with the ability to turn off auto-check, it just produces a pop-up to check now. eventually if one is available you get a persistant notification and nag-screen for two weeks giving you the option to install now or postpone. eventually postpone is greyed out and it will update regardless unless you root and block the APK by removing it from /system/app.

 

[AnonGuy]

The performance benefit of ART is a bit overrated, especially on a Phone Spec'd this high which is already performing so well.

What ART would do was make every app on your phone take up 20-30% more Space in Device Storage, though.

Maybe not much of an issue with a 32GB phone like the Note 3, but I wouldn't want it on any 8-16GB device given the oft-overrated benefits it brings to the platform at this time.

Maybe updated developer tools can help with the code size issue, though.

This phone has 2.7GB RAM Available to the system with the KK update. There's almost no reason to manually kill apps. I do clear my Recent Apps here and there cause the list gets long, and sometimes I may kill the browser as it can use a ton of RAM, but I prefer to just reboot my phone here and there than clear RAM, which usually has opposite impact to what you're looking for (the phone will drain more power restarting background tasks than you save closing dormant background tasks).

 

[nickdalzell]

to be fair, i stopped using task killers or worrying about RAM after Android 4.0. the only time things like that are needed is way back in Android 1.6 or 2.1

 

[rushmore]

ART is IMO a resource hog and offsets any perceived advantages.

 

[nickdalzell]

still, ART is the only real 'feature' of KitKat. otherwise it is a version jump with no other purpose. a waste of an update. proof Google has run out of ideas with Android and changing colors of the notification icons is all they can come up with as 'innovation'

it might be experimental, but so are all of the developer options. no excuse exists to make ART omitted. not one.

i am loving the new S5 UI on my Note 10.1, wonder why that was left out of the Note 3's update?

 

[Rxpert83]

ART is exciting and all, but its obviously not the only addition to KitKat. I'd even argue its not the best.

They added a bunch of things from the jump to jellybean. You don't have to do much digging to see them

 

[nickdalzell]

well the only thing i noticed was the white status icons (still prefer organic green)

my Note 10.1 got the new TouchWiz seen in the Galaxy S5 which looks very nice (of course, the pinky pie icons are hidden away in a Samsung folder but the notification shade and task manager are vast improvements as is the added app compatibility in Pen Window) but sadly missed the Note 3 for some odd reason.

 

[Rxpert83]

well the only thing i noticed was the white status icons (still prefer organic green)

my Note 10.1 got the new TouchWiz seen in the Galaxy S5 which looks very nice (of course, the pinky pie icons are hidden away in a Samsung folder but the notification shade and task manager are vast improvements as is the added app compatibility in Pen Window) but sadly missed the Note 3 for some odd reason.

Android - 4.4 KitKat

It seems like your issues are with Samsungs implementation of Googles kitkat.

Its not fair to say kitkat is "a version jump with no other purpose. a waste of an update. proof Google has run out of ideas with Android and changing colors of the notification icons is all they can come up with as 'innovation' " when your issue is what Samsung did to KitKat before it made it to your device.

 

[dynomot]

Android - 4.4 KitKat

It seems like your issues are with Samsungs implementation of Googles kitkat.

Its not fair to say kitkat is "a version jump with no other purpose. a waste of an update. proof Google has run out of ideas with Android and changing colors of the notification icons is all they can come up with as 'innovation' " when your issue is what Samsung did to KitKat before it made it to your device.

I don't even think it is Samsung's implementation. Rather carriers who 'messed' with it adding locked bootloaders and poorly written added software for their locked versions of the Note 3.

KitKat has not that many changes an ordinary user should notice. It is "under the hood" where the major things have changed. It was meant to come with ART runtime rather than Dalvik, but from what I can gather ART is still not running well on some Android devices. KitKat was launched primarily to fix the permissions issue with SD cards. Unfortunately this "broke" many applications that were coded to exploit the security issue and make life easier for the developer. This resulted in the wave of protest like the title of this thread.

KitKat didn't "break" anything. A combination of lazy coding, and carrier tweaking of it are at fault. I leave Samsung out of the criticism as apart from the initial SD card issues (now resolved entirely) my Note 3 SM-N9005 international version is running as sweet as a nut. It is telling that mine is completely stock (if rooted) with no unnecessary carrier branding or bloat 'bolted on'.

So in my humble opinion the problems with Jelly Bean to KitKat are caused by carriers first, badly coded apps that made use of the security problem that Google fixed second, and Google themselves for not warning developers to update their code third.

It is also to be noted that the Jelly Bean to KitKat transition has actually gone far more smoothy than the Ice cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean debacle, that was Samsung and Google's fault.

 

[nickdalzell]

the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 also missed what made KitKat KitKat. at the best the entire Nexus line should have gotten ART and immersive mode. but the Nav Bar remains full size in video apps like YouTube and Play Movies and the Nexus 10 did not even get transparent status bars (seems Google forgot the 10 even existed)

all the features in that link mostly apply to the Nexus 5 only. poor choice from Google as usual. which is why i prefer Samsung TouchWiz over sterile Nexus UI.

if ART is 'not ready for prime time' as Google says, why did it show up on the Nexus 5? why don't they just shove it under Developer Options so we at least have the option? more and more Google sounds a lot like Apple, especially with their excuses that cater to the level of intelligence often associated with iPhone users...

Google also, much like Apple did regarding Siri, made Google Now a choice only for Jelly Bean and higher, despite the fact that it should work perfectly fine on Gingerbread and ICS.

and that is why i prefer Samsung. they give choices Google refuses to bother with. their apps work better and offer features that Google either stripped out or never provided to begin with. they don't assume the user is an iSheep. the UI is consistent.

 

[dynomot]

the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 also missed what made KitKat KitKat. at the best the entire Nexus line should have gotten ART and immersive mode. but the Nav Bar remains full size in video apps like YouTube and Play Movies and the Nexus 10 did not even get transparent status bars (seems Google forgot the 10 even existed)

all the features in that link mostly apply to the Nexus 5 only. poor choice from Google as usual. which is why i prefer Samsung TouchWiz over sterile Nexus UI.

if ART is 'not ready for prime time' as Google says, why did it show up on the Nexus 5? why don't they just shove it under Developer Options so we at least have the option? more and more Google sounds a lot like Apple, especially with their excuses that cater to the level of intelligence often associated with iPhone users...

Google also, much like Apple did regarding Siri, made Google Now a choice only for Jelly Bean and higher, despite the fact that it should work perfectly fine on Gingerbread and ICS.

and that is why i prefer Samsung. they give choices Google refuses to bother with. their apps work better and offer features that Google either stripped out or never provided to begin with. they don't assume the user is an iSheep. the UI is consistent.

You can't really compare Google with Apple. It is like comparing apples and oranges (excuse the awful pun).
Apple has to make sure iOS works on a handful of different devices, Google has to make sure Android works on thousands of different devices, from hundreds of manufactures, most using their own skin (or version of Android, call it what you will) and hardware. Then there is carrier tinkering, not allowed by Apple.

It can be argued that Android has forked too much already, Google may well be following Apple's do what we say or else philosophy, alien and unwelcome to those who post here if not those who just read.

Google now will almost certainly work wonderfully on a Galaxy S2 running Gingerbread 2.3.6, but what about a Galaxy Ace running Gingerbread 2.3.6? I think Google may be fighting a losing battle keeping a "standard" Android with all the bells and whistles. There are just too many variables it has little or any control over.

The UI in Android was never consistent, it can't be by Androids very nature. Something I think Google, by following the Apple way, forgot.

 

[nickdalzell]

i meant the TouchWiz skin seen in the Galaxy line looks the same across all the devices, with minor variations of flat design (some have less, some have more) thrown into it. other than that, Samsung retains all the features that make it more preferable over Nexus. many which Google never thought of, like, for example, why hasn't Google done multi-window yet? Samsung has done it for at least two years, while Google's take is stuck in iOS land, swapping between full-screen apps much like iOS has done since 2007. Google has lagged behind for a long time, following Apple while Samsung and LG seem to be the innovators here.

let me know when Google has a Nexus with a wacom digitizer...

 

[Rxpert83]

Samsung wasn't the first to have multiwindow - that's been a product of the development community for some time.

Google mentioned why they weren't doing it (and why it was a bad idea) over 2 years ago when cyanogenmod was bringing their multiwindow feature callled cornerstone to market.

And what they said 2 years ago was true - Samsung had to cripple it - only letting it be used with Samsung's apps and pre-approved 3rd party ones.

To say google hadn't thought of multiwindow is flat out wrong. They are on record before Samsung came to market that it was a bad idea. They were thinking about this as early as android honeycomb.

The developer community had it first, has mostly abandoned it, and have much better ways of doing it now.

 

[nickdalzell]

well like most of their excuses it probably applies to the same folks who carry an iPhone and would no doubt be confused by having two apps running at once.

however you cannot ignore how successful it has been for Samsung. i mean, why leave the email i am viewing just to respond to a text message? doing one app at a time, and using the task manager to switch between one and the other is sooo 2007.

being able to pause the song that is playing without leaving the web browser i am looking at (which will no doubt reload all of its tabs when i come back thus losing the place i was looking at) is a hell of a convenience. but if all Google wants are boring iOS-style functions i will stick with Samsung. apparently i am not alone as from what i am seeing, the Nexus line has tanked compared with Samsung.

 

[Rxpert83]

Q

well like most of their excuses it probably applies to the same folks who carry an iPhone and would no doubt be confused by having two apps running at once.

however you cannot ignore how successful it has been for Samsung. i mean, why leave the email i am viewing just to respond to a text message? doing one app at a time, and using the task manager to switch between one and the other is sooo 2007.

being able to pause the song that is playing without leaving the web browser i am looking at (which will no doubt reload all of its tabs when i come back thus losing the place i was looking at) is a hell of a convenience. but if all Google wants are boring iOS-style functions i will stick with Samsung. apparently i am not alone as from what i am seeing, the Nexus line has tanked compared with Samsung.

No - the problems are legitimate ones, and Samsung agreed because they crippled it to get around them.

I didn't find much use for Samsung's implementation. If I can't have one "window" streaming Netflix and texting or emailing with another- its not all that useful.

If your tabs are reloading its because you are running out of RAM - an issue that is largely caused by the resource heavy touchwiz layer. I've never had that happen on a nexus (or after I put an AOSP ROM on a touchwiz phone) - and I've never seen less than 1GB ram free on my 2GB RAM phone.

The nexus line has not "tanked", especially with the android silver program supposed to debut next year - all running stock android. The galaxy nexus sold about a million units, the nexus 4 sold 3 million, and while we don't have numbers on the nexus 5 available...

Google Calls Nexus 5 a "Sales Winner"

When I get to a computer I'll be moving this conversation to its own thread - the issue this one was about was solved before this cropped up

 

[dynomot]

Without getting into a "this iteration of Android is better than this one" argument, which is not what I'm after I have to say a Nexus device has never appealed to me. I like TouchWiz (yes some of us do!) too much, but a "pure" Android experience is the least thing that I find off putting about a Nexus. I like having all my media on my device and my Note 3 is fast running out of storage, even with a 64Gig card in it. I like being able to swap batteries if I need to. I feel Google are steering users away from using "on board" storage towards streaming and the cloud to access their media. This is to be expected I can see in the future a device with very little, if any, on board storage and all your media and apps streaming and running direct from the cloud via your Google account. That may be a few years down the line, but I think it will happen.

I root and ROM my devices but every ROM I've ever tried has been a TW based one, having need of a reliable service for all uses including the camera for work has so far prevented me from trying an AOSP ROM, so I have never had a "pure" Android experience.

Samsung may have had the last of my hard earned cash with the Note 3. I love it to pieces, it is by far the smoothest, nicest phone I've ever owned. The S pen is great and I have yet to find an app that doesn't behave well with multi window now that a "mod" enables me to use any app I choose with it. However Knox stuck in my craw, the fact I'm swyping on a device Just eight months old that may or may not have a warranty sucks, and roumours abound that Knox may make rooting my device even harder on newer phones.

Anyway I digress, my real reason for probably passing over a Samsung for my next upgrade (which is not until August 2015 if I stick with Vodafone) is a personal one. I would like to try a "purer" version of Android because by then LTE may be more wide spread by then and I need to wean myself off of micro SD cards, because I believe if Google gets its way they will disappear in Android devices entirely and one of my main reasons for sticking with Samsung may be gone.

Google is moving in a way I don't want it to with Android, but the alternatives donot appeal at all. I am like all Android users finding less and less choice, a fact that when I got my first Android phone only four years ago I didn't think would happen.

 

[mikedt]

Android - 4.4 KitKat

It seems like your issues are with Samsungs implementation of Googles kitkat.

I was looking at a Samsung Galaxy S5 the other day with KitKat 4.4. And it didn't look anything like what's on that site. Certainly core things like the phone and messaging apps, they've been replaced with Samsung's own equivalents.

However what's on my own phone looks very much like it, because I'm using an AOSP based ROM, Gummy. Which has NOT been altered, changed, modified, mutilated, crippled or lobotomised by manufacturer or carrier, e.g. ColorOS "Based on Android".