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Help |Is it worth installing Kitkat 4.4 on the Galaxy S4?

The_Ty

The_Ty

Member
I'm sure a lot of you on here have the S4 and upgraded it to 4.4 Kitkat, my question is, is it worth it?

Currently mine is still on 4.2 and rooted. Because I deleted a lot of the bloatware instead of just freezing it with Titanium I can't do a straight up firmware upgrade, I'm gonna have to do a factory reset to have all the default apps back, then do the upgrade. Plus I want to root it again, so there's making sure that works on KitKat, as well as some of the issues that can come with firmware upgrades. Also before the reset I'm gonna have to back everything up.

About the only upgrade I'm familiar with is improvements to ram etc to give phones a better battery life. There are others, but Samsung already has them covered by default with the S4.

Basically I'm curious if the hassle (and a bit of risk) is worth it to upgrade my S4 to 4.4?
 
I went through this same decision process. Besides some performance upgrades (which are pretty good from what I hear on the interwebs), KitKat really didn't bring any earth-shattering differences to the table like ICS and Jellybean did. Nothing at least that you'd say "wow" about when you saw it. If you want to run Google Wallet, though, you'll need KitKat. They changed that program to fully operate with that operating system and no other, regardless of if you have the secure element NFC capability built in to your phone (as the S4 does).

Personally, I'd flash a KitKat ROM instead of going through the carrier OTA to upgrade - ESPECIALLY if you are still on the MDK baseband! You don't want to lose that under any circumstances, because the road to root gets a lot rockier if you do. If you are still on MDK, you can do a wipe (the equivalent of a Factory Reset) in your custom recovery, flash a KitKat ROM (I'm on Hyperdrive myself - comes pretty much debloated with lots of cool tweaks), and experience the fantasy! That way, you'll stay rooted and not have to deal with Safestrap. If you aren't on MDK not all hope is lost, but you'll have to do a lot more reading to properly root, add Safestrap, and flash a KitKat ROM.

Clear as mud, right? Anyhoo, hope this helps - good luck!
 
Cheers man.

Weird as it sounds I like to run it as close to the carrier firmware as possible (plus rooting, and minus the bloatware) so an OTA update doesn't bother me too much. Aside from the crap they force in I like Touchwiz and a lot of the little features.

Not sure If I'm still on the MDK baseband, The phone is on o2 (stock ROM) and I rooted it. Aside from that I've not done any serious changes with ROMS etc.

[EDIT]
Looked more into Hyperdrive and it sounds pretty sweet, gonna give it a try

[EDIT 2]
Can't find a version of Hyperdrive which works with UK carriers, could be a problem
 
Ah okay. Shame because Hyperdrive sounded cool, but I'm okay going with the stock ROM and manually sorting it. Cheers anyway
 
Verizon just sent me a S4 as a replacement for a defective S3 and it's running MK2 with 4.3. I rooted and installed Safestrap and Hyperdrive 15.

I too am pondering the KK upgrade. I'm tempted, but one of the big annoyances that I remember from my S3 was the handling of the external memory card. It was a PITA to save stuff there anymore. In fact, I couldn't even set the camera to save pictures to the card, only internal!

Unless there is some way around this, I think I am going to avoid KK.
 
A good option (one I'm gonna try myself) is to install clockwork recovery mod and backup the rom you're currently using, then give KK a go. Worst case just restore the ROM you're using now.

My girlfriend uses a Note 2 which she updated to KK and said she has no problems with the SD card for music, photos etc.

If you still have problems, apparently this app is a big help:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix
 
Once you go past 4.2, you'll have to contend with KNOX.

If you're a rooter then you'll want to avoid 4.3 or 4.4. Because I've heard KNOX makes things difficult.

Also once you go above 4.2..... There are limitations as to which apps can be placed onto the SD card.
 
Ah okay, cheers for the heads up Sreum. I'll have a nosey round the interwebs, see if - like the SD card issue - it's a big thing going from 4.2 to 4.4 on the S4
 
Hello, I to post am sorry to post this in this thread but I am new user and not allow to start a new thread.

I encounter an unsual problem when I try to update the firmware of my Samsung s4 mini-model GT-I 9195- via kies to 4.4.2. The following problem happens:

I connect via Kies and the phone is recognized. Kies shows me that there is a firmware update available. I click firmware update.

The second screen that appears is, on my computer, not completely displayed:mad:. That means I am able to see and populate the field that says "I have read all above conditions..." but I am not able to see and click and on the second field and on the "start upgrade" button because on my computer these are simply not completely displayed. I can see the above part of the letter cases beneath the second field but I cannot click on field and there is no scroll bar:confused: on the right side, as it normally is, to help me scroll down, see these field and click on them- and eventually start upgrade.

I have not encountered this before. Is this a screen resolution problem, a kies problem, an OS problem??? WHy is this happening and which setting should I change and where? This is very frustrating and if I do not fiind the solution I might have to update via gsm-shop:(

Kies is up-to-date (3) and I am running Windows 7 starter on my asus eee mini-laptop.

Thank you kindly in advance for all ideas and replies!
 
Is there any way you can supply us with a screen shot of your computer screen showing what you mean?
 
Hello and thank you for your reply. I have taken a photo of the screen with my phone but I do not know how to attach it to this reply. Perhaps you could provide an e-mail address where I could send the photo? I do not see the "attach" icon anywhere.

Thank you kindly for you effort!
 
If you're using the app and replying with your phone. Along the bottom where you type in your response there are five icons....
Submit
Discard
Attach photo...... Which looks like a camera
Link attachment
And faces icon

Select the camera icon.
 
I too am still debating on updating to Kitkat . To my knowledge 4.4.2 and 4.4.4 have already been pushed to the Verizon devices, but so far I haven't allowed them to install. I'm still using unrooted Jellybean which has worked fine for my needs.

I guess my questions are:
What are the main drawbacks and bonuses to installing Kitkat on an unrooted device?
I've ready something about it screwing with the sd card. (I'm currently using a sandisk 64gb with no issues and I really don't want any!)
I read 1 post where someone said you couldn't even save photos and videos to the sd card after the update. Is that true?? Because THAT'S ridiculous!

If I choose NOT to update, will I lose the option to update OTA in the future? (Whether it be in a few months or a couple years)

In the meantime... is there any way to disable these annoying update notices? (Both for the OS and Knox)
 
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