KitKat Android 4.4 what's new

[Glenn]

My Nexus 4 has just updated to 4.4.4, mainly bug fixes and introducing more bugs.

[Simon]

Do the bugs know each other?

[Glenn]

They may have a Lollipop tomorrow or Thursday.

[sparky]

As I'm still pondering over a new phone, this is what annoys me. Is it not possible to stop an android phone updating or nagging you to update?

With the old Nokia Symbian O/S, if your phone worked for you and you didn't want the upgrade, you simply didn't bother. Now it seems that Android and Windows Phone updates get pushed out, irrespective of whether they shaft your phone or not.

[Glenn]

It hardly nags you, just cancel the update, job done. I think this is the 2nd update this year for Nexus devices, manufacturers (Samsung, HTC etc), may not even send out updates. Lillipop (Android 5.0) may be announced today or tomorrow at the Google I/O conference.

[sparky]

Ah OK then. Maybe it's just some phones.

I've seen forums with people complaining about continuous update notifications and then it automatically goes and does the update overnight when they are not looking!  Maybe they just had the phones set up wrong. This was namely Motorola and Sony phones I think I was looking at.

[Simon]

Looks like there will be even less choice soon...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27992439

[pctech]

I think it will come down to Google vs Apple.

[Technical Ben]

x2 to have Windows 8 themed Android desktop...
Support: "Which phone do you have?"
Customer: "It's definitely Windows 8, has the icons and everything..."
Support: "Hmmm, cannot understand why feature/button x/y/z is not there then..."

[john]

My Nexus 4 has just updated to 4.4.4, mainly bug fixes and introducing more bugs.

The other day my Nexus 7 updated to 4.4.4 too but I've not noticed any bugs yet (but then I didn't notice any before either).

[Steve]

I've just spent 2 weeks SW of Haverfordwest and my Nexus 5 on Kitkat 4.4.4 has been virtually bloody useless as a mobile phone. My wife's iPhone 4s on the same network has shown a mobile signal where mine has not on many occasions plus the iPhone will lock on to a mobile signal where one is present much quicker than the Nexus 5. I do wonder whether the mobile operators assign a priority to mobile devices  ie mine's low however it will make me think next time that I should check if the data is available of the devices ability to work as a mobile phone.

[Technical Ben]

I'd say it was the aerial and/or power saving functions in the OS. 

[peasblossom]

Ah.  You'd think it would have been easier just to have thought of another silly name for it. 

Indeed. Ubuntu manage it quite nicely. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DevelopmentCodeNames        (In a good way, though.)

[pctech]

I think some phone manufacturers put ridiculously small antennas in their phones because where they develop them they are probably on top of a mobile mast.

I know the HTC Desire S had two small copper strips mounted to the removable plastic back panel and I found it would struggle to connect in places where a Nokia had no issue.

[nowster]

I think some phone manufacturers put ridiculously small antennas in their phones because where they develop them they are probably on top of a mobile mast.

Aerial size is all to do with resonance and nothing to do with signal strength.

[sparky]

Well, after about a year of deliberation over a new smartphone , I finally got myself a Nexus 5.

It did a couple of updates after initial setting up and now currently sits with 4.4.4. Really pleased with it, all seems to be working great.

Apart from one annoying (well to me anyway) issue which has appeared to creep into all smartphone operating systems over the past 12 months or more. When using pop3 mail, checking the box "leave mail on server" has no effect if you delete the email on your phone it deletes on the server as well at the next synch. That doesn't happen when using Thunderbird, Live Mail, Outlook etc on a PC, but looking around various forums seems to have crept into all mobile operating systems. I'm sure I read somewhere that it didn't happen on a Nexus, until Kit Kat came along?

And before anyone suggests it, no I cannot use IMAP as my companies email server doesn't support it without additional charges which my boss refuses to pay.  Anyway, I don't want all of my emails and folders stored on my phone, I just want to be able to read incoming ones. It's not a big issue as my last phone didn't work like that either, but I don't understand why smart phone operating systems have ignored the pleas of people and stopped this happening.

[Simon]

I use IMAP on all my mobile devices, so can't help with that, sorry.   Only thing I can suggest is to have a look in Settings > Accounts and Sync > Mail, and see if there are any additional settings in there. 

[sparky]

No Simon, it's a common issue that is posed all over the internet in forums.

As I understood it the way pop3 worked is that your email client, downloads any unread mail, that mail gets flagged on the host server as read, and depending on your settings gets deleted or left on the server.

Nowadays, phones don't seem to treat pop3 like that, they seem to "synch" every time with your inbox, if you've deleted on your phone, then it gets deleted from the inbox. I have checked the box that says leave on server but it makes no difference. And so say hundreds or thousands of other phone users out there........

[colirv]

Can you forward mail to a second account, and have the mobile read that instead?

[sparky]

Yeay, I suppose that's one way around it. 

To be honest it's not really a problem for me, I can work around it. I just thought that I'd mention it here as the thread is titled "KitKat Android 4.4 what's new" and I'm sure I've read that this has changed since Jelly Bean.

[nowster]

For email on Αndroid, k9mail is probably the best app to use.

[Glenn]

I've sold my Nexus 4, now a proud owner of a OnePlus One. It's working well, very responsive, too responsive if scrolling through pages as it has a habit of opening as soon as you touch the screen. The battery is great, on to my 3rd day today still showing 50% charge, but I would say I'm a light user.

[Simon]

Sounds good.  Aren't things supposed to open when you touch the screen, though? 

[wecpcs]

Well, after about a year of deliberation over a new smartphone , I finally got myself a Nexus 5.

It did a couple of updates after initial setting up and now currently sits with 4.4.4. Really pleased with it, all seems to be working great.

Apart from one annoying (well to me anyway) issue which has appeared to creep into all smartphone operating systems over the past 12 months or more. When using pop3 mail, checking the box "leave mail on server" has no effect if you delete the email on your phone it deletes on the server as well at the next synch. That doesn't happen when using Thunderbird, Live Mail, Outlook etc on a PC, but looking around various forums seems to have crept into all mobile operating systems. I'm sure I read somewhere that it didn't happen on a Nexus, until Kit Kat came along?

And before anyone suggests it, no I cannot use IMAP as my companies email server doesn't support it without additional charges which my boss refuses to pay.  Anyway, I don't want all of my emails and folders stored on my phone, I just want to be able to read incoming ones. It's not a big issue as my last phone didn't work like that either, but I don't understand why smart phone operating systems have ignored the pleas of people and stopped this happening.

I use a Sony Xperia Z2 with POP3 and have ticked the box to leave emails on the server and if I delete any emails on my Z2 they are still on the server (I use 1&1 for my email on my own domain). So is it a problem with the Nexus 5 or with IDNet email if that is what you are using.

Colin

[Glenn]

Sounds good.  Aren't things supposed to open when you touch the screen, though? 

Sorted, the sensitivity can be adjusted, it was on the most sensitive.