Android 4.4 "KitKat"

4.4 "KitKat"

Google released Android 4.4 KitKat in October 2013, coinciding with the launch of the Nexus 5 smartphone. KitKat represented the first time that Google has partnered with an outside brand for the Android mascot, and the company launched a massive marketing campaign with Nestle for it.

Despite being just a point update, 4.4 brought the largest visual change to the platform since the release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Google took the visual concepts used in 4.1 and 4.2 and pushed them even further, and modernized the platform in other places as well. The familiar blue accent color seen throughout versions 4.0-4.3 was been replaced with white, excising the last remnants of the Tron-inspired aesthetic introduced in Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Additionally, a number of stock apps were redesigned with lighter color schemes.

But the biggest change was found in the home screen: Android 4.4 introduced a transparent notification bar and on-screen buttons; a refined, condensed version of the standard Roboto font; a new app drawer; and most importantly, Google Now integrated directly into the home screen.

In addition to the visual overhaul, Google said its "goal with Android KitKat" was "to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody." The company focused on making the new OS more efficient, faster, and less resource intensive. This allowed it to run on lower-end and older hardware, encouraging manufacturers to update their existing devices and launch new devices with KitKat instead of resorting to older versions of Android. It was Google’s biggest move yet to end the dreaded version fragmentation that has dogged the platform since its early days.

Here’s a look at some of the top features introduced with Android 4.4:

Google Now in the home screen. The biggest feature for Android 4.4 KitKat was the redesigned launcher, and the star of that show was Google Now. The predictive search service was pulled out of hiding behind a swipe up gesture, giving it prime real estate as the leftmost page of the new launcher. Google Now’s features became more powerful — it coulddirect you to the right app for your search, instead of just launching a web search — and the pervasive search box at the top of every home screen began listening for an "okay Google" voice command at any given time.

New dialer. The dialer was updated to plug into Google’s vast database of businesses and services, letting you search for things right from within the app and get results that might not be in your address book. It was a two-way street, too: if a business called you and you didn’t have its number stored, the dialer automatically identified the caller. In addition to the new searching features, Android 4.4’s dialer had a new, lighter design that better matches the People app.

Full screen apps. Complementing the new transparent status bar and navigation buttons was the ability for apps to run completely full screen. Apps had the option to hide the status bar and navigation buttons entirely, providing a more immersive experience. The lock screen also offered full-screen album art and cover art for when you are listening to music and playing movies or TV shows on a Chromecast.

Unified Hangouts app. Android 4.4 expanded Google’s Hangouts messaging service with the ability to send and receive SMS messages right from within the app. Though the new features were also available to earlier versions of Android, they made their debut with KitKat and the Nexus 5. The integrated SMS feature wasn't perfect — Google doesn’t thread SMS messages in the same conversation as Hangouts messages — but was a big step towards Google making Hangouts the focus for all of your messaging activity.

Redesigned Clock and Downloads apps. For the second time since Android 4.2, Google has redesigned the standard clock app in KitKat. The new app offers a more intuitive interface for setting alarms, and does away with the odd bolded hours and thin minutes look of the earlier app. The Downloads app was also been redesigned with a lighter color scheme and more modern look and feel.

Emoji. With Android 4.4, Google finally built colorful emoji characters into the standard keyboard. Other platforms and third-party apps had offered emoji, but users were granted access to the various smiley faces and icons anywhere in the Android operating system.

 Productivity enhancements. Google made productivity a big focus in Android 4.4, with a new version of the Quickoffice app and the ability to print to any printer connected to Google Cloud Print. The new Quickoffice gave users access to files stored on cloud services such as Dropbox, Box, and others, in addition to Google Drive. It also received the lighter design treatment, and fits in better with the rest of Google’s existing productivity apps. Google also updated its long-neglected standard email app (not Gmail) with better navigation, nested folders, and other improvements.

HDR+. On newer devices such as the Nexus 5, Android 4.4 introduced support for HDR+, a new HDR mode that is said to provide sharper images with less noise and greater dynamic range. It still requires capturing multiple images and stitching them together, so doesn’t work well with moving subjects, but it is impressive on landscapes and other still-life scenes.