Liliputing

  • Reviews
  • Deals
  • How To…
  • Mini PCs
  • Shop
  • About
    • About Liliputing
    • Contact us
    • Advertise on Liliputing
    • Support Liliputing
    • Privacy Policy

Android 4.4 KitKat ported to run on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus

11/02/2013 at 11:21 AM by Brad Linder 6 Comments

Google may have no plans to release an official Android 4.4 software update for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. But the nice thing about phones that ship with unlocked bootloaders is that you can load your own software — and like most Nexus devices, there’s a pretty healthy developer community involved with the Galaxy Nexus.

So just a day after Google released the source code for Android 4.4 KitKat, developer Grarak released an early build of KitKat for the Galaxy Nexus. The developers behind SlimROms have also released the first builds of SlimKat for the Galaxy Nexus based on Android 4.4.

SlimKat Android 4.4 for the Galaxy Nexus

The software is based on the Android Open Source Project code, so it looks a lot like the software you’d get if you bought a Google Nexus 5. It’s still a bit rough around the edges, with some bugs — but developers are working to squash those pretty quickly. If you’re looking for a stable version of Android 4.4 for your phone, you’ll probably want to hold off on installing this custom ROM unless you want to help with development.

But the speed with which we got unofficial builds of Android 4.4 for the Galaxy Nexus is a good sign of things to come. Google may be abandoning support for its older phones, but the independent developer community will likely help keep it alive for years to come.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was released in October, 2011. Google’s official reason for dropping support is that the phone is more than 18 months old, and that companies regularly phase out support for devices once they hit that age. But there are plenty of people who bought the phone just over a year ago, before the Nexus 4 was announced. So not all Galaxy Nexus users have had the phone for 18 months or longer.

It’s also interesting that the Galaxy Nexus was the last Google Nexus phone to feature a removable battery and removable back panel — and also the last Nexus phone built by Samsung, a company that’s increasingly competing with Google by offering its own app stores and APIs for Android (although that hasn’t stopped us from getting a Samsung-built Nexus 10 tablet and a Google Play Edition Samsung Galaxy S4).

But maybe Google really just doesn’t want to spend the time and effort necessary to keep older Nexus devices up to date, when it’s pretty clear independent developers and enthusiasts who really care about these things will do them anyway.

Meanwhile, by pushing the latest versions of Google Play Services and other Google Apps to phones running Android 4.3 and earlier, Google can still offer updates and improvements to older devices without releasing firmware updates.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Email

Daily Deals (2-15-2019)

A few days ago I noted that the 2.2 pound Asus E203MA laptop with an 11.6 inch display, an Intel Celeron N4000 Gemini Lake processor, 4GB of RAM and … [Read More...]



Support Liliputing

Liliputing’s primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the “Shop” button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we’ll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you’re using an ad blocker and hate online shopping.

Contribute via PayPal

  • donate monthly
  • donate once only
Select a Donation Option (USD)

Enter Donation Amount (USD)

Subscribe via Patreon

Become a Patron!

6
Leave a Reply

Login with
Facebook Google Twitter WordPress Yahoo! Disqus Reddit Stackoverflow GitHub
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.
2 Comment threads
4 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
6 Comment authors
VincentDaniel Lundhvis10nNathan HubbardNeedName Recent comment authors
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
imutau
Guest
imutau
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

There was also speculation that since it used a Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 chip and that Texas Instruments is out of the mobile market that they were not doing a 4.4 for this phone:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/31/google-galaxy-nexus-kitkat/

Just glad the scene is still going for it as far as offering support for this much beloved phone.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
5 years ago
NeedName
Guest
NeedName
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

I know I first read this speculation on androidpolice and then other sites started saying “google insiders’ were confirming it, yet all evidence suggests that TI still supports their chips and OMAP support is in the kernel, and there should be no problems with them.

Honestly think google and google apologists just wanted to deflect some of the rage from their “18 month” update policy — stopping updates 6 months after end of sales.

At least now it’s official, Android OEMs, including Google will NOT give support after 18 months — considering today’s mobile hardware that seems very short.

Here’s hoping cyanogenmod inc takes off, otherwise I’ll be looking at non-Android devices.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
5 years ago
Nathan Hubbard
Guest
Nathan Hubbard
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

So you’re upset that you can’t run newer versions of Android, and your solution is to… not buy an Android phone next time?
By the time my contract was up on my last iPhone is was nearly unusable with the latest software updates because it was so slow. I wouldn’t be surprised if you found the same thing on newer versions of Android (that happened to me with my first Android device – you could run ICS using cyanogenmod, but you didn’t want to).

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
5 years ago
Daniel Lundh
Guest
Daniel Lundh
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Still outrageous that a minor bump in Android versions wont get released on a “flagship” device.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
5 years ago
vis10n
Guest
vis10n
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

My Huawei ascend P1 is also OMAP based, and Huawei gave the same basic reason (TI) in December last year was the reason they were not releasing 4.1 for it. Then mid 2013 we heard that we might be getting Jellybean. Still waiting, still in beta…

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
5 years ago
Vincent
Guest
Vincent
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

So they are implying that Android mobiles have only an 18 month shelf life from release date (not ‘purchase date’)??
Android 4.4 software is said to be more efficient and able to run on a variety of older or lower end hardware than the Galaxy Nexus.

What about the facts, * So many mobile contracts are for 2 years, * Not all Galaxy Nexus users have had the phone for 18 months??

The Texas Instruments argument is weak, it’s the responsibility of Google to have made the relevant agreement with them at the time to ensure they would support that chipset for a ‘reasonable’ amount of time.

This decision has Drastically devalued all Nexus devices and many other Android phones, as well as brand damage to the whole Android ecosystem itself.

Honestly can’t believe they didn’t think this through properly, so many supposedly great technical minds, but crap business level decisions.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
5 years ago

Follow Liliputing:

Facebook Twitter YouTube tumblr RSS Patreon

Latest News

Lilbits 350: TCL’s folding smartphone plans revealed (maybe)

If Chinese electronics company TCL may be better known in the US for its TVs … [Read More...]

Lilbits 349: The 5G smartphones are coming

Mobile World Congress is a little more than a week away, and we'll likely see … [Read More...]

Windows Subsystem for Linux update will let you access Linux file from Windows

One of the most surprising things about Windows 10 is that you have the option … [Read More...]

Featured articles

GPD MicroPC handheld computer preview

It's been a good couple of years for handheld computer enthusiasts. Companies … [Read More...]

Taihe Gemini portable 1080p touchscreen monitor preview

The Taihe Gemini portable monitor has made quite a splash since going up for … [Read More...]

Zotac Pico PI470 is a pocket-sized PC with Intel Amber Lake

Zotac's latest pocket-sized computer is the company's most powerful to date. … [Read More...]

Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by Skimlinks and Amazon's and eBay's affiliate programs.

Login

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2019 Liliputing · About Liliputing · Contact Us · Privacy Policy · Go to top of page

wpDiscuz
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.