Android 4.4 KitKat may be, as hinted by Google, available to a wider range of devices, apart from the usual suspects – last year’s Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, and both Nexus 7 iterations. Unfortunately, just because an Android device is older and a Nexus phone to boot doesn’t mean it would be assured of an update to Android 4.4. According to Google, Android 4.4 KitKat won’t be rolling out for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, leaving owners of the device on the second-newest Android platform as of this writing, Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.
The announcement was made yesterday on the Nexus help page, and actually comes as no surprise, as the Galaxy Nexus wasn’t among the devices set to be initially bumped up to Android 4.4. Also, the Galaxy Nexus is a two-year-old device, not to mention one that consumers generally associate more with its OEM Samsung rather than Google; like last year’s Nexus 4, the Nexus 5 is expected to be far more closely affiliated to Google than its OEM. But even with that in mind, it’s still peculiar that compatibility with older devices was hinted as one of Android 4.4’s key features, while the Galaxy Nexus 5 was left out of the Android 4.4 KitKat update party.
Meanwhile, Google remains silent on the exact rollout date of Android 4.4 for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10; the company has stuck to the usual tech staple of “soon” as far as timing goes. But reports suggest that “soon” may actually mean what it’s supposed to, while the “pseudo-Google” HTC One Google Play Edition may get upgraded to Android 4.4 in about one to two weeks from now.
