The Over the Air updates for Android 4.4.2 are going out for Nexus 4 and 5 smartphones and a couple Nexus tablets. I have installed the ota on the Nexus 4, and it works fine. I chose to install a factory image of 4.4 and wait for the ota to come to the device. After booting in 4.4, I was informed the update to 4.4.2 was ready within minutes. Haven’t had time to check out the camera because it’s dark. but the new camera app seems to work better.

The Android 4.4.1 update lasted a couple days and was immediately replaced with 4.4.2. Aparantly an overnight bug fix.

The new Over The Air (OTA) update of Android 4.4 to 4.4.1 is due in a couple days for Nexus 5 and in a few more days for other devices with 4.4, such as Nexus 4 and Nexus 7. I think Nexus 4 got the update to KitKat 4.4 several weeks ago with little problem, by the way.

4.4.1 makes some vast improvements to the camera app. The improvements are so good that industry pundits claim that the camera app is in the middle of the bunch of the top level smartphones, which is a luxurous place to be. 

From usage tests, the older 4.4 camera app, was too slow for the way that many people were using it (the ergonomics were wrong). The focusing was taking too long and the shot would be missed or the person would move the camera before the (in HDR+ setting) the HDR would be finished, making a blurry picture. Also the pictures showed the full brightness range of the picture rather than “punching up” the saturation and contrast, as people are want to prefer. So now the pictures look more like an iPhone image. The new camera app triggers the shutter as soon as the focus is “acceptably close” to right, instead of overfocusing and coming back to the sharpest focus. People who do most of their photography with a telephone are not diciplined in holding still. So this fix matches the ergonomics and situation of the operator. So far, all the testers prefer it. I have been increasing the saturation and contrast in many of the photos I’ve taken with the Nexus 5 on Android 4.4, so this will likely save me a few steps.

This took some head-scratching for me, but YOU CAN gain root access to the N5 and modify a configuration file (a file requiring root level access) that, now, will tell the phone it doesn’t have to mention to carriers that it is re-routing the data (which is already being paid for) to an external device that may not be able to get a WI-FI signal (laptop or tablet).

I won’t go into the specifics, unless someone asks, because it would be a long-winded story.

The Nexus 4 didn’t (and doesn’t) need this “fix”, but the distribution of KitKat for this phone needs to be told not to send on the tattle-tale message that it is trying to tether. Most of the over-$50 plans on T-Mobile now have free tethering (250MB/mo) but for the old plans it would require a $15/mo extra payment. 

The time it took was a few hours of scouring the Android developers on the Web (AKA hackers) and about $7 in apps from the Playstore. Someone more used to Android could do it in a half hour.

No surprises on price or color selection. The camera has a big f/2.5 lens for better low-light conditions and is optically image stabilized (with gyroscopes and micro-motors to take the jiggle out in the x and y plane). The camera also has an HDR (high dynamic range) option for taking pictures in widely-varing brightness. There will be some competition in this arena in the next year, but this camera will be in the ball park with the top-tier ones costing, literally, twice as much.

It’s interesting that there will only be two variations that will work in Asia or Europe/Americas. The only carrier left out in the US is Verizon. 

KitKat will be released for many older phones shortly. It will work with phones having 0.5 GB RAM, which will include many phones running Gingerbread. This is a deliberate attempt to make cheap Android phones work with a modern OS in Russia and Africa and places that only sell unsubsidized (cheap) phones. BTW, these are HUGE markets.

Nexus 5 is fast as hell, competing with the iPhone 5S which has a 64 bit processor (Samsung S5 will also have one when it’s released early next year).

Part of the reason for speed and decent battery life is that KitKat is a less-bulky and faster operating system. When you match that with the astounding Google Now performance (voice) and Nexus 5’s always-listening feature, things look awfully good.

The voice and messaging have been integrated into a new version of Hangouts, dropping the need for a separate Messaging app. Also, the integration with Google Now is enhanced.

My opinion (as stated several times) is that a whole new era of flexibility with watches, and glasses, and voice is about to begin…..

Some screen shots of Kitkat (Android 4.4) show a tap-and-pay setting. So far, tap-and-pay has been a non-starter, with in-fighting and non-compatibility among carriers. Now, it appears, Google has figured out how to do it without an embedded security chip, allowing ANY Android phone with NFC (near field communication) to have a form of tap-and-pay that is non-proprietary. I realize this brings up more questions than answers. Maybe we’ll find out in a couple days with the release of KitKat.

McDonalds will drop Heinz ketchup after 30 years now that the new CEO of Heinz was the former CEO of Burger king.

Right now, a 4.7 or 5 inch smartphone screen is the “happy medium” for the current crop of phones. People with small hands or tight jeans like 4.7. That would be the iPhone 5s or 5c or the HTC 1.

This most current crop have 1080p displays and super-fast processors, with the iPhone 5c having last-year’s fast processor.

The reigning-king, the Samsung Galaxy S4, has a 5″ super Ameloid (bright) display, a super processor and replaceable battery and a flash card slot and a decent camera. That makes a pretty good combination.

LG has the Nexus 4 (discontinued) with straight Android UI, very good connectivity (like many of the others), except you have to “hack” it to turn on the LTE data communication for T-Mobile, and it doesn’t have an OTG USB plug for adding a flash drive or wired keyboard or mouse. It has a 4.7 inch screen and a passable camera and the ability to use a wired adaptor or wireless to send the screen directly to your TV (like several of the top-tier phones mentioned).

LG has a Nexus 5 coming out in a couple days with a 5 inch screen and a better camera (equivalent to the S5), better USB (OTG) and the highest rated processor (equal to the iPhone 5s) of any out there. It will cost $349 outright and directly competes with the Galaxy s4 if you don’t need the removable battery or flash card slot. It costs HALF what the S5 does and you can use it directly in Europe. (Samsung hobbles ALL its phones with a “Reagion Lock” (not the same as a carrier lock) that doesn’t let it work with a simple sim card purchase in Europe. I’ll keep a Nexus phone around for travel to Europe….

LG has a bigger brother to the unanounced Nexus 5, the G2, with a 5.2 inch screen and the same processor but a bigger battery and LG’s added software, and a software stabilized 13MP camera that looks pretty good. But it has a non-removable back, so, no external flash card and no removable battery. It costs closer to the S5.

Both the LG G2 and LG Nexus 5 will work with Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. 

The 5.4 inch Galaxy Note 2 has been replaced by the 5.7 inch Note 3. It has, now, a 1080p super Ameloid screen, a HUGE replaceable battery, a super-fast processor, a flash memory slot, the OTG usb and MIRACAST and slimport for duplication the screen wired or wirelessly (like Nexus 4, 5, and several others). 

The Note 3 is my current “dream machine” because it fits my taste in music storage and battery life and connectivity and has a bright(er) screen for use in the sun and, most importantly, a big-enough screen for my fat fingers and occassional Netflix usage. For most people this is too big, but it fits my shirt or jacket pocket just fine. The cost new is HUGE, but used, maybe I’ll catch one on ebay when the price settles.

Of course, it’s EASY to want something. People claim to have “invented” the pushbutton automatic transmittion long before the Edsel, they just didn’t know how to DO it…..

The biggest problem with the smartwatch is the power usage, or “battery life”. The $300 Samsung is slow to respond and has a battery life of only ONE DAY!

It’s one thing to charge your phone in the car the next morning after meeting someone in a bar the night before but taking off your watch and putting it in your pocket because it died last night JUST WON’T DO! A watch needs a few days battery to match most people’s life style.

I can thing of two scenarios that I like. The best is a three-day battery and a wireless charging pad that you throw your phone and watch on at night, next to the bed. THAT works for me. (I have a wirelessharger on order for my phone.) There is a standard (“Q1”) that several phones match these days. It is for people who don’t want to plug that TINY plug into their phone when going to bed.

The same would go for the smartwatch, except it would have an EVEN TINIER PLUG. No, it needs wireless charging; just throw it close to the phone wireless charger.

The second scenerio is charging it by light from built-in photocells. This is a push of the technology, but is a  lofty target. It works GREAT for regular watches.

Right now Bluetooth 4.0 (low energy Bluetooth) is, for all practical purposes, REQUIRED for smartwatches. That’s why Nexus 4 and Galaxy S4 have it (and of course the Note 3). It’s NEEDED for smartwatch battery life. 

So, you’ll probably NEED a phone built in the last year (with Bluetooth 4.0) to match all the neat gizmos (pedometers, blood pressure gadgets, Google glasses, bike exercise computers, etc.). THAT, and maybe NFC (Near Field Communication), for paying at the checkout are a few good reasons to invest in a new phone this Christmas. 

Nexus 5 is going to be a beauty when it is announced in a couple days. It’s even been up (accidentally) on Google Play Store for an hour or so (and then yanked off). That’s $349 for the 16GB, and (probably) $399 for the 32GB.

Curved screens are just hitting the phone market, with one out by LG, the LG G Curve. I don’t know if this will take off for a phone, because it would break if you sat on it on a table or dropped something on it when it was on a flat surface.

HOWEVER, it is PERFECT for a smartwatch, such as the GEM, which is rumored to come out in a few days. Even the flat wrist-radio of Dick Tracy was a little clumsey, back it the days that the side and back windows on a car were flat. A curve to soften the edges of the case would be, well, perfect.

There is a long history of plastic or rubber electronic watches (much to my dismay), so probably something in silicone that is washable would probably work. The trick is to get the cost well below $200. Remember, there is a whole generation that considers wearing a watch “retro”. I can see the competition to have a metal-like watch that doesn’t look too cheap, for executives and wannabes.