4.4.4

[Old Member]

4.4.4 is rolling out to everyone this will be our official 4.4.4 thread.

I noticed after the update that the phone feels snappier overall. Also ISIS has been reactivated and Verizon has installed a new bloatware app called Cloud.

 

[Old Member]

Found another new app. Motorola Alert.

Also visual voice mail can't be disabled anymore.

 

[androidg2]

will this update be ota and if so does anyone know if it will hit the g2 right now i have 4.4.2

 

[Old Member]

will this update be ota and if so does anyone know if it will hit the g2 right now i have 4.4.2

This will be an OTA. It should hit the Droid line sometime soon. I'm not sure about the G2 sorry.

This article says that they are not sure either.

"HTC confirmed that it’s working on Android 4.4.4 KitKat for the HTC One M7 and that should mean that it’s working on an update for the HTC One M8 as well. It did not go into details but rumors peg the releases for July or August. It’s not clear what the updates will have on board but there is a very good chance that they will offer more than just bug fixes.

As for the Samsung updates, well, we have nothing at the moment. We do know that the Galaxy S5 Android 4.4.3 KitKat update was rumored for June so it’s possible that the Android 4.4.4 KitKat update delayed its release. Samsung never announces these updates ahead of time so there is a good chance that if a new Android 4.4 KitKat update does roll out, it will push out unannounced.

We still haven’t heard anything out of LG’s camp, for the LG G2 or otherwise."

 

[Old Member]

Also, I haven't used the stock launcher in a long time but it's the transparent notification bar new? I know we got the new wrote icons on the last update but I didn't realize that we got the transparent status bar with it.

 

[SNeitzel]

I just checked and 4.4.4 is available OTA for me.
I am not part of any soak test.
Installing now...

EDIT:
Installed fine and rebooted with no issues.
The first thing I tried to do was reboot and clear the cache partition following instructions here:
http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-maxx/756726-droid-maxx-tips.html#post6251668
However, I have tried that procedure now twice and both times it hangs up. After I select WIPE CACHE PARTITION and push POWER the android guy pops up with the globe spinning in his stomach and that's all that happens. The phone never does reboot. I had to hold the power button down to turn it off. It then rebooted normally. Anyone else on 4.4.4 tried to wipe the cache?

 

[jwbeeler]

Installing OTA now. It was available today for the first time. Previous it showed a software update available, but then when I pressed on the "update now", it showed "system up to date" message.

 

[doogald]

The first thing I tried to do was reboot and clear the cache partition following instructions here:
http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-maxx/756726-droid-maxx-tips.html#post6251668
However, I have tried that procedure now twice and both times it hangs up. After I select WIPE CACHE PARTITION and push POWER the android guy pops up with the globe spinning in his stomach and that's all that happens. The phone never does reboot. I had to hold the power button down to turn it off. It then rebooted normally. Anyone else on 4.4.4 tried to wipe the cache?

I have not myself, but I have read others say that, unlike previous builds on the Droids, clearing the cache can take 10 to 20 minutes on 4.4.4. So, you just weren't patient enough, most likely.

To be honest, I don't think it's a good thing that it takes so long. It shouldn't take so long to wipe data from a flash storage partition, and I worry that there is something that is writing to storage. With flash storage, you always worry that too much writing of data will lead to wear failure.

 

[SNeitzel]

I have not myself, but I have read others say that, unlike previous builds on the Droids, clearing the cache can take 10 to 20 minutes on 4.4.4. So, you just weren't patient enough, most likely.

You are correct. I tried a third time and it took over 8 minutes to complete before it finally rebooted. Being curious, I tried 2 more times and now it's taking 2-3 min to complete.

 

[jwbeeler]

I just checked and 4.4.4 is available OTA for me.
I am not part of any soak test.
Installing now...

EDIT:
Installed fine and rebooted with no issues.
The first thing I tried to do was reboot and clear the cache partition following instructions here:
http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-maxx/756726-droid-maxx-tips.html#post6251668
However, I have tried that procedure now twice and both times it hangs up. After I select WIPE CACHE PARTITION and push POWER the android guy pops up with the globe spinning in his stomach and that's all that happens. The phone never does reboot. I had to hold the power button down to turn it off. It then rebooted normally. Anyone else on 4.4.4 tried to wipe the cache?

Same for me...Droid has the spinning globe...

 

[Thom]

Did you receive it OTA or from the pirated copy listed earlier in this thread?

... Thom

 

[jwbeeler]

Did you receive it OTA or from the pirated copy listed earlier in this thread?

... Thom

OTA

 

[Thom]

I assume it is being released ...

... Thom

 

[Thom]

Kit Kat 4.4.4 (Build 21.11.21) is apparently being pushed now to registered users who were not part of the soak test. It goes out to a few users at a time to keep from burying the network. A single 284.9MB file has to be downloaded to each phone.

I participated in the soak test and have been using it since Thursday.

Some changes …

The external card reader that we lost support for when going from Jelly Bean to Kit Kat is now back. You can plug in an external card reader and read/write a memory card plugged into it.
The process to clear the Data Cache Buffer used to take about 15 seconds. Under 4.4.4 I measured it from 4.5min to 6.5 min. No explanation has yet been given.

There is now support for ISIS payments using NFC. I have not tried it yet.

The camera is improved.

Battery life under 4.4.4 is not as good as 4.4.

The revised Dialer that was included in other 4.4.4 devices and seems popular is not included in the Maxx. No reason given yet.

I have not yet done a Factory Data Reset. I think the Factory Data Reset for the first time ever also clears the Data Cache Buffer. I have not yet confirmed this.

If you installed the leaked copy that was referenced elsewhere in this forum you are in luck. It is the same version that was released in the OTA. In a previous phone (Bionic) the same situation occurred and the OTA was never released. A later version was released instead. Everyone who had installed the leaked version could not install any later OTA. Verizon/Moratoria took pity on them and fixed it. The reason is that an OTA is making incremental patches to a specific version of the code. (Please remove the reference to the hacked release.)

… Thom

 

[jwbeeler]

I just checked and 4.4.4 is available OTA for me.
I am not part of any soak test.
Installing now...

EDIT:
Installed fine and rebooted with no issues.
The first thing I tried to do was reboot and clear the cache partition following instructions here:
http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid-maxx/756726-droid-maxx-tips.html#post6251668
However, I have tried that procedure now twice and both times it hangs up. After I select WIPE CACHE PARTITION and push POWER the android guy pops up with the globe spinning in his stomach and that's all that happens. The phone never does reboot. I had to hold the power button down to turn it off. It then rebooted normally. Anyone else on 4.4.4 tried to wipe the cache?

You are correct. I tried a third time and it took over 8 minutes to complete before it finally rebooted. Being curious, I tried 2 more times and now it's taking 2-3 min to complete.

Patience is indeed a virtue. 6+ minutes and it rebooted.

 

[doogald]

These are the differences I have noticed so far:

- the aforementioned Verizon Cloud app, and the ISIS app is now a pre-installed system app
- Verizon Visual Voicemail cannot be disabled anymore. If it was disabled, it will be re-enabled. Also, Verizon has added a new free option to Visual Voicemail online. It used to be that you had basic voicemail or visual voicemail for a fee. Now there is both a free VVM option, as well as a premium VVM for a monthly fee. I think that this is just a coincidence and has nothing to do with the 4.4.4 update.
- the double home action when pressing the home button is fixed
- on the stock launcher, the status bar is now transparent. It's not system-wide, however - it's only in the launcher
- My bluetooth headphones used to control the BT volume when I pressed buttons. Now they do not - they only control their own volume, and the phone's volume can only be controlled from the phone
- the ART runtime works fine. It was causing problems recently for many people on 4.4 with the latest update to Google Play Services
- I haven't tried it myself yet, but USB OTG is supposed to be working again. It worked when the phones first shipped, but the function was lost with the 4.4 update in what I assume was a bug
- the GPS toggle in the power control widget has changed. Now it toggles GPS between battery saving and high accuracy

I'm pretty sure that the Android 4.4 share control getting stuck bug is fixed, and the Google authentication bug when in low signal areas is also supposed to be fixed. That only happened to me once, and I could never replicate it, but I know that many people were plagued with that problem daily.

I haven't noticed any significant changes in performance or battery, though the ART runtime, which never had an effect on 4.4 for me, seems to have slightly better battery performance.

 

[doogald]

There is now support for ISIS payments using NFC.

Thom, ISIS support is not new - that worked from the time the phone shipped with 4.2.2. This release just added ISIS as a pre-installed app (I believe you had to install from the Play Store separately before.) Google Wallet tap-to-pay was added with 4.4 and continues to work with 4.4.4 (reportedly - I don't use either service.)

 

[Thom]

I don't use wireless payment either. I was going by the statement ...

"Added the Isis mobile wallet application for contactless payment for Droid Ultra users on Verizon."

... from Verizon/Motorola.

... Thom

 

[SNeitzel]

Did you receive it OTA or from the pirated copy listed earlier in this thread?

... Thom

It was OTA. I have talked to 2 other friends as well that checked today and got it OTA.

 

[rdsok]

It appears that the update servers are overloaded at this time...

On the phone connected to WiFi... it tells me to connect to make a WiFi connection. Using the MDM, it tells me that there is no update available.

I'll try later this evening.

 

[BigBruDa3rd]

Love the update. My battery was terrible on 4.4 died before I got home only lasted 12 hours. Now I'm back to 50-60% when I get home on moderate to heavy use. I did clear cache after update took forever but it helped a lot. Camera is better phone is faster.

 

[Old Member]

Kit Kat 4.4.4 (Build 21.11.21) is apparently being pushed now to registered users who were not part of the soak test. It goes out to a few users at a time to keep from burying the network. A single 284.9MB file has to be downloaded to each phone.

I participated in the soak test and have been using it since Thursday.

Some changes

 

[doogald]

Guess I've always been lucky then because I've never received an OTA update, since update #1 for this phone I've side loaded the update with no problems.

You are a bit lucky because the kitkat update that was tested in December was pulled because it bricked some people's phones. I think it was rare but it did happen.

 

[Thom]

I know the soak test seems stupid ... especially for some who must have the newest thing ASAP ... but it really does have a purpose. It is preventing a monumental melt down of users of that particular phone.

Since they prevent you from going back to a previous version (to reduce their maintenance costs) the released version had better not have a major flaw.

Installing leaked versions in this environment is very risky. Be prepared to buy a replacement phone if the leak is never released or live with that version forever.

One final thing ... installing the software that was leaked is supporting the behavior of a very small collection of people who are not doing what they agreed to do ... they are obviously liars. The risk seems pretty high to me to trust them to do anything.

... Thom

 

[LizMac]

I am looking forward to this as it claims to improve the camera. Also happy to hear the external card reader function will return.

Really thought mine might update yesterday or today, but I was behind in the Kitkat OTA - seemed like everyone had it but me for quite awhile. I'll just try to be patient.