Saturday 28 December 2013

[4.4.2 ] Kitkat Update for Galaxy W [Updated 2014-03-23]

Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W
Arguably the biggest change to KitKat versus Jelly Bean and every other version of Android was the optimization of the operating system and core applications. No, this doesn’t sound “sexy” or “exciting” by any stretch of the imagination, but it represents something much more profound than you might think.

Google has said this was done to enable KitKat to run on new devices with 512MB RAM, rather than the 1GB to 3GB that we’re seeing in many of today’s phones and tablets. This is of immense importance because emerging markets are likely going to hold the key to the future success (or failure) of any platform on the market today. This key requirement means we’ll see Android running on more devices as time goes by. What’s more, the experience should be closer to that which you and I have experienced in higher-end devices. This is huge.

Don’t think that all this optimization is lost on you because you’re running a mid- to high-end phone or tablet. By reducing the footprint you’re going to get better overall performance, faster multitasking and app switching, and your battery-life will likely get better, too.
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Home Screen
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Home Screen
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Menu
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Menu
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Lock Screen
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Setting
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Setting
Dial Pad“Improved” Dialer
First off, notice I put “improved” in quotation marks. They’re there for a reason. The dialer in Android KitKat is one of the places that you’ll see the most visual changes, and many of you have said that you hate it.

When you open your dialer you expect to be able to dial, yet you’re not shown the dialer — not until you press on the dial pad button. Instead you’re presented with a search bar (complete with a voice input button), the last incoming or outgoing call, followed by your starred and favorite/frequently called contacts. At the bottom of the screen are buttons for your call history, your dial pad, and “more”. This is a substantive change and will take some getting used to. In my experience, the more you use it, the more you’ll like the features.
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Dial Pad
Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W
Under the hood, Google incorporated some goodies. Most notably is a new feature called Smart Caller ID. According to Google, “Whenever you get a call from a phone number not in your contacts, your phone will look for matches from businesses with a local listing on Google Maps”. And it works. Not only will you get the name of the business calling you, you’ll also get whatever graphic they’ve put on their Google Maps listing. It’s almost as if you had that contact in your phone itself, even though you don’t. It’s pretty fast, but will take the first ring or two to show up.

Do More With Your Files
Two new features regarding what you can do with your files made their way into Android KitKat. The first is a new API to let you open, edit, and save files to and from your preferred cloud storage provider not just Google Drive. I cannot emphasize this feature enough! Using your Android-powered device to “get work done”, rather than to “play” on, requires certain professional tools and capabilities, but all of those are for naught if you have to jump through hoops to get at your files and emailing them to yourself isn’t the solution. The new cloud storage API could be the proverbial “killer feature” that sets one OS apart from another, and now, finally, Android has that feature, too.

Could Files
Having access to your files won’t do you any good unless you can open them, edit them, and create new ones. To that end Google has made their Quickoffice app available for free. With it you can work with your Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files right on your Android-powered phone or tablet.

New Printing API
Last in this category is the new Printing API which lets you print “photos, documents, and web pages from your phone or tablet.  To any printer connected to Google Cloud Print, to HP ePrint printers, and to other printers that have apps in the Google Play Store”, all with a UI like you’ve come to expect on desktop operating systems.

It’s what’s inside that counts
So, no. Android KitKat doesn’t look that much different than Android Jelly Bean. That’s okay. KitKat has a lot going for it under the hood which will make your experience better. KitKat won’t make jump higher, run faster, or have a full head of hair, but you’ll be able to do more and do it faster than with any previous version of Android.

Here we get Kitkat Custom ROM from our beloved developer Arco68. The ROM is already good for daily use. Check out the changelog below.

What's working:
Audio
Receiving and making calls
GPS
Compass
Proximity sensor
Wifi
Bluetooth
USB mass storage
HW accelerated gui
HW accelerated video
Camera
Torch
Wifi/USB tethering
USB OTG
Vsync
Hybrid ION/PMEM

Annoyances:

Movie Studio is unstable and can crash or freeze phone

Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W Install Guide
Note: CM for Galaxy W is provided with no warranty. You are installing this software at your own risk. You may be violating your warranty.
  • Download Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W and gapps-kitkat zips and put in /sdcard
  • Before you install Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W, Install AppBak from Market, run it and save a list of all your apps.
  • Install SMS Backup and Restore from Market, run it and backup your SMS history.
  • Install Call Logs Backup and Restore from Market, run it and backup your call log history.
  • Boot into CWM recovery. Make a full backup. You will need this backup later if you decide to go back to your previous ROM and data. 
  • Wipe data and cache.
  • Wipe dalvik cache in advanced menu.
  • Format system, data, cache, and internal sdcard/sdcard0 in mount and storage option
  • Flash Kitkat 4.4.2 Update for Galaxy W.zip.
  • Flash gapps kitkat.zip. You must flash gapps after every upgrade to CM11.0 since /system is formatted, wiping your previous add-ons.
  • Reboot phone.
  • After you setup your Google account, reinstall the three apps from Market in order to restore most of your apps, call log and SMS history. Warning: Do not restore backup data of system apps! If you restore a bad backup with cached settings in telephony.db in data/data/com.*.*.telephony it can break MMS. It seems that restoring backups can also break Calendar sync.

CHANGELOG


2014-03-23

  • Synced with CM (should maybe fix some bugs)
  • Kernel 3.4.83
2014-03-11

  • Updated Adreno blobs
  • Synced with CM
  • Kernel 3.4.82
2014-01-22
  • Disabled Low Power Audio (LPA)
  • New workaround for text glitch (using classic webview)
  • Fix zoom in camera preview (credits Dorregaray)
  • Fixed VOIP audio
  • Fixed Netflix playback
  • USB OTG and zRAM fixes (credits Christopher83)
  • Kernel 3.4.77
2014-01-10
  • Enable TARGET_USE_QCOM_BIONIC_OPTIMIZATION
  • Possible workaround for the graphic glitch
  • Updated media profiles
  • Increased minimum CPU frequency to 368 MHz
  • Lowered zRAM size to half of what it was
  • Kernel 3.4.76
  • Fixed storage swapping
  • Fixed bluetooth tethering
  • Implemented storage switching
  • Increased zRAM allocation and changed setup according to KK specs (old method is removed from CM11)
  • Switched back to updated camera app (fixed issue with preview)
  • Allocated more memory for PMEM (should fix issues like switching to video mode in camera app after taking pictures)
  • Fixed activity indicators for mobile data
  • Fixed preview in camera after taking a picture
  • Enabled ZRAM by default

Read more

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Kitkat 4.4 Update for Galaxy Nexus

Kitkat 4.4 Galaxy Nexus
Kitkat 4.4 Galaxy Nexus
For more than a year, Android enthusiasts waited for Google to unveil the next iteration of the mobile operating system to succeed Jelly Bean. It was widely thought (even within Google) to be called Key Lime Pie. Instead, a bizarre marketing partnership was struck that gave us Android 4.4 KitKat, officially unveiled on Halloween in the United States at the same time as the first device to run it – Google's new Nexus 5. 

Unfortunately, those of you with a Galaxy Nexus can kiss your KitKat flavored dreams goodbye. Google has confirmed that the less than two-year-old phone won't be getting Android 4.4. Google doesn't have minimum hardware requirements for Android 4.4. Even so, the company made a big deal about the fact that KitKat can run comfortably on 512 MB of RAM and the Galaxy Nexus has twice that. Of course, you could always get around this sad fact by rooting your device and running a custom Android 4.4 ROM. If you don't want to do that and desperately want KitKat, there isn't much you can do beyond buying a new phone. Cyanogenmod Team has started their focus on developing Kitkat to run on Galaxy Nexus perfectly. Currently the ROM is still in beta stage but surely, it won't take long to get the stable full functioning ROM. CM ROM is always reliable. That's why it is recommended in this post to install CM 11 ROM to taste the Kitkat.

A close look at KitKat's new home screen, Google Now is always your left-most home screen. The dialer gets a new look. Google voice control is easily accessed by saying 'OK, Google'.

A Whole New Look
The moment you first see the new home screen in KitKat, the improvements are apparent. The fonts appear smaller and more slender, while several newly redesigned app icons have grown a bit in size. The biggest visual change for most users, while still subtle, is likely to be the addition of a more fully transparent background to the top status bar, the on-screen buttons on the bottom of the home screen, and the app drawer.

The result is a user experience that seems a little more unified and grounded in the home screens and is somehow warmer. It's kind of nice not to be launching apps from the black void of a background-less app drawer.
home screens and the app drawer on KitKat
The new look of home screens and the app drawer on KitKat
This line of thought also carries over to the revamped lock screen in KitKat, which now offers more complete control over media that's playing without having to go through the unlocking process, and also displays album art attractively in another nice visual touch. Other small aesthetic tweaks can be found throughout KitKat, notably a new look for the clock app and the download manager, which now comes with an optional grid view.

Another change that might make sense from a holistic design perspective but needlessly removes some handy bits of functionality is the move to "de-blue" a number of icons throughout KitKat. For example, in the status bar, the Wi-Fi and cell network activity icons no longer turn blue to indicate the presence of data connectivity. Instead, they're always gray when present and there's no longer a means of checking your network data status at a glance. Previous actions like keyboard presses that may have previously resulted in blue highlights have also gone gray in KitKat.
Kitkat Lock Screen
The new lock screen displays album art of currently playing media
A few other features are newly hidden in this update, which caused a little confusion for me. The widget drawer in KitKat has been divorced from the app drawer and is accessed by long-pressing on any blank area of a home screen, which will bring up Google settings, wallpapers and widgets.

There's also no immediately obvious way to add home screens. It has to be done by selecting and dragging an app, either from an existing home screen or the app drawer, to the right edge of the screen, which then either scrolls to the next screen to the right, or creates a new one. But what if you want to add a new home screen all the way to the left, you ask? No dice, and here's why:

Google Now Has A New Home
Kitkat Google Now
Google Now is always your left-most home screen
From the home screen, if you swipe left, you'll always eventually land on the Google Now screen displaying all your personalized cards and the search bar.

KitKat has baked Google Now, search and voice control deeper into Android than ever before. Once you're past your lock screen you can say "OK, Google" at any point to trigger Google Now's voice control and start barking out commands and searches. As mentioned earlier, you can also adjust settings for Google Now, search and voice control by simply long-pressing on any home screen empty space.

While the left-most Google Now home screen can't be removed, KitKat does allow for management of any home screen replacements that you might install. You switch between them in the "Home" section of Settings.

Revamped Apps
A number of native Android apps get new treatments in KitKat, starting with Hangouts, which has swallowed text messaging in the process. This is probably my least favorite "improvement" in Android 4.4 – combining SMS and Google Hangouts (which itself had already swallowed Google Talk and Chat in earlier versions) isn't intuitive at first and it can be confusing to know which method of communication you're actually using to contact someone.
Kitkat Hangouts
Hangouts and SMS are now the same app
Did you just SMS or IM your cousin about the movie that starts in five minutes? In Hangouts it's easy to confuse the two, leading to potential headaches. Combining these functions into one app isn't necessarily a bad idea, but it's not well-executed in the current iteration.

The next big change is seen in the phone app, which attempts to shift the focus away from the dialpad, encouraging you instead to search for contacts and businesses via both the web and locally on your device. The dialpad is still there, but it's just not the first thing you see, and when you click on its icon, it overlays itself over the search window instead of taking the full screen.

When you receive a call that isn't in your local contacts, Google now introduces its own form of caller ID by cross-checking the incoming call number with Google Places. So if the call is coming from an existing business, it's likely that you'll be able to see which one is calling you in KitKat, which is a nice little bonus.
Kitkat Caller ID
Caller ID is provided by Google Places
The email app in KitKat has also been refreshed with nested folders and better navigation, and there's also a new app for Photos, which is actually kind of strange because it's basically the same as the old Gallery app, but with the updated KitKat look. What's strange is that the old Gallery app is also still here in 4.4, but the camera app has been broken out to stand on its own. So enjoy the extra place to browse your photos, I guess.

Finally, some new power-saving features allow KitKat to be less demanding on devices. A special low-power mode can allow for up to 60 hours of continuous audio playback, and new location modes allow you to keep track of your whereabouts when you need it and without having to manually toggle GPS and network settings to save battery when you don't.

Let starts the tutorial of installing Cyanogenmod 11  on Galaxy Nexus
NOTE: Need to be on the latest version of CWM  Recovery.

  • Download Cyanogenmod 11.zip and Kitkat Gapps.zip & copy to phone.
  • MAKE A BACKUP!!!
  • DO A FACTORY RESET!!! - this will wipe data & cache! 
  • Go to install zip from sdcard
  • Choose zip from sdcard
  • Select Cyanogenmod 11.zip 
  • Confirm
  • Repeat Steps 5 -8 for gapps
  • Reboot

Whats Working??

  • Everything it seems
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