Android’s Biggest Changes Aren’t Part of KitKat
My
HTC One isn’t running Android 4.4 KitKat, but it feels pretty close. I
just downloaded several apps that come standard with Google‘s Nexus 5.
The apps were graciously posted by Droid Life, and when combined with a
new “Google Home” launcher, the experience is a lota stock Android
phone. I didn’t even have to root the phone or void my warranty. For
now, this is somewhat of a hack, a way for enthusiasts to use Android as
Google intended, even on non-Nexus devices. But it’s no accident that
some of the biggest new features in Android 4.4 don’t require you to
have Android 4.4 at all. In the future, it’s likely that Google will let
users switch to the Nexus experience to practically any Android phone,
with no rooting or sketchy third-party download sites required. Ron
Amadeo of Ars Technica wrote a great story last month about how Google
is taking back control of Android at the expense of the software’s open
source roots. Slowly, Google is ceasing development on the open source
versions of key apps, such as the software keyboard and the web browser,
while building up proprietary apps such as Google Keyboard and
Chrome.these apps are then licensed to phone makers as a package deal.
If you’re Samsung, you can’t include Google’s app store without also
including Google’s search app and web browser. This is how Google
ensures that its services are available onmajor Android phones. The
problem for Google is that it’s still easy for phone makers to
circumvent those services. Samsung, for instance, has simply created its
own versions of most Android core functions and hidden the Google stuff
away by default. It makes for bloated software, but it’s the only way
Samsung can try to establish its own non-Google services. On the flip
side, there are plenty of customers who want nothing to do with phone
makers’ apps and services, and just want the pure Google experience.
This isGoogle’s new launcher and apps come into play. Google With
Android 4.4,
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