The Moto X received Android 4.4 “Kit Kat” in what can only be referred to as record time back in November. That record was short lived, however, as its little brother (Moto G) topped it by seeing Android 4.4.2 from Motorola only weeks later. That new Moto G record has had Moto X owners wondering for weeks when they would see similar love.
Last week, a single, lucky user received Android 4.4.2 on his Verizon Moto X, but no other reports outside of that showed that the update was anywhere near rolling out to the masses or even in a smaller soak test-like capacity. And then this weekend, another lucky Moto X owner – this time on Sprint – received a similar update to 4.4.2. The update bumped his phone to build 161.44.22, which is certainly newer than the 4.4 update build of 143.44.8. The Verizon build from last week was 161.55.25.
The update shows new versions of the Camera (3.2.14), Migrate, and Assist, all of which have been made available for download.
And that’s all we know. Motorola hasn’t said when 4.4.2 will roll out, no soak tests have been started, and these updates seem to be showing up on individual devices, not in any sort of wave to multiples.
Can you turn off the shutter sound on the Sprint version?
Yes on the 4.4 update you swipe to the left and it’ll be the second to last option
Thanks for the info. My workplace requires the phone to lock when not in use. How does this affect the voice command and active notification? I assume it won’t work unless I unlock the phone first?
Is it ready?
4.4.2 also seems to fix HD video playback. On 4.4 video lagged behind audio, so lips during conversations were noticeably out of sync at times (usually during fast camera movements, but can happen randomly). SD video doesn’t have this issue.
But, it looks like Google fixed that system-wide issue in 4.4.2.
As a note, the Assist and Migrate .apks from the leak are identical to the versions recently released on the Play Store.
Also, the Camera.apk crashes on 4.4, as it attempts to use the new APIs introduced in 4.4.2 for the camera functions.
I am however very much looking forward to the 4.4.2 update, namely the bugfixes and potentially further camera improvements.
Maybe it’ll finally fix the Bluetooth music that 4.4 messed up
get the developer edition updated! its not tied to any carrier.
I honestly don’t know why the dev edition was a bit behind on the KitKat update. Shouldn’t it be the easiest to update? That makes no sense to me.
Yes really hurry up. What is their excuse?
I wonder why 4.4.2 is taking Moto so long when 4.4 was so quick. As someone affected by the Exchange sync bug, it’s a big deal to me.
i hope they learned a lesson when they pushed out the update so quick. 4.4 is not as good as 4.2.2 was. hopefully they have a lot of the little bugs we all have worked out. but probably not as there is no active notif update.
As a Google company, you’d think they’d know that the first version of most major Android releases is buggy 😉
Bring out the new root exploits!
Slightly off topic but is there any love for easily tethering the Moto X Non Dev edition VZW Unlimited Data? Anything that I’m finding looks to be very complex. Any help appreciated.
i believe there is a app on play store that is 9.99 that does not require root
I’ve been looking for something like this as well. Foxfi used to work great, but 4.4 broke it apparently… They said they’re working on a fix but I haven’t heard anything lately.
I have the 4.4.2 update on Verizon. Nothing really noticeable different. Using ART seems to have a massive battery drain though. Android OS keeps the system awake.
yea Android OS is very high for me lately. i dont know what happened as i have had no problems and havent installed anything new. art may be the cause since i am also using that. on 4.4 however
It’s not just you, Kitkat and probably not just the MotoX. I have a Droid Maxx that I’ve been holding off on the kitkat update (due to it breaking FoxFi,) the last two days Android System has been eating things up a bit.
as i stated above, try disabling every motorola app that you do not use. i only use active display, so i have basically every app disabled. my deep sleep went from around 80% to 95% at the moment. will see how it holds up
That drain is from Motorola Contextual Services, which is constantly monitoring the sensors and microphone to provides the context-alert features (such as Assist and Touchless Controls). The Active Notifications is its own mini-OS outside of Android, with the .apk being the interface between the sub-system and the main OS, so turning off MCS won’t affect it’s functions. The fact that it drains so much battery even with a dedicated system is why no other OEM could possibly match those features with a software update, they must be hardware-driven.
Similarly, if you choose to turn off the location-aware settings of Google Now, such as transit schedules, commute traffic, or nearby places, you will see a reasonable uptick in battery life.
I dont believe I disabled Contexual Services. Just assist, connect, migrate, touchless control, hp print
Without the other apps, perhaps it is simply not activating the system as extensively. Thanks for the idea for my next battery life experiment (though living without TC and Assist won’t last very long for me 🙂 )
I’m experiencing the same problem. I’ll get about 2 hrs of screen-on time and a total of ~25 ish hrs on battery. Which is good, don’t get me wrong, but over 50% of my battery is being consumed by Android OS
ok so i think i fixed my drain problem. i disabled every motorola app besides active display. my phone was only deep sleeping around 80% of the time if i did not touch it. right now it is at 95%
Supposedly fixes the Exchange syncing bug that was prevalent in 4.4, which is a big deal to corporate users.
Hope this filters to the Droids quickly, too. I want it to fix this Exchange issue I’m having…
there are fixes available
I have not found a phone with speakers like the moto x. I’m not a fan of the g2 or note 3 speakers. I was so happy with the X.
What happened to your moto x?
Traded it in and hopped to T-Mobile. But the g2 is solid. Woah battery life and camera.
the htc one is the closest thing to the x. those are the only two phones that use the 9v or 9w audio amp. where the htc splits that between the two. the x has it going to the one speaker. along with the huge magnet on the speaker. it makes for some awesome sound.
Still waiting for the 4.4 update for the Verizon Moto G. Anyone else?
I hope you aren’t surprised…
Not at all. Just hoping to see it soon.
I received 4.4.2 on mine a few weeks back via the Moto X internal test channel on T-Mobile. Haven’t really seen too many differences save for a few minor tweaks (like slightly different Settings icon). I noticed that Themer isn’t quite as smooth with 4.4.2 as it was with 4.4.
That is b/c 4.4.2 is a bug fix build, you should not see differences. yeah the pulldown settings icon has changed slightly.
Yeeee
Does the update make the camera not an unusable piece of crap?
this seems like an uneducated post attempting to bait a useless discussion. I’m sure you are not going to come back and read my post so
Maybe a more appropriate question would’ve been simply, “does this add any new tweaks to make the camera any better?” :/
took this yesterday. mind you, I had to slightly compress it so it was smaller than 2.1MB. still looks beautiful.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure he’s just trolling. I love the camera, and even though it’s not quite as good as select competitors, it still takes amazing photos.
Work gave us the Moto X as a work phone. Works great but the Email Exchange Push feature times out after a few hours. I did research and its an issue on 4.4. Lets hope 4.4.2 fixes it. I signed up for the soak tests so hopefully it will come soon on Verizon!
supposedly this is addressed in 4.4.2, I don’t use exchange push so I can’t verify this for you. BUT it should be fixed…..should.
I have cm11 (4.4.2) and exchange works perfect. Thanks for the confirmation P3. Didn’t know if CM just fixed it themselves lol
Exchange push works great for me on 4.4 with the MAXX.
While I appreciated receiving 4.2.1. via Verizon, it hasn’t come without its problems. My screen freezes and gets garbled, battery life went from 4 hours on screen time to two hours on screen time, and transitions aren’t as snappy. Yes, I’ve factory resetted. It has only been a month of so and I’m ok with that. It is when updates take 6 months that it gets a little absurd. Please Moto, make the phone as awesome as it was before Kit-Kat.
4.4.1, not 4.2.1, sorry. Time for lunch.
I think you mean 4.4 – btw, I don’t have any of those problems.
4.4.1? No. You must mean 4.4. I’m also using 4.4 for work, and I’ve experienced none of the problems you’ve mentioned.
I’d suggest you run your device with no apps installed for at least a day and if still having issues contact Motorola for a replacement device (Motomaker created X only), it will be free of charge. But more likely than not it sounds like something you installed.
Yeah, I’ve pondered this. I’ve more adopted just waiting for the next OTA. Moto’s customer service has generally been rock-solid, so I’ll give it a go and see what they say.
I might be one of the few that isn’t in a rush for this. I understand that 4.4.2 breaks App Ops (unless rooted, and I’m stock), and that’s currently one of my favorite features. There’s nothing I need on 4.4.2. They can take their time.
Are you getting high Android OS usage? Mine shows up either in top one or two in my battery usage details.
4.4.2 doesn’t change this. Android OS usage is still high, though I’ve not seen this affect battery life. Remember the usage is only relative to other apps being used. so if other apps are not in use then this will show high.
TLDR;
4.4.2 doesn’t change this.
Some people have it keeping the phone awake along with high CPU usage…. mine just has high cpu usage.
Mine is always low, but I close most apps once I’m done with them and leave basically nothing running in the background.
in gsam my Android OS says high kernel drainage. is this caused by an app?
It could be wlan_rx_wake which used to be killing my battery. Do you have better battery stats to see the exact wakelock causing it?
They MUST fix that, the other day it went from 100% to 2% in less than an hour. The phone was hot, melting hot, and Android OS was at the top, above 90%!
It has happen 3 times already.
Android OS is not the cause of that sever drain Lucas, a hot phone would indicate that the radio was doings something. Find out what other apps were running. If it were me, I’d start by removing any app that needs internet or gps access, and add them back 1 at a time to find the culprit.
The first thing I did was to restart the phone, it did not work, of course.
Then, I removed all my recent (yahoo mail and timely) downloaded apps, somehow it stopped. Until it happened again and again.
I have no unknown apps, I mean, I have only very good and know apps.
The first time, Android OS was listed above 90%…Still, being over a week now since it last happened.
just because the apps are well known, it doesnt mean it wont have issues. When i first received my Gnex (a long time ago), the battery life was horrid even without LTE. As it turns out one of google’s own apps (currents) at the time was going bananas on the wakelocks. I had a similar experience on my moto x recently, except this time it was plex, another pretty well known app. So i wouldnt bet on anyone’s reputation, it’s best to do as P3droid suggested.