KitKat

I have been using KitKat on my Nexus 4 for a week or so now, so I thought it might be time to write a few words about what I think of it.

Now I am a big Android fan, but having said that I do like products by Apple and Microsoft are doing (as well as Firefox and Ubuntu, see previous posts).

I would like to say I could happily switch between the platforms, but most people become entrenched in one and after purchasing apps, media, etc.

Anyway, after a lot of API updates behind the scene (which are very welcome of course; I think what Google are doing to take away the reliance on the OS to progress the platform is genius) it is always good to hear of a new version which will deliver new features than API changes are unable to.

So, I was initially impatient, as soon as the factory images were available on Google Developers I downloaded and flashed using ADB sideload. This gave me KRT16O. It soon fired up - I like the new KitKat startup screen, the orbs of colour replacing the long-standing nexus "X".

And then into the system; I ran it vanilla as I want to see what has actually changed, not overlaid with a launcher. At this time the system was running the standard launcher and not the "Google Experience" launcher that you might find on Moto X devices. But I'll come back to this later.

 Now, many of the changes are under the hood, and it is noticeable. My Nexus is as speedy as ever, so very happy there. Visually the first thing you might notice is the cleaner look and the white status bar icons, which I like.

Setting up widgets has changed. Rather than accessing these from the application drawer, a long-press on an empty section of the screen pops up some options, one of which is widgets. It makes sense; when you open the app drawer you are most likely looking to open a specific app. The app drawer itself is much cleaner, with bigger, bolder icons and smooth screen transitions.

The other main change is for SMS text messaging. This is now integrated into Hangouts (if you wish, this is optional). I chose to integrate. I actually quite like it all in one place, and it certainly makes sense to me. Maybe it would be better to combine all messages by user; perhaps this will come in time or at least be an option, but for now you need to switch to see specific message types.

Cloud printing is now integrated but for now I haven't tried it.

Accounts seems better now too, and it is here you can start to see where the work has taken place.

Now back to the "Google Experience". The automatic listening when going into Google Now (by saying "Ok Google") can easily be activated, though the language has to be set to US at the time of writing. But I was interested in the full experience so I downloaded the new GoogleHome.apk that is the new launcher.

Once I has installed this I also had the ability to switch between launchers in the "Home" section in Settings.

The screens are much nicer looking now, running in "immersion" mode where the wallpaper extends to both the status bar and the action button bar. Some apps support this also and they look great full screen. A simple swipe restores the button and allows for navigation.

On the home screen now, simply saying "Ok Google" fires up the listen function of Google Now. This is actually quite useful (when it works!) and can control a number of phone functions as well as searching. It would be good if the "hot word" could be changed, but perhaps that will come in time. I certainly felt a bit silly talking to the phone, but I can certainly see its potential.

I kind of miss the Google Now widget on the homescreen, but a flick to the left and Google Now opens up fully, and the new additions to the cards are very welcome, and useful. Though I wish it would create notifications more and let me know some of these newer cards are there. Maybe it does on other devices?

A worthwhile update, looking forward to what is coming next. Hopefully the upcoming Chromecast developer sessions will produce some more Chromecast apps.

Google Chromecast

I have been itching to get my hands on a Chromecast since they were announced by Google many moons ago. Soon after the device became available in the US (why must everything Google come to just the US first?! We are a great test bed for Technology!) and most jealous was I.

Not so much about having a "gadget" to tinker around with; but rather to have something that might simplify my life, in terms of my enjoyment of films and TV. Currently (as far as film is concerned) I like to get the latest films released, and watch with my family on a "film night". After one outing with the DVD (sometimes Bluray) the DVD is promptly ripped and encoded so that I can transfer the film to a media player so the disk doesn't get scratched by careless hands. It also means that all my films are available to watch any time.

This is a real pain, sometimes my ripper of choice (DVD Shrink) fails and I have to resort to using my back-up ripper, DVD Fab. To be fair DVD Fab is very good, but I like the simplicity and control of Shrink. After this I set my aging PC to encode the film using Handbrake (very simple to use, and create presets that work well with my equipment). In the past this has not worked quite right and films end up with just stereo audio rather than 5.1 for example.

The job will be done after maybe 3 hours, after which I copy this to the player to watch.

I suppose a NAS might have been the answer, but I still need to go through the hassle of ripping and encoding, and compatibility has always been an issue. There is, of course, the cost of this equipment as well. Playback on my PS3 is generally very good; the XBox less so. I use Plex which works well as a media server but unfortunately there is no client for either of these platforms so DLNA is the only route, and this is often unsuccessful.

Plex on Android is excellent and I hope this will eventually be available for the Chromecast to stream. It would also be great if a streaming service that supported Ultraviolet would become available also.

Anyway, I managed to get a Chromecast eventually from Zavvi. Plugged it in, it connected to the network, then updated the software. Then it was ready to go - it was that simple.

Now, instead of buying DVDs I plan to purchase from the Play store. The only slight feeling of uneasiness is the fact that I do not any longer possess a physical copy of the film I have bought, or any means to permanently download it to play elsewhere. Maybe this will come in time? It would be great if the Movies/TV section worked liked the Music area, and allowed the user to upload all their stuff and then stream everything they own without the hassle of ripping/etc, though I'm not sure how if this would ever be able to be licenced. But if I could just burn a DVD of my purchase, that would be good, just to make me feel better even if it just sits in a cupboard gathering dust!

So in conclusion, if you want a cheap streaming device then look no further than the Chromecast. I haven't mentioned the streaming from Music and YouTube which is flawless; and I'm sure the device has a bright future with support from a whole host of other apps.

Ubuntu Touch

Previously I happened to mention that I had tried out Ubuntu Touch.

I was pretty excited at getting something new to try, so I decided to turn my trusty Nexus 4 into a Ubuntu Touch device by grabbing the images and flashing.

I go the images from the Ubuntu Touch images repository and used the Nexus 4 Toolkit to fire the files over to my Nexus (which was already rooted and running PA). I flashed using TWRP after doing a factory reset.

After a while the new OS was flashed (this seemed to take a lot longer than flashing Android ROMs) and I was able to reboot. The initial boot was fairly slow but then typical of a new flash I would guess. I had no issue with loops and eventually Touch fired up.

First impressions were good; I like the way Ubuntu is styled anyway, and this styling is carried over rather nicely to the phone screens. The ubiquitous Ubuntu colours and fonts were there, and it all seemed rather familiar which was rather nice.

Navigation took a little while to get to grips with, but after a while it was second-nature, the "swiping" system certainly worked for me.

Webapps was something of a surprise, as with my Firefox phone. They all looked pretty good and operated really rather well, though some better that others. Facebook was decent, as was Twitter for social networking, Tumblr was ok, but areas definitely need work. And navigation needs sorting on the Touch as there didn't seem to be a working "back" button for everything and sometimes you would end up stuck.

The main apps were decent too, but were definitely a work in progress, especially integration with other accounts such as Google, Facebook, etc, to pull through friends and contacts.

I was hoping to use this as my main device, and weather out the problems as best I could as the OS evolved into a more polished product. This is where I started to have issues; and the deal-breaker? An alarm that didn't work for me. It was such a shame as I could live with the other issues. However as the main device to get me up in the morning, I had no intention of resorting to using the old clock radio, and I think many smart phone and normal phone users use this feature daily as well. To find it broken was really very surprising. I reported the bug, which was quickly acknowledged and put on the list of things to fix, but I wasn't given a timescale so I am now back on Android, and Android KitKat at that.

I was looking forward to the ride, and reporting minor bugfixes along the way, but sadly the OS is too broken at this stage. Surprisingly Firefox (who I'm sure has been at work on their OS a fraction of the time of Ubuntu) delivers a working solution that is far better in my opinion, one which I could probably live with if a higher-end phone was available to run it on. But that is another story.

I think I will probably try Touch again next year, when version 14 comes out, assuming of course it still supports my hardware. I think one device for everything is a fantastic idea, and I support it all the way, but without a "test" device I cannot recommend this as an everyday OS just yet.