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Samsung Galaxy S4 Android 4.4 KitKat Update Hits U.S.

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The Samsung Galaxy S4 Android 4.4 KitKat update release in the United States will get underway today as Sprint has approved the update for arrival, the first U.S. carrier to do so.

In the days and weeks after the release of Android 4.4 KitKat, Samsung has remained tight-lipped about its plans. Unlike HTC and Sony, the company has not delivered any details to its user base, instead, leaving that to carriers, rumors and leaks. That doesn’t mean that the company hasn’t rolled out Android 4.4 KitKat though.

In fact, Samsung has rolled out several Android 4.4 KitKat updates. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 started receiving its Android 4.4 KitKat update earlier this year and the Galaxy S4 Android 4.4 KitKat update started rolling out earlier this month, limited to just two carrier-branded models in South Korea. It just didn’t announce any of them.

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It also didn’t announce today’s Samsung Galaxy S4 Android 4.4 KitKat update for Sprint’s version of the device, Sprint did, in a quick update to the device’s software upgrade page. Yesterday, a leak pointed to the arrival of the Sprint Galaxy S4 Android 4.4 update today and it looks like that information was dead on.

The Sprint Galaxy S4 becomes the first in the U.S. to Android 4.4 KitKat and it’s one of the first Galaxy S4’s, overall, to receive the brand new update from Samsung and Google. AT&T, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon have not announced plans for Android 4.4 KitKat though they should follow suit in the future. The change log points to a few changes though as expected, the update is incremental.

  • Android 4.4 (Kit Kat): The Samsung Galaxy S 4 device will be updated to support the Android 4.4 (Kit Kat) software.
  • Prevention Information alert: Customers should no longer receive “Prevention Information – An application has been forced to stop for an unauthorized attempt to access system in your device. It may be safe to delete an application obtained from an unauthorized route. Check now?” alert messages on the device.
  • Zact Mobile: Device now includes the Zact Mobile compatibility.

The update should mirror the Android 4.4 software that we saw roll out for the Galaxy Note 3 and leak for the AT&T Galaxy S4. That means it will be dominated by Android 4.4 KitKat features including emjoi support and more.

Sprint is quick to caution Galaxy S4 owners and says that updates are released in stages. What that means is that only some Galaxy S4 owners will receive the update right off the bat before the carrier starts pushing it to everyone. Continually mashing on the check for update button will not increase the chances of receiving the new software.

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The carrier still hasn’t announced when it might be delivering the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Android 4.4 KitKat update, an update the preceded the Galaxy S4’s by a few weeks, and which has stalled in recent days.

Canadian carrier Rogers claims that it will be rolling out both the Galaxy Note 3 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Android 4.4 KitKat updates in the near future, something that bodes well for carriers throughout North America.

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. George Cr

    02/13/2014 at 1:27 pm

    Just flash the Google play ROM on it! Sweet vanilla Android…

  2. Dakota Davis

    02/13/2014 at 4:00 pm

    IKR. I’ve had Kit Kat since November. CM11 ftw.

  3. Dave Slater (@daveslaterjr)

    02/13/2014 at 5:16 pm

    C11 with the Google Experience Launcher and Nexus 5 dialer is running nicely on my Galaxy S3. It’s much faster than 4.3. The only downside is the camera will occasionally crash.

  4. Kwaku Israel Blackwell

    02/14/2014 at 3:29 am

    Congrats Samsung, only thing is it’s the 1st version of KITKAT. My HTC ONE has the latest version 4.4.2. Well what can I say. Not a hater like people hate on the one. Hopefully the jealousy won’t kill them.

  5. Nick

    02/15/2014 at 12:07 pm

    Actually just got the update today and it IS 4.4,2

  6. mike

    02/17/2014 at 7:42 am

    still waiting for mine For s4 t-mobile sucks

  7. Scott

    02/17/2014 at 12:17 pm

    Be careful, the update may delete a bunch of your apps. Seems pretty indiscriminate as it deleted apps from SD and internal memory as well as ones from Amazon and Google Play.

  8. Scotto-

    02/21/2014 at 11:25 am

    Yeah I updated to 4.4.2 last night and a few apps did disappear….

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