If you’re the type who enjoys a good mystery novel — and happens to be an Android fan — October must be like heaven for you. All the twists, turns, and innuendo floating around could make for a really good, trashy novella. When is Android 4.4 coming out? What does the Nexus 5 look like?
More to the point, why are we so worked up about it? A new round of speculation now insists Android 4.4 (and thus, the Nexus 5) will come out on October 28th. According to CNET, a few new Kit Kat images posted to their Twitter page suggest we’ll see the newest flavor (pun, indeed) that day, and it’s because of the launch date for the songs they appear to be referencing.
First, an “Everybody Dance Now” image was posted, with our Juan Carlos Torres having a little fun and picking up on the artist and day the song came out. From there, CNET dug a little deeper, and found the original name of the artist (C+C Music Factory, originally “The 28th Street Crew”) coincided with another image.
The second image, which spells out “This Is It” with Kit Kat bars, is a movie by Michael Jackson, which launched on — you guessed it — October 28th. The 28th Street Crew, and a movie released on October 28th… it’s all too tasty (pun, again).
At this point, we’re grasping. Even if this is all some rouse by Google and Nestle to work us into a frenzy, the Nexus 5 will launch when it launches, and the only people that really need to worry about Android 4.4 are Nexus owners, and they’ll get the update nearly immediately. We can expect the Nexus 5 launch to be a debacle of Google Wallet proportions, with dropped transactions and emptied carts — just like the Nexus 4 launch.
It’s nice to have a little fun, and poke around to see if things have meaning, but we’ve jumped the shark. At this point, we’re discussing Android 4.4 and the Nexus 5 like it’s The DaVinci Code, and we’ll somehow find deeper meaning to it all. We won’t. We’ll get a great new phone, at a price that probably undercuts the rest. Android 4.4 looks like it will have a host of great new features, but will you even see it on the device you have?
We can say “take it with a grain of salt”, and you should, but let’s also stop trying so hard. The number 28 is the sum of the first five prime numbers, but that doesn’t hint at a Nexus 5. It’s also four touchdowns with extra points, but that doesn’t suggest we’ll see a Nexus 4 with LTE. It’s either really amazing marketing, or a lot of obscure coincidence. Whatever the case, we still don’t have either, and that’s what really matters.
….wtf…
The sum of the first 5 prime numbers is 27.
actually its 28
2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 11 = 28
Yes, on 28 they are going to start another rumor.
I’m not gonna lie. This whole debacle has been extremely irritating. I want the phone and have skipped over both the S4 and the HTC One and I’m starting to wonder if it was a mistake. OVER IT !!!!
Is it too late to get an HTC One? Because I still want it. I’m only waiting for 4.4 to see if I should get a google play edition or Sense 5.5…
Yes, you can still get it. It is a great phone. Get it 🙂
Okay, but should I get the google play edition, or the sense edition? 😮
I would get the Google Play Edition, but that’s my personal liking. I don’t even use smartphones, just a tablet and a prepaid phone.
ok… so apparently including a link prevents the comment form getting posted.
Anyways, you should look into the HTC Developer Edition. You can buy it unlocked direct from HTC (which i tried to proved the link for) and it comes with 64GB onboard, and an unlocked bootloader.
That’s actually the one I was about to get, but I’ve decided to hold off for the Nexus.
I think this is some over analyzing, and the picture means nothing.
“…Whatever the case, we still don’t have either, and that’s what really matters…” Good point:-)
Why is nearly every story on this site so unnecessarily long-winded? You could essentially post the main parts of this (and many other news stories) in a paragraph.
Thanks cwillen. I’m not sure what I would do with an unlocked bootloader even if I had one though. Except maybe put a Sense 5.5 rom on it… 😮
The unlocked bootloader just makes it easier to root and flash. It would come with Sense preloaded on there, but in case you wanted to try out 4.4 when it gets pushed to the GPE versions, you would have that option.
Interesting. So, you think it would be easier or better to go from sense 5 –> stock 4.4 than the other way around? Would I still have beats audio functionality? I get confused about this stuff. Thank you!
The HTC1DE is basically the exact same phone as one you would pick up from a carrier, but the SIM and bootloader is unlocked, and it comes with 64GB (instead of the 32GB i see on most carrier releases).
Even if you’re not going to flash another ROM on there, the unlocked bootloader makes its a cakewalk to add root access. And if you are an Android user who actually reads these blogs, you should have root access.
If you are flashing, I’d trust going from Sense to stock more than stock to Sense. The main reason being that if the phone comes with Sense running, you know you have an official Sense release. Plus, as much as an Android purest as I am, there’s something to be said about what Sense 5.5 offers. With a quality launcher (like Nova or Apex) you can get a stock feel really easily without having to abandon the native ROM.
So basically, it’ll be 10 times easier to get the stock “feel” from Sense, than a Sense “feel” from stock.
The downsides to running Sense is that you’ll like be behind the curve on the latest release. I think the HTC1 is just now getting 4.3 and it’ll like be Q1-2014 before 4.4 hits it. But worse case scenario, you can always flash to AOKP or CM (which both are normally weeks or days behind the official releases).
One last piece of advice. If you do get a HTC1 running Sense, be sure to backup your ROM before you flash it. I made a newb mistake with my HTC Incredible and lost the stock ROM. Wasn’t really a big deal, but if you ever want to go back it’s a good thing to hold on to.
That sounds like sage advice. Thank you so much for writing this for me. I may just go for the unlocked One like you suggest. Wish Google would announce 4.4 already. I want a new phone! 🙂
cwillen, I wanted you to know I went ahead and ordered the HTC1DE, it’s due to get to me on Friday of next week. I felt really good about this decision after our conversation. Thank you again for your help!!!!
Awesome man! I hope you like!