Many seemed skeptical when Motorola announced they would have the Android 4.4 Kit Kat update available for all Moto x users within weeks. That statement was made during the opener of the Moto G unveil and took place back in mid-November. Specifically, on November 13th. And well, it looks like Motorola has been working hard to keep that promise and we are now seeing Kit Kat arrive for another carrier branded Moto X.
The latest is AT&T, which we saw begin as a soak test earlier in the week. As of today however, the test phase has been wrapped and AT&T and Motorola have announced the update is coming for all Moto X users. As we have already seen this same update rolling out for Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile Moto X users — there isn’t any real surprises in terms of the changelog. That said, this will bring your handset to 140.44.5.ghost att.ATT.en.US with Android 4.4.
In terms of the Kit Kat specifics. These include an updated status and navigation bar, new full-screen mode, color emoji support, improved closed captioning support, stronger security and smarter power use. There was also mention of “more tools and capabilities for better app development.”
Other changes and improvements deal with the phone dialer, camera, gallery, messaging, Touchless Control, NFC and the Square credit card reader. The full and remaining items in the changelog are as follows;
- Phone dialer: Improved the phone app with the ability to look up contacts directly from the dial pad, see and tap frequent contacts, and search your corporate directory easily.
- Camera – Focus and exposure: Enhanced the “touch to focus” option with a new circular, on screen control that can be dragged by your finger around the viewfinder to adjust a photo’s focus and exposure.
- Gallery – Photo editing: Added new photo editing options to the Gallery app including new filter effects, draw on your photos, advanced cropping, and adjustments to color, exposure, contrast and more.
- Hangouts – SMS/MMS support: Incorporated a new version of Google Hangouts that supports integrated SMS/MMS messaging. Hangouts can be set as the default SMS app under Settings > Wireless > Default SMS app.
- Touchless Control – “Find my phone”: Added a new “Find my phone” command to Touchless Control. Just say “OK, Google Now-find my phone” and your Moto X will ring loudly to let you know where it’s hiding when you’ve misplaced it nearby.
- NFC – Host card emulation: Enhanced support for NFC Host Card Emulation (HCE), to improve experiences such as contactless payments, loyalty plans, transit passes, card access and more.
- Accessory support: Added support for Square credit card reader.
With that, AT&T Moto X users can now sit back and wait for the update notification to arrive. Those choosing this route will be able to just follow the prompts once the notification appears on their device. Or for those feeling like they cannot wait any longer for Kit Kat — grab your phone and navigate to Settings -> About phone -> System updates to get the process going manually.
