Android Community Weekly Wrap-Up for November 23, 2013

Looking back this was a pretty exciting week for Android users, specifically, for those carrying a Moto X and hoping to get Kit Kat. Motorola is making good on an earlier promise to have Android 4.4 available and those carrying a Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile Moto X received the update earlier in the week. The update recently began arriving for AT&T users as well. Of course, along with the Moto X, Kit Kat has begun arriving for some Nexus device users.

Outside of software updates, we also got a look at some upcoming hardware changes as well. In this case we look towards both Qualcomm and MediaTek, who each unveiled their next-generation processor this week. These both bring attention to Ultra HD with Qualcomm introducing the Snapdragon 805 and MediaTek introducing the MT6592, which they have dubbed a “true octa-core.”

As far as devices go, this week we saw the HTC Desire arrive with Virgin Mobile, a 128GB Meizu MX3 arrived in China, ZTE unveiled the nubia Z5S and Z5S mini, MetroPCS launched the Samsung Galaxy Mega and Verizon Wireless launched the HTC One max as well as the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and Galaxy S III mini. Toshiba also showed the Excite 7 tablet and the EVGA Tegra Note 7 tablet arrived with US retailers.

We also saw a limited edition 16GB OUYA console in white and the Moto G arrived in North America. Specifically, the Moto G availability was for those in Canada. The US release of the Moto G is still set for January and while this news didn’t arrive this past week, Verizon Wireless will have it available in the prepaid category.

Also, Qualcomm announced the pricing and availability for the Toq smartwatch, which will be available for $349 beginning on December 2nd. Continuing with smartwatches. The Pebble availability continued in Canada and there was some discrepancies with how many units of the Galaxy Gear were sold. Samsung initially talked about “sales” of 800,000 units and we later learned that was shipped. While that number may still sound high, Samsung did update the Gear Manager app and despite the high price tag, made that particular watch quite a bit more attractive.

A few remaining highlights this week include the availability of the physical Google Wallet cards, additional case options coming available in the Play Store, a rather large update for the OUYA game console, the self-healing abilities of the LG F Flex put to the test (from someone not directly associated with LG) and one of our favorites, an Android engineer discussing why you do not need to keep hitting the Check for Updates button.

There was also the bit about the Play Services suddenly becoming a battery drain, which remains a mystery. And last but certainly not least, we saw the jury award Apple $290 million. This stemmed back from an earlier court case where Judge Koh ended up reducing the amount of the $1.05 billion settlement that was initially awarded.