Starting today, owners of a Verizon branded Samsung Galaxy S4 will be able to upgrade their device. The upgrade is said to be incremental, and still doesn’t bring Android 4.3 to the popular handset. While upgrades are usually welcome, this one may not be for you.
The upgrade isn’t an OTA (over the air) update, and users will need to plug their devices into a PC or Mac to get it. By using the Verizon Update Assistant program, the newer version will download to your device. Moving from build VRUDMI1 to VRUAME7, S4 owners with big red will still be on Android 4.2, with the vague “bug fixes” being the star of the show.
If reports are correct, one of those “bugs” Verizon and Samsung wish to fix is root. According to Gotta Be Mobile, this update kills root access on your device, so be cautious of that when you go to plug it into your computer. There are plenty of minor goodies to the update, so not all is lost, but tinkerers will want to avoid this one until more is learned.
As we near the launch of Android 4.4, the lingering of the S4 on Android 4.2 is bad news for those who like to enjoy the newest version of Android. The S4 hasn’t even made the leap to Android 4.3 yet, which we hope means they’re simply going to leapfrog it for Android 4.4. As the end of the product cycle approaches, it becomes less likely that will be the case. Galaxy S4 users may be stuck on Android 4.2 for the foreseeable future.
It doesn’t need KitKat just now. 4.3 will be sufficient. My guess is it’ll likely get the 4.5 (or whatever) update, skipping 4.4 altogether. The problem is they’re releasing new version way too close together, and the carriers will never keep up with all the proprietary bloatware they “have” to put on their phones.
It doesn’t need KitKat just now. 4.3 will be sufficient. My guess is it’ll likely get the 4.5 (or whatever) update, skipping 4.4 altogether. The problem is they’re releasing new version way too close together, and the carriers will never keep up with all the proprietary bloatware they “have” to put on their phones.
You got the version upgraded to mixed up lol
The latest Verizon 4.2 update really drains the battery now anyone else notice this? hopefully its fixed in the 4.3 update.
Ever since the update, I have to turn the wifi on and off to connect to a saved wifi location. Super frustrating.