I couldn't wait for the OTA update to Kit Kat 4.4 Android

Updating to KitKat 4.4

It has been a couple of weeks since the new version of Android known as KitKat 4.4 was announced as being available. It was announced at the same time as they told us about the latest Nexus 4 phone and to be honest I would have thought that the over the air update would have been shoved out fairly quickly following that. After changing from iOS to Android I kind of had expectations that with my Nexus 7 being a Google device that it would get updated pretty quickly. I had been hearing of some of the details available in the new version of the software on some of the Android podcasts and of course I wanted to have the latest and greatest, the newest and shiniest. It seems though that Google are not that organised when it comes to putting out updates to their operating system.

Going a different route to Kit Kat

In the end on Google+ I asked a question of the people on the community for the Nexus 7 and it was suggested there that instead of waiting for the pushed out, over the air update that I should load it onto the device manually. The file that was required to be able to do this had been made available over the last couple of days and there was a link in the community answers to the website, I think it was the website for Android Police. I wouldn’t want to download a file from any old place, but I had been listening to the podcast associated with this website and so I trusted it. Well, in fact the file was made available from Google, but there was a link to it from Android Police.

There were instructions from the site also on how to do this upgrade and it turned out to be quite simple. I downloaded the file directly onto the device and then I had to switch off my Nexus 7 and restart it while holding down the volume down key. This takes you into a different mode which gives you access into applications you can use to update your device. You can also go to this website yourself and follow the instructions to update your Nexus 7 and you will probably be just as surprised as I was with regards how easy it is to complete the task. There were also instructions on the same site on how to root the device following the update and as yet I haven’t been able to get that done. I do need to have my Nexus 7 rooted so that I can run certain applications and I need to update something called TWRP and flash something else to get it done. I am sure that I will work it out in time!

Learning how to do things with Android

I do have to admit that some of this still baffles me and I’m still learning some of the terminology that the techno boys used to describe how to do some of these things. But I am getting their bit by bit. one of the applications that I need to use with a device that has been rooted is a screen recording application called SCR Pro and it is much better than the facility that Android now has to do screen recordings. The new screen recording tool in KitKat will only let you record for three minutes and you have two get down to terminal type commands in order to make it work. I don’t think I will be bothering with it.