Android Oct 31, 2013

Android 4.4 KitKat

What's New

Android 4.4 KitKat democratizes Android across device tiers by optimizing memory usage for 512MB devices while introducing enterprise-grade capabilities like NFC Host Card Emulation, native printing, and unified storage access. Developers gain powerful tools including sensor batching for low-power tracking, immersive full-screen mode, transitions framework for animations, and Chromium WebView with remote debugging support.

Highlights

Breaking Changes

  • SMS provider semantics changed: only default messaging app can write to provider; other apps must use system routing
  • ActivityManager.isLowRamDevice() API requires apps to detect and adapt to low-memory devices

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