Newsletter
On Thursday, Google finally took the wraps off of Android 4.4 along with the Nexus 5. Surprisingly the Nexus 10 is absent from all of this. Android 4.4 – KitKat is actually a pretty big deal. As it’s a pretty big release and the first name change since Google I/O 2012, which is where Android 4.1 – Jelly Bean was announced. One of the bigger features is the fact that it’ll support devices with as much as 512MB of RAM. Now if you think about that, that’s a spec we used to see about 2 years ago. Nowadays, you’re seeing 2GB or 3GB of RAM on every device. But here’s a problem. The Galaxy Nexus isn’t getting an update, and it has 1GB of RAM, that’s twice the minimum amount needed for KitKat.
Google has said on their announcement post that “KitKat will soon be available on the Nexus 4, 7, 10, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play Editions.” Sure that’s great news for everyone that owns one of those five devices. But what about the third-generation Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus? It has 1GB of RAM, how is it not supported?
We don’t really have a reason as to why it’s being omitted with KitKat. But I’m sure Google has their reasons. But it’s still puzzling nonetheless. It could be partially to do with the TI OMAP processor, but then again, other devices with 512MB of RAM are going to have crappy processors too, so that shouldn’t be the reason. We’ll have to keep digging for answers, but we all know our favorite ROM developers will have an Android 4.4 ROM available within the next day or so. That’s why we love the Android Developer community so much.
How many of you are wondering why Google have decided not to update the Galaxy Nexus? Let us know in the comments below.