Newsletter
The folks over at Sammobile has really been leaking out plenty of Android 4.4.2 firmwares lately for different Samsung devices, albeit mostly the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S4. Now we’re looking at a new build of KitKat for the Galaxy S4, this is the international Snapdragon 600 variant aka the I9505. While spec wise it is the same as the US carrier versions, I’d suggest not flashing it on your AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, or T-Mobile Galaxy S4, as you will probably run into problems. This build is I9505XXUFNA5, and is still a test build, but it is newer than some of the other builds they’ve leaked out over the past few weeks.
According to Sammobile (since we don’t have a I9505 to test the firmware out with), the new build has minor UI changes, the most noticeable obviously being the new status bar where the icons are now white like in stock Android. Which means Samsung finally got rid of the Gingerbread green they’ve been using for years. Which we actually saw that on the Galaxy Tab Pro’s and Note Pro’s at CES last week. There’s also reports of a little bump in performance, which is always nice to see, and benchmark scores have also increased. Which you probably know how I feel about benchmark scores, seeing as many OEMs use benchmark boosters on their devices. Additionally, Samsung’s keyboard layout has also been improved when used in the landscape orientation, making typing easier and gesture typing much easier as well. Finally, Samsung has added a new camera shortcut on their lockscreen. Like you’d see on the Nexus line or the Moto X.
Those looking to download this build of KitKat for their I9505 can grab it here, and head over to Sammobile for the complete instructions for how to flash it. It’s not like flashing a normal ROM, but you will need Odin to install it. How many of you are going to take the chance and flash this firmware onto your device? Let us know in the comments how it works out for you.