According to a “leaked” document, the more recent Samsung devices may see Android 4.4 early next year. The Galaxy S4 and Note 3 are set to get the upgrade in January, while the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 may wait until April. It all sounds like good news, but it asks as many questions as it answers.
First, is this across all carriers? It notes the “expected date” for the updates, but not a carrier rollout schedule. We recently saw the Galaxy S4 update halted on AT&T, with the reasons not made clear. Then we have to wonder if this involves the same heavy version of TouchWiz. If we’re getting the same overlay, how much will KitKat matter?
We’re also keeping in mind that this was from an “insider”, and the original source was a blog we’ve never heard of. Documents like these are easily forged, too. Samsung, unlike other OEMs, has been less than clear about their update schedule to Android 4.4.
Rather than worry about Android 4.4, we’d love to see Samsung make some changes to TouchWiz. It offers a lot, but can be endlessly heavy and cumbersome. For an OS as slight as Android 4.4, we’d hate to see Samsung try and outshine it with their Battleship skin. We’ll see just how legitimate this information is come January, though.