Have you recently bought a Note 3  or were thinking about purchasing one? Does the news of the update to Android 4.4 breaking the usability of some 3rd party accessories like cases have you thinking twice now?

It seems that an update to Android 4.4 has disabled some 3rd party accessories ability to function correctly with your Note 3. Don’t fret, Samsung had this to say:

We have currently identified a software compatibility issue with the Galaxy Note 3 update to Android 4.4 (KitKat) and select 3rd party accessories. A software update will be available shortly. We are committed to offering a diverse and reliable mobile experience for all customers, providing continued support and solutions for any issues that arise with product updates for both Samsung manufactured and third-party accessories.

Steadfast patience will see you through this one, just relax, and Samsung will get a fix out to the lot of you. I know I would be raising hell as most of you probably have been too, but fear not – things will be fixed, and all shall be right with the world. Well at least you’ll be able to use your nice new Spigen S-View case again.

Source: Android Police

The post Samsung Disables Some Note 3 Accessories Via OTA, Then Issues Another OTA to “Fix” appeared first on Android Fan Network.

The folks at Motorola just said on their official Motorola Blog the Verizon Motorola Moto X will be rolling out Android version 4.4, KitKat, in phases starting today. Not to beat up on Big Red too much here, but this is a complete surprise to me. Verizon is known for dragging their feet on updates. Not the case here folks! 

What to expect to see with the 4.4 KitKat update on your Verizon  Moto X –

An improved phone dialer. Now you can search for contacts directly from the dial-pad and easily see and tap on those you contact frequently.
More gallery goodies. KitKat packs in some cool, new gallery effects—such as Posterize, Highlights, and Edges. You can even use the Draw feature to annotate your photos freehand with your finger.
New Hangouts app. All of your conversations now in one place—texts, video calls, and other chats all together in one app. Plus, you can now send animated gifs and share your location.
Color emojis. For when words aren’t enough, the Google Keyboard now includes colorful characters to send in text messages and other communications.
Drag to focus and expose. An updated camera app lets you control both the focus and exposure of your photos. Simply drag your finger to set just the right exposure and focus point.
And more… Restyled status and navigation bars, new full-screen mode, and enhancements to Motorola features like Touchless Control.

I understand it’s Motorola’s jobs to say what we want to hear, but if this is their thought process I hope other OEM’s follow suite. Take a look at what Motorola had to say about their sense of urgency getting KitKat on our beloved Moto X’s.

Our software team has been hard at work bringing the latest version of Android to our Moto X users more quickly than ever. When it came to KitKat, we couldn’t wait to deliver. Our software strategy is to build on a pure Android foundation and complement existing Google services, not compete with them. We think this latest release is just that—all the features you love about your Moto X with the latest Android OS.

This is such great news for such a great phone.

Source: Motorola

The post Verizon Moto X getting Android Version 4.4 KitKat today appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Now onto the meat and potatoes…

The ROM itself installs quite easily and painlessly as long as you follow directions in JamieD81′s post. You have to make sure to flash ClockWorkMod Recovery before installing the ROM and Gapps. For some reason TWRP recovery doesn’t play well right now, so your best bet is to just go back to ole’ CWM for now.

Once installed, let the phone settle for about 10 minutes or so. This is to let the fresh install finish up what it needs to do.  Now that you’ve sat patiently for a bit, go explore KitKat and its smoothness.  Even on a device as outdated as the Note is, the ROM ran pretty smoothly for me. Yes it stammered and lagged once in a while, but what did you expect? The ROM essentially is an early Beta, if not an Alpha stage ROM, so be thankful you even have a ROM to play with.

Camera was nice and clean, no problems to report with its daily use.  The UI of the ROM is, well, naked. Pure AOSP.  Integration of Google Now with its “OK Google” voice prompt actually works very well. I was quite shocked by this, figuring some of the problems others were reporting that it wasn’t functioning properly for them.  I guess this is a case where following directions properly means you SHOULD be okay. Speed of some transitions could be a bit better in my eyes, but that could also be our phones only running little less than 1GB of RAM on a ROM designed for devices with 2GB of RAM.

The ROM JamieD81 has provided for our enjoyment is great… if you like AOSP based ROMs.  Unfortunately I am not one of those people.  Yes there are some things I like about it, mainly it’s bloat free straight from Google source goodness. There are some neat features I use on stock ROMs, and honestly, if you want to remove bloatware from your carrier or Samsung, all you have to do is root your phone and you’re golden.

My personal opinion shouldn’t affect your judgement on whether or not you should try it out, so by all means please do.  It’s fantastic that it actually runs and runs well on our devices.  AOSP is not for me this time around. I tried it and gave it a shot, but it’s just not in the cards for me.  I implore you, though, to try it out, and see for yourself.  If you do, drop us a line, and let us know what your thoughts or opinions are about it.

Also please thank the developers for their hard work and time.  Without them, you as the end user would have nothing to play with.

Source: JamieD81 @ XDA

The post Note 4.4 Rom review of CyanogenMod 11.0 appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Prices vary by condition:

• Used Good Condition from $151
• Used Very Good Condition from $156
• Used Like New Condition $159

Via SlickDeals
Source Amazon Warehouse Deals

The post Deal Alert: 2013 16GB Nexus 7 for $150 from Amazon Warehouse Deals appeared first on Android Fan Network.

(note picture credit: androidmag.com)

JamieD81 has posted a thread for build number KRT16M 4.4 Kit Kat for the Note.  Currently it can only be flashed with CWM recovery.  TWRP recovery still isn’t playing nicely, but given time, you should be able to flash using either recovery.

As with every new port, there are some bugs, not everything is working out of the gate so be warned in advance.  Just follow directions to the “T” and you should be able to experience the goodness that is 4.4 Kit Kat.

I would post links directly to the download pages for the Rom and Gapps, but I would prefer that you go to the thread and read first before flashing anything.

I will be flashing this Rom and reporting back in the next few days as to its daily functions and bug list.

Excited about this?  I am.  Leave a comment below about your opinions or if you have flashed this already.

Source: JamieD81 @ XDA

Title picture Credit : stocklogos.com

The post Original Note gets 4.4 Kit Kat- CyanogenMod 11.0 appeared first on Android Fan Network.

-4.5-inch HD display

-the newest Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400 processor featuring a quad-core CPU

-all-day battery life

-Android 4.3 Jellybean, with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat at the beginning of 2014

-No skins to clutter or slow the experience

-Stylish design with a comfortable curved back and 19 customization options, including interchangeable Motorola Shells and Flip Shells in seven colors as well as Grip Shells in five colors.

Straight from Motorola:

“Moto G goes on sale this week in Brazil and parts of Europe and will be available within the next few weeks throughout Latin America, Europe, Canada and parts of Asia. It will be available in the US, India, the Middle East and more of Asia in early January. Moto G will be in more than 30 countries with 60 partners by 2014.”

Please chime in on our Google+ page or below in the comments and let us know if this interests you.

Source: Motorola
Image: Moto Blog

The post Motorola Announces the Moto G $179/8GB $199/16GB Off Contract appeared first on Android Fan Network.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Android version 4.4 KitKat is rolling out for both Nexus 7′s and the Nexus 10 today.

If any of you want to see how impatient Android users can be when it comes to updates hop on over to any Android forum when there’s an Android version update announced, but hasn’t hit all devices around the world just yet (except for us over at CTO because we’re perfect). It can be chaotic!

Anyhoo, this method of updating your Nexus devices is for the bit more advanced users that know their way around Android more than the everyday user (you guys keep mashing that update button all day ).

Jerry Hildenbrand over at Android Central is my personal favorite Android journalist (beside any of us of course) and he wrote up a really nifty guide to updating the Nexus devices to KitKat. This guy really knows his shit when it comes to Nexus devices and Linux, so down below is his method of manually updating the 2013 Nexus 7 (still waiting on 2012 Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 update packages).

Here it is folks! 

The prerequisites

A completely stock Nexus tablet running the latest build of Android 4.3
The latest version of the Android SDK installed
The OTA packages: Nexus 7 (2012); Nexus 7 (2013); Nexus 10 (Links will be added as they become available)
Check past the break to see the full manual update process.

The process

Place the update .zip package from Google in the Android SDK/platform-tools folder on your computer, but do not unzip it.
On your Nexus, go to Settings > Development options and switch the toggle on. Then enable USB debugging under the “Debugging” menu group.
Power down your tablet
Start up the bootloader by holding down volume up, volume down and power on your tablet.
When the menu loads, plug your Nexus into your computer.
Use the volume up/down keys to navigate to “Recovery mode”, then press the power button.
When the Android with the red exclamation point appears, hold down power first, followed quickly by volume up. You should now see the recovery menu.
Use the volume up/down keys to select “apply update from ADB,” then press power to select it.
On your computer, open up a command prompt or terminal window.
Using the command line, navigate to the Android SDK/platform-tools folder
On Windows, type:
adb.exe sideload … or on Mac, type:
./adb-mac sideload … or on Linux, type:
./adb sideload The update should begin installing. When it’s done, select “reboot system now.”
Enjoy some delicious KitKat

Source: The great Jerry Hildenbrand at AC (this guy really does keep it interesting). Thanks Jerry!

The post How to manually update your Nexus 7′s and Nexus 10 to Android version 4.4 KitKat appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Is the Nexus 5 camera a little lacking in your opinion?  Does it seem just a bit flat and dull?  Well, it is a Nexus, so there is a Zip for that.  Developer Jishnu Sir has created a flashable zip file to improve some key areas of the Nexus 5 camera. Here is a list from his post for version 1:

1) Bitrate are as follows:

• Stock 720P@12 Mb/s.
• Stock 1080P@17 Mb/s.
• Modded 720P@20 Mb/s.
• Modded 1080P@26 Mb/s.

2) Audio Bitrate quality :

• Stock = 96000 Kb/s
• Modded = 192000 Kb/s

3) Image Encode Quality :

• Stock = 90.
• Modded = 99.

4) JPEG Encode Quality :

• Stock = 80.
• Modded = 99.

5) Modified hammerhead.camera.so for better sharpness of the pictures. Increased the Sharpeness to 90 from 75.

He is currently up to version 1.2, with or without noise cancellation, so make sure you read his change log. As always, read before doing anything, and have a backup handy just in case. Is this something you would try out? Already tried it? Let us know below in the comments or on our Google+ page. Happy flashing!

Source XDA

The post XDA Dev working on Nexus 5 Camera Improvements appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Android 4.4 build for T-Mobile Motorola Moto X has leaked. This build seems to be having updated Touchless Control,Active Display,Camera and home screen selector along with standard KitKat features including SMS with Hangout and updated Keyboard. This looks to be a  test build and Google Experience launcher is not included in it.

Download the Android 4.4 zip file from here and flash it on your Moto X as described below. You need to be on unlocked bootloader to flash this update and remember this is for T-Mobile variant of Moto X only.

Instructions to flash Android 4.4

1. Put your phone in fastboot mode (press and hold power + volume down when phone is off)
2. Connect phone to PC
4. Extract zip on PC and run flashall.bat

Flash it at your own risk as the updater script will also update bootloader and recovery and you will also loose root functionality. Head over to original post at XDA for more details.

Source : XDA Developers via Pocket-Now

The post Android 4.4 build leaked for T-Mobile Moto X appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Image source: RootzWiki

Super Amazing Elite Recognized Developer (not making up the title) birdman over at Rootzwiki has made life just a little sweeter for all of us GSM HTC One owners today. GSM variants of the HTC One have a working Android 4.4 build thanks to this awesome confectioner of AOSP.

Birdman built this using the 4.3 binaries from the Google Play Edition and has everything up and running except the IR blaster. Installation instructions are in the OP for the various devices with Sprint and Verizon support in the works. Links to the specific device threads are below.

AT&T HTC One

T-Mobile HTC One

International HTC One

From the Dev:

First. – KitKat 4.4 for the HTC One

Features: chocolate, built from source. 

Not working:

• IR sensor.

Instructions: 

1. Download it
2. USE THE LATEST RECOVERIES (CWM OR TWRP) the old ones are broken in 4.4
3. Flash it 
4. Scream “FIRST” and shove it in the faces of passerby’s*
5. leave some feedback, in a few days i’ll have my nexus 5 and then i more than likely wont be updating this, so get any bugs in now.

Credits: 

- the cm team and msm8960 htc teams (for keeping things legit)

- dhacker (for moral support and help with a few things like sensors and gps)

- code aurora forums (for being swell)

Got here and are confused and want this for your htc one?

visit the sister threads:

• tmobile - http://rootzwiki.com…th-43-binaries/
• international - http://rootzwiki.com…th-43-binaries/
• sprint – coming soon**
• verizon – coming soon**

*not responsible for repercussions of doing said act.

** cdma not promised working, but they should boot.

Source: RootzWiki

The post HTC One Gets a Taste of Kit Kat AOSP Android 4.4 appeared first on Android Fan Network.