Handsets

Samsung bringing Android 4.4 KitKat to Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy S3 and a lot more [RUMOR]

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Despite being the biggest and most successful, Samsung isn’t always the most vocal player in the game when it comes to discussing upgrades to new versions of Android. The company has yet to formally detail a list of devices that will be receiving Android 4.4 KitKat.

Phandroid 4.4 KitKat

While anyone might have guessed that the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 might have been in line, a source close to the matter has confirmed to Phandroid that the following list of devices will be receiving the illustrious upgrade (devices in bold have already started to receive official rollouts):

  • Samsung Galaxy Note 2 SGH-i317
  • Samsung Galaxy S3 SGH-i747
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 SM-t217a
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-i337
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Active SGH-i537
  • Samsung Galaxy Mega SGH-i527
  • Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom SM-c105a
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900a
  • Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 SGH-i467
  • Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini SM-g730a

As you can see, the Note 3’s rollout started late last month over in Poland, and should be heading to other regions as Samsung works out logistics and testing. As for the Samsung Galaxy S4, it was only this morning that Samsung began pushing out KitKat for users of the LTE-A variant over in South Korea.

Early reports of firmware from both the Galaxy S4 and Note 3 suggest Samsung didn’t change much in KitKat, though that’s because most of their significant upgrades came with the upgrade to Android 4.3 (which mainly enabled new camera features and Galaxy Gear compatibility). Users are treated to improved performance, though, as well as slight changes to Samsung’s UI which amount to little more than a couple of new icons.

Unfortunately, that’s about the length of our knowledge thus far. There’s no telling when, exactly, Samsung will look to push the upgrades out, nor do we know if they’re even close to being ready for public consumption.

android-kitkat

More than anything, though, we’re just happy to know that devices dating back to 2012 are getting some love (especially considering a lot of other OEMs have already abandoned phones that only released just last year). We’ll be looking to dig up any information we can on the impending updates in the weeks (or months) to come.

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

Mozilla’s FireFox Launcher is a rebranded EverythingMe

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63 Comments

  1. Nope… no verizon samsung phones will be updated

  2. where is the S4 mini????

  3. Guess this means that 4.5 is right around the corner! Love my Nexus 5 :)

    1. Google really needs to release that to fix all the issues still prevalent with the Nexus 5 and android 4.4.2. I wouldn’t gloat too hard.

    2. I’m hoping for Android 5.5.6. It’s that last .6 that I’m really looking forward to.

  4. My Note 2 used to be a speed demon until it was updated to 4.3. It turned into a dead slug rotting in the desert salt flats. I was so disgusted with Verizon for the bloatware and the delays in fixing the “update”, I dumped the phone, moved to T-Mo and am happily playing on my new Nexus 5.

    1. Who needs S-Voice or S-Note or S-Health?

      1. Who needs a smartphone period?

    2. I must say my wife’s note 2 is dead now, and the roms available aren’t much better; crazy lag at times!

      1. Dead what’s dead mean? T-Mobile variant? Probam all day

        1. What’s probam? Her note 2 is on the slow side since the verizon 4.3 update and her battery life is around 8 hrs a battery now.

      2. I’m running slimrom on my S2 and it is only very occasionally laggy. Give it a try.

    3. I updated to 4.3 (Note 2) and didn’t notice any lag. I did root and remove bloatware and knoxx though.

    4. Damn. 4.3 gave me noticable performance improvements, especially in 3d titles.

    5. I upgraded my Note 2 to 4.3 and it runs fine. Did you try a factory reset? It probably would have helped.

      1. My wife was getting noticeable lag on her Droid RAZR after it’s last update too. The problem is always the bloatware. Factory Data Reset should always be the absolute last resort. Unfortunately, VZW customer service tends to make it the first line solution. No one should have to lose all of there app data because of a bad OTA unless the OTA itself was corrupt.

        The point I’m making is more along the lines of – I’m sick of carrier interference in the OTA process. It always bogs a phone down. I’ve had some time now to play with my new Nexus 5 and it is so much better to use. I’m glad I made the change. I’m reading more and more posts of Note 2 users that had exactly the same experience after the 4.3 update and it was cross-carrier but VZW users seemed to have even more problems.

        1. Glad you like your N5. Sometimes I think about switching to T-Mobile or AT&T just for Nexus and GPE devices…..

  5. Damn sure ain’t coming to Verizons s3

  6. I for one am impressed. Well done Samsung, my SGS3 is getting KitKat. You hear that HTC, that’s part of your problem, stopping support on year old phones!!

    1. The problem is that why do you still have a Galaxy S3 when the Galaxy S5 is coming out very soon. Your phone is outdated.

      1. Some people may not have the luxury of changing their phones every year, or their contract has yet to finish. I used to do that until now, thats why Im still on my S3. But I’ll definitely change my phone this year now that my contract is up.

        1. I seem to change phones every six months well try too, I often buy used phones my current Atrix HD costed me about 130 on eBay in September, are you on a gsm Carrier?

          1. Yup GSM. My contract is every 24 months, but my carrier allows recontract starting from the 21st month. I used to change phone every year because my sis’s contract was every 12 months and its always ends during the period where the latest phones get launched. (Lucky me :P) I stopped doing that in 2013 because she moved on to the 24 month contract, plus changing phone every year (even with trade in) can be quite painful on the wallet.

          2. That is great

      2. Outdated, debatable. Functional, very – just mediocre battery life. I am merely pointing out why I am a fan of Samsung (and for it’s part TMobile). I have been getting the updates as promised. The same cannot be said for HTC, that’s all I was saying.
        For the record, I will be probably getting the S5, the Gear 2 and will be picking up the Tab Pro 8.4 next week.

        1. Ahhhh, tax return season. Gotta love it!

      3. And I’ll be keeping my S3 for another year thank you very much.

    2. The S3 is still my favorite non-Nexus device

  7. I really like Samsung devices but once/if a Nexus 6 phone with a larger screen is released I am gone for good. I along with all the others of the original note i717 got screwed with the JB release. It is so bad it is just about unusable.

    1. JB was released at the end of July and the note 2 got the update 2 -4 weeks after the note 3(Oct 4) was out. Samsung was probably going to force the orginal note customers to upgrade their phone. Plus, it was probably more a function of your carrier.

  8. Has anyone had the pleasure of getting TW Android 4.4 yet on any device? Just wondering if it is possible to turn on ART?

    1. I think ART may be limited to the Nexus 5 at this point. My Nexus 10 is on 4.4.2 and still doesn’t have ART.

      1. ART is not limited to the Nexus 5. The Nexus 10 is limited with its current A15 processor with ART support. Running ART on my Nexus 5, Nexus 7 2013 and Moto X.

        1. So, how many other devices currently have ART at this time? Not ones that are planned or rumored to get ART, but how many others have ART right now?

          1. I have ART on my Note 2 Right now. You can use it on any phone that you load a 4.4 based ASOP ROM onto.

            I was just wondering if TW was going to work with it or not. Makes me wonder if any TW Android 4.4 ROMs will get ART working.

          2. Porting ART is different than it being stock. Naturally, it’ll depend on the manufacturer of the phone and likely also depend on the hardware.

          3. The Moto G has ART.

            I have the 8GB so I’m not sure I even want to try it. :P

        2. I find it hilarious that someone downvoted you. You speak the truth.

    2. Just as was stated ART is not available on TW or the Samsung devices.

  9. this is my first post finally had the nerves to sign up to comment. Am I missing something cuz my att note 2 still on 4.1.2 and every 24 hrs im mashing the software update it says software interrupted and kies says software is up to date. like hell it is. my wifes s3 been on 4.3 since last december and complained about it ever since. used to root and flash but grew outta that phase but might have to cross over the other side again. it doesnt seem like 4.3 made the note 2 better but at least its up to date

  10. note 2 and S3 4.4 updates are planned for april this year according to a leaked memo.
    the same memo said 4.4 for the S4 and note 3 was planned for january.

  11. the Galaxy S2 was updated to Jelly Bean, so it only makes sense that the S3 is updated to the next version, Kitkat.

  12. If Note 2 is there, why not Note 10.1 OG?!!

    1. This ^. Can’t anyone at Phandroid ask a Samsung rep why the Note 10.1 OG hasn’t received a major android release in over a year.

  13. If the S3 Mini get’s it and the S4 mini doesn’t Samsung just lost a customer.

    1. Obviously the S4 mini will get it.

  14. I hope my GS2 gets kitkat since Google says that it will increase performance on older android phones regardless of memory size.

    1. The S2 is performing great on Cyanfox 2.0.2, which is a custom 4.4-based ROM.

    2. It barely got jb…it will not get kk.

  15. Not that I’m dissatisfied with custom roms for my S2 and not that I actually expected it to happen but I was hoping the S2 and original note might have got the upgrade too.

    1. Technically the S2 doesn’t sell anymore, so there’s no point updating it (at least from Samsung’s point of view). Maybe the S2 Plus might get a chance, but that’s about it.

      1. T-Mobile still sells it…

  16. i9500 anyone? I think its the phone Samsung wants to forget… :(

    1. That’s exactly what I was thinking. I only got mine in July and I was hoping to keep it for more than a year so I find the lack of info on an i9500 update a bit worrying!

  17. What about s3 i9300 the international version?

  18. Galaxy Win?

  19. Is the note2 n1700 going to be in line for 4.4 kit kat

  20. Just tab 3 t217a? What abt tab 3 t211?

  21. Sm-T 210 also please

  22. The Note 2 just got 4.3 Jelly Bran so i dont think 4.4 will be happening for that phone.

  23. what about galaxy note 10.1 (2013) & galaxy grand

  24. Can I get my phn updated….
    I do own a galaxy mega GT-i9205

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