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Android 4.4 KITKAT might take a while to officially come to the world’s top devices, but aftermarket firmware — AKA ROMs — will likely bring the goods we’re looking for much sooner. While we can’t quite possibly put a finger on every ROM out there, we do have an idea of when some of the most popular ones will be pushing the latest version of Android. Let’s take a look!
CyanogenMod
The folks at CyanogenMod are still working to bring us final, stable builds of Android 4.3 in the form of CM 10.2. The team has already gotten their first “M1” build out, which is a milestone release that users can begin to report bugs on. They’re ultimately working to bring us up to Release Candidate status, and then the first stable release will be the final Android 4.3 release.
From there, the team will have their sights set on KITKAT. AOSP code has already been pushed to the CyanogenMod Github. This means project maintainers will be working to add all of the unique features that makes CyanogenMod, well, CyanogenMod. The first flashable goods could happen as early as the end of this month, though that will only be in nightly form (and the team isn’t making any promises on an exact timeline).
AOKP
Much like CyanogenMod, AOKP is still working to bring a final, stable Android 4.3 build. They have dedicated half the team to getting that final milestone out, while the other half is full steam ahead on Android 4.4. The team says to expect the build to be “nearly barebones” KITKAT for the first release as they work to bring a timely build to the masses. Fret not, though, as they’ll be hitting the midnight oil to provide quick updates that will bring back features that everyone loves.
Paranoid Android
The team behind Paranoid Android has already gotten early AOSP-based builds out. There is one caveat to mention — they will take this opportunity to start anew, and will use this major release as the starting point for a new code base. Like AOKP, this means features will be added in stages through the use of frequent updates.
The rest
As I said before, there are many different ROMs for many different phones, so it’ll be impossible to keep tabs on every last one of them. It’s important to note that circumstances will be different for every device, even with the ROMs above, so getting an “ETA on an OTA” isn’t going to be very fruitful. In fact, most of these developers would rather you not ask.
That said, it’s best to find a community that surrounds your specific device, and follow maintainers of those devices for the latest info, Somewhere like XDA, RootzWiki, or the All Things Root sections at AndroidForums.com are good places to start. It’ll be a while yet before we see KITKAT in stable form on devices other than those donning the Nexus name, so it’s best to just be patient and leave it up to the awesome development community surrounding Android.
Shot out to slimkat!
I was hoping to see OmniRom in this list
Huh. This looks familiar.
Shout out to rascarlo for putting up rastakat for mako!
I’ll probably enjoi stock on my Nexus 5 for about 6 months then root and all that jazz, unless something absolutely ground-breakingly stable releases with superior software that would make Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne cream in their pants?!
I’m still on the fence about whether to return it. My first day experience led me to post ads to sell/trade, but thankfully the weekend came. After few charging cycles the battery sets in and I started to fall in love with the phone. I think in a week I’ll finally decide, but once the decision is made I will root to get OTG support working and order that little SDreader.
Chris and Edgar made me want to trade it to G2 on Friday, but after looking at that horrendous software created with typical Asian overdo-everything-just-to-show-what-we-can-do approach, I said there’s no way I’m getting into this. I spent last 2 years with Motorola phones and nearly stock and very polished UI, and there is no way I’m staring at that mind-fart every minute of my day.
I’m eagerly awaiting KitKat on my new Nexus 7
Some phones already have alphas of kit kat being flashed
I’ll be finally breaking away from TW on my Note 2 and flash CM when they get stable enough nightlies. I can’t believe I bought a Note 2 thinking I’d be updated from 4.1 (what it shipped with) by now. A year has gone by and Samsung has dropped the ball. 4.4 is out and we are on 4.1? Only a year old and we are 3 versions of Android behind. Can’t trust anyone to push updates except developers.
The note 2 is getting 4.3 TW based ROM by the end of the month Rumor has it.
Jedi X 21
Any ideas if gps will work for everyone? I loved the x19 rom but no matter what hack I tried, I never could get it to see satellites.
When you first then on your gps make sure you are outside and also if you drive around or leave it in when you are driving it week lock on. The first time it might take like 5-10 min. If it doesn’t lock on use the gps quick fix in the settings to pick your area. I have had no problems with my satellite on x20.
The 4.3 based ROM is being built from the ground up though so I am assuming it will address the issue differently.
I’ll try x20…i tried all the other on x19 and even waited thirty minutes outside and no luck. Thanks for the trying to help though.
And that will be that last one
I’m really starting to hate my Note 2. I really thought we’d have Perfectly running AOSP roms with the unlocked bootloader, but the Hacked versions of AOSP roms ran better on my locked down Motorola phones than they do on my unlocked phone. I now face a dilemma (1st world problems) I love the screen and MicroSD slot on the Note 3, but I’m sick of TW, and can’t find a rom on my Note 2 that I’m really happy with. The only phone I’m excited about is the Droid MAXX, but it doesn’t have a microSD slot (I currently have 80 gb with only 5-20 gb free at any given time)
This article came onto my timeline at the same time as this petition: http://action.sumofus.org/a/nestle-water-pakistan/ and makes clear why I’ve started feeling pretty uneasy about the naming of Kit-Kat… I’m over the idea of google being corporate, but nestle are not cool people to endorse, fighting legislation to call water a human right? Draining ground water sources for whole communities? I wonder if the custom ROMs are in a position to use a different naming system for customised versions of Android. They seem to all do their own thing so stuff still gets referred to as KK or JB, ICS or whatever… I’d really be up for some new standards.
It’s called kit-kat not Nestle
Indeed, KitKat was bought by Nestlé from Rowntree’s of York. That company was one of the most forward thinking and righteous companies ever. Just research the Rowntree Foundation.
While I’m sure most people appreciate your candor for human rights (myself included), aren’t you over analyzing the naming scheme? Google is a company powered by advertisers and brands. What other confection is known worldwide other than KitKat (with the exception of maybe Kinder Egg; but let’s be honest, that’s not a particularly inviting name to a new Android release)?
Yeah I actually agree, I wouldn’t expect anything else from Google. Out of the context of what I said, it’s actually a good name. But given Nestlé’s ethics I was just thinking that as the ROMs are a bit more idealistic (like yours truly) they might get on board with using KLP and again using alternative names if google does something similar in the future.
Instead of signing silly petitions, people should rather stop buying bottled water. It’s just dumb and super arrogant.
It is totally possible to do both… check me out: signing petitions, drinking tap water… at the same time!
I’m ITCHING for PA to put out hybird ui for the N5. It’ll be a perfect user experience…
Honestly I wouldn’t care if they put out an alpha with stuff broken.
speaking of ROMs and phandroid the scrolling in the app sucks on any aosp ROMs I have tried. this is the only app that is like this.
deck released CM 11/KitKat for the HTC Evo 4G LTE this past weekend, accompanied by a revised TWRP custom recovery that’s SELinux aware and capable.
Our thread at http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-lte-all-things-root/792690-rom-11-8-13-cm-11-0-jewel-kit-kat-4-4-a.html
ShinyROM is my favourite and that’s rocking 4.4 already. Admittedly there are some graphical issues, specifically with the chrome webview. But other than that, it’s running great on my Galaxy Nexus.
Waiting for that juicy 4.4 update on my Nexus 4 .__.
I’m running Shiny KitKat nearly AOSP on my VZW Galaxy Nexus (as featured n Phandroid) and for such an early build its extremely stable and all functions work. Very impressed!
I thought KitKat was supposed to come out today but my GS3 says my device is up to date? anyone know why??
CM11 alphas will arrive on Nov. 29th for many devices. Why? Because it’s a date I just pulled out of my ass, having done none of the merging legwork (no, fingerwork) myself. :)
What’s a ROM?
Google these kind of stuff.
Google what? A joke?
No. I’m saying you should Google” it. That means you should look it up.
Can you link me to the site?
No lol
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+a+rom%3F
It’s basically an operating system.
Honestly I never use stable the only time nightly roms caused me issues was on older devices like my galaxy s2 and usually by simply re flashing the rom it would make the issues go away, but on my Galaxy s4 everything runs great on many different roms.
Nightlies ftw