The KitKat 4.4 update for the HTC One has been launched and then it disappeared after some users complained about having issues with it. So what’s happening with the update?
HTC Sense is still at 5.5 after the KitKat 4.4 update there hasn’t been an update to Sense 6, which is expected to arrive with the HTC One on 25 March.
So this means that things have remained much the same visually at least. There is still the Blinkfeed home page, but this may be turned off using the Personalise section over in the settings.
This means that the apps tray, along with notification shortcuts and the menus are the same as they were before the update.
You cannot choose which Home launcher you want and this has been one of the biggest changes with KitKat as it makes it easy to use whatever launcher you want on your handset.
HTC didn’t keep that option, which means that it isn’t so simple to switch between the launchers as it might have been. So it seems that HTC does want people to stick with what they offer.
Transparent notifications are one part of KitKat 4.4, which aims to hide the UI and therefore offers users a larger screen experience.
If you use a different launcher, such as Google Now, the notifications bar is more transparent. This isn’t as clean as it is on the Nexus 5 but it does look great.
There are white icons now, where they were green before, but these are not as simple as those on native KitKat 4.4.
There is no SMS in KitKat as this was replaced by Hangouts.
On the HTC One there is the HTC Messaging app, so no switch over by default but you can choose in the settings.
HTC gives you a browser and while they continued Flash support, this is now missing. However this won’t matter much to many people as the majority of people use Chrome.
Cloud printing is new to KitKat and this is something that has translated well onto the HTC One update. If you use Google cloud print you can find it in the options in settings.
Users are able to take advantage of apps that are just for KitKat and following the update apps will be updated.
HTC have listed Bluetooth enhancements and there are more Bluetooth profiles. There is support for IR blasters, which is something that is found on the HTC One, but is used only by the TV of HTC.
NFC enhancements are included with Tap and pay support, but no services. Google Wallet should be able to use this in the US.
The KitKat 4.4 update for the HTC One has not been a huge change and people will not see such a huge difference with their handset visually.
