What's new for developers in Android 4.4 KitKat | Hacker News Reader

What's new for developers in Android 4.4 KitKat

developer.android.com

101 points6thSigma32 comments

Finally the webview uses Chromium instead of the native android browser. I've been waiting so long for this.

I hope they find a way to roll it to more devices really quickly so more people use the latest version. I guess its a big problem but there's plenty of value to google in finding that solution.

It doesn't support WebGL or WebAudio though, according to https://developers.google.com/chrome/mobile/docs/webview/ove... - a big shame, since this still means it'll be poor for gaming, especially since HTML5 audio won't play unless in a touch event...!

This is only for the WebView object embedded in Android apps. Chrome and Firefox have supported WebGL on Android for a long time.

Have they made it so users don't have to go to about:flags to manually turn it on anymore?

Firefox for Android is finishing up a GeckoView that will essentially bring that capability to older devices, or WebAudio/WebGL for new ones.

The Step Detector and Step Counter platform support is an especially interesting addition.

Perhaps a nod to the wearables market, with the upcoming Google watch hooking into it for some Fitness tracking smarts?

Must be a response to Apple's inclusion of a dedicated movement-sensing M7 processor on the iPhone 5s.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/519531/what-apples-m7-m...

Surely it was scheduled for inclusion previous to the M7's announcement 6 weeks ago.

Surely it was, but 'rumor' sites were writing about the dedicated movement processor in late August (at a minimum of 10 weeks ago) and I'm sure there are enough moles at either company so that Google / Apple know what their competitors will do several months in advance.

* * * Late Edit * * *

So I looked through the Google public Git repo, and it looks like the initial Step_Counter functions were added in Dec 2012.[1] The hardware must've been wrapped more than 6 weeks ago, so I was probably wrong. Google must've been working on this for months ahead of time.

[1]https://android.googlesource.com/platform/hardware/libhardwa...

I doubt Google has anything to do with the hardware for this. Qualcomm has been pushing movement tracking and user context recognition using sensors with their chips without using a lot of power at conferences for over a year now. This is probably just Google throwing in a cut down version of their Pivot functionality. It's basically a chipset feature, just like how the chipsets are who pushes the OpenGL ES drivers and demos each version.

> Surely it was, but 'rumor' sites were writing about the dedicated movement processor in late August

A corporation of Google's size doesn't need "rumour sites" to know what their competitors are doing.

If you say so.

Must be a response to MotoX's shipping a dedicated movement-sensing processor in their X8 platform before Apple.

Oh, did you not know that both Motorola's X8 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 were shipping low power contextual co-processors for this way before Apple's announcement?

Back when the A7 was announced, I predicted in my social stream that Apple fanboys would soon be saying Google copied the motion co-processor, even though the the MotoX, which had already been shipping, has two such M7-like processors, one for always-on low-power voice, and the other for always-on motion detection (it's how the MotoX camera-twist gesture works).

Apple reality distortion field at work again.

> Android now supports the Common Encryption (CENC) for MPEG-DASH, providing a standard, multiplatform DRM scheme for managing protecting content.

wow, discussion of web DRM was much louder

Well, yeah. Because you don't have to root/jailbreak normal computers.

The true horror of "appified-zomg-everyting-in-teh-cloud" tablets, smart phones and other mobile devices is that the walled garden model leaves most people benumbed to the concept of DRM, as if it were a novocaine injection.

Then, to top it off, the combination of shitty cell phone reception along with the price of a required data plan behaves like some continuous supply of laughing gas, and net neutrality just goes out the window.

It's different when you use a real computer, because you haven't acquiesced to all the limitations of cramming every last tidbit of computation and networking into the space of a 3' x 5' index card. People stop caring about standards compliance, page rendering consistency, and the whole works. Most people are still amazed that full motion video, megapixel cameras, the internet, and gigabytes of storage can fit in the palm of their hand, and then get put on pause and stuffed in their pocket for later. We don't complain as much because we're so happy for the convenience.

The Web does not exist within the mobile domain as it does among laptops and desktops. Your standards are 1,000 times higher, sitting at a desk in a controlled environment, than they are while standing in a train station or an airport, or sitting in the back of a taxi cab.

Anyone know if NFC emulation will let me create an app to replace my Clipper card and work key fob? I would have guessed that NFC chips would have an embedded secret that you can't get directly.

Yea, sadly your clipper card has a secret key that you can't access.

I would really like to know on which devices the host emulation API will be available at all.

Most Android devices with NFC will probably support the API assuming they are running or are upgraded to KitKat.

Edit: including link to source: http://developer.android.com/about/versions/kitkat.html#44-h...

"Support for HCE is already widely available on most NFC controllers, which offer dynamic support for both HCE and SE transactions. Android 4.4 devices that support NFC will include Tap & Pay for easy payments using HCE."

The best you can do is read the info, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codebutler...

I doubt it. You'd have to know the update strategy, as well as the key. Theoretically it's impossible to get the secret out of the device(though in actuality, I doubt that is true).

Looks like both my work card and NFC operate at HF - 13.56 MHz so the technology is there. I would love some tips on software though

KitKat isn't trademarked?

There's a deal between Google and Nestle. This has caused some consternation because many people see Nestle as Evil.

Nestle engage in really shady practices - pushing formula milk in developing nations, ignoring wide spread international laws and drives to encourage breast feeding. This isn't just "giving mother's freedom to chose", it's killing little babies.

They were not "killing babies" they were "monetizing the vast network of uniformed African's who were potential baby killers". If they were technically doing anything wrong then Google wouldn't have partnered with them, because as Eric Schmidt said:

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

Um, wasn't this like 3 or 4 decades ago? It might be time to move on.

Also the bottled water debacle[1].

[1] http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/nestles-wet-dream-they-mark-...

> Nestle engage in really shady practices - pushing formula

Engage? It was 40 years ago (or 29). I think it's time to move on.

They still do it!

Here's one from 2011 http://www.irinnews.org/report/93040/www.unicef.org

(page contains image of breastfeeding woman possibly NSFW)

I seem to also recall them getting sanctioned by EU countries(?) on trying to still call products "chocolate" even if they had no cocoa butter in them -- but I can't seem to find a citation.

There is also the child labor involved in cocoa bean harvesting, the bottled water snafus that others have mentioned, and other various things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9#Controversy_and_cr...

It is, but Nestle have allowed Google to use the name, as part of a mutual promotion.

> Android 4.4 is designed to run fast, smooth, and responsively on a much broader range of devices than ever before — including on millions of entry-level devices around the world that have as little as 512MB RAM.

Does this mean that it will run the same as it is running now, but just on more devices, or does it mean that KitKat is even more responsive than JellyBean?

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