Google launched its latest sweet-themed Android operating system just in time for Halloween: KitKat.
Right now, it's only available on the Nexus 5, which just went on sale in the Google Play store (and which is already sold out in its 16GB incarnation). Other Nexus device users will get it sometime in November, while other Android owners will get it whenever their carrier decides to upgrade them.
See also: Google Launches Nexus 5, Android KitKat
Google holds out the hope that KitKat is the one Android version that will rule them all; it has been designed for the slowest of smartphones as well as speed machines like the Nexus 5. So for all those users still struggling on Android 2.3 Gingerbread (that would be roughly a third of all Android users), the KitKat upgrade is a huge deal.
What do Android users have to look forward to? Can KitKat even tempt iPhone users to switch to Android? I've been spending a little time with the Nexus 5 to find out.
The interface is full of incremental improvements. Scrolling is faster; fonts look sharper. Emoji icons have been added to the keyboard. There are no more widgets to worry about. A translucent search bar sits at the top of each of your pages of apps. Fire up a game or open an e-book, and the UI goes away altogether.
As for voice search — now called up automatically when you say, "OK, Google" — Google claims it has made a 20% improvement in recognizing your voice in the last year. The interface makes it easier for you to correct any misheard words, and will actually ask for clarification if it needs it. All of my searches worked smoothly, and functioned at about the same speed as Apple's Siri in side-by-side tests.
One embarrassing difference: Siri knew the Red Sox won the World Series, whereas the first thing Google's voice search brought up was the logo of the San Francisco Giants. Whoops.
Overall, though, KitKat is an operating system that is getting smarter. Hangouts now integrate with SMS, meaning you no longer have to think about whether you're texting someone or having a regular chat — it's all controlled from the same app. Google Now, which includes all the stuff like weather and sports scores that you get if you swipe right, is a lot more clever about what it provides; you'll see things that people were searching for nearby.
Google offered lots of neat examples for this — if you're in Yellowstone National Park, it'll tell you what time the geysers are set to go off; if you're near the Congress Bridge in Austin, Texas, it'll tell you about the bats. What I got, however, was that there was an antique fair across the Bay from me in three days, and a sold-out Flaming Lips show tonight. Not quite so useful.
Google Now is supposed to improve the more you use the device. It'll recognize what blogs you visit, what kind of subjects you're searching for, and customize its cards accordingly. The goal is to be "smart enough to know the things I wouldn't know to check," according to chief Android Sundar Pachai. So I look forward to checking in more as I get comfortable with the Nexus 5.
KitKat shows a lot of promise, even for a habitual iOS user like myself. It's not nearly as huge a leap as Apple took from iOS 6 to iOS 7, and your mileage will certainly vary depending on your smartphone. (A new API aims to serve up different versions of apps depending on what phone you're using, so you may experience significant speed improvements on your favorite apps no matter what).
Overall, KitKat is a smart set of upgrades that show Google is going in the right directions — faster, simpler and smarter.
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Image: Mashable