The Android 4.4.3 update has been released for a few phones now, including the immensely popular Motorola Moto G and Nexus 5.
But this is a stop-gap release that is mostly comprised of small fixes and improvements. It’s not going to change your world, but it does offer a bunch of tweaks, some of which are specific to single devices. So what do you get? Let’s take a closer look.
Camera battery drain fixed in Nexus 5
One of the most serious Nexus-series issues with Android 4.4.2 is that the Nexus 5’s camera will often sap way more battery than you would expect. This is not something we noticed as a big problem with the camera (image quality was, at least with the original software), but there have been many reports online of the camera process sapping power long after you’ve actually stopped using it.
Want to check if your Nexus 5 is having issues? Check out the power consumption figures in the phone’s Settings menu to find out what is draining your phone’s battery. The errant bit of the camera is mm-qcamera-daemon, and Android 4.4.3 fixes this.
SEE ALSO: Nexus 5 camera review
Battery consumptions issues fixed in Motorola phones
Android 4.4.2 features some power consumption issues with Motorola’s Moto-series phones, the Moto E, Moto X and Moto G. While we didn’t experience any issues with this at review, there are power profile fixes in the Android 4.4.3 update that should help to wipe away any undue power-sapping.
Stability issues patched
As with virtually any update of any bit of software, Android 4.4.3 makes numerous stability fixes across the board, which should hopefully improve performance when you’re a little low in available RAM/virtual memory.
Minor Dialer app redesign
The most obvious visual design seen in Android 4.4.3 is the Dialer. It’s now a good deal lighter-looking than before, which is perhaps more in-line with the lighter, breezier feel that Android appears to be heading towards.
FLAC playback improved/fixed
Android 4.4.3 improves FLAC playback support in the inbuilt music player app. With other versions of Android 4.4, there’s a fair bit of popping and stuttering when you try to play some kinds of FLAC files.
While FLAC support has been available in Android since version Android 3.1, Google ‘broke’ it with Android 4.4. It seems not all that many people noticed it, but – hey – it’s fixed now, apparently.
Moto X and Moto G get Alert app
As well as adding core Android features, the Android 4.4.3 update for the Moto X and Moto G also sees the Alert app added. This is a Motorola-made app that was introduced in the Motorola Moto E.
What it does is to alert emergency contacts when you press an ‘alert’ button, and can inform selected contacts when you reach a certain location. We imagine it’ll come in most handy for parents who want to buy a Moto X or Moto G for their kids.
SEE ALSO: Android 5.0 release date, news and rumours
Moto X and Moto G get video pause function
Again, this is not specifically a Google Android feature, but one Motorola has added to its Android 4.4.3 update in the Motorola Moto X and Moto G. You can now pause video capture using an on-screen button in the camera app.
This lets you effectively edit on the fly, creating cuts in your videos without having to stitch together separate files.
Improved Moto X camera quality
Motorola is really going to town with the Android 4.4.3 update. One of the best bits is something totally specific to the Motorola Moto X.
Motorola claims the Moto X will have "Improved camera image quality including better consistency of exposure, more realistic flash coloring, improved photos in low light conditions using front camera" with Android 4.4.3. This is good news as we did find the X to be a few rungs down from top phones like the Galaxy S5.
Next, read our Android 4.4. tips and tricks
