Well, this is a surprise. Having long expected version 5.0 of Android to be given the code name Key Lime Pie, Google has instead handed the 'K' release name to Android 4.4 and in a weird cross-promotional deal it's called it Android KitKat.

As part of the deal Nestle is running a contest to win a Nexus 7 or Google Play credit through specially branded Kit Kat bars.

So, apart from the fact that the chocolate bar has a space between Kit and Kat and Android 4.4 doesn't. what do we know about KitKat so far?

Android 4.4 release date

Android 4.3 recently arrived on the Nexus 7, Nexus 7 2012, Nexus 4, Nexus 10 and Samsung Galaxy Nexus but is yet to roll out to other devices. It'll also be arriving 'soon' on the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google versions, with HTC saying it expects to push it out to developers by the end of September.

So now we can start to look forward to the Android 4.4 KitKat release date. But when? We'll take a guess at late October or early November 2013 for now - which is when we were previously expecting to see Android 5.0 break cover.

A release date tipped to Ausdroid - and one which the site says it's taking with a large grain of salt - is October 14.

On September 20 Nestle Germany confirmed an October launch for Android KitKat on its German KitKat Facebook wall, replying to a question with a translated message which reads: "Hi Tim, Android 4.4 KIT KAT is available in October".

Our video below rounds up what we know so far.

Android 4.4 features

Android 4.3 came with a few minor upgrades including better multi-user customisation, support for Bluetooth smart technology and an updated keyboard. As a minor release, Android 4.3 didn't even get its own desert-themed name, sharing the Jelly Bean moniker with Android 4.1 and 4.2.

So with a brand new code name, we can expect Android 4.4 to bring some bigger changes, but all Google is saying at this stage is: "It's our goal with Android KitKat to make an amazing Android experience available for everybody."

From this, we can assume that Google wants to get Android onto less powerful devices, something we were previously hearing about Android 5.0 when it was claimed that the new OS would be optimised to run on devices with as little as 512MB of RAM.

We also learned from Android Central back in February 2013 that Google is working with the Linux 3.8 kernel. One improvement that this kernel brings is lowered RAM usage, which fits with Google's goal of bringing Android to more devices.

The source who tipped Ausdroid with the October 14 release date also leaked some supposed details of the new OS, confirming that it would be available for "older phones", adding that it would also bring gallery visualization tweaks, new animation APIs, new notification widgets and the ability to change the Android default blue to other colors.

Leaked screenshots sent to 9to5Google, as well as other sites, show what might be a sneak peak at the Android 4.4 phone and messaging apps. The screenshots show a cleaner design and a lighter colour, plus a status bar that changes colour according to the colour scheme selected.

However, Android Police appears to have received the same screenshots, and having taken a close look at them, it reckons that they're actually either full-screen mockups or a custom ROM.

An image that Android Police is more positive about is one of a Korean keyboard that was posted to Google Play. In a small change, that shot shows that the status bar icons have changed from blue to gray. Those images on Google Play have since been replaced with Jelly Bean screenshots.

A screenshot unearthed by Myce suggests that Android 4.4 may indeed come with themes as the icons in the notification area for the image that the site found on the Chromium bug tracker (shown below) are blue. Myce adds: "we found references to theming in the log file but are unsure if it will really become a feature." Android Community reckons the screenshot was taken on a Nexus 4 running KitKat.

Android 4.4 phones

In a commercial for its new operating system, Google revealed what seems to be the long-awaited Nexus 5.

Shown off in a 38 second advert, the new Nexus handset looks to be equipped with a large camera and a matte black finish, carrying an LG logo on the back.

Google has since taken the video down, leading to further speculation that it did indeed reveal the Nexus 5.

An Android 4.4 powered Nexus 5 supposedly raised its head again on 16 September where it was seen flaunting its stuff in a bar. 9to5Google posted photos and video of what might be the new Nexus, apparently left there plugged in and unsupervised by a Google employee so that an eagle-eyed bar worker was able to snap some photos and shoot a video.

Source : techradar[dot]com

LG's latest flagship phone, the LG G2, is on sale from today in stores nationwide, including Carphone Warehouse, EE, Three and O2.

The LG G2 aims for a combination of specs and innovation, with a 2.26 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, a dazzling 5.2 inch full HD IPS display and an impressive 13 megapixel camera.

It's also rocking a Snapdragon 800 CPU at its heart, so the battery life is pretty darn good - plus it's rocking an insanely low PAYG price.

There's more here than good specs

On the innovation side there are features like 'KnockON' which allows you to turn the screen on by tapping it twice and buttons on the back which supposedly make it easier to operate one-handed.

Speaking of those buttons, we weren't too convinced by the placement and the overall design is also a little bland, but that did little to dampen our enthusiasm for a largely brilliant handset.

The LG G2 is listed on Three at a not unreasonable £399.99 for pay as you go or from £29 per month on contract (with £49 upfront), while Carphone Warehouse has it from £32 per month on O2 and from £37 per month on Vodafone with no upfront cost. EE is yet to list its prices.

The LG G2 has launched surprisingly close to the iPhone 5S and will have its work cut out for it if it wants to make much of a dent on that phone's sales. With the Nexus 5 likely to be just around the corner too competition is going to be fierce.

• For more thoughts on the LG G2 check out the TechRadar team's reaction to its unveiling.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Windows Phone might be having a tough time of it overall but things are looking up in Europe. Microsoft's smartphone OS now has a 9.2% share in the top five European markets - that's up from 5.1% this time last year.

That's according to the latest findings by Kantar Worldpanel, which looked at the performance of various smartphones across Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, along with a handful of countries in other continents.

The numbers don't lie

While Windows Phone is still on single digit figures overall, it now has 12% of the market share in Great Britain, up from just 4.5% this time last year and 10.8% in France, up from 5.6%.

It's also neck and neck with iOS in Germany, where Windows Phone and iOS have 8.8% and 9.5% of the market share respectively.

Windows Phone is still struggling, but its market share is increasing and in Europe it's happening at a faster rate than either iOS or Android. That's likely down in large part to strong sales of the Nokia Lumia 520. If Windows Phone can pull other successful smartphones out of the bag then it may yet become a major player.

The bad news in this data is reserved for BlackBerry, which has seen a drop in market share across every region that Kantar Worldpanel provided data for, bringing its overall market share in the top five European regions down from 5.8% to 2.4%.

• In the market for a Windows Phone? We've got you covered.

Source : techradar[dot]com

Is the Nexus 5 meant to be a secret? It's not a very well kept one, if so. Its latest appearance comes through the hands of a forum member who took the time to snap a quick picture and reveal a few thoughts on the handset.

The forum member, going by the name 'weespeed', posted about the handset on MacRumors. He doesn't say much, but his picture does give us one of our clearest views of the back of the phone yet.

What he does say is that it feels good in the hand, its screen is simply ok, the bezel is very small and it seems smaller than the LG G2. He also claims that the back cover feels a lot like the Nexus 7 (presumably the new 2013 model).

Here, there and everywhere

This latest appearance follows on from a sighting at a bar and another during the Android 4.4 KitKat unveiling. We've also previously seen a rumoured specs leak for the Nexus 5, which claims that it has a 5.2 inch screen, a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor and 3GB of RAM.

If the Nexus 5 really is smaller than the LG G2 the difference will presumably be largely down to that small bezel, since the rumoured screen size is identical. It's also interesting that weespeed wasn't thrilled by the screen, given that it's supposedly the same 1920 x 1080 resolution as that of the LG G2. Then again, resolution isn't everything.

With an official announcement rumoured for October we should have concrete details on the Nexus 5 soon enough.

• Want more Nexus 5 goodness? Check out an updated list of all the news and rumours.

Source : techradar[dot]com

The LG G2 is the beastly smartphone that is LG's answer to the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One. It's a massive, yet not entirely unwieldy, smartphone brimming with specs that would make the most discerning geeks drool.

So far, LG has been a distant cry from where Samsung and HTC find themselves in terms of popularity and smartphone ownership. And between the latter two, Samsung is really dominating the space.

With the G2, it seems like LG took a lot of cues from its Korean counterpart and built what many called a Galaxy S4 clone. It's large, made of lots of plastic, shaped similarly and is jam-packed with more features than a single person can handle.

During its New York City presentation, we were a little baffled at what LG decided to highlight as the G2's key features. The first and most evident is the placement of the power button and volume control keys.

LG went to great lengths to explain how it was listening to customers and observing their usage patterns. Somehow it all led to the awkward placement of those buttons, along with a few other things the phone can do.

In terms of price, the LG G2 still isn't launched in the UK - but early SIM-free pricing suggests that it will instantly be comparable with its competitors, coming in at under £500... perhaps as much as £20 under.

Early contract pricing is sparse, but it seems that the G2, with more power than you can shake an S Pen at, will be no ore than a pound or two more per month than its rivals that are nearly six months old now.

Can the LG outgun and outsell the Galaxy S4 and HTC One? It'll be tough without a massive marketing campaign, but let's take a look at how the phone itself fares against its Android competitors.

Design

Diving right into what powers the LG G2 and makes it purr, you'll first notice a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 display, which gives us a 424 PPI density. The chipset inside is a Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800, with a 2.26GHz quad-core Krait 400. In terms of processing power, it seems that the G2 is in no short supply.

It comes in 16GB and 32GB variants, with 2GB RAM. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, Infrared port and 4G LTE.

The camera on back is a 13MP shooter with a small LED flash. Like other high-end Android smartphones, it has a few tricks up its sleeves, too, but we'll get into that in our camera section.

LG also made a big deal out of the battery in this thing, which is a 3,000mAh Li-Po (Lithium Polymer) battery. It's shaped in such a way that it takes up as much space as it can in the phone.

To make more sense of it, curved backs tend to create more unused space for flat batteries. If you allow the battery to take advantage of the curvature of the phone, you effectively get a slightly bigger battery.

Design

Despite being a 5.2-inch display device, the LG G2 is very manageable in the hand. It still takes a reach to get your thumb diagonally across the screen, but it's not so huge that it becomes cumbersome.

To undiscerning eyes, it can be quite hard to tell the difference - at least on the face of it - between the G2 and the Samsung Galaxy S4. One can argue that there is only so much you can do with the modern-day smartphone form factor, but then again HTC and Motorola have very distinct designs.

The edges of the device are clean, free of volume controls and a power button. The bottom edge of the phone has a 3.5mm headset jack, micro-USB port and a speaker and microphone.

The G2's backside is the business end of the phone. LG decided to put the volume buttons and power button just underneath the camera module.

LG says its the reason the volume and power keys were placed on the back is because that's where your finger naturally wants to rest when you're talking on your phone, which we generally found to be true.

It can become awkward feeling around for the buttons, as In order to get enough pressure onto the power button, you have to hold the G2 a little awkwardly and make sure you get the correct leverage.

But the South Korean brand has made a huge effort to mitigate this, with elements like double knocking on the screen to open it up (which removes the need to press the power button) and most apps have an onscreen volume control to play with.

Plus over time we noticed ourselves becoming increasingly OK with the placement of the keys - to the point when we switched phones and found that we were pressing the camera button to turn the phone on.

Aside from the power/volume buttons and the camera module, the backside is emblazoned with carrier logos and LG's branding. But otherwise, there isn't a whole lot more going on back there.

Up front you won't find any physical buttons at all. The back, home and menu buttons are all soft keys on the display, and will respond with haptic feedback unless you disable it.

Overall, the design of the LG G2 is nice, with the exception of the placement of the power and volume buttons. And although we're not particularly fond of an all-plastic body, it's not so bad here in this case.

Source : techradar[dot]com