The Samsung Galaxy S4 KitKat update is finally out.

Depending on the smartphone model and region of location, the update, due to certain individual permissions, comes out at different times, so if your Galaxy S4 has not yet been updated to KitKat, then this should happen soon.

Let's take a look at 12 major new features and improvements in this Galaxy S4 KitKat 4.4.2 update.

This time the update turned out to be quite successful when compared to the previous Android update - S4 Jelly Bean 4.3. Jelly Bean had many problems and is considered by many to be extremely unfortunate.

1. Music player full screen on lock screen

The Samsung Galaxy S4 KitKat update brings music player control to the lock screen in full screen mode. You can control your music player on the lock screen without unlocking your Galaxy S4.

The good news is that lock screen music player full screen mode works for most music players, not just the standard Samsung or Google Play Music. Amazon MP3 player also works.

2. Quick access to the camera from the lock screen

After you update your Galaxy S4 KitKat, you will find a shortcut to the Camera app right on your lock screen. Basically, you can take photos faster.

This is a small but very useful feature.

3. Easy home screen change

Now after updating your Samsung Galaxy S4 to KitKat, you can easily change the home screen in the Settings menu ( Settings-Options-Standard applications-Home screen).

You can easily choose a simplified home page or TouchWiz screen because only TouchWiz was installed by default.

Of course, you will have more options if you install any other third party home screen programs/apps.

4. Transparent notification bar

The Galaxy S4 KitKat initially comes with transparent notification bar icons.

One minor difference you may notice is that the green battery level indicator has now turned white.

5. Selecting a default application

After installing more and more applications, some operations can be performed by several applications, for example, opening a web page can be done in Chrome or in a standard Internet browser. Thus, you must set the default application for such operations. Otherwise, you will have to select an application each time.

With the Galaxy S4 KitKat update, it's easy to make the default app. In the task manager widget, you can quickly check and reset the default application. You don't need to go to the Application Manager for this.

6. Hangouts as a unified messaging app

The new Hangouts app in the Galaxy S4 KitKat update keeps all your messages, conversations and video calls in one place so you never miss a message no matter how your friend sends it. So, the new Hangouts is a replacement for the messaging app.

If you're feeling uncomfortable with Hangouts and want to switch back to the default messaging client, it's easy: just go to Settings-Options-Standard applications-Messages and change the client.

7. Full screen mode

With the KitKat update, Galaxy S4 can automatically hide everything except what you really want to see (book, movie, game...). Just swipe to bring back your status bar and navigation buttons.

Of course, this feature does not work on all applications, but only on some.

8. Built-in emoji support

Samsung started its own emoji support starting with Jelly Bean 4.2. You can find them on the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 even before the KitKat update.

Android finally brought native emoji support in Android 4.4 (KitKat). With the Galaxy S4 KitKat update, Samsung has added a few more emojis.

Now you can enjoy emojis in more apps and with more friends.

9. Multitasking

After the Galaxy S4 KitKat update, you'll find that moving from app to app is easier than ever. This is due to code and memory optimizations in Android KitKat 4.4.

In any case, better than the Jelly Bean 4.3 update.

10. Choosing a Discovery Method for Location Requests

In the Galaxy S4 KitKat update, Samsung is adding an integrated location menu that allows users to easily enable location via GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks while adjusting battery usage in apps that use location requests.

You have the option to select the detection method: "high accuracy" (using GPS + WiFi + Mobile network), power saving mode (using WiFi + mobile network), or GPS only.

You can access the location menu at: Settings-Options-Locations.

11. Wireless printing is no longer limited to Samsung printers

The ability to print wirelessly from your Galaxy S4 has been there before. But before the KitKat update, only Samsung printers were supported.

The Galaxy S4 KitKat update expands wireless printing support to other printer brands, such as HP.

12. Update Google Apps

The Galaxy S4 KitKat update has improved the Google Mobile Service app. You can automatically back up photos and videos on Google+. You can open, view, rename and share documents and files as if they were local files.

What do you think of this Galaxy S4 KitKat update?

And other flagships by Samsung were released very quickly - in early 2015. I never tire of repeating that this is one of the advantages of buying a smartphone from a well-known major manufacturer, and not “exactly the same unknown Chinese, but twice as cheap.” Moreover, consider the relevance of the Galaxy S4 - this is the phone of 2013! And Samsung even intends to upgrade the Galaxy Note II to Android 5.0! This is completely “out of the way” - can you name at least one “Chinese” who is supported 2.5 years after graduation?

In short, the Android 5.0 firmware for my favorite Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 (and even in the Black Edition!) did not arrive in the most efficient way - it was released earlier for the Exynos version of the GT-I9500. And then I had to sew it up myself. But everything went quickly and without any complications. Now I'm sharing how.

Here is a short guide on how to flash Android 5.0 on Galaxy S4:

1. and make sure that the smartphone has enough charge;
2. enter the smartphone into Download Mode (simultaneously pressing the "off" + "volume down" + "home button" keys), then press "Volume up";
3. connect the USB cable to the device;
4. in the Odin application on your computer, select files from the archive with the firmware:
   • for the PIT column - a file with *.pit extension;
   • for PDA - a file whose name contains the word CODE, if there is none, then you should know that this is the heaviest file in the archive;
   • for CSC - a file with the word CSC in its name;
   • for Phone - a file containing MODEM in the name;
   • Note. If the files for the CSC, Phone and PIT graphs are not in the archive with the firmware, then we sew using the single file method only, i.e. indicate the location of the firmware in the PDA column, and leave the rest of the lines empty.
5. make sure that the checkboxes in Odin are checked in the items "Auto Reboot" and "F. reset time". If the location of the *.pit file was specified, then the “Re-Partition” checkbox will be set automatically;
6. press the "Start" button and watch how the firmware process takes place. The phone may reboot several times during installation and in no case should you unplug the cable from it until the Odin log shows “All threads completed” or the green information window with the words “PASS!” lights up.

The firmware update process traditionally takes several minutes (from 5 to 15) and if successful, you will be prompted to configure the smartphone according to your preferences. After that, you can get to work. If you have a question, then immediately go to the second section of this post - everything is described there.

There are not many changes in Android 5.0 on the Galaxy S4, as they are hidden by the TouchWIZ shell. It was not just launched on a new system, it was also redesigned. But in general, it offers exactly the same interface as before, hiding some of the innovations of the fifth version of the "robot". In the case of the Galaxy S4, Samsung's skin is a mix of bare Android 5.0.1 styling and the original TouchWIZ on the S4. Something like this.

All notifications are now displayed on the lock screen - this feature was transferred from pure Android 5 almost unchanged. The ability to launch the camera even on a smartphone locked with a pattern or password has also been added.

The list of recent apps in tabs was simply taken from the system itself, although the panel at the bottom with additional options is a clear "blotch" Samsung.

The notification panel is designed in the style of the mentioned Galaxy S5. Moreover, the changes partially overlap the innovations of Android 5.0. Notifications are also displayed, but the ability to "pull" the toolbar has been eliminated and the standard "Samsung" functionality has been left.

Other changes are less significant. Much remains "under the hood" - we will talk about this in detail. Of course, the standard applications have been redrawn.

The settings are also designed differently, but no more. There is nothing fundamentally new here. Moreover, the division into tabs, which was relevant for the Galaxy S4, was preserved, and a year later it was replaced by a grid of icons.

Many complain about glitches after installing Android 5.0 on Galaxy S4. On glitches, worse autonomy and brakes. From myself I can say that I have not noticed glitches yet, but slight delays in rendering the interface happen. Autonomy is still not worse. But in any case, if your smartphone is not working well after the update, I recommend resetting everything to factory settings. If this does not suit you, you can roll back the Galaxy S4 to Android 4.4.

How to return Android 4.4 to Galaxy S4

Very simple. I specifically highlighted this in a subsection so that it is noticeable. And so you can rollback Galaxy S4 to Android 4.4 in the following way:

1. do step by step all the same as listed above for flashing to Android 5.0.

Yes, that's as simple as that. There is no difference, you just need to specify a different firmware file in Odin. If you still have questions - ask in the comments! And in general, leave your feedback about Android 5.0 for Galaxy S4!

Sooner or later, a moment comes when even a mobile device like the Samsung GT-I9505 Galaxy S4 can become obsolete. In such cases, you can improve the performance of your smartphone with firmware.

Why do you need firmware?

Increasing gadget performance- thanks to the software update, you can improve the technical parameters of the phone, improve the quality of pictures from the camera and increase the processor of the gadget;

• Device troubleshooting- sometimes even the most high-quality and popular models of mobile devices have flaws in the software. Thus, you can get rid of errors and various other glitches;
• Expanding the functionality of your phone– you can significantly increase the functionality of the mobile device.

How to flash GT-I9505?

If you follow all the instructions for the firmware listed below, then in the very near future your mobile device will significantly increase its functionality.

1. Charge your smartphone;
2. Create a directory on your hard drive to upload files. An important point is that the name of the catalog should not contain Cyrillic characters;
3. Download all the files needed for the firmware. Before downloading, it is recommended to disable the antivirus;
4. If on your personal computer, then it should either be deleted or disabled (to do this, launch the task manager using ctrl + alt + del combinations of numbers and end all processes marked with Kies);
5. Install the necessary drivers, or rather SAMSUNG USB Driver for Mobile Phones v1.5.29.0.exe;
6. Extract the files from the archive to the directory you created earlier. To do this, download and unzip Odin3_v3.09 and I9505XXUFNA1 (firmware for Samsung Galaxy C4);
7. Your next action will be to launch your mobile device in Download Mode. To do this, turn off your smartphone. Next, press the key combination "Power", "Volume down" and "Home". After you see the pop-up window, press the "Volume Up" button. If you saw a green robot on the display of your phone, then you did everything right;
8. Connect your smartphone to a personal computer;
9. Launch Odin3 v3.09;
10. In an open program, you must go to the PDA. Next, you need to find and select the I9505XXUFNA1_I9505OXAFNA1_I9505XXUFNA1_HOME.tar.md5 file. The important point is that the re-partition checkbox should NOT be checked;
11. Click on the "Start" button;
12. After installation, you need to start the gadget in recovery mode (this can be done using the key combination "Power", "Volume up" and "Home"). Next, you need to perform the wipe / factory reset action;
13. Restart your smartphone.

Conclusion

It should be noted that all the files necessary for the firmware must be installed over the original version of the mobile device software.