Ohh what a features of Android KitKat 4.4

We already wrote about the notable features of KitKat, however this will be a more detailed article about what you can expect in the new version. As you probably know Android operating system powers one billion smartphones and tablets across the globe. But things just got sweeter with the launch of KitKat. In Google's words “Android KitKat brings all of Android's most innovative, most beautiful, and most useful features to more devices everywhere.” While KitKat can work with different RAM, as well as devices with low 512MB limit, this new version is definitely much more agile and responsive to changes. In this article, I will be discussing new features of Android that will help both developers and users alike.

Full-Screen Immersive mode

Now you can take advantage of the very last pixel on the screen. Be it smartphone or tablet, Android 4.4 adopts a full-screen immersive mode that allows you to create UIs reaching from edge to edge, hiding all menu and navigation bars and chrome to create a full screen app for users. This feature simply conceals entire system interface even while users are interacting with your app or game. You can eliminate all forms of visual distraction for richer user experience. It comes across as a very handy feature news app, e-readers, books, videos, and games. KitKat has a new gesture where a user can reveal navigation, menus and buttons by swiping from top or bottom.

Animate Between Scenes

KitKat 4.4 allows developers to animate between different events within the app by utilizing a new transitions framework. This framework allows developers to define and animate scenes based on the time a user enters or exits app. So now you can provide features such as fades, resizing, and much more. You can automatically manage animations and transitions by a feature called TransitionManager which allows you to set specific scenes.

Screen Recording

Now developers can create video of apps from an Android device. The screen recording utility lets you capture video of your app and save as an MP4 file. You can record at any device-supported resolution and share directly from the device to computer for post-production. You can access screen recording function from Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool in the Android SDK or via Android Studio integrated developer environment.

Near Field Communications Platform Support

Host Card Emulation (HCE) in Android 4.4 supports Near Field Communications (NFC) transactions. This feature enables Android NFC device to be used for secure mobile payments and no provisioned secure element (SE) in the device is needed. Application Identifier (AID) can route various NFC function from the hardware in a device to the right app. While HCE does not eliminate the need for an NFC chip in a device, it essentially makes NFC compliant and widely available.

Print API

Printing with Android gets a lot easier. With KitKat, your Android apps will print content either through a Wi-Fi setup or the cloud. Android 4.4 has introduced native platform support along with application programming interfaces for new types of printer support. Now it will be easy for printer makers to make their devices compatible using APIs and build apps available in Google Play for users to download for specific printers.

Infrared Blasters

Ever thought of controlling your electronic devices from your smartphone? Well, here is your chance. Now developers can tap into the fact that if your Android phone has infrared support, the application programming interface will tune the frequency from the phone to the remote it is pointed at.

New Bluetooth Profiles

Android KitKat 4.4 supports two new Bluetooth profiles that lets apps support a broader range of low-power and media interactions. Bluetooth HID over GATT (HOGP) gives apps a low-latency link with low-power peripheral devices whereas Bluetooth MAP lets apps exchange messages with a device in near location.

Translucent system UI styling

Now you can maximize the impact of your content with all new window styles and themes for translucent system UI. Subtle gradients are shown behind the system bars to ensure that navigation bar buttons or status bar information are legible.

Conclusion: KitKat marks a significant step forward for Android and aims at changing the ways users interact with Android phones and tablets. This new operating system makes Android far more receptive to change and less robotic. It understands pulse of the user and simplify android app developer's life for sure. Certainly so far KitKat is developer's delight.

Android ‘Master Key’ Security Hole Puts 99% Of Devices At Risk Of Exploitation

Mobile security startup Bluebox Security has unearthed a vulnerability in Android’s security model which it says means that the nearly 900 million Android phones released in the past four years could be exploited, or some 99% of Android devices. The vulnerability has apparently been around since Android v1.6 (Donut), and was disclosed by the firm to Google back in February. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has already apparently been patched.

It’s likely that Google is working on a patch for the vulnerability. We’ve reached out to the company for comment and will update this story with any response.

Bluebox intends to detail the flaw at the Black Hat USA conference at the end of this month but in the meanwhile it’s written a blog delving into some detail. The vulnerability apparently allows a hacker to turn a legitimate app into a malicious Trojan by modifying APK code without breaking the app’s cryptographic signature. Bluebox says the flaw exploits discrepancies in how Android apps are cryptographically verified and installed. Specifically it allows a hacker to change an app’s code, leaving its cryptographic signature unchanged — thereby tricking Android into believing the app itself is unchanged, and allowing the hacker to wreak their merry havoc.

The flaw is made worse if an attacker targets a sub-set of apps developed by device makers themselves, or third parties — such as Cisco with its AnyConnect VPN app — that work closely with device makers and are granted system UID access. This sub-set of apps can allow a hacker to tap into far more than just mere app data, with the potential to steal passwords and account info and take over the normal running of the phone. Here’s how Bluebox explains it:

"Installation of a Trojan application from the device manufacturer can grant the application full access to Android system and all applications (and their data) currently installed. The application then not only has the ability to read arbitrary application data on the device (email, SMS messages, documents, etc.), retrieve all stored account & service passwords, it can essentially take over the normal functioning of the phone and control any function thereof (make arbitrary phone calls, send arbitrary SMS messages, turn on the camera, and record calls). Finally, and most unsettling, is the potential for a hacker to take advantage of the always-on, always-connected, and always-moving (therefore hard-to-detect) nature of these “zombie” mobile devices to create a botnet.

While 99% of Android phones being technically vulnerable to app hackers is a tough stat to ignore, it’s worth emphasising that just because such a flaw (apparently) exists it doesn’t mean it has or will be widely exploited — especially as, in this instance, it has been flagged to Google prior to being made public. And Google is presumably hard at work on a fix.

That said, the nature of the Android ecosystem does slow down the patching process. On the fix front, Bluebox notes that it will be up to device manufacturers to “produce and release firmware updates for mobile devices (and furthermore for users to install these updates)”, adding: “The availability of these updates will widely vary depending upon the manufacturer and model in question.”

Getting timely OS updates has always been a problem for Android users (Nexus owners are the exception), owing to Android’s openness necessarily encouraging variation and fragmentation within the ecosystem, with different manufacturer skins and carrier additions all standing in the way and delaying updates. That likely means the window of risk attached to this latest Android vulnerability takes longer to close for the majority of users than many would be comfortable with.

In the meantime, Bluebox advises the following:

• Device owners should be extra cautious in identifying the publisher of the app they want to download.
• Enterprises with BYOD implementations should use this news to prompt all users to update their devices, and to highlight the importance of keeping their devices updated.
• IT should see this vulnerability as another driver to move beyond just device management to focus on deep device integrity checking and securing corporate data.

Android is often linked with malware — not because there’s a high actual risk of users being infected with malware but because, in relative terms, it’s the biggest target for mobile malware writers, being as it’s the dominant mobile OS. It’s also not as locked down as some other mobile platforms, making it an easier target for hackers. Yet its worth stressing that mobile malware remains a very marginal risk, even for Android users, and especially if you’re a mainstream user getting your apps from the likes of Google Play, rather than alternative third-party app stores or routes.

This latest Android security flaw adds to the general low-level risk attached to using Android but how widely it ends up being exploited by malware writers remains to be seen — so how much more actual risk it introduces into the ecosystem is hard to quantify.

Update: According to a report in CIO, Google has already modified its Play Store’s app entry process so that apps that have been modified using this exploit are blocked and can no longer be distributed via Play.