The Italian website TuttoAndroid has somehow managed to score several images of a Nexus 5 running Android 4.4 KitKat. Never mind the fact that both the next Nexus and KitKat will be announced by the end of the month, and that between now and then there will be more leaks than you can shake a stick at, let’s focus on what’s new.
First, the status bar. It’s now transparent. Before it used to be black. Then it used to be see-through. Now it’s just gone. Just like iOS 7. Second, the app drawer. It used to have a black background, but now that’s gone. Instead, you’ll see your wallpaper. Just like iOS. Third, the widgets are now no longer in the app drawer, you have to long press the menu key to get to them. That’s not like iOS 7, I’ll grant you that. Fourth, you know how in iOS there’s a little camera icon on the lock screen that you can swipe and start taking photos? That’s now in Android. And finally fifth, for the longest time, iOS had this thing where if you swiped to the left of your homescreen, you were presented with a search UI. Doing the same gesture in Android now brings up that very same search UI.
Is it a bad thing that Google is copying Apple? Not in the slightest believe. I fundamentally believe, at a core level, that ideas are worthless. Implementation is everything. Apple “copied” Android’s notification shade, but they did a horrible job. Google can copy everything from iOS, but if it sucks, then it sucks. That’s not Apple’s fault, it’s Google’s fault. Anyway, we’ll see more soon. That much I can promise you. Update: Three more screenshots.
