Sony breaks off piece of KitKat update for 3 more Xperia handsets

sincity · March 19, 2014

Android 4.4 KitKat has been washing across Sony's Xperia lineup like a tidal wave of late, and the manufacturer has a little hump day surprise lined up for three additional smartphones, with plenty more on the way.

Sony Mobile today announced the release of an Android 4.4 KitKat software update for the company's Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1 and Xperia Z1 Compact smartphones, finally delivering the latest and tastiest flavor of Google's mobile OS to date.

Although Sony notes "timing & availability may vary by market & carrier," the KitKat release is at least officially official as of Wednesday, and promises to bring a host of improvements to Xperia owners.

The changes range from tweaked Status Bar and Quick Settings along with a user interface echoing that of the new PlayStation 4 and updates to all of Sony's built-in apps, including the WALKMAN and Album and Movies apps with Sony Entertainment Network cloud integration.

A tasty treat

Sony smartphone fans will also will able to dress up their Z Ultra, Z1 or Z1 Compact with new downloadable Xperia Themes, which can spruce up the user interface with upwards of 280 fresh assets in a variety of styles.

And that's not all: Sony has also committed to second quarter KitKat updates for Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Tablet Z and Xperia ZR devices, along with future Android 4.4 plans for Xperia T2 Ultra, Xperia E1 and Xperia M2 models. (Whew!)

In a separate announcement today, Motorola also delivered good news for its Moto X customers on the AT&T network in the US, with the rollout of Android 4.4.2 KitKat as an over-the-air update.

Once updated, AT&T Moto X owners will enjoy the ability to print documents or photos, improved battery life, the end of email sync delays and a fix for a bug causing data connectivity issues when roaming outside of the US.