At the moment the latest version of Android KitKat is version 4.4.2. So far it seems that there has not been any mention as to whether Google could be releasing more updates for KitKat before Android 4.5, but according to reports, it seems that Google could have one or two more updates left for KitKat before the next major Android refresh.
According to Myce who spotted the KTU65 Android build running on the Nexus 5, they speculate that this could be an update that has yet to be released. In fact according to their breakdown of the build, they suspect that the build could have been dated on the 6th of March 2014, suggesting that it is a very recent build.
So how did they arrive at this conclusion? Based on their breakdown, “According to the convention the first letter is the codename of the release family (e.g. ‘K’ for KitKat). The second letter is a branch code that allows Google to identify the exact code branch that the build was made from, and ‘R’ is by convention the primary release branch. The next letter and two digits are a date code. The letter counts quarters, with ‘A’ being Q1 2009. Therefore, ‘F’ is Q2 2010. The two digits count days within the quarter, so F85 is June 24th, 2010. Finally, the last letter identifies individual versions related to the same date code, sequentially starting with ‘A’; ‘A’ is actually implicit and usually omitted for brevity.”
Seems pretty detailed but if they are right, it looks like Google has a new update in the works that has yet to be released. It is unclear what sort of changes/fixes this alleged update will contain, but if we had to speculate, perhaps it could be a fix for the Nexus 5’s camera issue.
The issue was reported on the 5th of March so it doesn’t seem like a stretch to think Google had begun work the very next day, right? For those unfamiliar with the camera issue, it’s basically where the phone’s CPU will be maxed out whenever the camera app is launched. This causes the phone to get hot and causes a huge amount of battery drain.
Not everyone has experienced the problem for themselves, but it seems that it is affecting a fair amount of users out there, so hopefully this KTU65 update will be able to address it.