Moto G Android 4.4 KitKat OTA update launching in the UK

Motorola has confirmed that an over-the-air (OTA) update for the Moto G smartphone is now live in the UK and Germany, bringing the cut-price Android handset up to date with the latest 4.4 KitKat edition of Google’s mobile OS.

The update, which will soon be rolling out across Europe, should be appearing on UK and German Moto G handsets over the next few days. You can check to see if your phone is ready to update by going to Settings -> About Phone -> System Updates. Don’t worry if you see a message saying “Your device is up to date” – it can take a while for the update to reach every handset.

Once it does arrive, you can expect restyled status and navigation bars, a new full-screen mode, colour emoji emoticon support and smarter power use, which could potentially mean improved battery life. Among the list of updated apps, the Phone dialler will now let you look up contacts directly from the dial pad, or tap frequent contacts to search your phonebook.

The Gallery gains new photo editing options including new filter effects, improved cropping, adjustments to colour, exposure and contrast, and the ability to draw on top of your photos. Wireless printing support is now built-in to KitKat with Google Cloud Print too.

Finally, Google’s Hangouts app is now included as standard. Now that it supports SMS and MMS messaging there’s no reason to keep the old Messaging app, although if you prefer to use a different app for texts you can now set the default app under Settings -> Wireless -> Default SMS app.

Whereas Samsung, Sony, HTC and the rest appear to be dragging their feet when it comes to updating their smartphones to KitKat, Motorola is racing ahead with its update schedule. With KitKat onboard, the Moto G is looking like and even greater bargain.