Z1 Upgraded to KitKat 4.4.4

Yesterday, i saw a tweet from Sony that they are releasing Android KitKat update (4.4.4) to all Xperia Z1, Z, and Z Ultra after releasing it for Z1 compact a day earlier. This is really a surprise for me, as usually Sony is not that fast on bringing updates to their product (well, based on their KitKat update history). I'm suspecting that because it fixed a critical security issues and also the long-lasting camera bug that consumed a lot of resources when activated.

Anyway, i decided to take this chance to upgrade my Z1 to the latest Android release and the upgrade was done successfully, but i haven't really tested the camera issues. I did the upgrade using Sony PC Companion. For OTA users, you will have to wait further before it arrives on your phone.


Here are the notes from Sony's website:

• Android 4.4.4 including the latest enhancements and security updates from Google
• Updated and improved camera experience
• Improvements when using Google voice, Contacts, Music streaming and Google+
• The latest versions of our Sony apps for you to enjoy
• All of our latest bug fixes, optimisations & improvements

Opera 24 for Linux Users

Ever since Opera switched from their own rendering engine to Webkit last year, they left Linux users without any new release of Opera. Until today!!!

Opera has just announced that they are bringing back Linux support for their Opera Developer 24. So far, they only tested it on a single platform: Ubuntu Linux 64-bit with Unity or Gnome Shell. It may work on other platforms, but that’s not guaranteed.

Here's the screenshot for the latest Opera release for Linux. 

 

I haven't tried this on Slackware Linux though

Skype Update for Linux

After some time, finally Microsoft/Skype is updating Skype for Linux with a new 4.3 release, announced on their blog.

This changes brings many new features and changes:

• An updated UI
• Our new cloud-based Group Chat experience
• More reliable file transfer support when using multiple devices at once
• Greater accessibility by blind and visually impaired users
• PulseAudio 3.0 and 4.0 support
• Lot of bug fixes

Meanwhile, there's also a drawback on this new version:

• This version dropped support for direct Alsa support; please install PulseAudio 4.0 or greater for the best calling experience.

You can install the new Skype using the same Skype SlackBuild script available on SBo. You only need to edit the VERSION line or override it on the fly using VERSION=4.3.0.37 sh ./skype.SlackBuild