Motorola's first generation Moto G is enjoying the addition of the Android 4.4.4 Kitkat update this week for U.S. customers, but the popular smartphone may be seeing the latest operating system, Lollipop, sooner than expected.
While the latest Nexus devices are getting updated to Android 5.0 next week, Motorola's 2013 Moto G is just now seeing the jump to 4.4.4 that was originally released for flagship devices on June 19, 2014.
Android 4.4.4 is the last version of 2013's 4.4 Kitkat that fixed OpenSSL and CCS vulnerabilities within the original software. It's available for the Moto G through the over-the-air (OTA) feature and runs about 21 MB.
The 2013 edition of the Moto G is a 3G-only variant for both the U.S. and international markets. The original first gen Moto G in the U.S. was one of the last phones released before Kitkat was made available, and one of the last to receive the 4.4.4 update, so it's been a long wait for users. It originally launched with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean when it hit the market in November of 2013, but its 1.2 GHz quad-core processor and 1 GB of RAM is ready for the jump to 5.0 Lollipop.
The second generation Moto G, which shipped with the 4.4.4 update, was released in September of 2014. The Moto G is Motorola's best-selling smartphone ever, as well as the top selling smartphone in both Mexico and Brazil after only six months on the market.
This upgrade to 4.4.4 seems to be paving the road for the newly launched 5.0 Lollipop that brings a new Material Design interface, more efficient runtime processing and battery life, and performance improvements.
Many insiders believe that Motorola is catching all previous Moto devices up to unleash 5.0 Lollipop simultaneously. The landing page on the company's website hasn't budged since it was first revealed last month, but the tech giant did still confirm that Lollipop is coming to both the first and second generations of the Moto X, Moto G with 4G LTE, the budget model Moto E, the Droid Ultra, Droid Maxx, and Droid Mini.
