14 DAY TRIAL // Android 4.4 KitKat, the latest flavor of the popular mobile operating system, is being delivered to OEMs without a browser inside, the latest reports on the matter unveil.
The info comes from mobile and web developer and author Maximiliano Firtman (he is certified as a mobile web trainer for various platforms out there), who unveiled this on Twitter.
“I had official confirmation: Android 4.4+ doesn’t ship with any browser, just the WebView. The emulator has it but not real devices,” he noted in a tweet.
“It’s up to each vendor to create a browser app using the WebView (such as Samsung) or to get license to preinstall Chrome,” Maximiliano Firtman continued.
As far as users are concerned, this state of facts does not affect them in a particular manner, as UnwiredView notes.
To be more precise, we should note that Android is being delivered to handset vendors without the Google Apps that users enjoy so much, and that this is how things will be moving forth as well.
Basically, this means that OEMs will have to license these Google Apps to have them loaded on their commercial devices, and the browser is included.
Most mobile phone makers are expected to continue licensing the entire set of Google Apps for their handsets, with either Google Chrome or the stock Android browser in the package. Others, however, might choose to build their own browsers based on the WebView, just as Firtman suggested.
What remains to be seen is whether the lack of a Google browser in Android right from the beginning will allow other browsers out there to gain some more traction on the mobile operating system.
Having no browser pre-loaded in the OS could determine vendors to add the application of their own choice, and there are plenty to choose from, including Firefox, Dolphin, UC Browser, Opera, and more, just to name the most popular of them.