An amazing phone experience is more than just the physical device you hold in your hand. We know that the complete phone experience is about both the software and the hardware. And we believe that your software should continually evolve to get better and better and keep you on the cutting edge.

We are excited to announce some icing on top of the, well, KitKat. Starting today, we are rolling out Android™ 4.4.3, KitKat®, which was just released by Google.

This week we begin rolling out to:

• Moto X T-Mobile users
• Moto G users who bought online in the U.S. (includes Moto G 4G LTE) and at retail in Brazil
• Moto E users who bought online in the U.S. For Moto E users, you are still up for the next major Android update as well. Consider this the cherry on top.

This latest software update brings an improved dialer with a new interface and new colors to enhance consistency and usability, as well as several stability, framework, security fixes, and enhancements to the power profile capabilities.

Motorola users will also enjoy:

• Improved camera image quality for Moto X including better consistency of exposure, more realistic flash coloring, and improved photos in low light conditions using front camera. 
• For Moto X and Moto G, pausing for video recording with a convenient pause/resume button on the viewfinder.
• Motorola Alert in this update for Moto X and Moto G users. This new app helps give peace of mind by sending periodic messages to the contacts you choose.

Check our release notes for Moto X, Moto G, and Moto E for more detailed information.

Wondering when new software updates will come to you? Please check our software upgrades page for the latest information.

Posted by Steve Horowitz, SVP, Software Engineering

Last week we hosted our Moto E Hangout on Air, and your questions and comments had an energizing effect on us. It inspired us as we’ve worked on the most recent slew of updates. These have included Help, Contextual Services, and even Alert, which we’re expanding after just announcing it two weeks ago.

Here’s the latest Download:

More languages for Motorola Alert - After launching Motorola Alert on Moto E a few weeks ago, we added seven more supported languages with this latest update. This increases the number of additional languages and dialects supported from 28 to 35, adding support for Nordic languages, as well as for Arabic and Hebrew.

Under the hood optimization - We’ve made some under-the-hood improvements to Motorola Contextual Services and Motorola Modality Services, which power many of the experiences in Motorola Assist. Look forward to some news coming for Assist soon!

A new design for Help - We built Moto E with the idea of increasing access to smartphones for people everywhere. To welcome our new users, we thought we’d make Motorola Help even easier to use. This new update provides a new, cleaner home screen design that’s easier to navigate. We also added new topics specifically geared toward providing information for new Android users (welcome!).

Kernel Sources for Moto E - We are happy to announce the kernel sources for Moto E and RAZR-M/HD (Android™ 4.4.2, KitKat®) are now on Github. Knock yourselves out!

Many of these updates were inspired by feedback from you. We really value your feedback. So, please tell us what you think on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter using the hashtag #askMoto.

Posted by Punit Soni, Product Management

You could say it’s been an exciting past few weeks for us at Motorola. Just days ago, we hosted launch events in six countries across the world to introduce the latest addition to our smartphone family, Moto E.

But we’re not stopping there. We want everybody to have the chance to learn more about Moto E. That’s why we’re hosting a Hangout on Air next week Thursday, 5/22, at noon PT. VP of Product Marketing Steve Sinclair and Product Manager Bill Park will be here to answer your questions about Moto E’s hardware and software experiences.

This is your chance to ask questions, share comments, and converse with our product experts in real time. To submit your question, all you have to do is include your question or comment on our Google+, Facebook, or on Twitter using the hashtag #AskMoto.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the latest software we’ve announced in the past few weeks:

• MMS with Motorola Connect - Now you can do more with Motorola Connect, the desktop extension that allows you send and reply to texts from your phone. The new update lets you receive and reply to pictures and group messages (MMS) from your computer, so you can stay on one screen instead of juggling many. This is in addition to other enhancements, like contacts matching and number formatting.
• Seasonal startup animations! - We launched two new startup animations recently for Moto X and Moto G globally. Which one your phone gets depends on the season for your hemisphere. So, for example, if you’re in Sao Paulo you will enjoy a fall bootup animation, while those in San Francisco will see a spring one. They’ll swap when the season changes. 
• Find peace of mind with Motorola Alert - We all have people in our lives who care about us and want to know that we’re safe. Motorola Alert will put them at ease by keeping you in touch with your closest contacts. This new software experience does three things: 1) Automatically alert those closest to you when you’ve left or arrived at a specific location; 2) Send an SMS to close contacts when you want them to meet you somewhere or if you want to keep them updated on your location periodically; 3) Quickly sound an alarm when or speed-dial an emergency number that you set up in an emergency. Alert will be available first on Moto E and will be coming to other devices soon via the Google Play Store.
• SIMS get smarter - As another example of Motorola experiences that solve consumer problems, we created a solution for our dual SIM devices which are available in several key markets. With Moto E, we’re introducing Dual SIM with intelligent calling. This new feature learns from your patterns of use and automatically selects the preferred SIM when calling a specific contact. For example, if your call history shows that you always use SIM 1 to call your parents, Moto E will make sure to automatically use SIM 1 whenever you call them. In Brazil, we’ve taken this experience even further. Dual SIM with intelligent calling will automatically select a SIM based not only on your usage pattern, but also on your contact's carrier. Read the FAQs to learn more.

Let’s not end the conversation here. Ask us your questions and tell us what you think for the Hangout on Air Next Week. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Posted by Punit Soni, Product Management