Video Playback Performance Decreased in Android 4.4 KitKat

The latest version of Google’s mobile Operating System, Android 4.4 KitKat, was expected like the second coming or something.  Google “pwomised, mr. Frodo” a significant increase in the overall performance of the OS, yet I have some bad news for you : even if the claim about a  performance boost in your updated Android device is somehow true , well, when it turns to video-playback performance, guess what : Android 4.4 KitKat fails to impress, and actually it performs poorer than JellyBean. And, that sucks, at least for me, because I think I am addicted to YouTube and LiveLeak. A new study released by OptaFidelity suggests that user experience has worsened in the Android 4.4 KitKat, and by a long shot. OptaFidelity scrutinized the video playback capabilities of the Android 4.4 KitKat using a Google Nexus 7 tablet, both the 2012 and the 2013 versions. The Nexus 7 was running HD content, before and after the Android 4.4 KitKat upgrade. The test analyzed the playback capabilities of 720p videos, at 30/60 frames per second and also 1080p@/30/60 frames per second. I bet you would have been expecting the Android 4.4 KitKat to perform better than JellyBean, but to everyone’s surprise, it did not. According to the same study, the overall performance of both the Nexus 7 tablets, after the OS update, was decreased. The decreased performance translates into dropped frames, delay error between frames, the overall smoothness of the video playback. You can check out the results for yourself, just click here for the PDF spec sheet.