Google Play Services 4.4 Gets Detailed via APK Dissection, Comes With Android Wear Support and Firmware Installer

Google’s I/O event is getting closer and closer and aside from a new Android version, we’re expecting many goodies to appear there. The latest Play Services update has started rolling out in the meantime and this time it’s 4 MB bigger, so there’s stuff to dissect and analyze, which is exactly that Android Police did, so let’s see what they found.

The new release of Play Services asks for 18 new permissions that the 4.3 version did not. Play Services 4.4’s code mentions support for Android Wear and that will automatically appear on every device running Google’s Apps, but it requires at least Android 4.3 to get the best out of the notifications. In the same code found above there were some strings with references to Hangouts, SMS, Google Voice and Google Talk, so something is also happening here.

A merger of Google Voice with Hangouts is being speculated and an API for Hangouts integration is also rumored. Screen mirroring via casting is also shown via strings and new permissions for Google apps have been added, unconventional ones. Google may be exposing more services to third party developers in the future and also adding a confirmation step before granting access to a non Google app.

Finally there’s a firmware updater in Play Services 4.4, that could be a change in how the Nexus devices are updated, allowing Google to change aspects of the firmware update process without flashing a new firmware.