The Galaxy Note II is coming fast to carriers across the nation but that doesn’t mean that Samsung has forgotten about the phone that started the phablet craze in the first place. The South Korean company has been readying a Jelly bean update for the device and just like it did with the Galaxy S III, an early build of the update has leaked out. It’s worth mentioning right away that the build is far from complete and the kernel appears to be a little wonky so, don’t go down this rabbit hole unless you have no fear.
When it comes to the update itself, there are the usual things you’ve come to expect from Jelly Bean such as the inclusion of Project Butter and expanding notifications. There’s talk of some added motion gestures as well, something I presume has made the jump from the Galaxy SIII. It’s hardly surprising to see such a leak when Samsung of Sweden outed the update as coming by Q4 of 2012, leaving only 2 months for Sammy to get their head in gear. If they can get the update out soon it’ll also be a boon for Samsung to show their customers that they do provide decent enough support for their phones. Making a potential upgrade to a Galaxy Note II a more enticing proposition. Besides, the longer they keep the Galaxy Note up-to-date then the more likely those on 2-year contracts will be to upgrade to the third iteration of this giant phone. With an update to Jelly Bean it’d make the only Samsung phone to go through three different versions of Android since the original Samsung Galaxy S.
If you really can’t wait and you need to see how you can get your hands on this as soon as possible then head over to XDA to gain more info. If anything, I doubt the wait will be much longer after all, with the Note II launch imminent I’m sure Samsung will want to flex their Android muscle with an update.