Samsung have been doing a pretty good job of keeping their devices updated, both the Galaxy S III and the Note II are running Jelly Bean and while they might not be running 4.2, it’s more than can be said for most other devices from folks like HTC et al. Keeping your current flagships up-to-date is to be expected and it’s a shame that only Samsung seem to be able to do it but when we talk about older devices it’s less common for manufacturers to keep them updated but, Samsung are more than happy to keep the Galaxy S II chugging along.
We heard that Samsung would be finally bringing the update to Galaxy S II users in Asia but now it looks like it’s starting to get around to Europe as well, with the update going live for those in Spain. Updates are updates and they’re nothing too special but for a phone that has its 2nd Birthday coming up soon it’s really good to see Samsung continuing to update it. The S II still has a lot of loyal users out there and if you signed up to a 2-year contract you might be keeping it for another few months yet. Which is why it’s also nice to see that Samsung are bringing over some of the features of the Note II and Galaxy S III, in the form of their Nature UX.
The update will top the S II up to Android version 4.1.2 and bring with it the TouchWiz Nature UX first seen on the Galaxy S III last year. So, along with all the enhancements present in Jelly Bean such as expandable notifications, Google Now and Project Butter S II users are in for a treat. Features such as Smart Stay, Direct Call and Pop-up Play are making the jump down to 2011’s flagship. Samsung seem to be the only manufacturer doing something like this and it’s good to even see it at all.
We hope that the update doesn’t take too long to make its way to the States but with the carriers traditionally getting in the way more in the U.S. than in Europe it could be a long wait.
[Source: XDA]