Samsung made the announcement at the UNPACKED Episode 2 Event that the S4 would see the Android 4.3 update rolling out sometime in October – well that time has come! Samsung has started rolling out the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean upgrade to the Galaxy S4 LTE model I9505. Samsung is usually a little later in updating its device, however, they generally are fairly bug-free and stable due to their thorough R&D testing. There was a leaked version a few days ago, but this is the one officially blessed by Samsung.
There are not many changes to the visual look of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean; most of the changes involve features and improvements added within the OS. SamMobile claims that the device feels faster and its benchmark scores have significantly improved. Samsung does not give an official change log for its updates, but the folks at SamMobile gave us a list of the changes they did notice:
CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN ANDROID 4.3 UPDATE:
- OpenGL 3.0 Support
- GALAXY GEAR Support
- TRIM Support (Makes the device much faster)
- ANT+ Support
- Samsung KNOX Implementation (KNOX bootloader and dedicated application)
- Samsung Wallet comes pre-loaded
- Improved RAM management
- Improved Display color reproduction (Display looks much sharper than before)
- Improved TouchWiz Launcher (Much less launcher redraws and less lag)
- New Samsung Keyboard
- New Samsung Browser (Full screen by default, new tab interface and more)
- New Reading Mode (Optimizes display for reading, used by only a few specific applications)
- New Camera firmware
- Minor UI tweaks (Contacts app, Flashlight Widget, dialog boxes etc.)
As with all major updates, Samsung is rolling Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out in phases, so it may not be available to you immediately, but it should arrive very soon. Remember that Samsung has approved this update, but your specific carrier has to “approve” it as well before Samsung can release it to your device. Right now, the update is said to be rolling out in Germany, so other parts of Europe should be following shortly.
To update your Galaxy S4 to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, you can either connect your S4 to your computer and use KIES or simply use Samsung’s OTA by going to “Settings” -> “More” -> “About Phone” -> “Software Update” ->”Update.”
Let us know if you are one of the lucky ones that received the update, and what you think about it in our comments section or on Google+.