We heard whispers a few months ago that the venerated Samsung Galaxy S2 would be updated to spangly new Android Jelly Bean, but then it all went quiet. Until now, that is, as Samsung has posted some details on its website.
It's its Korean website, admittedly, but if it's coming to our Seoul sisters, surely us Brits with S2s can't have much longer to wait.
The hawk-eyed Android fanatics at XDA Developers spotted the info. The handset can be updated using Kies -- Samsung's app that requires you to plug your phone into your computer. Samsung has revealed how it'll affect your S2 once you upgrade, too. Jelly Bean will take up a fair bit of space, so your memory will drop one gigabyte, from 12GB to 11GB.
It'll come to all three networks in Korea. Google Plus will come as part of the package, along with some Google Play apps and Samsung's own Smart Stay feature, which detects when you're looking at the screen and keeps it lit. Smart Stay debuted on the Galaxy S3.
There's no word on exactly when the update will roll out to Korean S2s, but the fact it's on the website must bode well. Surely it can't be as bad as the palaver of getting Ice Cream Sandwich on an S2.
Jelly Bean is also on its way to the original Galaxy Note, proving it's not just for the newest handsets. The latest version of Android is on 10 per cent of all devices now, which isn't bad going considering it's been out for six months. Android updates are typically pretty slow to trickle down, so I think it's great that older devices aren't being left out of the Jelly Bean jamboree.
Have you had a taste of Jelly Bean yet? What do you reckon? Let me know in the comments, or on our up to date Facebook page.
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anonymous 7 January, 2013 12:42
Cant wait its about f###ing time too, i got the nexus 7 and jelly bean is beutifull,very nice and smooth, super quick and google now is a pleasure to us, my son uses it for his school work when he stuck, just ask a question and it answers you in quite a nice female voice,but a mate of mine sajd you can download other celebrity voices for google now, hope this is truewill have some fun with that....
Eric Manktelow 7 January, 2013 13:22
I'm running Cyanagen 10.1 on my SG2 and I couldn't go back to ICS or (perish the thought) GB.
JB is the best Android yet and fantastic to use and exactly how Android should be.
I would put my phone back to stock for the official update but contract is up in a week so recycling the phone anyway, then it's not my problem.
Damien2501 7 January, 2013 14:18
It's a shame that they can't get ICS on the S1 let alone JB. My contract is up in February and I'm gonna somehow root my S1 and, try and get ICS and JB on it.
anonymous 7 January, 2013 15:41
Im sorry but the time t-moible are ready to release this I will on thw Samsung Galaxy 5
anonymous 8 January, 2013 11:42
The international release is not even close. Dont get too hyped people
AJayF18 8 January, 2013 19:39
Ha, I can't even get the update from GB to ICS to install, let alone JB. Mind you, we are talking Kies here, of course, so what can you expect?
anonymous 8 January, 2013 22:43
I find Cyanogenmod Jelly Bean implementation is really good, but really takes a toll on battery life. I'm running ICS 4.0.4 Koodo ROM.
anonymous 9 January, 2013 04:37
I downloaded ice cream sandwich from you when the last upgrade occurred so I can no longer use KIES - I hope you will be posting an option to upgrade the firmware again, or I am stuck! :-S
anonymous 9 January, 2013 11:04
for those who are having firmware and Kies problems go to www.sammobile.com. you can manually download the latest firmwares from there and install it using Odin.
anonymous 29 January, 2013 10:51
Have been using the test version of JellyBean on my SG2 GT I9100 since it came out and with T-mobile (or EE) and I must say I am impressed.
Still has quite a few bugs considering it is not an official release, the most annoying is definitely the one with the unlocking the screen, sometimes (or most times) the screen takes a while to get responsive when try to unlock it, I've already missed a few calls because of this, but I'm kind of used to it by now.
Never had any problem with my apps or widgets, and being able to use Chrome is the cherry on the top of the cake. Can't wait for the official release
anonymous 27 February, 2013 12:51
Kies is telling me 4.0.1 is the latest version for my SII can i not upgrade to Jelly Bean at the moment in the UK?
anonymous 3 March, 2013 17:49
hi every body
today i updated my software to jelly bean now its 4.1.2 but thing is that after updating my sim network has been locked i don't know its code i want to break it i need help