Good news if you have a Nexus S -- Android Jelly Bean is on its way as an over-the-air download. Google made the announcement on its Google Plus page, saying owners in "most countries" will be able to access it.
So new features like Google Now and the improved Voice Search will be yours before too long. Excellent.
"We've started rolling out Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, to Nexus S phones on a number of carriers including T-Mobile, H3G, O2, Rogers as well as Vodafone in most countries, with more to come," reads the post. "Enjoy!"
There's no exact date given, but you should see that magical little download notification popping up any day now. Let us know as soon as you do, as well as what you reckon of Jelly Bean.
The Jelly Bean roll-out is just starting to gather momentum. The Nexus 7 -- which comes with Jelly Bean -- started shipping to lucky punters this week. HTC also announced yesterday it'll be bringing the latest version of Android to its One X and One S handsets, though again it didn't give an exact date. But still, it's a start.
Now all we need is for Motorola, Samsung, LG and the rest to get their acts together and bring Jelly Bean to more than the select few devices already announced. But considering the Nexus S is quite an old handset, it's encouraging, hinting that maybe ageing phones won't be left out.
Jelly Bean has a faster frame rate, is more responsive,and has a new Voice Search function that's been redesigned from the ground up, offering a real rival to Apple's Siri digital butler. Google Now also knows where you are and predicts what info you could need, which is bound to be a huge help. For a more detailed breakdown, check out the changelog Google published.
Has your Nexus S seen the update yet? Let me know in the comments or over on our Facebook page.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Comments 19
Add your comment
anonymous 21 July, 2012 10:19
Got my Nexus S updated this morning. However had to Go to Setting>manage apps>Google Services Framework and then click clear data. Then go to Settings>about phone>check for updates. I had to do this at least three times before the update showed up. So you might have to do it a few times before getting the update. Great update and working extremely well, fast, smooth and buttery as advertised.
anonymous 21 July, 2012 10:33
Haha! Props to the above user for that little trick, clearing the google services data! Worked a charm and got it straight after a restart! Downloading now!
Thanks!
anonymous 21 July, 2012 12:09
W00t! Thanks for tip on clearing data had to do it a few times and I kicked in a couple of reboots and I'm now a Jelly Bean :-)
Right of to play...
anonymous 21 July, 2012 14:35
Welcome guys! I'm happy to have helped a couple people out.
anonymous 21 July, 2012 17:38
wicked works a treat on a couple of goes - had to force stop the second time
Jason2808 21 July, 2012 22:08
I received the Jelly Bean update yesterday evening on my Nexus S. Seems to be working well and Google Now doing it's stuff. I feel that the next OS upgrade may be a step too far for the Nexus S. As I am out of contract at the end of the year, I'm hoping the next Google phone will be out then with a Quad core. Keep up the good work, Google.
anonymous 22 July, 2012 02:10
I force stopped the service and triggered the update on the second go. Says wifi-only till july 23rd and once ready to reboot the build took about 3 minutes. You get a fancy android robot with a rotating cube in its belly while you wait, which is better when ICS when I had a completely blank screen for 5 nervous minutes.The bootlogo is now a minimalist glowing X which is a tad dull after the bling of ICS and gingerbread and then it spends another 5 minutes "optimising apps", but again it shows progress as it runs.
Inital impressions of butter are that its a subtle change. in fact I wonder if screens take as long to come up but the appearance animation makes things look smoother.
voice recognition engine seems much better. but what it does with that is still a mixed bag. some things set commands on the phone and some go straight to google search, with no apparent consistancy. so I can set an alarm with a voice command, but a request to write a txt caused 2 minutes of "loading" and then a fail message.
update: butter is faster- it just took a while for the phone to settle down.
the wierd bug whereby the people app formats numbers and then the phone fails to recongise them seems fixed.
I wish they would allow you to disable the emailing of guests when you add them to an appointment. Or at least check with you before emailing them!
anonymous 22 July, 2012 14:46
I live in Nigeria and cannot even upgrade my galaxy S2 to ICS... Dunno if it's cos of the location or whether samsung were telling porky pies when they said the upgrade was available to the S2... Please help!
anonymous 22 July, 2012 17:36
Just got the 4.1 update on 3uk for my nexus s after doing the clear data trick described above. Seems far faster. Over the moon. My front camera hasn't worked since 2.3 and it still doesn't, but no biggie. Thanks for the tip! Woot!
anonymous 23 July, 2012 03:10
i got the update last night.I'm really unhappy with it. it doesn't work properly. it's slow and the google search widget is messed up. it tells me that i have network problems and then connects.
anonymous 23 July, 2012 09:44
I have a Nexus S with ICS 4.0.4. I wanted to try the clear cache trick mentioned above. But in the Settings -> Apps, I do not find an App named Google Services Framework. However, under the "Running" tab, I found "Google Services" as an entry. When I clicked it, it shows two sub services named "NetworkLocationService" and "GoogleMessagingService" with buttons for Stop and Report. I dont find any clear data button. Am I missing something?
anonymous 23 July, 2012 11:52
Thanks for the data clearing tip!!
To the poster who can't see Google Services Framework: you need to get to the right most screen which shows ALL your apps - it is listed there.
anonymous 23 July, 2012 19:52
Updated my nexus s in hong kong.
anonymous 23 July, 2012 21:20
Updated to Jelly Bean yesterday on my Nexus S on the TELUS network. Now my email will not work with any account other than Gmail. I tried searching for issues with the update prior, so maybe this is the first
anonymous 24 July, 2012 07:56
I got my Nexus S update, yesterday night. My provider is BASE DE (Germany)
anonymous 24 July, 2012 11:03
Got it on GiffGaff in UK (virtual network piggybacking off O2 network) on my Nexus S. Tried the framework clear data trick several times and nothing. Didn't even seem to register anything when I clicked check for updates. Left the phone overnight and then when I tried it, it worked straight away. So to all those struggling - maybe try sleeping on it....
anonymous 24 July, 2012 16:04
i didnot recieve tle jellybean update yet , pleasew would u help me to update my phone..
anonymous 25 July, 2012 00:10
I have a larger than average ****.
anonymous 26 July, 2012 20:30
I got Jelly Bean over the air update today (26/7/2012) on Vodafone. Based in Scotland