Samsung Galaxy S3 Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update

Samsung Galaxy S3 owners in South Africa started receiving notifications for an update to a newer version of Android yesterday (20 November 2012).

Although the update is to Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean”, and not the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system (Android 4.2 “Jelly Bean”) which was recently announced, it does include a number of improvements.

Among them is the so-called “Project Butter” – which Google said makes the Android user interface more responsive – and Google Now.

According to the search giant, Google Now “gets you just the right information at just the right time”.

It tries to predict what information you might need and offers services such as the day’s weather and traffic on your route to work.

This is displayed on “cards” that appear automatically when Google predicts you need it.

The update to the new version of Android is available to some users as an over-the-air download.

However, as with other Samsung firmware update releases, the manufacturer seems to be pushing the software through its Kies platform, first.

Direct downloads to the Samsung Galaxy S3 then seem to become available in waves.

Some users have reported downloads stalling through Kies, with a few restarts finally resulting in a successful download.

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