We heard the rumor yesterday and now it looks like our dreams have come to pass! Sprint's Galaxy S III will be receiving an OTA Jelly Bean upgrade starting today. Of course, this also bring a new TouchWiz update as well, but fortunately, things like Google Now and widget organization magic will remain intact. Here's the changelog:
Jelly Bean offers users a smoother, faster and more fluid experience with expanded feature functionality, including:
- Google Now™ gets you just the right information at just the right time, like how much traffic to expect before you leave for work or when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform. Google Now can be launched by pressing and holding the menu key from the home screen.
- Expandable, actionable notifications allowing you to take action directly from the notifications shade.
- Android Beam™ now lets you send photos and more.
- Widgets work like magic as you place widgets on the screen, everything else automatically moves to make room; when they're too big, widgets resize on their own.
Samsung also added new capabilities to Galaxy S III, including:
- Camera Enhancements:
- New live camera and camcorder filters offer a range of new ways to spark your creativity. Warm vintage, cold vintage, black and white, sepia, color highlights (blue, green, red/yellow), and many more are selectable from the main camera screen.
- Pause and resume while recording video allows users to string together multiple captured video clips from a party, birthday, or sporting event into a single file with no post editing required.
- Low light photo mode takes advantage of Galaxy S III’s best-in-class High Dynamic Range (HDR) capabilities and offers an optimized mode for low light and indoor photos.
- Pop Up Play Update easily resizes or pauses the Pop Up Play picture-in-picture video window, taking full advantage of Galaxy S III’s powerful processor and large 4.8-inch display.
- Easy Mode is a simplified user experience option for first-time smartphone owners, providing large home screen widgets that focus on the device essentials.
- Blocking Mode can disable incoming calls, notifications, alarms and LED indicators for a designated period of time.
- Improved Usability with access to multiple keyboard options and the addition of the Swype® keyboard.
With the Jelly Bean update, Galaxy S III will also add support for some exciting new accessories.
- AllShare® Cast Wireless Hub allows users to wirelessly mirror their phone screen to any HDTV or HDMI® display. It even supports licensed content playback of premium TV and movies.
- NFC One Touch Pairing Support pairs Galaxy S III with supporting NFC Bluetooth® accessories in a single touch.
You know how OTAs work, of course. Wait your turn and once your device makes it to the head of the queue, set aside a few minutes for a restart. In addition to Jelly Bean, the upgrade also brings "LTE selection improvements" which we assume means the device will get smarter about picking which of Sprint's two LTE towers in your town to connect to*.
Update: Samsung has also open sourced the kernel for Sprint's Galaxy S III. Fun times were had by all!
* Yes, I am a bitter Sprint LTE customer.