News - UK networks begin roll-out of Android 4.1 for Galaxy S3

[HEXUS]

Samsung's best-selling device receives some Jelly Bean love in the UK.

Read more.

[Clydonian]

I bought my s3 SIM free, any idea when the update will be available for mine?

[crossy]

This is perhaps the first time that UK operators have delivered an Android update before it has reached unbranded devices

One of the reasons that I bought a SIM free S3 was because of the sloth shown by the UK network operators in rolling out the upgrades - and now they do this!

I bought my s3 SIM free, any idea when the update will be available for mine?

Same question here - surely it can't be that long (< a week?) if the carriers are already shipping it. I just checked and mine is still saying "no update available", might try Kies in case my phone's rooted status is screwing things up.

[Clydonian]

Does rooting not void the warranty and insurance?

[crossy]

Does rooting not void the warranty and insurance?

I've not got phone insurance - and even if I did surely that'd be cover for loss or hardware failure?

As to the warranty - I'm using ChainFire's rooting method, so there's always TriangleAway to reset the flash counter and return my precious ( ) back to "pristine" condition. I got mine SIM free so I've got no Voda, O2, etc to argue with.

[Clydonian]

I'm with giffgaff myself, thus the reason for SIM free, even though o2 locked phones would still do the job...

[crossy]

I'm with giffgaff myself, thus the reason for SIM free, even though o2 locked phones would still do the job...

Other reasons for me going SIM free were that I didn't want to wait for the carriers to do the S3 and, more importantly, at the time that the S3 came out I was with Three (but intending to move). I moved to T-Mobile (less screwing around with billing and the coverage is far better) after a month with the S3.

Although SIM free was a god-send in the last pair of weeks - just come back from vacation in the States and I was able to replace my T-Mobile SIM with an AT&T one (sold via "Straight Talk" - an MVNO, so similar to GiffGaff) and have the full swathe of calls, texts and (unlimited!) data.

Sorry that this is off-topic

[neonplanet40]

[QUOTE=crossy;3415]

This is perhaps the first time that UK operators have delivered an Android update before it has reached unbranded devices

Actually no this is incorrect. They did the same with the S2 last year. It is quite annoying as I have owned both the S2 and S3 sim free and have to wait for an update from which there is no logical reason why an update hasn't been released considering we are the ones who forked the lump sum out for.

[aeonf242]

Just got my update on Vodafone today.

[crossy]

UK SIM FREE S3 owners - I just checked and the Samsung servers are now serving up the update for us folks not chained to a network.

Unfortunately when I tried to update via WiFi I got denied with a message along the lines that "requests will be served in the order they arrive". But I've had that before (maybe because I'm rooted), and Kies is currently 50% through the download.



PS neonplanet40 - the quote you've got in your post (#8) came from the article not me

[crossy]

Did my JB update, and to be honest I can't see much in the way of change at first - Google Now is hidden under Google Search, the notification and calendar screens are different, and I've now got a desk calendar in "docked" mode. More detailed digging seems to show a lot of minor tweaks - eg the handwriting recognition is improved as is the voice search.

One thing about Google Now that I'm angry about - the selection of sports teams is "eccentric". E.g. "Dagenham and Redditch" and "Bangor Town" are there, but if you look for Scottish Premier League teams apart from Celtic or Rangers (and yes I realise that the 'gers are now in the 3rd division) then you're going to be disappointed.

[Obscurity]

I will never understand why networks wait so long to provide OS updates. I've worked since the start with android 4.1 on my nexus, why couldnt 4.1 be released to phones at the same time?

[crossy]

I will never understand why networks wait so long to provide OS updates. I've worked since the start with android 4.1 on my nexus, why couldnt 4.1 be released to phones at the same time?

Official reason has always been that either the networks need time to update the "value add" features on "their" phones, or they need time to ensure that the new OS update doesn't break anything on their side.

Personally, the latter sounds like a complete crock since, as you point out, folks using SIM Free Nexus phones on their network are getting the updates as soon as Google sees fit to ship them.

Meanwhile, I'm impressed how much faster (even in Power Saving mode) my S3 has become - task switching especially is like lightning. Less impressed with Google Now - it seems a little restricted in scope (perhaps I need more time with it to let it learn more), and some of the stuff it does is verging on creepy. For example, I put in a calendar reminder for today to pick up a pre-order from Gamestation, not only does Google Now have that in it's cards, but it's also looked up the address of the local Gamestation and added a route planned map from my current location to the store. Big Brother IS watching you!