Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Update For Galaxy Note May Hit The UK As Premium Suite Features Manual Appears Online

Samsung news blog Sam Mobile was the first to spot this listing on Sunday, but Samsung UK’s official website says the document has been posted since Jan. 25. The manual doesn’t specify when Jelly Bean will launch for the UK Galaxy Note, but it provides tutorials on the software’s various features. For example, the digital pamphlet guides users through the basics of the Galaxy Note’s S Pen capabilities using Samsung’s enhanced modified version of Jelly Bean known as Premium Suite.

One such feature that comes with the Premium Suite package is called Handwriting Mode, which allows users to do exactly what the name implies. Galaxy Note owners can opt to hand write notes and messages with the S Pen rather than inputting text with the keyboard.

In addition, the Premium Suite Jelly Bean upgrade will bring an improved version of Samsung’s custom TouchWiz user interface to the company’s original “phablet” device along with other “sweet” additions. The Galaxy Note’s successor, which launched in the final quarter of 2012, comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean right out of the box.

Neither Samsung nor Google have spoken on when Jelly Bean will launch for the UK variant of the Galaxy Note, but the manual’s arrival on Samsung UK’s website seems to be a pretty promising indicator. Earlier this month, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean made its way to Galaxy Note users in Poland, mimicking the same launch cycle Jelly Bean saw on the Galaxy S2 and S3. The flagship Android software debuted in Poland on Samsung’s most recent Galaxy S devices in late 2012 first before spreading to other nations.

Google unveiled its Jelly Bean operating system way back at its I/O developer’s conference last June, and now it seems that carriers and manufacturers are making a stronger effort to push the update out to more devices.

Handsets such as Samsung’s Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note and HTC’s One X have received the update in select areas over the past month, and now we’re seeing more devices come with the software at launch. Huawei’s massive 6.1-inch phablet, the Ascend Mate, will come with Jelly Bean at launch and so will Sony’s recently unveiled Xperia Z handset.

If this isn’t enough evidence that Android’s Jelly Bean platform is growing, the proof is in the numbers. The most recent statistics to come from the official Android developer’s dashboard show that Jelly Bean usage has grown to 10.2 percent during the month of December. This is a noteworthy increase from the previous month, when Jelly Bean only accounted for about 6 percent of the Android market share.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread still claims most Android devices, but given all these recent Jelly Bean updates we’re expecting usage to climb yet again this month. Google measures activity in the Google Play store during a two-week period that ends at the top of the month, so we’ll have to wait until early February to see just how much Jelly Bean has grown during January.