Jelly Bean Android 4.1 Update Coming Soon For Samsung, Leak Indicates

By Lisa Eadicicco | June 21 2012 6:40 PM

Although it seems some gadgets in the Android universe have just become acquainted with Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), there's another upgrade in the works. The Google Play store has revealed that Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1, will roll out soon for Galaxy Nexus devices.

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Although it seems that some gadgets in the Android world have just been acquainted with Ice Cream Sandwich, there's another upgrade in the works. The Google Play store has revealed that Jelly Bean, or Android 4.1, will roll out soon for Galaxy Nexus devices.

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When purchasing the Samsung phone online, the description reads, the latest smartphone from Google, soon the first phone with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

It is likely that the update to the store was accidentally pushed or was part of a cache that wasn't meant to appear yet, as Slash Gear speculates. But this apparent leak could indicate that the Galaxy Nexus will run on Jelly Bean right out of the box.

Screenshots of the device that are believed to be using the Android 4.1 operating system have also surfaced online. The user interface appears to have a frosted look with its new update, and the listing for the Galaxy Nexus features a similar appearance, as Android Community points out.

As often in the tech community, this leak comes a week before a major press event. At Google's IO 2012 developer conference in San Francisco, the company is widely expected to reveal the new treat-themed OS, among other announcements. Rumors have indicated that Jelly Bean could roll out as soon as the second half of 2012, but users will probably have to wait until IO 2012 to see if the speculations line up.

It is unclear exactly how much change Jelly Bean will bring to the platform, but the new OS may incorporate Google's Chrome Browser, Ars Techica reports. However, it seems users have not taken so well to the most recent Android software, Ice Cream Sandwich. Statistics obtained by Ars Techica indicate that only 7 percent of active Android devices are running on 4.0. About 65 percent still run on 2.3, which launched in 2010 and continued shipping on new devices that were released earlier in 2012.

Jelly Bean is said to be a tablet-oriented update, but some speculate that the OS may not be very tablet-centric. When rolling out 4.0, Google made it clear that 4.0 was intended to replace Gingerbread and Honeycomb by offering a single platform for mobile devices.

Fudzilla speculates that the upcoming Android iteration will be a bit more tablet-oriented, but not tablet-exclusive as Honeycomb was. Sources familiar with the matter have told the website that Jelly Bean is to ICS what Honeycomb was to Gingerbread.

As of now, no one knows whether these claims are true, but Google's announcements June 27 are awaited eagerly.