Have a GS3? Live in the UK? Grab Android 4.3!

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Published 13 Nov 2013

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gs3v4

If you own a Samsung Galaxy S III and live in the UK, now would be a good time to pull down your notification shade, click on the settings gear, go inside the “About” menu, and check for software updates. Why? Because Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is being pushed out as we speak.

According to SamMobile, who obtained a rough changelog of what’s been added, you can look forward to a much more responsive smartphone that has a new theme borrowed from the Galaxy S4. There’s also a new shooting mode in the camera, “Sound and Shot”, as well as two new display modes for the screen in case you want to fiddle with your saturation and color temperature levels.

The biggest change, however, at least in Samsung’s eyes, is support for the Galaxy Gear. That $300 smartwatch might be a bit gimmicky in its current implementation, but lots of people still want it because it’s a status sample. Until today, the Gear only worked with the Note 3. With this update, it’ll now work on the GS3. By the end of the year, us Note II owners should see the update as well.

And what about Android 4.4 KitKat? Don’t hold your breath. This is Samsung we’re talking about here. KitKat is barely three weeks old, and the South Korean handset maker is going to need time to apply a thick layer of TouchWiz on top of it before pushing it out to customers. If I had to make a guess, I’d say end of Q1.