Samsung Galaxy S II UK International 4.1.2 Jelly Bean Released and Impressions

After waiting months and months since Samsung first starting rolling out Jellybean in Spain, UK unlocked Galaxy S II (XEU) can now officially upgrade their phone and taste some of that Jelly Bean goodness and the latest TouchWiz Nature UX.

Like all firmware upgrade processes, make sure you take a back up of whatever you need from your phone.

Note: This update will wipe out your homescreen settings

You can update via OTA:


Or through Kies:

You'll need to update Kies before you can update your phone since Samsung just released a new version of Kies today

In the first hour, I'm regretting the upgrade. The UI looks so garish and cramped.  All your home screen configurations will be lost on the upgrade.

Why a Google tablet like Nexus 7 won't gain traction

Google debuts its latest and greatest smartphone OS, Android Jelly Bean, with the Nexus 7

Designed to compete against market leader, Apple iPad, the new Google tablet will get more competition from large sized phones called phablets and make only a slight dent to the iPad marketshare.

No real competition for the iPad:

• Even though Android market penetration has been phenomenal, there are still more quality apps on the Apple AppStore due to numerous reasons (OS fragmentation, less paying users)
• The iPad's 11 inch screen size makes content consumption much more satisfying than a small 7 inch
• With very little marketshare in the tablet area, most app developers will continue to target the phone market so the Google tablets with just run upsized phone apps unlike the the thousand of iPad specific apps.

More competition from fellow Android devices:

• Phablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Note at 5 inch creeps into tablet area while including 3G/4G connectivity and calling capabilities.  Phablets sold on contract can potentially undercut the price of tablets
• Android phones like the Galaxy Nexus and phablets will eventually get Jelly Bean
• With very little marketshare in the tablet area, most app developers will continue to target the phone market so the Google tablets won't be able to differentiate or gain from the added display real estate

Although Jelly Bean was hyped up with a new Nexus tablet, it's minor version update, 4.1 from Ice Cream Sandwich's 4.0, is really just a minor update which doesn't bring any significant functionality.  I was really hoping for the rumored docking feature.