Galaxy Note II receiving Android 4.3 update, finally!

The Galaxy Note II was released in Q3 last year running Android 4.1.2 and went for a whole year running the same version without any updates whatsoever. Samsung did skip the 4.2.2 update in favour of the 4.3 update and that is finally rolling out. Though it will be a while before Galaxy Note II owners see Android 4.3 hit their devices as an OTA update or through Kies, the manual update process doesn’t hurt. Plus it makes you much more in control in the event the update has issues like those being faced by Galaxy S III handsets in the US that got the OTA update through their carriers.

The Android 4.3 update is available for both the international version of the Note II (GT-N7100) and the LTE variant (GT-N7105) from today. It brings various features that we have previously seen on the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note 3 to the 2012 phablet. Those nice S Pen software tweaks and add-ons on the Note 3 don’t make it to this update though.

Here is a list of what is new in the update thanks to Sammobile:

– GALAXY GEAR Support
– TRIM Support (Makes the device much faster)
– Samsung KNOX
– Samsung Wallet
– Better RAM management
– Core UI elements updated to the ones on the Galaxy S4 (Galaxy S4′s theme all over)
– New Samsung Keyboard
– GPU drivers have been updated (Higher GPU benchmark scores)
– New Lockscreen: Multiple Widgets, improved ripple effect than Android 4.1.2, ability to change clock size and set a personal message
– New screen modes (From S4): Adapt Display and Professional Photo
– Daydream
– Driving mode
– Actionable notifications
– Move-to-SD-card feature
– New Camera mode : Sound and Shot
– New Additions in Notification Centre
– Completely revamped Settings UI (Tabbed interface – Exactly like the Galaxy S4)
– Implementation of Voice controls (Let’s you control various parts of the phone using voice commands – Galaxy S4 feature)
– New Samsung Apps: Calculator, Clock, Contacts, Gallery, Music
– Full screen Samsung apps
– New S-Voice (from Galaxy S4)