Samsung announced at the UnPacked event, that he Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy S4 will be getting an update to Android 4.3 in October.
The Samsung Galaxy S III has not received the Android update to 4.2, yet. The Samsung Galaxy S4 shipped with Android 4.2. The upgrade along with adding the ability to connect with the Samsung Galaxy Gear wearable device, will also update the system to Android 4.3.
The updating process for Galaxy devices are dependent upon the carrier. Sometimes an update requires the Samsung Kies software and is not available over-the-air.
Usually, carriers in foreign countries release updates before the carriers in the United States.
Samsung has added quite a bit of software for all its "wow" functions which also have to be able to work with the update.
There have been no announcements as to when Samsung will release the update to Android 4.4 KitKat.
The update for the Samsung Galaxy S III only made it to 4.12.
he major featured added in Android 4.3 is that it offers restricted profiles, limiting access to apps and content which is helpful to parents or for retail use. It can let devices be used for credit card transactions without the users getting access to the some of Google account holders' information. Restricted users don't get access to Gmail, calendar, Play Store or in-app purchases. Apps can be chosen to for each user.
Android 4.3 also now supports Bluetooth Smart that lets mobile apps work with new devices like fitness sensors or a heart rate monitor.
For developers Android 4.3 supports OpenGL ES 3.0, an API for rendering photo-realistic graphics, especially useful for game apps. There is also a new Digital Rights Managment API for HD content that will be used by Netflix.
inor update features include:
- Bluetooth AVRCP,
- Dial pad autocomplete.
- Easier text input.