Dude, where’s my Jelly Bean?

Android and updates, the saga never ends. From Froyo to Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich to Jelly Bean, it’s like standing in queue for lunch, but not getting served the right dessert. With so many players in the Android smartphone arena, disparity in updates is a common complaint.

Last month, Samsung officially started rolling out Jelly Bean updates for the 2011 flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Note. Now, that in itself is great news, but there is no sign of the update in India. We have checked the couple of Galaxy Notes in our office, but the update hasn’t hit us yet. Same is the case with the Galaxy S2s that we checked out.

The delay in update is especially surprising considering how popular both the phones have been since their launch. The Galaxy S2 is currently retailing for around Rs 24,000, while the Note has a tag of Rs 26,500. That's a very good depreciation rate for phones released in 2011, especially considering the fast-paced development in smartphone hardware since then. Both phones are also readily available in the market; Samsung’s official website even has a Jelly Bean user manual for the Galaxy S2 up for download, which tells us that an update is imminent, but not seeding.

No update available yet for Samsung Galaxy Note

SamMobile has been keeping a tab on the countries which have got the 4.1 update. In Europe, Spain, Ukraine, Sweden, Poland and Russia have already received the update, while in Asia, Galaxy S2 owners in UAE, Israel, China and even Iraq have also received it. However, India’s name is still in the pending column.

We reached out to Samsung’s India office to get an official word on the status of the update. However, the company has not yet responded to our queries about when one can expect the updates, or if the brand new Galaxy S2s and Galaxy Notes are shipping with Android 4.1

Still stuck on Ice Cream Sandwich

Whatever the reason for the delay, Samsung has to start releasing updates faster to its Indian consumers. After all, it is the leading smartphone maker in the country, having cornered over 45 percent of the market. Perhaps, years of trailing Nokia in market share has made the company lackadaisical, but now would be a great time to change its ways.

To be fair, Samsung is not the only offender in this regard.

HTC had announced that at least two of its 2012 smartphones, the HTC One X and the HTC One S, will be getting Jelly Bean in 2013. There is a firmware update available for download for the One X on the HTC website, but there is nothing on the HTC One S, leading us to believe there is a delay in the roll-out.

The HTC One S was announced to be getting the 4.1 update, but it's still pending

Sony announced a phased roll-out for its 2012 phones starting with the Xperia T, V and J, which were supposed to get the update starting February. However, only the Xperia J is currently available in India and an update for it is pending. This will be followed by the Xperia P and Xperia go in March, while a Jelly Bean update should start rolling out to the Xperia S as well as its refresh model Xperia SL in the weeks following.

LG, often derided for not updating itsr handsets on time, has also announced updates for the LG Optimus 4X HD, L9 and L7 phones. However, true to form, the company has not released any timeline for these updates, so the best you can do, if you happen to be an LG customer, is keep checking the phone for a surprise update.

Of course, we won’t fault you for being entirely bamboozled by the status of updates. So here’s a handy list of phones from the major OEMs.