Samsung Galaxy Note Smartphone Gets An Update

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Samsung has begun rolling out a maintenance style update for the Galaxy Note smartphone. And before anyone begins to think otherwise, lets make this clear from the beginning — this is a maintenance update and not Ice Cream Sandwich.

Of course, we do know that Samsung is planning to roll-out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich sometime during this first quarter. But for now we are looking at a maintenance style update. Thankfully though, it appears to be an update that fixes a few key things. Some of the items that received a bit of attention include the calendar, lock screen, keyboard and screen brightness.

Anyway, this latest update is based on Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread and will be showing up for Galaxy Note devices across Europe. The update is coming over the air, which means that unlike some of the others from Samsung — this time the Kies software is not required. Otherwise, the update measures in around 70MB in size so it may be best to download using a Wi-Fi connection. And without any further adieu, here are the key changes;

• Samsung added some text to the bottom of the lock screen. A simple “Swipe screen to unlock” will now be sitting centered along the bottom. Additionally, Samsung also introduced a bit of visual help which will assist in guiding anyone that is having a bit of trouble unlocking their device. Samsung also appears to have shortened the length of swipe that is needed to unlock, which a good thing because with a 5.3 inch display — a full swipe is kind of long.
• In terms of the changes in the Calendar app, this is as simple as adding in new options for viewing the date. In that past it was limited to day/month/year and now you can change it to year/month/day.
• Next up is the keyboard which covers a few aspects. To begin with, the regular keyboard view now has slightly smaller keys which means there is now room for a fifth row — a numeric row which sits at the top. Another change for the keyboard comes for those looking for one-handed use — the keyboard (and dial-pad) can be made a bit smaller and then shifted to the left or right hand side.

Those seem to be the three main points, however not the only points. Also included was some optimization in terms of screen brightness while in the web browser as well as optimization designed to help increases battery life. And lastly, the Galaxy Note now has a new widget — a flashlight. The new flashlight widget will allow for you to pick one of three brightness levels depending on how many times you tap the widget.

All said and done, it may not be Ice Cream Sandwich but at the same time it seems like Samsung has given Galaxy Note users a few nice perks with this one.

Credit: Source.