The Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch is a pretty nifty piece of tech, but sadly it only works with one phone: the Galaxy Note 3. That was until this morning when Samsung started rolling out Android 4.3 to Galaxy S4 devices, featuring support for the new smart watch. But as always, there’s a catch.
The Android 4.3 patch for the Galaxy S4 is slowly rolling out around the globe, with ‘slowly’ being the operative word.
Right now the update is only available in Germany, with countries like Australia and its three major telcos — Telstra, Optus and Vodafone — listed as “Pending”.
No word yet on when Aussies will get the update, but as usual, it has to go through the telcos, and we all know how long that takes.
While you’re waiting, here’s the list of improvements and updates coming in the new 4.3 patch:
CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS IN ANDROID 4.3 UPDATE
– OpenGL 3.0 Support
– GALAXY GEAR Support
– TRIM Support (Makes the device much faster)
– ANT+ Support
– Samsung KNOX Implementation (KNOX bootloader and dedicated application)
– Samsung Wallet comes pre-loaded
– Improved RAM management
– Improved Display colour reproduction (Display looks much sharper than before)
– Improved TouchWiz Launcher (Much less launcher redraws and less lag)
– New Samsung Keyboard
– New Samsung Browser (Full screen by default, new tab interface and more)
– New Reading Mode (Optimises display for reading, used by only a few specific applications)
– New Camera firmware
– Minor UI tweaks (Contacts app, Flashlight Widget, dialog boxes etc)
Stay tuned for more information this afternoon in our Weekly Smartphone Software Round-Up.