Samsung Galaxy Note (N7000) firmware update 4.0.4 for India

Last week I got an OTA notification from Samsung software update service on my Galaxy Note. It was for the firmware update 4.0.4. In May, the Note was officially updated to ICS (4.0.3) through Kies in India. I've been enjoying ICS since then on the Note which came with Gingerbread installed from factory.

Meanwhile, Galaxy S III has been released and it features an updated Touch Wiz UI with enhancements to Gallery, Contacts, etc apps. Also, the Jelly Bean update was announced by Google in between. So many Note users have been waiting for both these updates on their phones. Although one can root their device and choose from a number of ROMs available (CyanogenMod, AOKP, etc) you will loose the S-Note app and other S-Pen apps. You can use 3rd party apps like Papyrus, but you will miss the S-Memo suite from Samsung which is a good collection of useful widgets and apps. So one is at the mercy of Samsung to announce the updates ASAP for the Note. 

Thankfully, Samsung has addressed the former by releasing this 4.0.4 update. Now you can enjoy the updated Touch Wiz UI that's loaded in Galaxy S III on your Note. It certainly looks pretty. Here is the phone software info on my galaxy note -

We can see from phone info that it is the DDLR1 4.0.4 version firmware and the kernel build date is Sep 8 2012.

Here are few more screenshots from the beautiful screen of Galaxy Note with the 4.0.4 update -

Check out the floating video window in the following pic. You can continue watching a video while going about your activities on the Note!

Now, I'm eagerly waiting for Jelly Bean update for the Note. Though Samsung has vaguely confirmed that it will release Jelly Bean for the N7000 around November, I am a little apprehensive whether it will or not considering that it has officially announced a plethora of new models with Jelly Bean for the same time frame. The biggest feature that I'm looking forward to in the Jelly Bean update is Project Butter, which is going to utilize the latest graphics processing features to render the smoothest Android experience. The demo videos show how lag-free the experience is. With the HD screen and the hardware of Galaxy Note it will be an amazing experience. But, looks like I gotta be a bit more patient till I go hands on with it! Come on Samsung, do it!