Samsung Galaxy S3 owners have long-awaited the release date for Android’s Jelly Bean update, and the software upgrade has finally begun to arrive. On Monday, some European owners of the Korea-based company’s flagship smartphone have begun receiving Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean.

“The first Jelly Bean Android 4.1.1 update is for Poland!” wrote Samsung news source Sam Mobile on Monday.

The 282.5MB update from KIES includes Google’s “buttery smooth” operating system, support for Google Now, and other features that come with the latest iteration of Google’s mobile operating system. KIES is a program used by Samsung to update the firmware on its devices and it also allows users to back up their contacts and sync media. The update is being released to select European Galaxy S3 users via tethered upgrade rather than an over-the-air (OTA) update, according to SlashGear.

The post from Sam Mobile also contains a screenshot of what is believed to be the new update on the Galaxy S3. The text displayed in the screenshot is presumably in Polish, but users can still see the layout and arrangement of apps on the home screen.

It appears that Eastern European Samsung Galaxy S3 users will be the first to get Jelly Bean, which includes countries such as Poland, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. However, Sam Mobile says that the Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean update will roll out to other countries later this month, but this has yet to be confirmed by Samsung.

The Eastern European Galaxy S3 joins the Galaxy Nexus in receiving the Jelly Bean operating system upgrade, which Samsung announced on Friday. The manufacturer had previously said that the Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy S3 would come in October, so it comes as no surprise that the update has begun rolling out in September’s final days. CNET UK reported Jelly Bean’s tentative release date earlier in September, saying that Samsung had confirmed that the latest version of Android would hit the Galaxy S3 next month.

Despite the recent Jelly Bean launches, Google's most recent mobile software is barely present on Android-powered devices. According to recent statistics obtained by TabTimes, only 1.5 percent of Android devices are running on the latest operating system update. This is drastically different than the number of devices supported by Apple’s latest mobile software, iOS 6, which was officially released last Wednesday. Apple’s iOS 6 was present on 15 percent of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s mobile devices within two days of its launch.

Android’s newest treat-themed software includes features such as Project Butter, which brings a smoother overall experience to Android-powered devices, Google Now, a slight camera upgrade and improved notifications and widgets.

Google officially unveiled Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in June at its I/O developer’s conference alongside its 7-inch Nexus 7 tablet. This was among the first devices to get Jelly Bean, and a slew of other smartphones and tablets have been confirmed for the upgrade. Mobile devices already running on Android Jelly Bean include the Asus Transformer Pad TF 300, Motorola’s Xoom tablet, and the Samsung Nexus S.

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