Samsung Galaxy Note ICS Update Rolls Out: When Will it Hit The US?

The Android Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Samsung Galaxy Note has quietly started rolling out in Europe, according to several reports.

Devin Balentina, a Netherlands-based Galaxy Note owner, tweeted an image of the update software revealing some of its features, including the new S Note app with advanced note-taking, productivity tools and a new S Memo widget.

The software update posted by Balentina is currently only available on the GT-N7000 Note; the U.S. may have to wait some time before the upgrade becomes available. Tech Crunch predicts that it will take a while for AT&T Inc. (T) to approve the software upgrade for mass consumption.

Owen Lawson, who bought his Galaxy Note in Germany, has also tweeted about the successful installation of the upgrade. There have not been any reports of the update rolling out in the U.K yet.

The Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Galaxy Note was officially announced by Samsung for the first quarter of 2012, but in March it was pushed back to the second quarter.

It seems that the pattern of the roll out for the update will follow the Samsung Galaxy S2, which started in Europe and reached the U.S. two months after the initial roll out.

The Galaxy Note has been heralded for its big and beautiful 5.3-inch AMOLED display, which is perfect for gaming, video and even PowerPoint and Excel presentations.

What we are finding is that more people are using more data and using voice less.This particular device [the Note] allows you to use all the data you can, Simon Stanford, vice president of Samsung Telecommunications and Networks for Samsung U.K., told CNET.

The Galaxy Note is Samsung's phone-tablet hybrid. It comes with an HD Super AMOLED 5.3 inch display, rear-facing camera resolution: 8.0 megapixel, front-facing camera resolution: 2.0 megapixel and runs on a 1.5GHz dual-core processor.