Dec. 13, 2012 at 3:37 PM ET
Users of the most popular and powerful new Android phones on the nation's largest wireless carrier are, surprisingly, among the last to get the latest software. Samsung Galaxy S III owners on Verizon have been waiting for weeks and weeks to get the coveted Jelly Bean update for their phone, while everyone on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint have all been playing with it for some time now.
Verizon answered their ardent holiday wishes and will be rolling out the update over the air starting Friday, Dec. 14. The update brings fabulous features like offline voice transcription, Google Now and an overall improved interface.
Unfortunately, it's still not quite the latest version of Android: 4.2 (no code name) shipped with the Nexus 4 last month. So features like photo sphere and lockscreen widgets will still dance in users' dreams like sugar-plum fairies until some time in 2013.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
