Samsung has said that the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy Note will come “very soon”. It’s not too early to start preparing for the jelly party, but owners of the Note may want to first welcome what appears to be the last major ICS update for the original phablet that the company is cooking up.

The build number for the new firmware is IMM76D.XXLRQ and it will bring your Galaxy Note N7000 up to par with Samsung’s current flagship models, such as the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2. The update not only contains the latest TouchWiz interface, but along with it, you will also get features that previously could only be found on the S3 and Note 2. Check out the unofficial change log that XDA member garytube has compiled below.

Features taken from Galaxy S3:

• New TouchWiz launcher
• Direct Call
• Lockscreen rotate to camera

Features taken from Galaxy Note 2:

• Resizable Pop Up Play
• New Gallery (minus Air View)

The new firmware also brings improved performance, new setup procedure, new contact list, and the ability to back up some files to a Samsung Account. Sounds like a pretty solid package to have before the arrival of Jelly Bean.

The update is currently only available via OTA and Kies in Germany.

If you live in Germany, you can upgrade your Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 to Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich XXLRQ firmware via KIES or OTA (Over The Air), of course, you can also install the Android 4.0.4 ICS XXLRQ Firmware on any Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 manually, here’s step by step guide to install XXLRQ update manually on Galaxy Note N7000.

Do keep in mind that this is just for international Samsung Galaxy Note variant model number GT-N7000, you can check your device detail from  Setting>About Device. Before you start installation, first make sure you’re using Windows PC and USB drivers should be installed on the computer, you can download 32 bit (x86) Windows from hereand 64-bit (x64) Windows from here. Disable all system tools such as Samsung KIES, antivirus, firewall program, please make a backup of your device data such as SMS, internet setting, contacts music files etc because the below procedure may wipe data, you can sync your contacts with Gmail account and for messages use SMS apps, lastly use file expert app to backup apps.

DISCLAIMER: Please proceed the below guide at your own risk, Android Egis will not be held responsible if your device lost data or get damaged following this guide.

Instructions

Step #1: Download the N7000XXLRQ firmware (GT-N7000_DBT_N7000XXLRQ_N7000DBTLRQ_N7000XXLRK.zip) and Odin 1.85 to your computer.

Step #2: Extract both downloaded .zip files into a folder.

Step #3: Go to the folder where you’ve unzipped above files and run Odin 1.85.exe.

Step #4: Turn off the Galaxy Note and reboot the device into download mode by holding down Volume Down, Home and Power buttons until a Warning screen appear, then press Volume Up to enter in Download Mode.

Step #5: Once you’re in download mode plug the device to PC using USB cable. Odin will detect the device, ID:COM will turn yellow and a message saying ADDED will appear.

Step #6: Click on PDA Button and locate N7000_DBT_N7000XXLRQ_N7000DBTLRQ_N7000XXLRK_HOME.tar.md5 file that you obtained in step 2.

Step #7: Click on Start button to start installation, once the installation done, your device will reboot automatically and a message saying PASS will show up in Odin (Note: If the Odin gets stuck, or you get message fail, unplug the device from PC, pull out battery from device for a few seconds, then insert back and reboot into download mode, plug the device to PC, run Odin again and install firmware again).

Step #8: Once the phone is booted properly, disconnect it from PC and enjoy. (Note: If device get stuck at booting, turn off device and reboot into recovery mode by holding down volume up, home and power buttons, then in recovery mode, select Wipe data/Factory Reset and confirm action, then select reboot system now to reboot the phone, now device will boot into normal mode).

That’s it, you’re done. The new N7000XXLRQ firmware is now installed on your Galaxy Note, if you faced any issue in above guide, do comment below and we’ll help you.

Via: Sam Mobile – XDA