It looks like, at this stage anyway, Samsung plans to follow through on its promise that the Galaxy S III will be getting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean “very soon”.The company slipped the announcement into the Galaxy Note II’s launch event during IFA 2012, but declined to provide an exact, or even a roundabout, date for its arrival.

Given the problems it faced with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update on the Galaxy S II, this wasn’t surprising, but at least the “very soon” statement was preferable to one that included any mention of “2013″.

Now, a report by CNET UK says that Samsung is planning an October release for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on the Galaxy S III, which means that we could have between four and eight weeks to wait. It also fits in with previous rumours, suggesting Samsung wanted it ready for Q4 2012.

It’ll be worth it too, as despite its point update status, Jelly Bean brings some interesting enhancements to Android. These include Google Now, a spookily accurate personal assistant that observes your activities and movements, and is eventually able to make recommendations and suggestions based around them, plus “Project Butter,” which smooths out the OS’s animations, transitions and scrolling.

The update is expected to land on unlocked, SIM-free devices first, with those purchased on a contract and locked to a network coming soon after, following the requisite tests.

Come November, Everything Everywhere’s (or EE as it’s now known) 4G LTE network should have gone live, and one of the devices on offer will be the Galaxy S III LTE, and Samsung has stated that this phone will ship with Jelly Bean already installed. This could mean Orange and T-Mobile’s test phase will be shorter than those without early access to the Android 4.1 code.

Samsung has yet to confirm Jelly Bean’s impeding arrival itself.