Virtualization is a concept that has grown very rapidly in the last decade, especially amongst casual, home users. It makes sense, too, considering that the hardware available to the average user these days is capable of running multiple instances of an operating system with ease, even if you need a high-end machine for that. Also, the segregation of operating systems themselves has grown to a point where you do tend to want to try out the offerings of one, but don’t really want to switch your primary OS, where again virtualization comes to the rescue. The same concept has been trickling down to smartphones as well.

New and exclusive features are aplenty in the swiftly-evolving world of Android, but thankfully for those don’t have the latest device and / or firmware version, the modding community is on hand to deliver those new niceties to those rocking an older device or software. For example, the Galaxy Note II has brought with it a very exciting, infinitely useful multi-window feature, but unless you happen to be in ownership of the phablet sequel (or an S III running the currently OTA-ing Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2), there’s no way for you to enjoy this multitasking marvel; or at least there wasn’t until today.

A new release of a mobile operating system is always met with a frenzy, and as well as giving the new firmware the once over, consumers are always anxious to learn whether their device will be getting an update, and when.

Jelly Bean (4.1) is Google’s latest and greatest Android release, and while many of the newer devices will be seeing (or already have seen) an OTA update of the buttery new operating system, it now appears the Samsung Galaxy S II – an oldie but goodie – will also be treated to the tasty new firmware.

Unofficial ROMs for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean are now available for latest high-end smartphones like the HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S III and now the Galaxy S II, folks. We’ve already talked about the previous two and this post covers the first Jelly Bean ROM for the Galaxy S II. Check it out after the jump!

Having only seen the light of day through the Galaxy Nexus initially, Google’s release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was beginning to become an easy target of flak from the tech world. The Big G’s latest – and supposedly greatest – mobile OS had only reached a miserly 1% of the total Android population at the turn of the year, and rivals Apple must have been chuckling at Google’s abject display in how not to announce and release a firmware update.

While everyday folk are completely fine with the stock configuration that their Android smartphone comes in, enthusiasts like you and me prefer customizing things for either a better looking user-interface (UI), better performance or both.

News of an imminent Ice Cream Sandwich release for the Samsung Galaxy S II has been lingering for the past couple of weeks now, but it would appear those in desperate wait to install Android 4.0.x on their S II have had their prayers answered by Google.

There has been some good news for Samsung Galaxy S II owners today with the announcement that the Korean company will start to push out the Android 4.0.3 update to S II devices in Korea and some parts of Europe. The update process looks like it will initially focus on devices in Hungary, Poland and Sweden before starting to roll out in the United Kingdom during the week commencing on March 19th. When taken at face value, it sounds like S II users could be running Ice Cream Sandwich in the very near future, but the reality is that individual networks also need to approve the software updates and put it through vigorous in-house testing to ensure it plays nicely with their own branded software, meaning that although the official update button is pushed it could still be quite some time before users can benefit from it.

Almost a year after the initial launch of the Samsung Galaxy S II, and five months after the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, users will start seeing a roll out of the official ICS upgrade for their beloved S II device. Samsung has pushed the button and officially began the process of pushing out the much anticipated update which will take one of their most successful smartphone devices to the latest version of the Android operating system.

With Android 4.0 being publicly available since November 2011, users might be forgiven for wondering why their device can’t benefit from the features that Ice Cream Sandwich brings. After all, when Apple releases an update to iOS, users can generally grab the latest version immediately as long as the hardware supports the update. Users of several premium handsets, such as the Samsung Galaxy S II have been waiting for a number of weeks for Samsung to finally announce when they will be allowing users to update to Android 4.0 ICS.

Just six days after announcing that the company has shipped 20 million units of its popular Galaxy S II smartphone, Samsung has received two highly-respected awards from the recently-held 17th Global Mobile Awards at 2012’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Check them out after the jump!