By Dan Kusnetzky for Virtually Speaking December 23, 2013 -- 13:49 GMT (05:49 PST)
Summary: Unlike the tightly controlled iPhone market, Android is a bit like the wild west. Google release updates but they only trickle out to customers.
Over the weekend, Verizon Wireless gave the owners of Samsung Galaxy Note 2 handsets a gift -- quite late, but welcome nonetheless. Android 4.3 was finally shipped over the air to customers making Verizon the last of the major U.S. wireless suppliers to provide this update to its customers.
Customers of Verizon Wireless have been anxiously waiting for the security and feature updates that were included in newer versions of Android. Customers at an Android 4.1.2 level watched as Google's Android 4.2 was released in November, 2012 and Android 4.3 was released in July, 2013. Google announced Android 4.4 in October 2013.