Let the update races begin! It looks like Sprint has beaten all other U.S. carriers to the punch and begun rolling out Jelly Bean to its Samsung Galaxy S III users. Timely updates are extremely important to consumers and it’s good to see Sprint recognizing customer’s needs.

You’ll find all the Android 4.1 goodies baked in along with a slew of Samsung enhancements and features:

• Camera Enhancements:

– New live camera and camcorder filters offer a range of new ways to spark your creativity. Warm vintage, cold vintage, black and white, sepia, color highlights (blue, green, red/yellow), and many more are selectable from the main camera screen.

– Pause and resume while recording video allows users to string together multiple captured video clips from a party, birthday, or sporting event into a single file with no post editing required.

– Low light photo mode takes advantage of Galaxy S III’s best-in-class High Dynamic Range (HDR) capabilities and offers an optimized mode for low light and indoor photos.

• Pop Up Play Update easily resizes or pauses the Pop Up Play picture-in-picture video window, taking full advantage of Galaxy S III’s powerful processor and large 4.8-inch display.
• Easy Mode is a simplified user experience option for first-time smartphone owners, providing large home screen widgets that focus on the device essentials.
• Blocking Mode can disable incoming calls, notifications, alarms and LED indicators for a designated period of time.
• Improved Usability with access to multiple keyboard options and the addition of the Swype® keyboard.

With the Jelly Bean update, Galaxy S III will also add support for some exciting new accessories:

• AllShare® Cast Wireless Hub allows users to wirelessly mirror their phone screen to any HDTV or HDMI® display. It even supports licensed content playback of premium TV and movies.
• NFC One Touch Pairing Support pairs Galaxy S III with supporting NFC Bluetooth® accessories in a single touch.

Now that Sprint has gotten this thing off and running, who do you think will be the next U.S. carrier to start updating the S3? We all know Verizon will be the last, but I’m guessing we’ll see T-Mobile jump in ahead of AT&T.

Kudos to you Sprint, that’s the kind of service we’re looking for.

• SourceSprint