Well that was quick. Just a couple of days after it emerged that Samsung had shipped many international Galaxy Note 2 devices without the much-touted “multi-window” ability, a new software update is going out that enables the feature. Multi-window allows Note 2 owners to long-press the back button and bring up a menu allowing them to split their screen between two fully-fledged Android applications. Essentially, it’s full multitasking on a mobile device with two apps in view and usable at the same time, which is pretty awesome.
Right now, not all Android apps are supported, but the multi-window feature isn’t just limited to Samsung apps like it is on the Note 10.1. Multi-window on the Note 2 supports a wide range of Google apps, including Gmail, YouTube, Chrome and Talk. Third-party offerings like the official Twitter app are supported too, though many others are not.
Today’s update to version XXALIJ1 also comes with a new baseband version and Google Chrome.
If you’ve picked up a Galaxy Note 2 in the past week, you should see an update notification waiting for you this morning. If not, head to Settings > About device > Software update to get started. In the meantime, be sure to check out our quick hands-on demo video above.
More: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 review