The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 line, which was launched in the middle of last year, never had high-end aspirations. Rather, the Tab 3 presented itself as an affordable series that delivers reasonable performance at a great value. There are three variants of the Tab 3: 7", 8", and 10.1". Now, the 8" variant has received its official KitKat update.

Ever since its initial release, the Tab 3 8.0 has been living in 4.2.2 Jelly Bean land. Despite its relatively young age, the device was seemingly forgotten by the OEM, perhaps in favor of the new Tab S line. Now, however, Samsung has gone ahead and begun updating the Tab 3 8.0 to KitKat in certain regions.

The build number for this update is T310XXUBNE9, and it is currently starting to make its way out to devices. And just like many other Samsung KitKat update, this will bring better performance, revised UI stylings, immersive mode, printing support, and more.

As is normally the case, the update isn't yet available in every region. In fact, it is currently only rolling out in France. However, it's expected that other regions will receive the update shortly. Luckily, XDA Recognized Developer faria was kind enough to not only share instructions on how to manually update, but also share a quick guide on how to root the device.

If you've got a Tab 3 8.0, you can head over to the original thread to get started. Unfortunately the other two sizes of the Tab 3 have not yet received their updates, but we wouldn't be surprised if it comes quite soon.