Samsung Galaxy S3 owners in the U.S. on Sprint have been enjoying the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update, which was officially rolled out recently. Verizon customers are still awaiting the official release of the update; however, reports suggest that a leaked Jelly Bean ROM has surfaced on the Internet and is available for users to upgrade before the official release from Verizon gets underway.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 has been one of the most popular Android smartphone since its release in May this year. The smartphone comes pre-loaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and post the release of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, users have been keen to lay their hands on the latest Android update.

The new leaked ROM for Verizon is pre-rooted and (de)odexed and will entice Verizon users who do not want to wait for the official release and are willing take a risk with their device by  installing the leaked ROM on the smartphone.

For the uninitiated, an .ODEX file is an optimized Dalvik executable file, similar to an .EXE in windows which usually changes the settings of a device. The .ODEX is compressed to save space on the handset and contains information that is optimized before the Android OS boots. This feature is meant to help speed up the boot process while pre-loading parts of the application. In simple terms, a DEODEX file is used to aid easy modification of devices.

The leaked ROM is for Android 4.1.1 with build JRO3L.I535VRBLJ1 and has a date of Oct. 24. XDA Developers reported that this is set to be the final build of the ROM before an official upgrade takes place.

The new ROM's features include odex or deodex, zip alignment, support for init.d, adb as root, and more.

"Due to the multiple requests, after several days of work and various testing, I have created a working guide for public use limited to only a few steps. This is a guide that will help you flash a 99% stock factory image for the official Jelly Bean leaks for Verizon Galaxy S III overwriting every partition on the device to stock. The ONLY major change I have made is for your convenience it keeps all your data/apps/settings and internal storage partition in tact," noted the XDA Developers forum.

Samsung Galaxy S3 users on Verizon would be keen to update their smartphone to Jelly Bean. However, the question is whether the leaked build is worth a try, or users should be sensible and wait for the official release from the carrier.