With Samsung officially upgrading the international Galaxy Tab 7.7 to Android 4.0 way back in July, it only seemed natural for users of Verizon’s LTE version to expect the same treatment from good ol’ Big Red.

And while Verizon did delay the update in an almost proverbial fashion for a full three months, it finally seems that the waiting will end soon. Although there’s no mention on Verizon’s support website of any exact date for the upgrade, the posting of the standard “benefits of software update” and “software update instructions” PDF docs are clear indicators that ICS is but a few days away.

First things first, you should know that the software update weighs in at a rather hefty 283.1 MB and will take about 15 or 20 minutes to be downloaded and installed. Theoretically, you should be automatically notified of the OTA rolling out to your tablet, which will leave you with nothing else to do but ensure you have a valid network connection (Wi-Fi or 4G) and hit “download now”.

If for some reason the prompt message won’t be popping up in a few days or so, you can try a manual upgrade by going to Application – Settings – About Device – System updates. If this also fails, give it some more time. After all, patience is the number one virtue of any Verizon customer, isn’t it?

As for the “benefits” of the software update, I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you that they are massive. There’s a pretty huge gap between Android 3.2 Honeycomb and 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a gap with sweet highlights such as face unlocking, pinch-to-zoom, improved performance and a tweaked user interface.

You should be happy to know that Verizon is adding its own few touches to the standard ICS update, with a bunch of bug fixes and exclusive enhancements. A new video calling icon, a tweaked homescreen layout and the MyVerizon Mobile app are just a few of these improvements, while the added Google Plus integration, advanced email search, and redesigned gallery with photo editor are a bit more “customary”, but still very cool.

The full changelog can be viewed at this link on Verizon’s official website, but you might want to keep some sort of a mystery going for your last days on Honeycomb. That is, of course, if you’re not too angry over Sammy’s decision to not upgrade the Galaxy Tab 7.7 to Jelly Bean.

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