Samsung rolled out an Android 7.0 Nougat update to many of its devices as a soak test earlier this week, with select Galaxy S7 and S7 edge as participants. Now, a specific release schedule for the official rollout may have just surfaced online.
Samsung Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge Official Nougat Update
If reports prove to be accurate, then Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge owners may finally receive the official stable build of Android 7.0 Nougat come Jan. 17.
That's from The Android Soul, whose report includes a screenshot which suggests the aforementioned schedule for the update. However, this might only allude to European Galaxy S7 edge "SM-G935F" handsets, though a global release also seems imminent.
Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge Nougat Soak Test
As previously mentioned, reports have already confirmed that Samsung is currently sending out a Nougat soak test for Galaxy S7 and S7 edge handsets before the update's official release. Soak tests, for the uninitiated, allow a pool of users to get ahold of a software that's yet to be released to see how it performs. This form of early testing is crucial for developers, since users may report undetected bugs for the developers to zap accordingly, refining the software altogether.
The build G935FXXU1DPLR includes the software update, alongside Google's security patch for January. With the soak test in full gear, it's safe to assume that the global Nougat release for Galaxy S7 and S7 edge handsets is drawing near.
If users participating in the soak test find no significant snags or flaws in the software, then it's more than likely that Samsung will release it soon, maybe even on the aforementioned date.
According to International Business Times, most Galaxy S7 and S7 edge handsets will be upgraded to Android 7.1.1 Nougat, Google's latest OS version, while others, such as Verizon and Vodafone Australia models, will be updated to an older one, which is 7.0 Nougat. We'll find out if Nougat does roll out to Samsung's flagships on Jan. 17. Until then, users should still treat all this as speculation. Even if Samsung does intend to release Nougat on that date, there could still be discoveries from the soak test that might hamper and prolong the wait.
Even with the speculated release date, Samsung is still far behind its competitors. By contrast, Nougat has already arrived for the Huawei P9, the Asus Zenfone 3, and other handsets.
Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Specs
The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge were released back in March 2016 as Samsung's first flagships of the year, followed by the Note 7. While the latter is a now-defunct product, the former are still top-notch handsets for what they're worth.
The S7 edge is the curved display variant of the S7 rocking a 5.5 Super AMOLED touchscreen with a pixel density of 577 ppi. Some models released in certain markets have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 under the hood, while others have Samsung's proprietary System-on-a-Chip, Exynos 8890 Octa. The former chip is partnered with an Adreno 530 GPU, and the latter with a Mali-T880 MP12 chip for graphics.
There's 4 GB of RAM onboard, with storage options that's expandable up to 200 GB. On the back is a 12-megapixel camera that can record 4K video, and on the front is a 5-megapixel shooter.
The Galaxy S7 has virtually the same specs as its curved sibling, save for a smaller 5.1-inch screen and a lower-capacity battery at 3,000 mAh, against the S7 edge's 3,600 mAh.
