Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge users may have been quite delighted with the latest Android 7.0 Nougat update, but some of the complaints that surfaced have dampened the excitement.
According to reports, the Android N update for the smartphones has impacted the battery life of both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. Users who had updated the handsets to the new software observed the battery life getting depleted.
Before the upgradation took place, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge both offered decent battery life.
However, post updating to Android 7.0 Nougat from Android Marshmallow, users of the two smartphones complained of encountering battery life issues.
To check the user assertions, publication PhoneArena took upon itself to verify whether this was true.
Its test threw up a not-so-pleasant discovery - that the users of the Galaxy S7 edge and Galaxy S7 were correct.
The Battery Test
The publication tested that Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge under similar conditions such as the screen brightness settings, as well as performed some of the basic tasks on both the smartphones.
This was done both after updating the two smartphones. For the purpose of the test, the brightness was set to 200 nits, which is a decent level for usage indoors.
Prior to the handsets being updated to Android 7.0 Nougat, the team also determined whether the battery of the year-old smartphones had not depleted with time. Several battery tests were run on the two smartphones and the team found insignificant decline because of the aging of the battery. This aspect was factored into the test's results.
After such verifications, the Galaxy S7 edge and the Galaxy S7 were updated to Android 7.0 Nougat which had the kernel version 3.18.14.
How Did The Smartphones Fare?
According to the test, the Android 7.0 Nougat powered Galaxy S7 lasted for 6 hours. By comparison, the smartphone had lasted for 6 hours 37 minutes when running on the older Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
This difference indicates a deterioration of 9.4 percent.
The Galaxy S7 edge that was using the Android 7.0 Nougat lasted 6 hours and 35 minutes, whereas the Android 6.0 Marshmallow powered version had survived for 7 hours and 10 minutes. This difference is a deterioration of 8.1 percent.
Generally Android updates are accompanied with the additional features to the devices that enhance its function but at the same time initiates greater power consumption. With the newer software inserted into older hardware, such issues of power depletion may arise.
It remains to be seen is whether Samsung is able to fix the battery depletion issue the Android 7.0 Nougat update for the Galaxy S7 edge and Galaxy S7 has led to via a patch update.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns I Flickr
