Tag: Galaxy S7

Good news this morning for those in Canada who have the Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge on either Rogers or Telus.  The two carriers have begun the process of rolling out the Android Nougat 7.0 update to those devices.  The update comes a few days later than the majority of carriers in Canada started the update roll out and follows the release of the update here in the United States.  By all indications, the update is virtually identical to the update that rolled out to other Canadian and US carriers.  That is, it is based on Nougat 7.0 and has the February 2017 Android Security Update.

The update for the phones is sizable at just over 1GB so you will certainly want to make sure you are on a Wi-Fi connection to download it.  Once the update is downloaded, you can expect the install to take 15-20 minutes and after the reboot is complete, you will be on Nougat.

Good news this morning for Verizon customers using the Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge – Android Nougat is finally coming your way.  The update is being released today and you are looking for build  NRD90M.G930VVRU4BQA2 for the Galaxy S7 while the S7 Edge is getting build NRD90M.G935VVRU4BQA2.  Both updates come in at just over 1GB in size so you will want to make sure you are connected to Wi-Fi to download the update for your phone.  Once you have it downloaded, the install process should take about 30 minutes all-in.

By now readers will know what comes with Nougat so I won’t bore you with the details once again.  If you aren’t clear on what Nougat brings, check out my review.  As for this particular update, you aren’t going to find much different than the Galaxy S7 updates that have been on T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint.  Essentially the updates are the same with very minor tweaks between them for each carrier.  That, frankly, is good in that you don’t have a different experience just because you are on a different carrier.

After wrapping up the beta program for Android Nougat last week, Samsung has pushed the button and started sending out the OTA update for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge.  The first to see the update will be those who participated in the beta as they will be moved to the stable build.  After that, unlocked variants of the S7 lineup will get the update.  The news of Nougat hitting the S7’s is certainly good news.  Samsung has been lackluster at best in getting major OS builds out in a timely manner but in the case of Nougat, it took about a quarter.  That’s pretty reasonable given the amount of changes and testing that has to happen for a major update.

Long with all the goodness that Nougat will bring to the S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung is also doing some minor UX updates and other under-the-cover fixes to add stability and performance.  If you don’t remember all that is in Nougat, you can catch up on it here.

Today’s Deal is for those of you who have a device that has Qi wireless charging built into it.  Over at Amazon you can pick up the Turbot 3-coil desktop stand charger for such devices for just $20.  That’s a savings of 56% off the regular price.  The stand holds your device at a 60 degree angle for easy viewing while it is charging.  Because it has 3 coils for charging, it is fast and efficient at charging your devices plus, the design lends itself to getting the charging connection right given the location of the coils in the stand.  The charger also is designed so that it keeps cool while charging, something many other wireless chargers struggle with as they can easily get over 100F.

If there is one fact in Android life that remains true, it is that Samsung will be slow in getting updates out to their devices.  It was four months after Android Marshmallow was released before the company pushed it out to the Galaxy S6 and they have been even slower on other devices and releases.  So when reports that Samsung has a test build of Android Nougat in the wild for the Galaxy S7, just weeks after it was released, it is good news.

Before you get your hopes up, no, a release of Nougat on the S7 lineup is not immanent.  In fact it is probably months away.  But SamMobile is reporting that Samsung has confirmed to them that they are indeed testing Nougat on a S7.

If have a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge on the Verizon network, there is a new software update waiting for you.  The new build of Android Marshmallow addresses some call quality issues as well as enabling the FM radio built into the device.  Specifically, you are looking for Verizon’s software version MMB29M.G935VVRU2APG5 for those keeping score at home and it is currently rolling out to customers.  You can manually check for the update by going to Settings>System Updates.  It is a small one as Verizon is allowing users to download it over LTE but you can expect about a 10 minute download and another 10-15 minutes to install and reboot your device.