Samsung Pushes Fourth Android 7.0 Nougat Preview For Galaxy S7 And S7 Edge
Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge owners waiting patiently for an Android 7.0 Nougat update for their handset may feel the way Bill Murray did in the movie Groundhog Day in which each new day was the same as the last. Only instead of reliving each day from start to finish, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge owners are stuck reading about new Android 7 beta updates for their smartphones with the promise that a final build is right around the bend. Eventually that cycle will be broken. In the meantime, there is a fourth beta of the Nougat update available.
We won't rub salt in the wound by saying (yet again) that this is an indication that a final release can't be far off. We will just imply it instead by pointing out that the fourth beta release is the smallest one yet, which would seemingly indicate that Samsung is running out of things to tweak. Other than the usual round of bug fixes and stability improvements, the changelog only mentions that Samsung Notes is no longer a pre-installed app.
Anyone who has been using Samsung Notes is encouraged to download it from the Galaxy Apps Store or Google Play before installing the fourth Android 7 beta. Otherwise, all of the data will be erased when making the upgrade. A pop-up message makes that clear, so unless saved notes have been backed up to the cloud, installing the app from one of the stores is necessary to retain any existing notes.
Another pop-up on the Galaxy S7 Edge indicates that Samsung made some improvements to performance in the latest Android 7 update. It is believed that Samsung paid special attention to gaming and browsing performance, though neither of those have been confirmed.
It is taking some time for Nougat to spread. At present, Nougat accounts for just 0.4 percent of all Android devices. Android 5.x Lollipop is still the most popular at 34 percent, followed by Android 6.0 Marshmallow (26.3 percent) and Android 4.4 KitKat (24 percent).
We won't rub salt in the wound by saying (yet again) that this is an indication that a final release can't be far off. We will just imply it instead by pointing out that the fourth beta release is the smallest one yet, which would seemingly indicate that Samsung is running out of things to tweak. Other than the usual round of bug fixes and stability improvements, the changelog only mentions that Samsung Notes is no longer a pre-installed app.
Anyone who has been using Samsung Notes is encouraged to download it from the Galaxy Apps Store or Google Play before installing the fourth Android 7 beta. Otherwise, all of the data will be erased when making the upgrade. A pop-up message makes that clear, so unless saved notes have been backed up to the cloud, installing the app from one of the stores is necessary to retain any existing notes.
Another pop-up on the Galaxy S7 Edge indicates that Samsung made some improvements to performance in the latest Android 7 update. It is believed that Samsung paid special attention to gaming and browsing performance, though neither of those have been confirmed.
It is taking some time for Nougat to spread. At present, Nougat accounts for just 0.4 percent of all Android devices. Android 5.x Lollipop is still the most popular at 34 percent, followed by Android 6.0 Marshmallow (26.3 percent) and Android 4.4 KitKat (24 percent).
