Galaxy S7 Gets Android 7.0 Nougat In Open Beta Program

If you owned a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 edge and are worried that the company might be too busy putting out fires to pay any attention to the early 2016 flagship, you can put your fears to rest. On the contrary, Samsung is pouring all its attention and love on this two actual cash cows. Part of that involves updating the two to the latest Android 7.0 version. But hold your horses, the update isn't out yet. At least not if you don't apply to Samsung's Open Beta Program that will let you try it ahead of everyone else.

Samsung is notorious for its snail-paced rollout of Android updates, so it's welcome news to see that Android 7.0 is already in beta form, at least if you own either a Galaxy S7 or its curved sibling. Anything older or lower down the food chain are, at the moment, out of luck.

While the Android Nougat beta isn't exclusive to "insiders", there are naturally some caveats to this availability. First is that it is only open to owners of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge in the US, UK, and South Korea. Chinese owners will be able to join that party soon, Samsung promises. While there will inevitably be firmware images of this beta floating around, do note that they might not be compatible with other models.

In return for the free sneak peek, Samsung is only asking some much-needed feedback from users. After all, a beta test is meant to, well, test things. And it would be pointless if issues aren't reported.

In addition to the changes introduced by Nougat itself, Samsung's version includes a mix of the Grace UX introduced in the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 as well as a New UX themed for Nougat. Custom Samsung apps are still present, of course, and has even welcomed a new member, the Device Management app that lets you reclaim RAM and such. Those interested, and qualified, to join the beta can do so by downloading the Galaxy Beta Program app from Samsung's Galaxy Apps store.

SOURCE: Samsung