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Samsung is updating a bunch of very old phones for a seemingly curious reason
This firmware update for the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, and S8 better be worth the developers’ trouble
Five years after their initial release, most smartphones are no longer receiving regular security patches, let alone Android updates. That said, every once in a while we see some big exception, where a phone company reaches out to deliver a presumably very special update to a handset it was otherwise no longer supporting. That's the sort of situation we're thinking about right now, as Samsung makes the unusual move to release software updates for old Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S7 models — reportedly to fix a... GPS issue?
Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge stop receiving security updates
The Galaxy S7 active is still eligible for updates, though
The Galaxy S7 hasn't seen a new Android version in a long time, but until now, Samsung at least had been pushing security updates whenever it deemed them necessary. According to the company's security updates timeline, that's changing: The company won't release new patches for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge any longer, though the S7 active is still supported.
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- And just like that, the Galaxy S7 is back to receiving quarterly updates. Or at least Samsung's list says that it is; honestly, with this much back-and-forth action we're not sure what to expect until we actually start seeing future updates land.
The Galaxy S7 is an old phone, so it's no surprise that Samsung isn't planning on releasing updates for it as frequently anymore. Back in April, the company already announced that the S7 and S7 edge would receive updates on a quarterly basis rather than monthly, but it's just downgraded the update frequency once again to "other regular."
Android and Google often go hand-in-hand, but for users who would prefer to not expose all their data to Google, privacy-focused distributions do exist. Now, one organization is looking to sell users popular phones pre-loaded with one of these Google-stripped Android forks.
We all want companies to provide monthly security updates for our devices, but there comes a time when new phones take precedence over older models. Today is one of those difficult times. Samsung has updated its security update page with a few significant changes. The biggest losers are the S7, S7 Edge, and Tab S3 9.7, while newly-released models take their rightful place in the table.
LineageOS is one of the most popular custom ROMs available, with somewhere around two million active installations. It typically takes a while for the project to update to newer versions of Android, since development is largely done by maintainers in their spare time. Six months after the public release of Android 9 Pie, it looks like LineageOS is about ready to make the jump — but not before dropping older devices.
All four major US carriers pushed the Android 8.0 Oreo to their Galaxy S7 and S7 edge variants back in June. AT&T, surprisingly, took the lead, with Verizon shortly behind. Sprint came in next, and T-Mobile took last place. One and a half months after the update first started rolling out in the US, Samsung is finally pushing Oreo to the US unlocked S7 and S7 edge models (SM-G93xU).
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Back in March, T-Mobile promised that it would deploy the Universal Profile for inter-carrier RCS compatibility by the end of Q2 of this year. Although magenta subscribers have had RCS for in-network communications since 2015, and other US carriers have their own proprietary implementations, Sprint was the only one to support it at this "universal" level, courtesy of Google's Jibe. Now, with just two days to spare on its original estimate, T-Mobile is rolling out support for RCS Universal Profile 1.0.
Most US models of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge have received their Android 8.0 Oreo updates by now. AT&T got first place, with Verizon hot on its heels and Sprint coming in third. It's now the T-Mobile versions' turn, leaving the US unlocked model as the only major American S7 that hasn't received Oreo yet.
It took a while, but US carriers are finally rolling Android 8.0 Oreo out to the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. AT&T was, surprisingly enough, the first to do so, with Verizon hot on its heels after two false alarms. Sprint is now rolling the update out to its S7/S7 edge phones, leaving T-Mobile as the last major carrier to update them.
Over a month ago, Verizon toyed with Galaxy S7 and S7 edge owners' hearts by saying that the Android 8.0 Oreo update was rolling out, when in reality it had simply posted the wrong changelog. However, Verizon has again updated its support pages for the S7 and S7 edge, presumably for real this time.
AT&T has become the first US carrier to roll Android 8.0 Oreo out to the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. We'd thought it would be Verizon, but Big Red has now pulled its S7 Oreo changelog down twice. AT&T, however, is cutting to the chase by actually releasing the update and skipping this support page nonsense.
The most popular custom ROM available, LineageOS, keeps on getting better and better. Since we last covered the project, two more devices are now supported, and a number of great features have been added. The project recently posted a new changelog, highlighting recent improvements and device changes:
Galaxy S7 and S7 edge devices in the UK began receiving their Android 8.0 Oreo updates at the beginning of this month, but Samsung is now suspending rollouts because some devices are experiencing random reboots. The company has issued an official statement and some instructions for those stuck with rebooting phones.
Recently in the US, Verizon inadvertently trolled Galaxy S7 and S7 edge owners on its network by releasing an update that supposedly brought Android Oreo to the devices. It turns out the carrier had just attached the wrong changelog, and Oreo wasn't imminent at all. To rub salt into the wounds of those customers, S7 and S7 edge units in the UK are now actually receiving the Oreo update.
Verizon has begun rolling out a new update for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. The release notes on the carrier’s website say that the update includes Android 8.0 Oreo, but users who have already installed the release were disappointed to find it didn’t quite deliver everything that was promised.
Last August, I published a list of the most and least popular smartphones and tablets used on Android Police. That post was surprisingly popular - and I've had repeated requests for a follow-up. Now that well over a year has passed, I think the time is right for a new installment, and one spanning a far greater time period than the month-long data set I used to compile the last version.
The Galaxy S7 edge isn't the newest phone on the block, but it's still an excellent device - it should even get an official 8.0 Oreo update at some point. If you're a Sam's Club member and a Sprint customer (or you're willing to switch), you could end up being paid to buy an S7 edge. No, I'm not kidding.
Despite being a year and a half old at this point, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is still a great phone to pick up, depending on the price. David heaped praise on the device in his review, Rita did even more so in her second take, and Richard also had nice things to say about it in his long-term appraisal. We've teamed up with Daily Steals to give you the chance to buy a refurbished S7 Edge for just $285. That really is a steal, somebody call the Android Pol... oh wait, that's us.
Verizon has updated its support pages for both the S7 and S7 edge with a new software version for each. Included in the changes are improved voice recognition, general bug fixing, extra features for corporate owners, and August's security patch. The two versions go by NRD90M.G930VVRU4BQH4 and NRD90M.G935VVRU4BQH4.