Samsung joined the club of other smartphone makers last year in letting its consumers beta test the next major Android upgrade. Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge owners were able to test Android 6.0 Marshmallow much before the update was made official, which was a step outside of Samsung’s norm: internal testing of major software updates.
Amidst rumors that Samsung has been working in close co-operation with Google to receive early access to the Android 7.0 Nougat source files, and is planning to update its flagship phones by year’s end. The Korean giant has reportedly started beta testing Android 7.0 Nougat for the Galaxy S7 edge (and presumably the regular Galaxy S7 as well) in the UK, reports Sammobile.
While it is true that the LG V20, Google’s Pixel lineup, and Huawei Mate 9 have been announced with Nougat on board, these are all new handsets, there was still speculation that Samsung might beat everyone to the punch, and roll out Nougat to the spring flagships earlier than usual. All such talk was deflated with Samsung appearing to already begin seeding the beta test. Users, therefore, rushed to the Galaxy Beta Enrollment app in the store to sign up, but it looks like Samsung has other plans as far as early access goes.
What this means: whether you are actually selected for the program or not is something Samsung will decide. The beta registration doesn’t seem to be working just yet, but it should once Samsung makes an official announcement of the program. With the Galaxy Note 7 out of the market, Samsung is no doubt looking to quicken the pace at which it completes porting Android Nougat to the S7 and S7 edge.
User mariolcela over on XDA reported that he had found the Nougat beta enrollment app in the U.K(and U.S) Galaxy Apps store for his S7 Edge, though it is likely to work with the S7, too. A dig through the threads reveals that most people are saying that server errors are not allowing them to register for the beta. For now, however, all users can do is wait.
It usually takes a month or two to get from those betas to a finalized update rollout, at least for the non-carrier versions, but the process is now definitely underway.
