Will Galaxy Note 7 launch with Android Nougat?

There are more then several reasons and hopes that the next big Note handset from Samsung, the Galaxy Note 7, will launch with Android Nougat pre-installed.

Let’s talk about the reasons, because hopes are so obvious.

Why Note 7 will come pre-installed with Android Nougat?

1. Google said it itself!

Well, when Google released the last preview of Android Nougat, the Developer Preview 5, it also revealed the final consumer release is expected to come ‘later this summer.’

Now, all the recent major Android upgrades have been launched with a new Nexus device or two, and this time around too the expectations were all the same, but it happens that new Nexus devices release only by fall. Then how come Nougat release by summer end if it were to be accompanied only by a new Nexus device?

So, did Google make a slight hint towards non-Nexus device launching with Android Nougat?

2. An Android 7.0 build on non-Nexus device is already out!

Nougat Huawei p9

That seems the case. More so when we know that an Android 7.0 build has already leaked, and that too on a non-Nexus device in the form of Huawei P9. (Mentioned in the screenshot above is Android 5.1, but it’s 7.0 actually, this was purposefully done to prevent the firmware from leaking all over, which is eventually did obviously!)

Granted, Huawei can secure a Nougat build because of Nexus 6P, the device made by the company last year, one that is surely one of the first in line to receive Nougat OTA. But that Android 7.0 leak doesn’t belong to Nexus 6P, it’s made for — and is already working on — Huawei P9, all stitched with EMUI 5.0.

Meaning, the OEM has long had the Nougat build with it even when the OS was under development — which it still is — and had ample time to mix it with it own custom skin in EMUI 5.0, a job that requires too much time — as it’s the main reason why major OEMs can’t deliver super-quick updates like Nexus and Motorola devices (running almost Nexus like software).

And if Huawei had it, then all major Android OEMs have it too — and that includes Samsung, LG, HTC, Sony, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, etc. If Samsung has been working on Nougat for as much time as Huawei, then there is good chance that Korean giant has successfully developed a Nougat build with its own custom skin atop, whether the latter be called TouchWiz, or Grace UI.

Though, we’ve seen Note 7 on video and what not, and it looks to be running Grace UI on Android 6.0, not Android 7.0, so that’s a downer. But as leaked sets are prototype ones, not close to final builds, not even hardware-wise, software on these leaked sets cannot — at all! — be taken as final or ready consumer release.

As such, it’s even easier for company to keep final build with it, and load only old test build on prototypes that go to various regions testing purpose.

There remains sold chance that Android 7.0 build with Grace UI is ready with Samsung, and that it could load the retails Note 7 sets that, even though we’re yet to see a Note 7 leak running 7.0 Nougat.

3. Google desperately wants to fix the issue of delayed Android updates

Last but not the least, Google has long aimed to fix the software update problem with Android, and with Nougat, it’s long been rumored that the issue will be solved for good, once and all. As it can only by fixed by getting OEMs working build of Android OS earlier than usual, so that they have sufficient time to load their on custom skin on it, the Huawei P9 Nougat leak makes us believe: Now is the time.

What do you guys think?

Posted by
Kapil Malani

A die-hard Liverpool FC fan, Kapil is a big fan of Batman, Android and street Cricket. In that order, probably. Email: [email protected]