Question : Anyone using Android Nougat full or Beta Version.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi all,

Android Nougat. 

My daily driver go to phone is an unbranded Samsung Galaxy s7 edge. 

Now Samsung have released Nougat Beta to some early adopters a few weeks ago I've been watching a few threads from some early adopters giving some insight. 

Is anyone on the forum using Android Nougat ?

Appreciate it may be slightly different on other models of phones but I'd love to hear your thoughts.  

 

[Nabs]

I've been using it on my LG G5 for about a week , caught 4 cats so far 😄

Can't say i've noticed any major issues. The new quick menu improvement are nice and multi window is handy though a lot of phone had that prior to N's release. There has been a slight improvement in battery life, I guess that's down to Doze OTG. The biggest benefit has been the redesigned notifications which give a lot more information than they used to.

I would advise against installing any beta software on your main phone, if it goes wrong you could be up the creek, especially over christmas as there would be little UK based assistance available.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Nabs

I definitely agree with not using a Beta on a daily driver.

One of the reasons why I didn't register with Samsung for it. 

I hear from a few ex Samsung Note 7 users who hope that some aspects that made them like that phone is carried over.

For example the s7 edge. More information displayed via it's Always On Display for one example. 

I do use Multi Window quite frequently on my phone. Nice being able to multi task. Especially for a bloke

Thank you for your insight. 

[jonspittle]

Hi @BandOfBrothers,

I have an unbranded S7 edge like you and have been running the Nougat beta since it was released, it is certainly safe to be used as a daily driver.

There have been a few bugs here and there but nothing that I would normally associate with a beta.

I'm looking forward to the official lunch of 7.1, which is what Samsung are doing.

The new features are great, especially now having the Note 7's Always on Display, all apps work with it and it's a big update!

The only negative thing I can say is that since I've been using the beta I've lost WiFi calling, which I had working fine before, even though it's an unbranded phone; however I expect it to work again once the official version is released.

If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll happily provide feedback.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hello @jonspittle

Thank you very much for your insight. 

You were indeed fortunate to have Calling over Wifi working on your Samsung if it wasn't supplied directly by Vodafone.

I have Always On Display activated on my s7 edge which I've set to show the time, date,battery icon and missed texts and email. 

I believe the Nougat gives the same type of information as was on the Note 7. So can you have more notifications with Nougat showing on AOD ? The apps you speak of working > could you give an example and screen shot please ?

Are you getting regular updates to Nougat Beta from Samsung ?

I appreciate what your saying about few bugs but I'm a cautious kind of guy and patient. I tip my hat to you early adopters / beta testers

[jonspittle]

Hi @BandOfBrothers,

No problem!

Yes it looks that way, it seems that a very few people managed to get WiFi calling working.

I've always used AoD with the same set up and when the Note 7 came out along with AoD 2.0 I got really excited after reading initial reviews about it, so once Samsung pushed it out with the Beta I was very impressed.

I'm not sure how to upload photos, there isn't an option, is it because I'm in mobile view?

Anyhow every app I use works with it, whatever notification icon appears in my notification bar appears on the AoD display, if the phone is in standby then double tapping the apps icon opens the app directly, it's very cool!
With music apps you can directly skip songs whilst in standby as you get the songs title appear on the AoD's screen and double tapping on it drops down three more icons: previous song, pause and next song, you just double tap the icon again and it skips or pauses etc. It works with Spotify too!

Yes I'm getting regular updates, today was the release of the 5th beta since it started, which is nearly 1 per week.

Yes I almost didn't sign up for it as I expected it to be very buggy but after reading the initial reviews I decided too go for it!

The other thing I noticed today that came with beta 5 is that I know have Vodafone's Call+ Message+ built into the OS, like WiFi calling etc. Under phone settings there's now an option to enable, plus extra settings. What is Call+ Message+?

[BandOfBrothers]

Sounds very interesting @jonspittle

Yes you'd need to be in 'Full Site' mode which then pulls up the Rich Editor bar at the top of the text input box. From the mobile site the option to switch is at the bottom of the forum page. 

Along the Rich Editor bar are several options with one looking like mountains with a sun. 

Hitting that will invoke another pop up box where you can then add a picture. 

The enriched AoD feature sounds very useful and can understand why those that reverted to the s7 / s7 edge were a little underwhelmed at the less featured options. 

The more i hear the more I'm interested. How's battery output thus far ? Has Screen on Time taken any hit ?

Any other enhancements from Nougat over Marshmallow your liking ?

Thank you again for sharing your experience with this.  

[Nabs]

@jonspittle Message+ is Vodafone implementations of the Rich Communication Services standard (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services) which as far as I am aware is an eventual replacement to SMS
Call+ builds on the above system to allow you to send addition details to the recipiect of your call, your location, call subjects etc. More info at https://www.vodafone.co.uk/explore/apps/vodafone-call-plus/index.htm

[jonspittle]

@Nabs, thanks for the info and links. Ok so atm it's early days as Vodafone seem to be the only carrier who have got on board of this, so unless I'm messaging a person who's on Vodafone with a supported handset the extra info that can be shared will be unavailable?

[jonspittle]

@BandOfBrothers,

Ah I see makes sense now, thanks for the info!

Yes if I had to go back to AoD 1.0 I'd notice it quite a bit, as it's quite a big update!

So far it's difficult to say how the battery life is due to getting regular updates, therefore having to give it time to settle again, but for a beta happy with it as it seems about the same as MM.

The main Nougat features I like are probably these few:

Double tap for recent apps, not a big one but saves time when you are flicking between two apps.

Notification bar, when receiving multiple notifications from same app they get grouped together, really handy with emails as you can see them without accessing the app.

Notification bar, more shortcuts available now, you can now even have app shortcuts too... I'll add a picture in a minute of what I mean.