Android Nougat will transform user experience on Galaxy S7 Edge

After upgrading my Galaxy S7 Edge to the beta version of Nougat, my experience with the device has greatly improved. As soon as you turn on the screen, you don't notice much of a difference, however, when you start using system resources, things change.

TouchWiz is definitely smarter on Android Nougat

TouchWiz is definitely smarter on Android Nougat. My impression is that Samsung's software engineers have stopped creating more complicated ways to use system tools just to make Samsung's interface different from that of pure Android. And that was a hit, as it became faster and easier to interact with the phone.

UI apps nougat s7 edge
A much more sober UX / AndroidPIT

The first fact that caught my attention was the change in the status bar and system settings menu. They both look more sober and look much cleaner, and although the arrangement of services appears in list format rather than by category, each option now comes with a brief description of what the user might find by clicking on each service. .

So instead of the block with the icons of the connections, we have the option "Connection" and in the descriptions "Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Data Usage", and so on. Even for those who are first in contact with one of the Galaxy S7 models, it won't be a big problem to understand where to find each setting.

nougat s7 edge settings
Description in settings options / AndroidPIT

If this happens, however, the manufacturer has opted for a suggestion system that gives the user a chance to check a setting related to the "Display" option, for example, but which is not necessarily in this menu, such as the dropdown. smart or the video booster.

We also had the addition of one of the screen features of the Galaxy Note 7, the Blue Light Filter. This feature allows you to reduce eye strain by limiting the amount of blue light emitted by the screen. Incidentally, it is not yet known what the new UX will be called, as the update is still unofficial, however, the user experience is similar to the one I had on Grace UX of late Note 7.

light blue filter nougat s7 edge
Blue Light Filter / AndroidPIT

In addition, we have the use of the new SamsungOne font, which was created to unify the company's other services, from refrigerators to smartphones. By that I mean it needs to be something really functional and simple, as it needs to please a very wide range of users, which felt to be much more difficult with all the richness of colors of the previous TouchWiz version.

In the image below, you can compare SamsungOne with Google's Roboto:

samsung google font comparison
SamsungOne lyrics have more curves than Roboto / Samsung

With regard to power usage, Samsung has added a monitor that detects apps that are using the battery in the background and that can be suspended to avoid power consumption when not in use. What makes this feature attractive is the fact that the system is acting proactively and no longer leaves the user in a position to doubt which applications to suspend to have the same result and of course they are much simpler to use.

nougat s7 edge battery
Most intuitive app power monitor / AndroidPIT

Another thing that caught my attention is that now we have the search bar visible at the top of the app drawer, similar to the one we have in the interface of Pixel devices. Using the search tool, if the application you are looking for is not installed, the system automatically offers the access button to Google and Samsung stores. Which makes me realize once again that TouchWiz is much more efficient.

nougat s7 edge apps drawer
Quick Access App Store / AndroidPIT
nougat screen shortcuts
Pressing the app icon gives you some quick function shortcuts / AndroidPIT

And finally, another feature that came to life with Android Nougat was Always On Display which now, in addition to showing the type of notification, still opens third-party apps from the lock screen when we double-click on specific notification. Thus, there is even a good reason to keep such a feature active in the system.

Earlier, I posted an Android Nougat beta installation tutorial for the Galaxy S7 Edge. The firmware was made available by a member of Samsung's testing program and I installed it on my model. The software is quite stable so far, but it limits the use of Samsung Pay as it is not an official version of the OS.

So far I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing, but I still need to do an analysis of the performance of the device in the coming days, because, as we know, TouchWiz known for its reputation for heavy.

And you already downloaded and are using the new version of Android on your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge? Tell me what you think so far.

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