A fresh software upgrade for the seven-year-old, long-discontinued midrange smartphone Galaxy J7 was unveiled by Samsung last week, much to everyone’s astonishment. It improved GPS stability in several ways. The same update is currently being distributed to a few more discarded Galaxy devices. This critical GPS patch is being delivered to the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8 series today.
With firmware version G93*FXXU8EVG3, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are receiving the most recent upgrade. A screenshot posted by GalaxyClub demonstrates the duo’s small 31MB OTA (over the air) package size. Since receiving the September 2020 security patch in November 2020, the phones have not received an update. There isn’t a new patch in the most recent release. Of course, there won’t be a new Android version for the phones either. They made their debut with Android 6 Marshmallow in early 2016 and died with Android 8 Oreo.
The firmware version of this GPS update for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 is G95*FXXUCDVG4, and it is substantially larger at 420MB. But neither a fresh security patch nor an Android update are available for these phones. They continue to run Android 9 Pie with the April 2021 security patch. In March 2017, the pair made their debut with Android Nougat 7.
Advertisement What has been repaired or enhanced with the GPS is not covered in detail in the official changelogs for these releases. Samsung, though, seems to think it’s essential enough to release new software updates for phones that we’ve all kind of forgotten about. The fresh report implies that perhaps more of these abandoned Galaxy cellphones will get this GPS update in the upcoming days. The following model might be the Galaxy S6 line from 2015. If and when the rollout starts, we’ll let you know.
Samsung keeps surprising people with their software support. In the Android market, Samsung unquestionably provides the best software support—better even than Google. The Korean company guarantees its flagships and a few mid-range devices four significant Android OS updates. By offering security updates for an additional year, it increases their useful lifetime. The Pixel 6 series will receive five years of security upgrades from Google, but the phones will only receive three generations of Android OS updates. If this ongoing support isn’t enough, Samsung consistently releases the most recent security fixes before any other Android OEM.
The Korean giant also frequently publishes these kinds of unexpected upgrades on top of everything else. Anyone using a Galaxy J7, Galaxy S7, or even a Galaxy S8 phone should switch to a newer model immediately as they are susceptible to security risks. Samsung, however, is playing its part by giving significant updates for the long-retired phones.
