Category: AT&T

For readers who have the either the Samsung Galaxy S7 or the S7 Edge on AT&T, there is a new update heading your way starting today.  The update brings the June Android Security update to both devices.  The update follows a similar update from Sprint and T-Mobile for the phones on their networks.  It does not bring any significant new features and it remains on Android Nougat 7.0.

For the AT&T Galaxy S7, you are looking for build G930AUCU4BQF3 while on the Galaxy S7 Edge, build G935AUCU4BQF3 is your flavor of the day.  The updates are about 300MB in size, so not huge but certainly one you will want to download while you are on Wi-Fi just to make it all a bit faster process.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 continues to get incremental updates from both Samsung directly and carriers here in the United States.  AT&T has started rolling out updated firmware version N910AUCS2EQF1 which is fundamentally the June Android Security update that was released by Google earlier this month.  In fact, only security updates are listed in the release notes on the AT&T site for the device.

This update does not update the device to Android Nougat, an update that is likely never to happen officially given the age of the device and the expected release of the Note 8 this summer.  Indeed, it is because of the debacle of the Note 7 that the 4 is still getting regular updates more-or-less.

Good news for those of you who have the Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge on either AT&T or Sprint.  Both carriers have released the Android Nougat update for the devices on their respective networks, following up after the general release of the update by Samsung last month.  Principally, the updates for both carriers are the same.  Both bring all of the features of Nougat to the devices and both updates also bring device specific UX updates too.

The updates, as expected, are hefty.  They weigh in at over a 1GB on both carriers, regardless of variant, so you will certainly want to make sure that you are connected to Wi-Fi when you download the update.  Once it is downloaded, expect the update to take 15-20 minutes on either of the 2015 flagship devices.  After a reboot, you will be on Nougat.  If you need a refresher on what Android Nougat will bring to your phone, check out my review from last year.

With the March Android Security Update rolling out, February’s update is just now being rolled out by AT&T to some Samsung devices.  The update for the Galaxy Note 4, Note 5 and S5 Active are just now hitting customers. The updates themselves are quite small, under 200MB, and only contain the security update changes & fixes.  To put things into perspective, T-Mobile released the February Android Security Update for the Note 5 on their network on February 1st, the day the patch was released.

The challenge of upgrades and security patches is a well trodden road that we don’t need to visit yet again.  But it speaks volumes of the problem facing the platform when one carrier is releasing a security patch some 5 weeks after it was originally released.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The update for these devices shouldn’t take long to download given their size.  Once you have the download completed, your will need to reboot your device to apply the update which, all in, should take about 20 minutes to get done.  For reference, the build numbers for the updates are as follows:

• Galaxy Note 4 – MMB29M.N910AUCS2EPK4
• Galaxy Note 5 – MMB29K.N920AUCS4CQB2
• Galaxy S5 Active  – MMB29M.G870AUCS2DPK5

Unless you just absolutely have to do so, I strongly encourage readers to avoid carrier locked devices from any carrier.  Updates tend to be much slower from carriers while unlocked devices from manufactures, as a general rule, will get updates faster.  That doesn’t always hold 100% true but close enough.  Obviously devices from Google like the Pixel and Nexus phones get updates the quickest.

In all of the chaos surrounding Samsung at the minute, it would have been easy to miss that the South Korean company would be making a limited edition Blue Coral version of the Galaxy S7 Edge.  That color option will only be available in limited markets and fortunately, the United States courtesy of AT&T, will be one of them.  The carrier has added the Blue Coral option to their S7 Edge website, allowing customers or new to AT&T customers select the frankly stunningly beautiful muted blue phone.  While orders are being taken now, it won’t actually ship for another few weeks.  AT&T indicates that it will be shipping between November 18-22 this month.

Price wise, it is what you would expect for the flagship device from Samsung.  To buy it outright is $794.99 while you do have payment options thanks to the AT&T Next program.  For $26.50 per month you can use the Next program which is a 30 month payment option.  You can upgrade after you have paid 80% of the phone (roughly $635).  The AT&T Next Year program offers a 24 month upgrade plan which is $33.13 per month and you can upgrade after you have paid 50% of the value of the phone (roughly $397).

Continue reading after the break…

AT&T has begun pre-orders of the LG flagship Android phone, the LG V20.  The 5.7″ phone that is powered by the Snapdragon 820 and 4GB of RAM will start out at an eye watering $829 putting it higher than the Google Pixel XL and nearly as much as the iPhone 7 Plus.  If you do place a pre-order, it will be shipping out to you at the end of this month and you aren’t actually charged until the phone ships so you do have some time to think about it.

Fortunately AT&T is offering a few promotions to help ease the cost pain.  First, you can pay out the phone interest free for 30 months.  That will cost you $27.67 per month.  If you opt for the 24 month plan, which will allow you to trade the phone in come October 2017, that plan is $34.59 per month.