It's been less than a month since Samsung commenced rolling out Android Nougat to the Galaxy S7 and the S7 edge in developed markets such as America and Europe. Now, the company has expanded the release program to India and there is a little surprise package in it.
Many Galaxy S7 series owners who installed the Android Nougat have started getting ads about the launch of the much awaited contactless mobile payment feature, Samsung Pay.
Also read: Android Nougat release news: See if your Samsung Galaxy S, A series devices are eligible for Google mobile OS v7.0
The new update also comes with Samsung Pay app pre-installed, but it is yet to be activated by the company, SamMobile reported.
Samsung Pay, which was launched in August 2015, is currently available in the US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Korea, Spain, China, Russia and Singapore.
It is expected to expand to other markets-- UK, Malaysia, Russia, Thailand and including India in the next few months.
How Samsung Pay works?
Samsung Pay works with both NFC-based mobile payment systems (available in developed markets only) and magnetic stripes, which is accomplished through "Magnetic Secure Transmission" (MST) technology. It transmits card data to a payment terminal's swipe slot using an electromagnetic field, causing the terminal to register it as if it were a normal magnetic stripe.
Further, different credit and loyalty cards can also be loaded into the Samsung Pay app, and they can be selected by swiping between them on-screen with ease.
With digital cash transaction gaining momentum country wide over demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500, Samsung Pay's secured payment technology will certainly be embraced by public with open arms and it is expected to give stiff challenge to e-wallet mobile apps such as Paytm, Freecharge and others in India.
If Samsung has its way, it can forge partnership with banks to improvise ATMs to wirelessly communicate to the mobile phone, which eliminates user from typing four pin codes on the machine and withdraw cash just by standing in front of it.
This system is already in place in Samsung's home market South Korea.
What else is coming with Android Nougat update to Samsung Galaxy S7 series?
Android Nougat comes with the much needed night mode, bundled notification, improved battery optimisation, multi-window options and more.
Read more: Android 7.0 Nougat released: 16 key upgrades of Google's new mobile OS update over Marshmallow
In addition to Nougat features, Samsung has also incorporated custom features, including the always on display, that lets user change the clock colour, get enhanced accessibility, lock screen personalisation option to improve notifications on display, card dynamic adjustment of display size, revamped calendar app, new font option for titles so that it can be displayed in dominant upper case characters, option to use owner's image for the display, and newer clock styles.
Performance mode has also been added to the galaxy phone that lets users optimise their smartphones to improve their specific needs by activating one of the four available modes -- optimised mode (extends battery), game mode (provides useful functions such as game launcher and game tools), entertainment mode (enhances sound and image quality) and high performance mode (enables the highest quality display settings possible).
As of now, Android Nougat is being release via OTA (Over-The-Air) to Samsung Galaxy S7. If there is no update notification on the screen, device owners – Go to Settings >> About Phone >> tap System update.
Watch this space for latest news on Samsung products and Android Nougat release schedule.
