Galaxy S7 Oreo Update: 8 Reasons to Get Excited & 2 Not To

Potential for Missing Oreo Features

Again, we fully expect Samsung to put together a rich Android Oreo experience for Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, and Galaxy S7 Active users. The leak confirms that. That said, there's a chance Samsung holds back some Experience UI features from older devices.

Samsung rolled Android Nougat out to the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. The two devices got many exciting Nougat features, but some were missing. 

The Galaxy S6 missed out on a few camera features including Wide self-portrait with motion and a few camera modes including Food, Hyperlapse, and Selfie flash. The Galaxy S6 also missed out on the Always On Display, and Video Enhancer mode.

There are ways to get some of these features on board a Galaxy S6, but not everyone has time or skill to get that done. 

While the Galaxy S7 could get Bixby, it looks like Bixby Vision is missing from the Camera app. Some sticker options also appear to be missing. 

Again, nothing is official until Samsung releases the final software, but there's a chance some features remain exclusive to newer flagships like the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S8, and Galaxy Note 8.

The new Galaxy S9 flagships boast an assortment of hardware upgrades and they also include some tweaks to the Samsung Experience UI. 

These changes include AI improvements including faster translation in real time thanks to Bixby Vision, AR Emoji, and Google's Project Treble which could speed up software updates. Project Treble isn't on board the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 Oreo updates, at least not yet, and it's unclear if it'll make it to the Galaxy S7. 

If Samsung decides to bring some Galaxy S9's software features to the Galaxy S7, it won't happen overnight. The company will likely use some of these exclusive features to help sell the phone in the months ahead.

We expect developers to release some of the Galaxy S9's best software features for the Galaxy S7 and other older devices in the future, but installing them will require some time and effort some Galaxy S7 users might not have.