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Why the Galaxy S5 will not receive Nougat

ironass

ironass

Extreme Android User
There has, in the past, been lots of speculation about whether the Samsung Galaxy S5 will receive an update to Nougat, Android 7.0, or not. It has now been confirmed that it will not receive Nougat.

This is nothing to do with Samsung not wanting to support an older model and just abandoning it. Rather, the explanation is far simpler. The Galaxy S5 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset which, like the 800 version, does not have graphic drivers that are compatible with Nougat, as is mentioned in this article about the OnePlus 3...

"all devices powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 and 801 include graphics drivers that are not compatible with Nougat"

So, there you have it!
 
Can the software be written to accommodate these changes? I'm just wondering if custom ROMs could be customised to support it or is this a fundamental OS / hardware issue? Cheers
 
wooky69 said:
Can the software be written to accommodate these changes? I'm just wondering if custom ROMs could be customised to support it or is this a fundamental OS / hardware issue? Cheers
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The problem isn't the ROM but the graphics driver. So this is a different (harder) problem than porting a ROM or building one from source when you have a set of compatible libraries to make it with.

Not saying impossible (some maniacs have got Nougat running on the HTC HD2 after all ;) ), but fewer people could do it & there's no guarantee that performance or stability would match what you have.
 
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So long as the S5 continues to receive security updates for Marshmallow I think we will be just fine. When security updates stop, then it will be time to upgrade the phone.
 
Shame really it's a great phone. Ah well I run CM on mine so it'll be updated for some time yet.
I'm looking seriously at a Moto Z Play as a replacement (U.K version not Verison), I love the idea of a battery that actually lasts 2 days as I work outside often.
 
wooky69 said:
Shame really it's a great phone. Ah well I run CM on mine so it'll be updated for some time yet.
I'm looking seriously at a Moto Z Play as a replacement (U.K version not Verison), I love the idea of a battery that actually lasts 2 days as I work outside often.
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The European/UK version of the Motorola Z Play will not work on the old CDMA network for Verizon.
 
So no update to nougat or well. My S5 has been the best phone ever for me. I have buds with S6 and 7 and all of them have had problems. Until Samsung builds another phone with a removable battery and I keep hearing they will not be doing it. I'll be on my S5 until I can't find anymore to buy. No nougat so what. I'm happy now
 
Hi Mcgee, I'm with you 100% on the removable battery, when my S5 bit the dust I moved to the Note 4, but after many years of Samsung ownership there is nowhere left to go with this brand now, I am thinking of moving to the LG V20, LG seem to know what the consumer wants. Phil
 
philayl said:
Hi Mcgee, I'm with you 100% on the removable battery, when my S5 bit the dust I moved to the Note 4, but after many years of Samsung ownership there is nowhere left to go with this brand now, I am thinking of moving to the LG V20, LG seem to know what the consumer wants. Phil
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I'm on my 2nd S5 now I dropped and smashed my first one. They are way cheaper now they are a few years old. Most of my buddies have newer Samsung phone's and they still all like the fact that my phone has that removable battery. I'll be on my S5 until I can't buy another one. I too looked at the LG for that same reason
 
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