The Android 7.0 Nougat update for the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge is here and we've covered the software changes at length. We've also promptly retested battery life since the update is a relatively major change. All tests were performed on the international Exynos 8890 version.

We observed a significant drop in Wi-Fi browsing longevity, to the tune of 3 full hours. The new result on Nougat (again, on the Exynos version of the handset) is close to what the Snapdragon 820 version could achieve on Marshmallow. Still, what was a truly excellent web browsing endurance before, is now just a ‘good score’ after the update.

Web browsing

S7 edge (E8890, Marshmallow)

13:32h

S7 edge (E8890, Nougat)

10:35h

S7 edge (S820, Marshmallow)

10:09h

It's not a spectacular showing in video playback either, where the drop in endurance is a whopping 5 hours. The thing is, the S7 edge's original 20+ hours of looping videos were so amazing, that even 5 hours less makes for a pretty great number. But we don’t quite understand what has caused the change.

Video playback

S7 edge (E8890, Marshmallow)

20:08h

S7 edge (S820, Marshmallow)

16:54h

S7 edge (E8890, Nougat)

15:12h

On a more positive note, the 3G voice call endurance has been improved by an extra 1:45h.

Talk time

S7 edge (E8890, Nougat)

26:13h

S7 edge (E8890, Marshmallow)

24:29h

S7 edge (S820, Marshmallow)

22:32h

All this makes for a slightly lower overall endurance rating of 92 hours (6h down from the Marshmallow firmware).

We also tested if selecting a lower display resolution (a new feature introduced by Android 7 Nougat) would have a positive impact on the battery life. We compared the battery performance using the native 1440p setting as well as the lowest available setting of 720p.

The short answer is - the change in resolution didn’t affect any aspect of the battery life - not in our testing routine. The minor differences we recorded were in the minutes, and are well within the margin of error of the tests. Perhaps an alternative usage pattern might lead to some meaningful advantages of going low-res, but our experience doesn't point in that direction. One such potential scenario is gaming, but then again you already had the option to limit resolution within Game launcher.