Android 7.0 Nougat Update US Release Date Goes Stateside with Moto G4, Moto G4 Plus

Mar 04, 2017 12:21 PM EST

So, you happen to own the Moto G4 or the Moto G4 Plus, and wish that it would finally receive the Android 7.0 Nougat update. Well, all of that waiting in the US will finally come to an end as Lenovo (who owns the smartphone arm of Motorola) has just announced that they will at last, roll out the Android 7.0 Nougat for the now outdated handsets. Yes, the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus were announced by Lenovo at the recently concluded MWC 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. At least the previous year’s devices for the masses, the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus will at long last, obtain the Android 7.0 Nougat update.

Moto G4, G4 Plus gets Android 7.0 Nougat soak test
In reality, the general availability of the Android 7.0 Nougat update did not kick off in earnest until in December of 2016 in India, and thankfully, it looks like the rest of the world too -- in the US especially, will be on the receiving end of this long awaited update. Yes, it has been a good three months or so, but better late than never would be the adage that is best adhered to at the moment. It seems that the Android 7.0 Nougat update is undergoing a “soak test” by users on Republic Wireless.

What is a soak test?
A soak test is basically an extremely limited release of a particular update to select owners of said smartphone by a particular carrier. In this case, it would be none other than the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus, with just a handful of its owners enjoying the Android 7.0 Nougat update. Now, these Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus owners are not supposed to just enjoy all that Android 7.0 Nougat has to offer while keeping quiet -- they are expected to provide some sort of feedback to the mobile carrier, just in case any kinds of bugs or issues creep up so that those issues can be fixed. This would mean it might take a little while longer (assuming there are no issues to fix in the first place) before the Android 7.0 Nougat update can be released on a large scale to the masses.

Android 7.0 Nougat details
If all goes well, this Android 7.0 Nougat update on the Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus will see the build number get bumped up to NPJ25.93-13. However, what is a downer would be the fact that this update will just include the Android security patches for the month of December 2016, as opposed to the latest security patches that were released last month. It does make us wonder why is there a degree of half-heartedness in doing things.

There are other Motorola smartphones that have also picked up the Android 7.0 Nougat update, where among them include the Moto Z Play and Moto Z. All this should bode well for those who own Motorola devices, I suppose.