Android 7.0 Nougat Beta Program has officially been confirmed to be available to some Sony Xperia units. The release however will only be available in stages.
Sony is finally joining the Android 7.0 Nougat Beta Program, allowing its handset devices from the Xperia X and Z series to qualify for said test. According to the estimated time of arrival (ETA) of Android 7.0 Nougat's update posted by Xperia Blog, Sony Xperia X performance and XZ line will first receive the official Android 7.0 Nougat update by October this year.
The said website stated that the ETA roadmap was seen during a Sony press conference in Slovakia.
Meanwhile, Sony Xperia X and X Compact will receive the update around November while Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Premium, Xperia Z5 Compact, Xperia Z3+ and Xperia Z4 Tablet at around December this year. The final wave of update will be rolled out to Xperia XA and Xperia Ultra around the first two quarters of 2017.
In a report from Phone Arena, the Japanese tech giant could be targeting to update most of its handsets before 2016 ends. As its mission statement states on its website, Sony aims to release software updates as soon as it can.
Although the screengrabbed ETA seemed legitimate, owners are warned to take it with a pinch of salt due to the inconsisteny of Android developments. In addition, the projected release date of the software update goes way too far from what has been reported for Sony's devices.
There is no word yet as to when the update will be released to other models like Xperia M4 Aqua, Xperia M5, Xperia C5 Ultra and Xperia C4.
Android 7.0 Nougat Beta Program lets device owners of select market try the new software before releasing it worldwide. In this stage, Android developers will have the idea what improvements they can make for the new software before its official release in the market.
The beta program app can be downloaded via Google Play Store while a notification will also prompt device owners to download said program through the Xperia Lounge app. As of the moment, Android 7.0 Nougat is still available in European countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia and the Netherlands.
