Updating Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to latest official firmware should be your priority if you willing to keep flashing your smartphone with a big smile. This phone is a beast with very high-end hardware and manufacturers always focus more on the high end devices to keep them updated that prevents from many security issues as well as stability issues. At least for next two years you could expect good number of official updates for this smartphone. There are many variant of Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that available right now in the market including SM-G935 (USA), SM-G935F (Global), SM-G935FD (Southeast Asia), SM-G935V and SM-G9350 (known as Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Duos). Anyway, update process that we describing below is not only meant for regular firmware updates but also unleashing the beast by unlocking the fullest potential with the help of custom ROM. But flashing custom ROM require you unleash the techy that living inside you if you willing to take the challenge.
There are total of four different types of methods to update your device where first three of them is to keep the device updated with official firmware and the fourth one is to unlock hidden capabilities of this beast. They are listed as below.
1. Update via OTA (only for upgrade)
2. Update via KIES (only for upgrade)
3. Update manually with Odin (for downgrade and upgrade )
4. Update using custom made ROMs (unofficial way to update)
Out of these the first two methods has some restrictions or eligibility criteria to be maintained since they are official package. The phone should not be rooted and if it is done you have to revoke and any bloat ware or irregular access such as unlocked system should be revoked to be eligible for theses updates. The third one can be used to upgrade/downgrade your smartphone no matter you running on official firmware or custom one. The fourth method is the unofficial firmware update and it is from the third party developers. Once we enter into this update we cannot claim for any warranty since the actions are not recommended by manufacturers or software providers. This may also result in bricking your phone and you may have to try to unbrick your phone. Let us see each one of the method in details since you are looking for an update now.
1. Update via OTA:
OTA ( Over The Air) is the official method of updating the software. This method only require your smartphone and high speed internet connection. All the latest official updates would be available here, however this has some eligibility or prerequisites to be there to detect the available updates. It has to be up-to-date and no system root or unlock should have happened, if the same happened needs to be revoked.
Generally you would get notification for any eligible update but just in case you haven’t rooted your mobile and up-to-date firmware is there means no need to wipe your eyes or bang your head somewhere. Sometimes you could be able to do this OTA update in force mode. For this please refer the below mentioned method.
- First of all make sure you have stable internet connection (Wi-Fi or data network) on your device.
- Now, go to Android app drawer and then select Settings.
- Then locate About Device and tap on it.
- Next select Software update from About device screen.
- Then tap on Update option.
- You should see an update, press OK to download and install. (Remember, download using 3G or network data will incur additional charges to your phone bill!)
- Soon your device will reboot to complete the installation process.
If you see “The latest update have already been installed” massage while checking update then your device yet to receive an OTA update. Check back within few days or jump to next procedure.
2. Update via KIES:
This is another official method to update your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. In this update you need to install an official Samsung utility called KIES. This method ask lot more data than OTA method as it require to download full firmware instead of just updated one. Follow the below steps to update Samsung Galaxy Edge to latest available official firmware.
- Make sure you have stable internet connection on your computer.
- Now download and install Samsung KIES on your computer.
- Turn on your device (if it off) and then connect it to computer with USB cable.
- Run Samsung KIES and wait for it to detect your device.
- You should see a New Firmware Upgrade is available at Samsung KIES home screen.
- Press the Firmware Upgrade button to proceed.
- Follow on screen instruction and soon you will see your device running upgrade and reboot automatically. Once done, you can disconnect your device from computer.
Again! If you see “This is the latest firmware” in Samsung KIES, then your device yet to receive the latest update on KIES. Its good time to go for manual update instruction that located below.
3. Update via Odin: ( Unofficial way to flash official firmware):
This method is more preferred among the users for several reason. First of all, it allow you to update your device to latest firmware even if Samsung officially don’t rolled out a firmware for your country or if your device yet to receive your country specific firmware. The very next important reason is, it allow you to install latest firmware even if you rooted your device, have custom ROM installed or if you have play with the system some way or another. Another good thing about this Odin update is, if your device running on an official firmware then flashing using this method won’t erase your Galaxy S7 Edge internal memory data. Another possible reason to use this method probably is, you can use this Odin flash method to downgrade your existing firmware if you really need to. This method won’t increase binary counter as well as Knox hence you shouldn’t worry about warranty.
- Connect your device with PC using a USB cable. Make sure, you have already enabled developer mode on your smartphone navigate towards “menu –> settings –> about phone” and tap several times (total 7 times) on Built Number until you become a developer;
- Now from “menu –> settings –> developer options” enable the USB Debugging option.
- Download and install ODIN in your PC and as well as install Galaxy S7 Edge USB drivers.
- Now download the required software update from True Android dedicated Samsung Firmware section or Samsung official website and store it in the PC.
- Its time to run the ODIN in your PC and put the phone into download mode. Run Odin as an Administrator because Admin privileges is required to complete the process smoothly (only applicable Windows Vista and higher). To enter download mode shut down your phone, then press and hold Power, Volume Down and Home buttons at the same time. A warning screen will come up; press Volume Up button to enter Download Mode.
- Make sure the device is connected with the PC and added message should come up in the ODIN software in your PC. If not unplug the USB cable and reinstall the drivers and try again; you can also try switching USB port. Its always better idea to use USB cable that comes with your Galaxy S7 Edge for this purpose.
- Once you did the changes in your phone it should enter into the download mode. Tap on PA option from the Odin and select the required firmware update from your PC (if you downloaded zip file then extract it to get tar file, Odin only accept .tar files).
- In Odin window, make sure only Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time checkboxes are selected.
- Double check everything that we mentioned in Step 7 & Step 8 above. Now, once satisfied hit the START button to begin the flashing process.
- Once flashing completed, your Galaxy S7 Edge will restart and soon you will see a PASS message with green background in the left-most box at the very top of the Odin. You can now unplug the USB cable to disconnect your device from computer.
4. Custom ROM update (unofficial way to update):
It is always a good practice for manufacturer to keep some of the potential of a phone hidden or locked. Since that might cause the stability issues or for some other reason the manufacturers keep them hidden. Also manufacturer always like to have you restricted and force you to use their bloatware or services. However, developer are always there to help you out from this. That’s why they develop various custom ROM to rescue you. There are basically two type of custom ROM – one is based on official firmware and other is based on Google repository or based on another custom ROM. Custom ROM that based on official firmware mostly Odin flashable hence you can follow method 3 tutorial for this. Another type of custom ROM can only be flashed with the help of custom recovery such as CWM recovery or TWRP recovery. Please note, since this method increase binary counter as well as Knox counter (few official firmware based custom ROM may not increase it) you void the manufacturer warranty by following this method. A custom ROM is not always stable so you can expect irregularities with this update. Hence it is good to execute a backup process such as Nandroid which would save your complete android present version so that you can use it later in case you need it back. Now lets see how to update custom ROM in your device.
- Download the custom ROM file in the computer from the third part developer website (you can always search True Android to see if anything available).
- also download any given android apps (mostly Google app; sometime Super SU) if necessary.
- save both files in your computer and if it is in desktop would be better and handy.
- Connect your device with computer using the USB cable and transfer the downloaded file.
- Now unplug your device from the system as it is no longer needed.
- Power off your phone and wait for the shut down process to be completed (the phone vibrate).
- Its time to enter into the recovery mode by pressing and holding the power button, home button and volume up button together for a while and it will enter into the recovery mode. Alternatively try this: Recovery Mode without Key Combination.
- CWM aka ClockworkMod recovery user need to follow below steps:
- Perform a Nandroid backup of your existing ROM that you can restore later if this new ROM not work or you want to go back into your previous ROM. To perform a backup, select Backup and Restore, then on the next screen, select Backup again. Go back to main recovery menu after backup is complete.
- Now, perform data wiping task. To do so, select wipe data/factory reset, then select Yes on next screen to confirm your action. Wait few minutes till the data wipe is complete. Now come back to CWM recovery main menu. Select wipe cache partition and after wiping process done, select Wipe Dalvik Cache under advance option to perform Dalvik cache wiping.
- Select install zip from sdcard, then select choose zip from sdcard. Now, locate the Custom ROM Zip file that you copied earlier in Step 2 and select it by pressing Power button. Confirm installation by selecting Yes – Install _____.zip on the next screen. The ROM installation will begin.
- Once the ROM installation process end, repeat the step 6 but choose other ZIP file instead of ROM zip to install the other app packages.
- When installation is completed, go back to the main recovery menu and select reboot system now to reboot your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and boot up into updated or downgraded custom firmware.
- TWRP recovery user should follow below steps:
- Create a Backup using TWRP Backup Option.
- Perform a Factory Reset (this will delete all apps and their settings and game progress). To do this, Tap on Wipe, then at the bottom of the screen do a Swipe on the ‘Swipe to factory reset‘ option.
- Now its time to add zip file for flashing. Tap on Install, then browse to the location where you saved the files and tap on the ROM Zip file. Then tap on Add More Zips, and add other ZIP files if available. Now at the bottom of the screen, do a swipe on the Swipe to confirm flash option to begin flashing.
- When installation is completed, go back to the main recovery menu and tap on Reboot and then, tap on System to reboot your smartphone and boot up into expected custom ROM.
These are the various methods available of a firmware update for your Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Happy updating..!
