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Samsung gives the Galaxy S7 a taste of the Note 7's software

It's a consolation prize for former Note 7 owners forced to migrate to another phone.

Like it or not, the Galaxy Note 7 is gone for good. However, you're getting a small treat if you switched from the Note 7 to another Samsung phone. Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge owners report that they're receiving an update which brings many of the Note's always-on display features to the slightly older devices, such as its customization. It's not a wholesale port of the discontinued phone's software (you'd need pen support for that), and some users are reporting broken features in the initial release. Notifications from Samsung's own email app may not work, for instance.

Still, the timing is convenient and bodes well whether or not you came to the S7 from its larger, defunct counterpart. You won't have to wait ages (or buy a new phone) to see some of what you were missing. Not that Samsung has much choice but to court S7 owners these days. While there's no guarantee that the company will migrate everything it can from the Note 7's software, it has more incentive to make the S7 series as compelling as possible -- it's likely the company's only high-end option for the next several months.