Republic Wireless’ Moto Z Nougat update is a soak test and not actually the beginning of the software update push to the device on their network. Not too unlike Motorola would do with the unlocked versions of their Moto X and Moto G series devices, Republic Wireless is testing the Android 7.0 Nougat software on the unlocked Moto Z with a small batch of users for now. However, although the devices which have seen the update so far are simply part of a soak test to iron out the software and see how things go once it’s been installed on the device, Republic Wireless has also stated that they expect the full rollout of the software to hit devices on February 14th.
That being said, the full rollout of the software is only expected to continue on that date if there are no problems that manifest during the soak test period, so there is always the chance that Republic Wireless could push back the software if there are bugs that pop up that are part of the new Android version with this device and carrier combination. If you’re not part of the soak test at this point, the silver lining is that there is at least a listed date for when to expect the software to arrive on your device even if there is tiny bit of a wait involved.
As noted earlier during the initial reporting of the unlocked Moto Z Nougat update that started happening over the weekend, the update includes the November 2016 Security Patch, as well as Android 7.0 Nougat software which will come with things like multi-window, improved Doze Mode and more. If you’re a Republic Wireless customer and you haven’t received any notifications about the software soak but are curious to see if it might be available to you, checking manually is easy enough. All you need to do is enter your phone’s settings menu, navigate to About Phone, then tap on software updates and you’ll be alerted to whether or not there is new software to download. As always it’s a good practice to connect to Wi-Fi before starting the update download, and you’ll want at least half the battery life before initiating the update process.