I woke up this morning to an email from a Galaxy S8+ user running the Oreo beta in India, saying that there's a new update for his device on Samsung's Smart Switch software. I fired up my PC in excitement, thinking it might be the final release of Oreo. But as it turns out, Smart Switch is trying to revert devices on the Oreo beta back to not just an official build of Nougat, but one that isn't even the latest Nougat firmware available. The most recent Nougat build for the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in India is XXU1AQL5, but according to Smart Switch, it's XXU1AQK7.
Oreo beta users need to stay away from Smart Switch
I'll get straight to the point here: If you are a beta tester and see an update for the Galaxy S8 or S8+ on Smart Switch, do not install that update. Going back to an older version of Android means all your data gets wiped, which is something the final release of Oreo won't do. It's unclear why Samsung's official desktop client is notifying Oreo beta testers that a “new software update is available” and trying to pass off an older firmware as the latest version. But it could spell trouble for some, as excited users may just hit the update button on Smart Switch without reading the not-so-fine print about a device's data getting wiped upon returning to stable software from a beta release.
We'll let you know once Samsung starts seeding the official Oreo update to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, which may happen before the month is over. For now, stay away from Smart Switch unless you want to go back to Nougat and stop using the Oreo beta (which may or may not be causing issues on your S8 or S8+).
