Battery for PC Blog

Google’s Pixel C, the last first-party Android tablet released all the way back in December of 2015, may have just stopped getting monthly security patches. There has been no official announcement, and device-specific delays have happened before, but the Pixel C wasn’t among those that received today’s July set of updates, and the precise timing is awfully suspicious.

Although Google does not list the Pixel C on its update schedule help page, the company does note when discussing Pixel phones that they “get security updates for at least 18 months from when the Google Store last sold the device.” Google’s Pixel C was last sold on the Play Store in December 2017, which is about 18 months ago.

Google hasn’t published a specific expiration date when it comes to the Pixel C’s software support lifetime, but the absence this month (which we honestly didn’t notice at first) is conspicuous given how well it fits into the expected timeline. The Nexus 5X and 6P only lasted a single month after their EOL dates passed.

We’ve reached out to Google for additional information or confirmation that the update period has explicitly ended, but none was forthcoming at the time of publication. If it is the end, 2015 to 2019 is a pretty good run for the much-forgotten Android tablet.

At least there’s always LineageOS — though you’re still just looking at Android 8.0 Oreo.

If you’ve been wondering what Microsoft’s next feature release of Windows 10—19H2—has in store, the answer is: not much.

Microsoft said Monday that the upcoming 19H2 release, due in September, will include “a scoped set of features for select performance improvements, enterprise features and quality enhancements.” The goal appears to be to enhance what’s already in Windows, with an eye toward enterprise and partner deployments, rather than add consumer-facing features.

As part of that schedule, Microsoft said that it will release new 19H2 builds as part of the Slow Ring, the counterpart to the “Fast Ring” of Windows 10 Insider releases. Each build will be deployed as a cumulative update—a patch, in other words, rather than an entirely new build. The first of these, Build 18362.1, was made available to users on Monday. “This update contains two behind-the-scenes changes designed for OEMs and does not contain anything visible to Insiders,” the company said.

Insiders aren’t even guaranteed to see the new changes. They’ll be deployed on a schedule, and some releases will have the features turned off and enabled later.

If you’re not a Windows Insider, and don’t want to be, nothing will change. Sometime in September, the 19H2 release will be pushed to consumers the same as it’s always been. This time around, however, consumers are less likely to see any significant changes to their Windows experience once it arrives.

What this means for consumers is if Microsoft continues on its path, there will still be two feature releases per year, around April and September. But only the April release will add new features, making the fall release a servicing release that will iron out bugs and upgrade features already in Windows. It appears that Microsoft is trying to ease the burden on PC makers and large enterprise customers, who must test and deploy the spring and fall feature updates.

If nothing else, it does add some order back to Microsoft’s release schedule. Microsoft has already begun shipping the first builds of the so-called 20H1 release, due around April 2020. Even those have been primarily improvements rather than new features. So far, the most important new feature of the 20H1 release is probably the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2, with an actual Linux kernel inside.

You can expect it to inherit features from the S10 family.

The rumors were true — Samsung has announced that it’s holding its second Unpacked event of the year on August 7th at 4PM Eastern in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The company hasn’t said anything about what to expect, but the pen-centric teaser image (above) doesn’t leave much to the imagination. The Galaxy Note 10 will clearly be the star of the show, and it’s just a matter of pinning down the finer details.

This could be one of the biggest Galaxy Note introductions yet. Current rumors and leaks suggest the Note 10 will retain the harder-edged design of the Note line, but inherit Galaxy S10 features like a hole-punch camera (this time at the top center), in-screen fingerprint readers and, crucially a wider selection of models. There may be two Note variants this year, a 6.3-inch base Note 10 and a nearly 6.8-inch Note 10+ (the larger of which would offer a 5G variant). You could expect upgrades to the pen experience, the camera and likely other traits.

The Note 10 might be a step back for some, though. There are murmurs that none of the new models would include a headphone jack (making Samsung’s previous bragging a bit awkward), and that only the Note 10+ would have a microSD slot. If so, some of the features Samsung owners have taken for granted are about to go away — and there’s no guarantee that the Galaxy Buds or increased storage will satisfy some fans.

The final versions of Apple’s iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 software for your iPhones ($1,000 at Amazon) and iPads ($249 at Walmart) are coming your way this fall, but you can get a jump start now on everything the OSes offer. The public beta is open to anyone who wants to help test early builds of the operating system that will run on iPhones ($1,000 at Amazon) and iPads ($249 at Walmart) later this year. That’s right, this year we have two different versions of iOS. One, iOS 13, is for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the other, iPadOS 13, is dedicated to the iPad and brings with it new multitasking features and a desktop-class version of Safari.

Both software updates include a long list of new features, such as an official systemwide dark mode, new privacy features and improved Apple Maps. Apple also announced WatchOS 6, MacOS 10.15 Catalina, and TVOS 13 during its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote.

While the public betas are, as we said, open to anyone who wants to give them a spin, there are some things to be aware of.

Remember, it’s beta

Over the years, the beta program for an upcoming iOS release has gotten more stable. However, it’s called a beta version for a reason — it’s not finished. Apps are going to break, battery life is going to be horrible and frequent random restarts aren’t unheard of.

If you want to test iOS 13, go into it knowing that you’re testing beta software and do yourself — and Apple — a favor by providing feedback through the Feedback app.

You can’t (easily) go back

In addition to a willingness to deal with bugs and random issues, you need to know that you can go back to the current official version of iOS, but you can’t restore from a backup made with your device on iOS 13.

So, with that in mind, it’s a good idea to create a backup of your device as it is right before switching to the beta. The best way to do that is to use iTunes (RIP) and create an encrypted backup.

Ready? Here’s how to install iOS 13

Visit Apple’s Beta Software Program on your computer. You’ll need to sign in using your Apple ID, then pick iOS or iPadOS. The program will walk you through creating a back up of your iPhone or iPad — don’t just glance over this and move on, create a backup right now — and then you’ll need to download and install the beta profile. You can visit this link on your iPhone or iPad to download the profile.

After the profile is downloaded open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad. The profile will show up, just below your name. Tap the profile, then approve the installation. Your device will reboot after the profile is added, after which you can go to Settings > General > Software Update to download and install iOS 13.

Of course, if you have a paid developer account you can still find the appropriate installation profiles on the developer site.