Now that we’re well and truly into autumn (certainly if last week’s weather’s anything to go by!) we’re into “update season”. This is when the big tech companies – Apple, Microsoft and Google – all release their latest shiny versions of things ready for the run-up to Christmas.
Here’s a quick run-down of what’s new and coming this autumn:
Apple iOS 16 and iPadOS 16.1
The new version of iOS for iPhones came out a few weeks ago, so you might already have it on your phone. There wasn’t anything particularly ground-breaking this round – just lots of little tweaks and background changes.
The changes to the iPad version were a bit bigger, though – and that’s caused a few teething problems! Usually the two versions would be released at the same time, but they’ve had to delay the iPadOS launch while they fix some niggles. The new version – called iPadOS 16.1 (rather than iPadOS 16) should be ready for public consumption very soon though. With a following wind, this week or next.
If you have an iPhone or iPad, you should get the update automatically – just make sure you leave your device turned on while it’s charging, and it will sort itself out.
Google’s Android 13
This new version of Android was actually finished in mid-August, but Android updates are always much slower to find their way out into the world than Apple ones. Android 13 is just starting to appear on top-end new phones, but a lot of companies are still busy rolling out Android 12 to theirs.
As usual with Android updates, most of the changes are behind-the-scenes. The changes that you actually notice if you use an Android phone or tablet tend to be to the Google apps (e.g. Photos or Gmail) and they can happen at any time of year!
Microsoft Windows 11
I’m on the “Windows Insider” programme on my PC, so I get a sneaky peek at what’s coming a few weeks before the general public. So I’ve been playing with the new feature update to Windows 11 (version “22H2”). In this one, they’ve brought back some of the things you used to be able to do with the Start menu in Windows 10. So you can put apps in folders and customise the look of the Start menu a bit more. They’ve also added “search highlights” to the search box – links to information about holidays, anniversaries and “educational moments” around the world. A bit like the Google doodle, I suppose.
They’ve also given us a new video editor called Clipchamp. I’ll try it out and let you guys know if it’s any good!
Now, because this is a feature update rather than a security one, you might not get it automatically. You can check whether it’s ready to download onto your computer by opening the start menu and clicking or tapping on Settings. Then in the left hand menu of the Settings app, click or tap on “Windows Updates”. If the feature update is ready to install, it should be listed on the Windows Update screen. If not, just keep checking back every now and then.
Right, that’s just about me for this week. I just wanted to remind you that there’s just one week left before we close the doors to the Tech Inner Circle. You can find out all about it and sign up with our 30-day money back guarantee, here.