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Android 10 review: Good today, better tomorrow
To celebrate the next big version of Android, Google did the unthinkable: It killed its fanciful dessert-themed release names and gave its smartphone OS more conventional branding. Say hello to Android 10. Not everyone loves the change — it means I couldn't devour an entire dessert for our review video — but it speaks to a pretty dramatic shift in Google's priorities all the same. It's no surprise, then, that I could say the same about Android 10 itself. On the surface, it's a grab bag of interface tweaks, usability enhancements, privacy changes and more. In some ways, Google is even using this release to play catch-up with the competition. More broadly, though, Android 10 feels very much like a transitional state — an attempt by Google to lay the groundwork for a smartphone future that's coming at all of us fast.
Google is using the Play Store to speed up Android security updates
Google is planning to push out some security updates directly through its Play Store, a feature that will be part of Android Q. As The Verge reports, Google is calling this "Project Mainline," with the goal being to deliver important updates to your smartphone in a more timely manner. It's worth noting that these updates will be focused on security, as Google can't update your entire phone in this way. According to The Verge, at launch Project Mainline is going to be update 12 different "modules," such as media components. In practice, this will allow Google to patch bugs or flaws in the same way it can, say, update one of its first-party apps -- like Chrome or Play Music.
