Tag: Chrome 69

The Chrome OS Dev Channel has been updated again with its fifth and likely final Chrome 69 build.  The new build is 69.0.3497.14 (Platform version: 10895.5.0) and it is already rolling out to eligible devices in the channel.  The update comes just a few days ahead of the release of Chrome 68 to the Chrome OS Stable Channel, which in turn would mean that Chrome 69 (likely this build) will be promoted to the Beta Channel next week.

For those that are new to Chrome OS, the Dev(eloper) Channel is considered the alpha build channel where new features are introduced and tested.  These builds tend to be pretty buggy and unstable and are not recommended for use on your daily driver Chromebook.

The Chrome OS Dev Channel has a new Chrome 69 build now available.  The new build is the fourth Chrome 69-based build to land in what is considered the “alpha” testing channel.  69.0.3494.0 (Platform version: 10888.0.0) is the new build that you are looking for and it is available for the majority of devices in the channel now.

As you would expect for a build at this early stage, there are a lot of bug fixes and tweaks in this update according to the release notes.  Doing a quick dive into them, I did not find any new features mentioned.  This looks like a prep build to get it ready to go to Beta testing in the Chrome OS Beta Channel.

A new commit in the Chrome Gerrit is suggesting that Chrome Duplex, the new split menu view coming to Chrome for Android, is to be renamed Chrome Duet so as to avoid confusion with Google Duplex.  Google Duplex, as you likely know, is the human sounding assistant that can call and make appointments for you through Google Assistant.  Chrome Duplex is completely unrelated and has to do with a UI update for Chrome for Android, particularly for larger devices.

What Google is wanting to avoid is end users confusing the two duplex’s or assuming that they do the same thing – one on your phone and one in Chrome on your phone.  They are two completely different technologies and thus a name change makes a lot of sense.

The second Chrome 69-based build for the Chrome OS Dev Channel has arrived today.  Build 69.0.3473.0 (Platform version: 10820.0.0) is making its way out now to devices registered in the channel but you can manually check for the update by typing chrome://help in the browser bar and then tapping the Check for Update button.

As you would expect with a build in the Dev Channel, which is essentially the alpha build channel for the Chrome OS platform, this release has a significant number of bug, performance, and security fixes in it.  Google did not release a log of all the changes which isn’t uncommon in these early builds, especially in the Dev Channel.

We are only two months into 2018 but it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Chrome OS.  This year is slated to be a busy one with 8 releases of the platform scheduled to happen this calendar year.  One of those, Chrome 64, has already happened but by the time we get to December, we will be rolling out Chrome 71 believe it or not.

The Chromium team has put together a tentative schedule of releases for Chrome OS for 2018.  While the calendar is subject to change due to unforeseen bugs or other issues, last year the team was pretty much on target all year with releases.  It is a reasonable bet that 2018 will follow suite.