Android O to Be Revealed on Monday, the Day of the US Total Solar Eclipse
Google will indeed reveal Android O on Monday, the day of the
US total solar eclipse, as previously rumoured. The visible shape of the solar
corona during the eclipse's totality neatly matches the symbol 'O', and we can
expect Google to reveal the name of its latest Android version, as well as
announce release dates of the final build of Android O for eligible Google
devices, if not release it the same day. There is also a chance the company may
give a glimpse of the new Pixel smartphones. The company has put up a dedicated
Eclipse page on its Android site for Monday's announcement, counting down to
2:40pm ET or Tuesday, 12:10am IST.
There have been a lot of rumours surrounding what Google
would name Android O. The company has used dessert names in its Android version
nomenclature in the past, and it isn't expected to break that tradition this
year. Many are hedging their bets on Android Oreo (Oatmeal Cookie,Octopus, and
Orange are other contenders), and, a Google+ teaser posted for the Monday
announcement may have inadvertently confirmed this. Notably, the Eclipse
doesn't appear to make any visible hints as to the name, beyond the word
'sweet' - reinforcing the plausibility of a continued dessert naming scheme. If
true, this wouldn't be the first time that Google has partnered with a major
brand - it had associated with Nestle for Android 4.4 KitKat. This time around,
it may tie up with Nabisco.
Spotted by Android Police, the video accompanying the
Google+ post's teaser bore the word 'Oreo' in the filename. After the report
however, the post was deleted, and replaced with another - and this time the
video filename bore the word 'Octopus' in its place in perhaps an attempted
misdirection. Of course, this isn't incontrovertible proof, and may very well
be an elaborate charade by the search giant, which has been known to have a
sense of humour. An Easter egg in the latest developer preview also featured an
octopus.
We'll have to wait for the Monday reveal to know more. Last
month, Google released the final Android O Developer Preview (version 4), and
pretty much all features of the new operating system are known so far, so the
name, release dates, and next Pixel devices are all that are actually
anticipated
