Sugar-free Android

Android Pie sculpture at the Googleplex, Mountain View. © iStock.

Until today, the successive versions of the Android operating system had their own, sweet codenames, working their way down the alphabet. Version 8.x was Oreo, coming after Nougat (7.x), which itself followed on Marshmallow (6.x). It seems that this is now just a sweet memory, since the next version of Android will be blandly called Android 10, with no codename, sweet or savoury. This decision comes in the wake of an image revamp at a time when, coincidentally, Google’s engineers were going to have to try to find a treat starting with Q. As part of the new look, the Android logo was updated and comes with a new colour palette that we should find in the next version’s interface. Happily, this Borg-like corporate compliance regime hasn’t (yet) managed to assimilate the little green droid.

⇨ The Keyword, “A pop of color and more: updates to Android’s brand.”

⇨ ArsTechnica, “Unsweetened: Android swaps sugary codenames for boring numbers.”