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Android 8.0 ‘O’ Release: Oreo, Oatmeal Cookies, Orange & Other Potential Names

By Venus Montalbo
Published on: 07:36 PST, Mar 26, 2017

The official launch of Google’s next mobile OS iteration, the Android 8.0 “O”, is expected to happen this May during the company’s I/O 2017 conference. But several weeks ahead of the event, the search engine giant decided to unveil it to certain devices.

Particularly, Google has released the first Android O Developer Preview. OTA process is not available this time but developers can have it by manually downloading the firmware. Know Your Mobile enumerated the devices currently compatible with the initial preview build, which are the Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, Nexus 5X, Pixel, Pixel C and lastly, the Pixel XL.

More than the excitement for the Android O’s release, expected to be the version 8.0, avid followers of the Google firmware are also curious to know what name it will get. If the Android maker will follow its established naming pattern for its mobile software, the next-generation firmware should be named after a sweet treat starting with the letter “O.” And based on reports, topping the list of potential names for the Android 8.0 “O” is Oreo.

[Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]

Hiroshi Lockheimer, the SVP for Android, Chrome OS & Play, seemed to be teasing the likely nomenclature for the next Android version. PC Advisor showed a screenshot of a tweet that the Google executive posted which comes with an image of what looks like an Oreo cake. And then a week later, he tweeted the following post.

Furthermore, several publications have released their own list of potential sweet treats, which the Android 8.0 O could get its name from. For instance, Android Central’s alternatives, if it won’t be officially referred to as the Android Oreo, are Ox-Tongue Pastry (described as a chewy breakfast dish with “soft interior and crunchy crust”), Ontbijtkoek (a Dutch cookie loaf), Oliebol ( a donut type famous in Netherlands and Belgium,) Ozark pudding (American dessert from Missouri’s Ozark’s region), Orellets (Catalan sweet pastries), and lastly, Oatmeal cookies.

Meanwhile, a post from the official Xiaomi page, the MIUI forum site, shared a poll to get the reader’s opinion as to what could the Android O’s official name be. Some of the options specified are Oreo, Orange, Oatcake, Oatmeal Cookies and Onion Rings.

Based on existing reports, the Android 8.0 “O” could offer more functionality additions rather than look improvements. For instance, a new feature one can expect upon the Android O’s release is the multi-display support, which will enable users to launch an app or activity (e.g. Chrome) on a remote display such as a PC or an HDTV, Know Your Mobile explained. Another new function one could find in the Android O is called “Picture in a Picture,” described by the publication below.

“Videos will switch to smaller, minimised versions when you navigate to another app. Basically, what a YouTube video does in the YouTube mobile app when you drag it to the corner.”

The Android O will also let the users manage their notifications better by creating Notifications Channels. This groups the notifications from certain apps into one channel.

Other functionality improvements to anticipate from the Android 8.0 “O” release are the ability to utilize the keyboard to navigate applications as well as to take advantage of new Wi-Fi features such as Neighborhood Aware Networking (NAN).

Adaptive app icons could also be a highlight of the new Android version scheduled for release this 2017. To further save the battery or devices running on Android O, Google will limit what apps can do while they are running in the background. A redesigned Android Settings app, less complicated Ambient Display, among others, are also spotted in the Android O Developer Preview, a separate post from Android Central shared.

Learn more about the Android O by watching the video below from Android Authority’s official YouTube channel.

For those looking forward to Google’s I/O Developer Conference 2017, check out the details released by the Google CEO Sundar Pichai via a Twitter post he made back in January.

Android 8.0 “O” will be the successor of Android Nougat, the 2016 OS release which is currently running on various Nexus and Google Pixel phones as well as on other recent smartphone models from top mobile brands.

[Featured Image by Ramin Talaie/Getty Images]

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