Google has decided that it’s time to put its sweet naming convention for major Android releases to rest, switching to a numeric naming scheme which is easier to understand and communicate. Android Q will not be given an accompanying dessert name as previous versions of Android have gotten over the years.
In 2009, Google introduced Android 1.6 with the name attached ‘Cupcake’, followed up by Android 1.6 Donut, 2.0 Eclair, 2.2 Froyo, 2.3 Gingerbread, 3.0 Honeycomb, 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, 4.1 Jelly Bean, 4.4 KitKat, 5.0 Lollipop, 6.0 Marshmallow, 7.0 Nougat, 8.0 Oreo, and 9.0 Pie.
Google has today officially launched its latest version of its Operating System as simply ‘Android 10’
According to Google, the names weren’t always understood by everyone in the global community.
For example, L and R are not distinguishable when spoken in some languages. So when some people heard us say Android Lollipop out loud, it wasn’t intuitively clear that it referred to the version after KitKat. It’s even harder for new Android users, who are unfamiliar with the naming convention, to understand if their phone is running the latest version. We also know that pies are not a dessert in some places, and that marshmallows, while delicious, are not a popular treat in many parts of the world.
The new naming convention does make sense. Android is distributed worldwide and runs on over 2.5 billion devices, so naming every release after an American dessert is going to leave some people very confused.
This change is also accompanied by a redesign of the Android logo which includes changes to the font, colours and the inclusion of the Android robot head.
While the green robot will stick around, the “Android” wordmark logo is changing from green to black. This change will make it easier for people with visual impairments to read the word, the company says.
Google also published a new set of highly contrasted colours for the Android brand that should improve legibility in all the places the logo appears.
