Google ditches dessert naming scheme, Android Q is now officially Android 10
Google broke its 10-year-old ‘sweet’ naming tradition for its mobile operating system, Android, as its next release, previously known as Android Q will now be officially known as Android 10, the search giant announced on Thursday.
“We’re changing the way we name our releases. Our engineering team has always used internal code names for each version, based off of tasty treats, or desserts, in alphabetical order. This naming tradition has become a fun part of the release each year externally, too. But we’ve heard feedback over the years that the names weren’t always understood by everyone in the global community,” Google said in its official blog post.
For those unaware, Google started naming its Android operating version after desserts beginning with Cupcake that was launched in April 27, 2009. It was followed by Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream, Jellybean, KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow, Nougat, Oreo and the last one being Pie, which was launched on August 6, 2018.
So, why did Google decide to drop the dessert codenames for its Android releases? The company stated that dessert codenames are not easily understood by everyone around the world.
“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,” Google added.
By dropping dessert codenames and adding numbers to its Android releases, Google believes that its brand will be ‘more inclusive and accessible’ to its global users.
“As a global operating system, it’s important that these names are clear and relatable for everyone in the world. So, this next release of Android will simply use the version number and be called Android 10. We think this change helps make release names simpler and more intuitive for our global community. And while there were many tempting “Q” desserts out there, we think that at version 10 and 2.5 billion active devices, it was time to make this change,” the company explains.
Besides changing the name, Google also updated the Android logo color from the existing green to black, as the search giant found that the color green was hard to read, especially for people with visual impairments.
“It’s a small change, but we found the green was hard to read, especially for people with visual impairments. The logo is often paired with colors that can make it hard to see—so we came up with a new set of color combinations that improve contrast,” the search giant said.
Google is expected to officially start using the updated logo in the coming weeks with the final release of Android 10.
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