Android’s journey has certainly been one for the ages. In 10 years, it has gone from a scrappy open-source software platform to the dominating force in the mobile world, active on more than 2.5 billion devices worldwide. A big part of its charm has been the naming convention, with each new version being named after a dessert starting with the proceeding letter of the alphabet. That has come to an end, with Android rebranded by Google as of the latest version, simply called Android 10.
This version of Android was dubbed Android Q initially, with the full named omitted until full release as per usual. The current Android version was called Android P until the full name Android 9.0 Pie was announced when being made available to customers. But Android Q will not be receiving the usual dessert name this year, rather we will welcome Android 10.
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While this makes sense and it a convention followed by basically every other operating system on the market, it is sad to see Google let go of its whimsical side. Their branding with Android has always been more playful, colourful and even silly at times. Google has also changed the logo to make it more modern, according to their blog post.
They add that “the design of the logo draws inspiration from the most recognizable non-human member of the community, the Android robot. The robot belongs to everyone in the community, and has long been a symbol of the fun and curiosity at the heart of Android. Now, it has a special place in our logo.”
For nostalgic reasons only, take a look at the naming history of Android below.
| Code name | Version no. | Release date |
| No Codename | 1.0 | September 23, 2008 |
| Petit Four | 1.1 | February 9, 2009 |
| Cupcake | 1.5 | April 27, 2009 |
| Donut | 1.6 | September 15, 2009 |
| Eclair | 2.0 – 2.1 | October 26, 2009 |
| Froyo | 2.2 – 2.2.3 | May 20, 2010 |
| Gingerbread | 2.3 – 2.3.7 | December 6, 2010 |
| Honeycomb | 3.0 – 3.2.6 | February 22, 2011 |
| Ice Cream Sandwich | 4.0 – 4.0.4 | October 18, 2011 |
| Jelly Bean | 4.1 – 4.3.1 | July 9, 2012 |
| KitKat | 4.4 – 4.4.4 | October 31, 2013 |
| Lollipop | 5.0 – 5.1.1 | November 12, 2014 |
| Marshmallow | 6.0 – 6.0.1 | October 5, 2015 |
| Nougat | 7.0 – 7.1.2 | August 22, 2016 |
| Oreo | 8.0 – 8.1 | August 21, 2017 |
| Pie | 9.0 | August 6, 2018 |
| 10 | 10.0 | 2019 |
Now with Android rebranded by Google, do you think we can expect some other changes from Google? Did you prefer the old branding or the new? Let us know in the comments below.
