A 3D printed Android logo
A 3D printed Android logo is seen in front of a displayed cyber code in this illustration taken March 22, 2016. Reuters/Dado Ruvic

Every year, Android fans await for the official name of the Android OS update. Last year, it was teased that Android N was going to be Android Nutella. This was teased by Google’s senior vice president of Android, Chrome OS and Google Play Hiroshi Lockheimer. Although in the end it was Android Nougat, everyone was still happy about the new features of the Android 7.0 update.

This year, Google is set to release Android 8.0. As of time of writing, many Android fans are calling the upcoming update Android Oreo. Lockheimer has gotten whiff of the news and might be playing another tease with Android fans. On Feb. 20, he posted a GIF of an Oreo cake spinning around while mentioning Dan Seifert, a Senior Editor at the Verge, in his tweet.

In the tweet replies, Seifert said that it was amazing and that he would like to eat it for dessert or breakfast. Lockheimer replied to that and said, “let's replace that 'or' with 'and'.” After this, there have not been any replies between the two. A number of Twitter users have commented on the tweet and let out their approval for the name Android 8.0 Oreo. Some commented that the name rolls off the tongue and should not change it.

Beyond the Oreo cake tweet, Lockheimer also sent out a tweet on Feb. 11. This is regarding the Android 9.0 update. It is still early for this as the Android 8.0 update has not been released yet. However, he sent out a tweet with a photo of Pocky packages. It also had a hashtag to accompany the post. The hashtag is #2018.

As Android fans would note, Android updates do not get unveiled until summer time at Google’s I/O 2017 event. When it is unveiled, it will still have to go through numerous beta versions to fix possible bugs that the operating software may have. After the beta versions, Google would then announce the official name of the new operating system.

Google’s I/O event is held every year for the company to discuss anything Google and Android-related to developers, engineers, executives and the media. This year, the event will be held between May 17 and 19. It will take place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. There is a ticket application window that starts on Feb. 22 10:00 a.m. PST until Feb. 27 5:00 p.m. PST. Although the tickets are not sold yet as of time of writing, the prices could range from US$300 (approx. AU$390) to USD$900 (AU$1,150).