A Google Search Page Is Reflected In Sunglasses.
A Google search page is reflected in sunglasses in this photo illustration taken in Brussels, May 30, 2014. Google has taken the first steps to meet a European ruling that citizens can have objectionable links removed from Internet search results, a ruling that pleased privacy campaigners but raised fears that the right can be abused to hide negative information. REUTERS

Apart from the Nexus 8/9 release date, another major expectation from Google's I/O Developers Conference this week is the likelihood of the next Android version reveal that according to new reports is almost certain to happen.

Big Android announcement

Bloomberg BusinessWeek is reporting that KitKat 4.4.4 is up for retirement soon as the next Android version will likely be revealed before the developers that Google will gather in San Francisco. No less than Android chief Sundar Pichai will uncloak the new Google mobile operating system that will bump off the KitKat candy bar, said the same report.

The unveiling is earlier as KitKat was issued in late September 2013, which also could mean that a gadget running on the platform will soon materialise. It remains to be seen, however, if this kit will be the Nexus 6 smartphone - the existence of which is shrouded in mystery as of the moment.

Or will it be the Nexus 8 that this week is reportedly outed as the 8.9-inch Nexus 9 that will roll out from HTC's assembly lines in Taiwan.

Android L

The next Android is nicknamed for now as simply 'L', according to BGR, pointing to a Reddit post by XDA Developers. L stands for the actual Android name that will replace KitKat, which could be Lollipop or Lemonhead.

Anyway the post shared what it claimed as screenshots of the upcoming Android interface that showed of redesigned app icons, dialog box and status bar. Like the iOS 7 was for the iPhones and iPads, Android L will represent an overhaul of the Google mobile OS, said the report.

"The screenshots also show a slightly updated UI in Chrome 37 that matches Google's new design language, complete with fatter action bar and circular-dotted overflow button," the Reddit post was reported by BGR as saying.

Another major change that the software will bring is native support for 64-bit mobile computing environment, which can be assumed as Google's way of embracing the anticipated wholesale jump from 32-bit to the new standard.

This purportedly signifies that the Nexus 8/9 will be in the same class of its chief rivals - the iPad Air and the iPad Mini 3 - and likely the Nexus 6 too, that is if Google decides to go ahead with the vanilla Android smartphone release date this 2014 before the full implementation of Android Silver on 2015.