Android O Release Date For Pixel Delayed, Google To Reveal Name Soon

Google is expected to release Android O this month for the Pixel and Pixel XL. However, it looks like it has been delayed for unknown reasons.

Information on the delayed release date of Android O was shared by Android Police managing editor David Ruddock on Twitter. Ruddock didn’t specify the reason for the unforeseen delay and also said that Android O has no new release date.

Android O was supposed to arrive for Google’s Pixel phones some time in mid-August. The upcoming update to Android received its fourth and final Developer Preview last month, with Google teasing the official Android O release to consumers for “later this summer.”

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Since this supposed delay hasn’t been addressed Google, it’s possible that it might not be be a big deal. Perhaps the company just needs more time to squash some of the software’s bugs before finally releasing it to Pixel and Pixel XL owners.

This piece of news might disappoint a lot of Pixel and Pixel XL users, but at least there’s one silver lining. Ruddock claims that the final name of Android O is going to be revealed real soon.

“According to one source whose information I cannot verify, Android O will receive a name on the day of the solar eclipse (August 21st),” Ruddock said on Twitter. He also claims to already know the name of Android O, but said that he didn’t want “to ruin the surprise.”

Also, Android Police won’t publish the name on its website until someone from Google corroborates the information that they’ve received from its source. Ruddock also says Google is planning “some degree of spectacle” in revealing the final name of Android O, and won’t simply be a reveal of a new Android statue on Google’s headquarters in Mountain View.

No reason was given as to why Google is planning a “spectacle” for the reveal of Android O’s name. There was also no clue or hint regarding the correlation between the upcoming solar eclipse and the name of Android O. BGR jokingly speculated that perhaps it’s because the letter “O” looks like the moon.

The most popular guess is that the name of Android O would be “Oreo.” This would perfectly fit Google’s dessert-centric naming scheme, but this means that the company would need permission from Mondelez International, the owner of the Oreo brand.

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Google’s Android 4.4 was officially named “KitKat” when the company reached a deal with Nestlé for a promotional collaboration back in 2013. If Android O is named Oreo, Google would have to enter some kind of agreement with Mondelez International. Another possible name for Android O is Oatmeal Cookie, evidence of this has already been found inside Android's code.

There’s really no way of telling for how long Android O for Pixel phones is going to be delayed. It could be days or even weeks. Last year, Android 7.0 Nougat was first made available to a number of Google’s Nexus devices on Aug. 22. Pixel and Pixel XL users were hoping for something similar this year.

As for other users, it’s likely that the final build of Android O might be made more widely available isome time in October or November. This is the expected timeframe for when Google officially reveals the new Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 smartphones.