Last week we covered the news of the release of the Android N Developer Preview. It came early, surprising us, as Google I/O is still a couple of months away. The uncharacteristically early release was explained as follows, "by releasing a 'work in progress' build earlier in development, we have more time to incorporate developer feedback," said Google. In the wake of the news many minds leapt straight to the related question of – after what sweet food item will they call Android N?
The letter N might be a particularly tricky one for Google to choose a popular sweet name from. There is no immediate popular obvious answer to what to call Android N. Probably the two most popular suggestions I have seen are Nutella, a brand name which would need some kind of negotiations to employ, and Nougat, which is a bit too French for Americans to warm to.
So what is left? A clue to the avenues down which Google is looking is presented neatly by the Android app - Google Opinion Rewards. This is an app that rewards Android users for answering surveys. Filling in a few surveys can provide a user a tidy amount of cash to splash in the Google Play Store and many find it appealing. One of the new surveys Google has hosted within the app concerns this very problem of which 'tasty' food' to name Android N after.
There's only two questions in the survey (see screenshot below). First of all you are presented with a user input screen asking you "What tasty food comes to mind that starts with the letter N". This way Google can harvest fresh suggestions. Note that Google already has opened up the choice to go beyond just sweet foods. I think this is a good move in the wake with the obesity epidemic, people campaigning for sugar tax, and more and more young people getting diabetes.
On the second screen of the survey, as shown by Android Police, respondents are presented with the choices as shown in the screenshot, right side, above. You will note that nearly half of the results aren't sweets. I don't know what Napoleon is in terms of foodstuffs but Nachos, Nori and Noodles are usually savoury snacks. Also please note the absence of Nutella – perhaps the Ferrero Rocher Ambassador and his guests prefer to be associated with gold plated Apple iDevices.
