Google stopped using dessert names for its Android versions back with Android 10. But that hasn’t stopped the company from using treats in its codenames. At least internally. Reports now indicate that Google is officially calling Android 13 “Tiramisu” as its codename on the developer preview side of the equation too. With the dessert name showing up in the “About Phone” section of phones on Android 13’s first preview build. As shown in the images below via the source.
Why is Android 13 called Tiramisu internally but not outside of Google?
Now, the reason for Google’s shift away from treat names is mostly to reduce confusion caused by differences in language. Resulting in problems with alphabetizing the version names.
For instance, Android Nougat would technically be Android Turrón in Spanish. And the current version would technically be Android “T” in English, resulting in a dessert name starting in T in English but potentially something else in other languages. Moreover, some languages don’t use the same alphabet at all. So letters may not correspond to the proper order of releases. Even in instances where the name itself would make sense. So it’s easy to see where the confusion could come from.
What’s new with early builds of Tiramisu?
Android 13 Tiramisu, at least in its earliest Developer Preview 1 build, hasn’t fully been torn down just yet. For now, the biggest user-facing change — aside from a new photo picker that will mostly improve things behind the scenes for security and privacy — is in the Material You theming.
Developers will now be able to make their app icons Material You compatible. Namely, so that a new Material You theme will apply to their icons, keeping things more consistent aesthetically.
Security and privacy are also the focus of a new NEARBY_WIFI_DEVICES runtime permission for WiFi. That allows apps to search and connect to nearby devices over WiFi without requiring location permissions from users.
2022-02-11 15:07:41