According to a recent Reddit AMA featuring the team behind Pixel C, Google has already started to develop Android N, a major new update for the operating system.
What strikes this as odd is because the Android 6.0 Marshmallow hasn't even rolled out to most smartphones yet, and now a new Android version was hinted at to be under development already. Nevertheless, a huge update might mean a ton of new features, hopefully with a lot less bugs at launch too.
Getting back to the AMA session, Andrew Bowers, director for consumer hardware, along with Director of UX for Android and Chrome Glen Murphy, Product Manager for Pixel C Kevin Tom and Software Director for Pixel C Puneet Kumar answered a couple of questions regarding Android and the Pixel C.
"We're working on lots of things right now for N that, of course, we wish we had, you know, yesterday. But we'd spoil the surprise of N if we shared all of them," Bowers says, responding to a question about whether or not there were any additions to Android that the team wanted to implement before the Pixel C started hitting the shelves.
A user pointed out that the negatives of the Pixel C are related to the software, then asked how the team intends to encourage developers to make tablet-compatible apps in the future and not merely phone apps on a tablet. Murphy took the stand on this one and explained that the team is working with developers to provide better apps, but he noted that it is "definitely a chicken-egg problem."
Fans will be delighted to know that the team also confirmed that Multiwindow support is well under way.
"We're working hard on a range of enhancements for Android in this form-factor – there are many things, like multiwindow, that we've been spending a lot of time on – hopefully we can share more about this soon," Murphy says.
On top of that, Bowers also announced that Split Screen is already "in the works."
The Android N will likely sweep up the market when it's released, not to mention that the team was quite "conservative" in giving out details, which means that we might get a lot more than we're expecting out of the upcoming Android operating system.
Photo: Scott Akerman | Flickr
