The fifth and final developer preview of the next version of Google's mobile operating system, Android 7.0 Nougat, has been rolled out, and with the update comes a new easter egg.
It can be remembered that for Android 5.0 Lollipop and Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the hidden easter egg was a clone of the previously popular, but the extraordinarily difficult game Flappy Bird, with the now iconic bird replaced by an orange Android robot.
Users had to dive into the settings of their Android smartphones to gain access to the Flappy Bird clone, and for the Android 7.0 Nougat, they will have to do the same.
The easter egg for the new operating system, however, is no longer a Flappy Bird clone. Instead, users will be able to enjoy a clone of the Neko Atsume, a cat collector game that hit the scene long before augmented reality mobile game Pokémon GO was released.
The Neko Atsume clone, added by Google to the final developer preview for Android 7.0 Nougat, can be accessed by going to the About Phone settings of the device and then tapping on the Android version. Users will then see a large N, and pressing and then holding will reveal a tiny head of a cat. Tapping on the cat head will display a "no entry" emoji, but after doing so, a new option will appear in Quick Settings with the label "??? Android Easter Egg." Users should then drag that option into their Quick Settings lineup.
The easter egg will show an empty dish in Quick Settings, and tapping it will allow the user to add items such as treats, chicken, fish or bits in an attempt to attract a cat, similar to how Neko Atsume works. If a cat arrives, users will get a notification on their Android device, and users can then share an image of the cat if they want. The cats come with numbers, and as with Neko Atsume, the challenge would be to collect all of them.
Unlike Flappy Bird, which can be accessed any time by users, the Neko Atsume clone can be toggled on or off through another press and hold on the cat head that activated the easter egg.
Neko in the game's name is the Japanese word for cat. Perhaps that is the reason why Google decided to go with a clone of Neko Atsume as the easter egg for Android 7.0 Nougat, in keeping with the N theme.
