Every year, Google does a statue for its latest Android release shortly after it comes out. (A long time ago, they even used to be fun.) This year the company is making a socially-distant twist, leveraging its recent focus on AR experiences to bring the boring Android 11 statue into all our homes.
In its usual fashion, Google has unveiled the statue that commemorates Android 10's release. Now that the sweet, dessert-themed names have been dropped, what do we have left to draw upon for statue-inspiring art? According to Google, a disembodied Android head and the number "10," pretty much what we were promised.
Android 9 Pie was officially released earlier today, but there was one thing missing from the announcement: the statue. You see, Google creates a statue to put on display at its Mountain View campus for each new Android dessert version. Lately, the statues had been getting pretty stale, though the Oreo one showed some improvement. The statue for Android 9 Pie, however, marks the return to boring bugdroids.
Google's last couple of Android statues have been thoroughly underwhelming. David was so incensed by the lack of effort that went into 'Bugdroid holding a marshmallow' and 'Bugdroid surrounded by 3 bits of nougat' that he even wrote an article lamenting them. Someone at Google must have been reading because Android 8.0 Oreo's statue is the most impressive for some time: a moving robotic Super Oreo-themed Bugdroid, no less.
Earlier this week, the following crane lift project notice was posted around the famous Android statue lawn next to building 44 on Google's Mountain View campus:
Of course, this sighting sparked a variety of rumors - after all, it would only be natural to assume that any work requiring a crane lift involved a new statue being installed, which would mean we'd finally find out the name of the L release. Lemon Meringue Pie, as the LMP abbreviations have been suggesting, Lollipop, or something else?..
Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have to wait for the truth a bit longer, as the crane lift project was completed, and the end result was the statues were just moved around a bit, reports local Mountain View developer Thomas Devaux.
Today Android has officially passed one billion activated devices, according to Google's Vice President of Android, Chrome, and Google Apps, Sundar Pichai. To help celebrate this momentous occasion, there's a new Bugdroid-themed statue hanging out at the entrance to Google's Mountain View campus.
We now have over 1 Billion Android activations and hope this guy in front of the building keeps that momentum going pic.twitter.com/V0VovgmObl
Yup, that's a KitKat Android. We've all been waiting to hear what the post-Jelly Bean OS would be called, and many people has assumed that it would be Key Lime Pie.
This morning, Google employee Steven Le posted a photo of the Android statue outside his office, which looked a bit stranger than usual:
While the statue's makeover was mysterious at first glance, a press release and accompanying video from Zynga soon clarified the situtation:
Indeed, the occasion was a promo of ZombieSmash!, a new Zynga game being launched on Google Play later this week. To be clear, the game is technically already on Play, but only in Canada; this week, ZombieSmash! will be made available globally.
Update: And we're live! You can download the app for $0.99 using the info at the end of the post.
Another snack just arrived at Building 44. The Ice Cream Sandwich Statue finally joined all his friends in front of Android HQ!
Update: We have video!
The Gingerbread and Honeycomb statues had unpacking videos, hopefully they took one this time too. Be here October 18th for all the hot (cold?) Ice Cream Sandwich news. Everything is starting to fall into place.
Who needs to visit Disneyland to feel like a kid again? Google's collection of dessert statues that correspond to their Android releases has a new addition today, in the Honeycomb statue.