Whenever a new version of Android is close at hand things start heating up in the excitement department. The usual suspects pop up as mainstream topics for discussion, such as what sort of changes we might see visually and will it incorporate some new and functional yet fun features? It’s never a dull moment with each and every Android release and the latest build to come, currently being referred to as the “L” version around the web(since we don’t know what L dessert they’ll name the next version after yet, this is as good of a moniker as any)has seemingly showed off a little bit of the changes we might expect to see when it finally starts making its way onto devices.
There are a few things to note, all which is merely evidence that points to likely suggestions of course, but having said that let’s go over what we see and what others have noticed as well about the possible “L” version of Android that has yet to make its debut. Recently, some redditers stumbled upon a couple of images inside the Chromium bug tracker that look like they may be screenshots of the latest Android “L” build, and quite possibly the Android build of Chrome that we’re to see with that Android version. As both the redditers and Droid Life have pointed out, the screenshots look like the Android build Version or “L” release because of the icon that sits up in the notification bar in the top left corner of the screen. It looks like a sort of “chubby” letter L, which could denote that the device this screenshot came from was plugged in to a computer with USB debugging enabled. During early releases of Kit Kat before it was official, USB debugging showed in the notification bar as a letter K when enabled and connected, so we could be seeing an L build screenshot.
The other mentions are in reference to the visual changes that appear to have taken place in the Chrome App, as the app window now looks like it’s floating on top of the screen as opposed to being fully open which is the way things look now. A floating window effect for Chrome(and potentially other Google apps?) isn’t present in Android as of now, so this is either Chrome in a new Android build, or just an updated version of Chrome with the new look. Another thing worth mentioning is the “muted bell” icon just to the left of the WiFi signal bar, which resembles the “do not disturb” icon for Google Now notifications within Chrome. We also heard about the new Heads Up notifications feature earlier that was found inactive within the AOSP code by CyanogenMod earlier, that will have a “do not disturb” feature for any notifications that you don’t want to pop up on screen. Could that icon have something to do with Heads Up? What do you make of all this?
