Quick, what's the first thing you should do when you update Android? The answer, obviously, is going to settings and repeatedly tapping on the version number until weird things happen. Sometimes it's a sea of jelly beans. Sometimes it's a Flappy Bird clone. At one point it was ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (but only temporarily).
Google has a long history of hiding Easter eggs throughout its product cycle — even the much-derided Nexus Q has a Magic 8 Ball feature — but the Android version Easter egg is one of the most consistent and enjoyable oddities. As part of their 20 percent time — wherein Google engineers can spend approximately one day a week working on tangential projects — Nat & Lo took a brief look at the history of the Android "version number" Easter egg, which dates back to "Zombie Gingerbread."
There's no sign of Marshmallow's goof (spoiler: it's another Flappy Bird clone), but if you're so inclined, Nat & Lo previously made a behind-the-scenes look at the Marshmallow statue.
But now we want to hear from you:
Poll
What's your favorite Android easter egg?
This poll is closed
- 3%Zombie Gingerbread(25 votes)
- 1%Honeycomb's REZZZZZZZ....(11 votes)
- 15%Ice Cream Sandwich Nyandroid(142 votes)
- 14%A sea of happy Jelly Beans(134 votes)
- 5%KitKat's #Brandroid(45 votes)
- 23%Lollipop's Flappy Droid(212 votes)
- 6%Marshmallow's Flappy Droid 2.0(54 votes)
- 1%Something else entirely (add in comments)(12 votes)
- 32%I just like clicking things(304 votes)