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Android O probably isn’t named Orangina, but what if it is?

Android O probably isn’t named Orangina, but what if it is?

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Please stop toying with my heart, Google

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We’re getting closer and closer to the end of August, and Android O still doesn’t have a name. I’ve already compiled the various likely options — which include Oreo, Oatmeal Cookie, and Orange-flavored things — and torn my hair out over Google possibly classifying Octopus as a dessert.

And yet, here at the 11th hour of Android O, naming speculation throws a monkey wrench into my carefully crafted theories and investigations: Orangina soda, which has emerged as an unlikely — but not impossible — candidate for the Android O name.

Before I get to all the reasons why this is a terrible idea (and there are many), let’s go through the admittedly slim evidence. First up is a tweet from Android SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer, who posted a menu photo of Orangina labled “#nocomment” back in July.

That said, Lockheimer is known for faking people out on his Twitter when it comes to Android names, so it’s hard to take this as hard evidence at face value.

But there’s one other point in Orangina’s favor: The Verge received a tip earlier today from Best Buy’s internal employee training system that also referenced an Android 8.0 Orangina, as seen in the image below.

Now, it’s possible Best Buy’s system just stuck in a placeholder name. Or maybe Best Buy knows something we don’t, and Android O is really Android Orangina.

Maybe Best Buy knows something we don’t

With all that said, though, it probably isn’t going to be called Orangina. First off, Orangina, while a delicious, fizzy, orange drink, is not a dessert food, which would shatter the Android naming scheme as we know it.

Secondly, Orangina just isn’t that well known. Even allowing for the almost unthinkably radical possibility that drinks could be used for Android names, calling it something like Android Orange Juice or even Android Ovaltine would make far more sense than the lesser-known beverage that is Orangina.

And lastly, Orangina is a proprietary drink owned by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, and if Google was willing to pal up with a corporate entity to get a licensed name (similar to Android KitKat), then logically it’d go with Oreo, a food that people actually widely recognize and love.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Then again, Google has been known to zig when it was expected to zag in regards to Android names. Who can forget Android N, which was pegged by most to be Android Nutella before Google floored the world by going with Android Nougat instead.

The final version of Android O is expected to release sometime later this summer, which, given that it’s midway through August, will probably be soon.