Still maintaining the dessert theme of its platforms, Google has revealed that the official name of its next operating system is Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The unveil was accompanied by a new statue at Google's headquarters of the Android mascot hugging a huge white marshmallow.
The company's latest platform is expected to go live in Fall and will come with a variety of new features. One of these is an updated version of Android Pay, CNET reported. This mobile payment service will allow users to make in-app and retail store purchases using their smartphones or tablets.
Another new feature that will be launched with the Android 6.0 Marshmallow is the Now On Tap. Through this feature, users will be able to access Google Now for information simply by pressing their devices' home button.
Although the upcoming platform does not have an official release date yet, Google has already released a near-finished version of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow for developers, The Verge has learned. This SDK version of the Marshmallow can be downloaded by developers for their Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player devices through the Android's preview site.
However, Google warned that since the SDK file is not the final version of the platform, it could contain various glitches and bugs that could affect devices. The company explained that it was only released for testing purposes.
"The Android preview system images are not stable releases, and may contain errors and defects that can result in damage to your computers systems, devices and data," the company wrote in the preview site.
"The preview Android system images are not subject to the same testing as the factory OS and can cause your phone and installed services and applications to stop working," Google added.
As for the official public debut of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow, various sources are speculating that Google might launch the platform through its upcoming Nexus device. It has been previously reported that Google has partnered with LG and Huawei for the development of two new Nexus models.
Recently, images of the Nexus 5 2015 edition that LG is developing for Google have leaked online. Based on the images, the device will sport a fingerprint scanner below the main camera, according to ZDNet.
Since these two models are expected to come out later this year, they could serve as the main launch stage for Google's Marshmallow software.
