BARCELONA—Google's booth is a sprawling wonderland full of entertainment, fun, and Android-centric jokes. But one of those little visual gags could be helping to confirm the name of the next version of the Android OS, widely rumored to be called "Jelly Bean."
Deep within the meeting rooms at the Google booth, there is this delightful bowl of candy. Look at it. Android. Jelly beans. This is not a coincidence. Out in the public area of the booth, the company is feeding showgoers actual ice cream sandwiches. I had one. It was okay; not premium ice cream, but it downloaded fine and I haven't had a sugar crash.
Google declined to comment on the import of their candy bowl, and declined to confirm the name of the next version of the Android OS. Google tends to name its Android operating system versions after sweets, in alphabetical order: Cupcake (1.5), Donut (1.6), Éclair (2.1), Froyo (2.2), Gingerbread (2.3), Honeycomb (3.0) and Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) have all appeared on the market.
There's no word on when "Jelly Bean" will debut or what features it will contain. Most phones still run Gingerbread, with Ice Cream Sandwich updates for many devices scheduled for various times this year.
We'll be publishing a full tour of Google's booth later today, along with an interview with Android VP of Engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer and a report on Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt's keynote. But for now, yeah, jelly beans.
For more check out the MWC slideshow below, and our complete Mobile World Congress coverage.