Did Google show off a redesigned status bar coming to a future version of Android?
Before we start, we just wanna say proceed with caution. While we’re extremely skeptical of this latest leak, sometimes it’s fun to look for signs or hidden clues to future Android releases — even when they aren’t really there. Like Jay-Z and all that “Illuminati” business.
That being said, an image that popped up on Google’s I/O homepage that is leading some to believe that they may have inadvertently revealed some design changes coming in a future version of Android. It’s not much. In fact if you weren’t looking, you probably would have glazed right over it. But an image of a Nexus 5 is showing some small revisions to the status bar icons introduced in Android 4.4 KitKat. You can see a tweaked WiFi status and smaller battery icon, and it appears that everything if finally leveled in relation to other status icons.
It’s entirely possible this was merely someone at Google’s marketing team exercising a little too much creative freedom when it came to designing the image, or it’s subtle clue of changes coming in a new Android release. Yes, we’ve noticed the time says 4:40 (usually indicative of the Android version) which either means the designer didn’t want to make things too obvious, or that additional KitKat updates are coming around the bend. Speculation is fun, right?
For Google I/O 2014 kicking off next week, we just want to say we aren’t expecting much outside of updates to Google apps and lots of talk centered around Android Wear — nothing about major firmware updates until much later in the year. Yes, we understand how sad it must look for anyone outside Android circles to see us getting so excited about even the tiniest changes, but hey, this is Phandroid. You can find the image on Google’s I/O 2014 events page here.
[Reddit]