Google Tests Revolutionary ‘Andromeda’ Chrome OS, Android Hybrid For Q3 2017 Debut

by Brandon Hill — Monday, September 26, 2016, 02:54 PM EDT

Google has plenty of hardware to reveal at its October 4^th event, but one product in particular — which just so happens to be further down the pipeline — has the blogosphere exploding with anticipation. Over the weekend, Hiroshi Lockheimer, the Senior VP for Android, Chrome and Google Play, dropped a tantalizing hint with the following tweet:

We announced the 1st version of Android 8 years ago today. I have a feeling 8 years from now we'll be talking about Oct 4, 2016.
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) September 24, 2016

From the looks of that tweet, whatever Google has stewing its caldron has the potential to make as profound an impact on the mobile sector that Android did when it originally launched with the T-Mobile/HTC G1 smartphone. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill, but perhaps the industry is ready for a new game changer.

The rumored product is called Andromeda according to Android Police, and it reportedly merges the best of Chrome OS with Android into a single operating system. We had first heard rumbling about such an operating system late last year, and this latest report further confirms those rumors. Google is also reportedly working on new hardware to showcase Andromeda under the codename Bison.

Bison is said to include a 12.3-inch display, and will be powered by Intel Core m3 or Core i5 processors with 8GB to 16GB of RAM. Internal storage will likely range from 32GB to 128GB and you can expect to see at least two USB-C ports along with support for a Wacom stylus. Bison is also expected to feature a backlit keyboard, glass trackpad with haptic feedback and will have battery life of at least 10 hours.

9to5Google is independently confirming the report, and suggests that Google is currently testing Andromeda with the HTC-made Nexus 9 tablet.

Andromeda and its supporting hardware is expected to debut in Q3 2017, and it will mark Google’s strongest entry to date in the fight against desktop operating systems like Windows and macOS. There’s plenty of potential Andromeda and we’re hoping that we receive a sneak peek at what Google is working on next week.

Tags: Android, Google, Chrome OS, (nasdaq:goog), bison

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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