Google Nexus 8 in development under codename 'Flounder'

(PHOTO: Google)

Google's upcoming Nexus 8 tablet could be codenamed "Flounder," according to latest reports.

Digital storage products site MYCE found in the Chromium issue tracker, where developers track feature development and bugs, an unknown Google device called "flounder," which also comes with another codename - "volantis." As MYCE has deciphered, the device run a build (which in programming is converting human-readable codes to machine-readable ones) under the Android software development kit (SDK) tools' development branch.

Other tech experts likewise started to investigate the Android source code, and XDADevelopers found the device is an HTC-manufactured one through a changelist (a record of changes made in a software) of Android 4.4.3 (KitKat MR2).

Google is due to launch three devices this year, the sequels for the Nexus 5 smartphone, Nexus 7 2013 tablet and the bigger tablet Nexus 10. Thus, "flounder" could be the Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 7 2014 edition/Nexus 8 or the Nexus 10 2.

Historically, Google uses fish-related terms as code names for its Nexus products. Droidlife reckons them to be "toro" for Verizon Galaxy Nexus, "maguro" for GSM Galaxy Nexus, "hammerhead" for Nexus 5, "mantaray" for Nexus 10, "flo", which is the fish in Finding Nemo, for Nexus 7 2013, "mako" for Nexus 4 and "grouper" for Nexus 7.

For the term "volantis", it could refer to a mobile software firm with that name; but in 2011, the software company "Volantis" was acquired by another company. The term may also be associated to a flying dress launched by Lady Gaga; or in the gaming world, a city in the video game "Game of Thrones."

Droidlife suspects "volantis" is a software code name that will partner Google's upcoming device, "flounder." As in the past, Nexus 4, code named "mako" has a software partner named "occam," and Nexus 7 2013 "flo" has a software partner, code named "razor."

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