The new version of Google's Android software, which runs on some of the world's most popular smartphones, will be launched to customers in the "coming weeks", the technology giant has said.
Android N or Android Nougat was previewed by Google earlier this year and includes a new multi-window tool to view two apps side-by-side, improved battery life and wider encryption for personal data security among its new features.
The software also expands its emoji library to over 1,500, and the announcement comes just weeks before rivals Apple are expected to update their iPhone and release an update to their own iOS software.
"Today, we'll begin rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat to Nexus devices," said Android's Sameer Samat.
"And with more ways to make Android your own, it's by far our sweetest release yet.
"We took a different approach to building and launching Nougat this year. For starters, we invited developers to take a sneak peek at Android N back in March, so they could bring their apps to the new platform earlier."
Google also confirmed that alongside their own line of Nexus smartphones, the upcoming LG V20 would be the first devices to receive the update.
Those users who are part of the Android Beta Program - which gives users early access to unfinished software - will also be able to receive Nougat first.
Manufacturers including Sony, HTC, Samsung and Huawei all use Android as their smartphone software, though Google has not yet confirmed when Nougat will be widely available on these devices.
The Nougat name comes from Google's tradition of naming their software updates alphabetically after "sweet treats" and follows 2015's Marshmallow update.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here