Android 4.5 Lollipop release date, features, name: Leaked screenshot points to major 'Moonshine' redesign in update [PHOTOS]

Hugo Barra, vice president Android product management at Google, displays the new Nexus 7 tablet (AP)

A leaked screenshot alleged to be the Android 4.5 OS has raised new questions about the update's name.

Until now it has been assumed that the update would be called Lollipop, or possibly another word starting with L. 

AndroidPolice was one of the first places to refer to the "Moonshine" update, saying that the Android icons would be flattened out by Google.

Among the apps reported by the website as getting a touch-up are the Mail, Google Maps, YouTube and the Google Play Store.

AndroidPolice says that the icons may be redesigned to make them more in step with their web counterparts, which have a different appearance.  

In addition to making the appearance flatter, the website says the new icon designs will incorporate "long, hard shadows behind prominent elements, reminiscent of what can be seen in Google's existing visual asset guidelines". 

The Google I/O is taking place in June so the expectation is that a full announcement on the Android 4.5 Lollipop will come then.  

Tuesday marks the last day for registration to Google's annual developers conference, taking place in San Francisco from 25 to 26 June.  

There has been some speculation that Google will wait until July and the release of the Google Nexus 8 to bring out the update to its mobile operating system.  

It is believed that Google is attempting to unify Chrome, Android and Search on Android devices.  In terms of features, 

TrustedReviews has pictures of the leaked screenshots here 

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