Billions of Android phones are getting new tools to stop phone thieves from accessing your information and to slow down their criminal behavior, Google announced today at its I/O developer conference. Android phones will soon use artificial intelligence to automatically detect when they have been snatched from your hand and lock themselves, as part of the new changes that include adding extra protections to secure your phone if it has been stolen. The upgrades--some of which will come with the Android 15 operating system, while others will be compatible with older phones--come as phone companies are increasingly building extra measures into their software to thwart rampant levels of phone thefts and further protect people's data. As well as the stolen phone tools, Google is introducing new changes to Android 15 that will scan how apps are using "sensitive permissions" in real time to detect potentially suspicious app activities. Around the world, phone thefts are a huge problem--in London, for example, a phone is stolen every six minutes. Thieves riding electric bikes or scooters can snatch phones out of people's hands, pickpockets can easily nab devices from bags, and others are known to peer over shoulders to learn a phone's PIN before they steal the device.

Google has had a tradition of releasing annual Android updates -- its last update Android Nougat -- was released in August 2016. As 2017 commences, we get closer to the launch of the next Android update, which is likely to start with the letter O, going by Google's tradition of naming its operating system (OS) updates alphabetically with names of desserts. While the numerical denomination of the update would be Android 8 or Android 8.0, Google's name for the update is how it will be commonly known. So what are the possible candidates for the name? Well, there aren't too many desserts starting with the letter O, which sort of narrows down the choices.

The new update version 1.9.10 may not come with the same level of deep integration as the app for the Windows Phone, but it is helpful in making the user experience of the Android app more seamless. According to PhoneArena, update 1.9.10 comes with much needed improvements for Cortana's Android app. First and foremost, it comes with a better notification sound for reminders. In addition, reminders can now be triggered at a more accurate and timely manner -- something that Android 6.0 Marshmallow-running devices had trouble doing before. As stated in the official changelog of the Cortana for Android update, users should now notice the speedier and better loading times of the home page.