HANGZHOU, CHINA - FEBRUARY 25, 2021 - Photo taken on Feb. 25, 2021 shows Huawei's new foldable phone ... [+]
Barcroft Media via Getty ImagesHuawei’s smartphones continue to be ground-breaking and innovative. But one big change is coming that the company would probably have preferred not to introduce: a complete switch away from Google’s Android operating system.
When Huawei was placed on the Entity List by the previous U.S. administration, which prevented it from doing business with American companies, it meant big changes for the most recently-released phones.
Instead of running Android with Google Mobile Services on board, Huawei had to switch to open-source Android and manage without Google Maps, Google Play Store and Gmail, for instance.
But now, with the arrival of Huawei’s next folding phone, the Mate X2, even open-source Android has been elided in favor of the home-grown Harmony OS alternative, also known as Hongmeng.
Harmony will be the third main smartphone system, alongside Android and iOS, when it launches. Huawei has already put it on some smart home devices, but has held back from making it the OS of choice on its phones until now.
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Well, probably with good reason. Since apps are the currency of any OS, Huawei may have feared it would suffer the same indignities as rival systems which came and promptly vanished from the likes of Nokia, BlackBerrry and Palm. Some had other lives afterwards, such as Palm’s brilliant system called webOS which was eventually sold to LG to become the best TV operating system you can find.
It’s true that there have been other successes, such as Samsung’s Tizen OS for its wearables, or Fitbit OS for the fitness tracker company’s own products. But neither has achieved mass-market status or won more than a tiny number of compatible apps.
So, what changes will we see, and when?
The Google Goodbye is coming in April
All upcoming smartphones from April 2021 will be Google-free, and the switch to Harmony will take place. Huawei execs have previously told me that switching the operating system in the factory production line would be quick to achieve, simply swapping out one part of the process. That change is being put into effect in just a few weeks’ time.
The new Huawei Mate X2 is now on sale in China, with Android on board, but HarmonyOS is coming.
Barcroft Media via Getty ImagesThe Mate X2 will have Android at launch, though
It’s not quite goodbye yet, though. The first Mate X2 models will roll off that assembly line with Android on board but the company says owners can switch to HarmonyOS from April.
What will HarmonyOS be like?
I’m told that users will see very little difference when it comes to the phone interface. That’s because Android is skinned by Huawei’s EMUI overlay, and the same look will be layered on top of HarmonyOS, too. But where current phones run Android with some, but not all, Android apps available, these apps will need to be rewritten for Harmony. Huawei says this is a simple process.
But it does mean the biggest problem facing a new OS – lack of big-name apps – could be a hurdle HarmonyOS will have to surmount, too. On the other hand, some of Huawei’s latest apps have been brilliant. The Petal Maps navigation app devised in conjunction with TomTom is already very strong and is a shoo-in for day one of HarmonyOS, I’m sure.
Huawei Mate X2: HarmonyOS will work on regular upcoming Huawei phones, too.
Barcroft Media via Getty ImagesWill it work?
Let’s remember that Huawei phones sold in China don’t have Google Mobile Services on them anyway, but the international market is heavily dependent on the Play Store and other apps. That will be the test for Huawei when switching to a new platform.
But if anyone can make it work, it could be Huawei, which is consistently resourceful both in software and hardware terms. Its phones remain cutting-edge in features and design. If it can pull off a similar trick and gain apps like TikTok, Snapchat and Amazon – all of which are available in the Huawei App Gallery – alongside other big-name developers, Huawei could turn HarmonyOS into a powerful alternative.
The Link Lonk
February 27, 2021
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Huawei Ditches Google: The Cool New Android Alternative Is Almost Here - Forbes
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