On the 10th of September, 2020 Huwai had there annual HDC (HUAWEI Developer Conference) in China. At the HDC, Huawei made announcements on various topics. We also saw some hardware products too. The two main highlights of the conference were
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Harmony OS 2.0 for Smartphones
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EMUI 11
Harmony OS 2.0
Till now, Huawei stated that they are not planning to launch Harmony OS for smartphones as it was made for IoT and other smart devices. But now as the company’s relations with the US government are getting bitter day by day and is prohibited to work with any US-based companies like Google. Huwai was prohibited to use Google Mobile services in its device since May last year. Now, they were unable to renew there Temporary General License (TGL), which means the company has lost its access to provide Google support in their older devices.
Now, Huawei has stated that they will release HarmonyOS 2.0 beta version for smartphones with SDK, Documentation, Tool, and Simulator to developers in December 2020. They also told us that we can expect Smart Phones, running on HarmonyOS 2.0 in 2021. Though the devices with 4GB+ RAM will be seen until October of 2021.
Just like Android, Harmony OS is also going to be an open-source platform. This means OEMs other than Huawei will also be able to use Harmony OS 2.0 in there Smartphones. It will be interesting to see how Harmony OS will stand up in the market alongside its Android and iOS competition.
EMUI 11
Huawei announced the beta build of EMUI 11 for 10 of there devices. But unlike the other OEMs, the latest built of Huawei’s UI is still based on Android 10 as it could not work with Google due to its US ban. But, as the source code for Android 11 is released we could soon see the new version of EMUI based on the latest Android. Let’s see what features does the latest EMUI brings to the table.
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New Always-on Display
With the latest version of EMUI, we get various improvements over the older one. This AOD mode adds facelift with support for the DIY AOD screen. Now the user will be able to customize all of the elements of the AOD screen. Users can also select any Video, image, or GIF as there AOD screen.
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Long Take Animation
This is just like those movies where it looks like the whole movie is taken in a single shot. Animations are subtle and smooth. The UI looks like it’s going deeper and deeper into the element. Currently, system apps like gallery and calendar are taking advantage of this feature.
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Redesigned Gallery App
We also saw a redesign in the gallery app. It finally added features like pinch to switch between pictures/videos between day and month view in the “Photos” tab. Even the “Album” tab is laid in a 4:3 aspect ratio.
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Smart Multi-Window & Multi-Screen Collaboration 3.0
These features add the ability to use apps as a floating window, where users can resize the app and also access apps which they use in this mode easily via the dock. This also brings support to use 3 apps simultaneously on the connected computer, just like Samsung Dex.
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Privacy and Security
Just like iOS 14, now you will be notified in the notification panel when any app is using Camera, Mic, or GPS. Now you can also Hide Albums and memo on Galley and Huwaei Notes app respectively. Not only that, now a safety cast feature hides sensitive content while casting your screen.
Devices getting EMUI 11 Beta Build
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HUAWEI P40
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HUAWEI P40 Pro
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HUAWEI P40 Pro+
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HUAWEI Mate 30
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HUAWEI Mate 30 5G
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HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro
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HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro 5G
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PORSCHE DESIGN HUAWEI Mate 30 RS
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HUAWEI MatePad Pro
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HUAWEI MatePad Pro 5G
While the support for Honor devices such as the HONOR 30 series, HONOR V30 series, and even the HUAWEI nova 7 series will be announced soon. Though the timeline for stable release is yet to be announced.
