Huawei is moving ahead with the roll-out of its own operating system, HarmonyOS 2, for mobile devices. At a launch of new consumer products, the company said the new software will be available to around 100 devices in China in the coming months, including smartphones and tablets.
Huawei developed Harmony as an alternative to the Android OS, after its access to the Google software was restricted by US sanctions against the Chinese company. Harmony started rolling out on TVs last year, and at the end of 2020, Huawei released a new version for devices with more memory. It's now ready to launch the software on its mobile devices.
Products presented at the event included updates of the flagship Mate 40 smartphone series and the Mate X2 folding phone, which will both get the Harmony upgrade, as will the Mate 30, P40 and Nova 8 series of phones in China. Huawel also showed its latest wireless headphones with noise cancelling, the Freebuds 4, and two high-end monitors, the MateView and the MateView GT.
In addition, the company unveiled the new Watch 3 Series, which runs the Harmony OS and offers up to 21 days battery life with the top model. Featuring a curved glass screen and 316L stainless steel case, the watch comes with a new 3D rotating crown that senses different levels of pressure and provides haptic feedback in response to user input. The watch comes with over 100 fitness modes, a range of health functions, as well as travel alerts.
High-end tablet with Kirin processor
Also new is the MatePad Pro tablet, running Huawei's Kirin 9000 processor with a 12.6-inch Oled display and 90 percent screen-to-body ratio. Running the Harmony OS, the tablet can also support multi-screen collaboration with PCs, serve as a monitor or serve as a drawing and note pad with the new Huawei M-Pencil.
Device integration with Harmony
Huawei said the new HarmonyOS will make it easier for all the devices to communicate and work together. Users can set up a customised Control Panel on their phone for all their devices, including shortcuts to common routines like launching a movie on the TV and sending the sound to headphones. A Task Center gives an overview of the services running on each device. Huawei has also opened the system to third-party devices which incorporate the HarmonyOS Connect function, and a tiered security system in the OS ensures access is provided only with the proper level of authorisation.
Swiping up from the Harmony home screen gives access to customisable service widgets, as well as 'Atomic Services' that don't require app downloads, like news aggregation. Overall, the new OS should run more smoothly than Huawei's previous EMUI, the company said, with read/write speeds similar to those of a new phone after 36 months of use, even with very little storage still available on the device.
