Huawei Replaces Android With Similar System Called HarmonyOS

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Huawei officially launched HarmonyOS, its in-house operating system that replaces Android.

The Chinese tech company also announced a new watch, tablet and phone with HarmonyOS operating system.

In addition, the company announced that it will update a huge list of 100 different Huawei Android mobile phone models to Harmony OS by 2022.

HamonyOS essentially consists of two completely different operating systems.

The first version is the IoT and smartwatch version of HamonyOS, which comes from Huawei’s LiteOS and is open source, while the second version is for phones and tablets and is a spin-off from Android, which uses the Linux kernel.

Huawei has many hardware component manufacturers onshore, but China does not do much software development, making software development a top concern for Huawei. HarmonyOS tries to be the answer to this problem.

Huawei wants to sell the operating system as its own creation, allowing the company to free itself from US influence.

HarmonyOS is enormously identical to Android phones, with the exception of the “about” screen, which changed the words “Android” and “EMUI” to “HarmonyOS.”

The operating system also ran Android apps and supported every Android feature with the same implementation.

HarmonyOS for mobile phones has a slight reskinning and looks slightly different from the emulator.

A special new feature is the new quick setting panel with a design ripped straight out of the iOS Control Center, while the new functionality, which features multiple media players and a sound output picker, comes from Android 11.

The emulator itself is based on Android 10, but this media quick feature suggests that this version of Harmony has received an Android 11 upgrade.

HarmonyOS also has a new feature called “Super Device,” a network feature like Google Cast, AirPlay or Bluetooth.

If all domestic appliances run on HarmonyOS, a user could use network features such as tying a drone to a smartphone for remote control, using a tablet stylus on a PC or connecting wireless earphones to the phone.

The first batch of phones was upgraded from June 2, including Huawei flagships such as the Mate 40 and 30 series, the P40 series and the foldable Mate X2. More batches will follow later in the year.

For more information, read the original story in Arstechnica.

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