Huawei first announced the HarmonyOS 2.0 (also known as Hongmeng OS 2.0) for smartphones at the Huawei Developer Conference 2020. The tech giant later started pushing the beta version to selected models like the P30 and Mate 30 Pro. The stable version is billed to start rolling out in June, perhaps onboard the P50 smartphone which is expected to be launched that same period. 
Ahead of the official release, a demo video showing the performance of the Harmony 2.0 onboard a Huawei smartphone that looks like the Mate 40 Pro has appeared. The four-minute video which leaked on Weibo reveals all major improvements that have been introduced on the OS.
What stands out most is the new control center which can be dragged from the top right corner using gesture control. On the top left corner is located an in-phone search engine. Also, when the screen is swiped down from anywhere, it reveals notifications.
Another interesting observation is the speed at which the apps open. It is notably quicker than what obtains in Android phones. But then, these are basically native apps. There is no assurance that third-party apps will perform in the same manner.
The Harmony OS 2.0 user interface is EMUI 11 and it is adaptable to both Harmony and Android. Huawei claims the OS is fully developed by its engineers but supports Android apps. Further, some early testers have confirmed that it is not based on the Android kernel but an entirely different platform, built by Huawei from scratch.
The HarmonyOS is designed to seamlessly integrate various smart devices for fast connection. The design ensures that services can be seamlessly transferred among the devices to produce a smooth holistic experience. The leaked video shows HarmonyOS indeed holds promise as a formidable Android rival but it remains to be seen if the OS will actually live up to expectations.
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(via)
