Honor has finally launched its first true premium high-end flagship smartphone lineup after splitting up from Huawei earlier this year. The Honor Magic3 series has been launched in the company’s home country China.

After the launch event, during an interview, Honor CEO George Zhao talked about the global launch of Honor smartphones. He said that the company will now focus on resuming business operations in over 50 countries around the world.

He added that the company is now preparing to launch the Honor 50 series smartphones globally in about 30 countries. For those who are unaware, the lineup was launched in China a couple of months back in June. The newly launched Honor Magic3 series will also be launched globally but there’s no timeline revealed by the Chinese company.

The Honor-branded smartphones launching globally will be equipped with Google Mobile Services (GMS). As per the recent report, Honor is currently undergoing Google’s Play Protect Security Review and Compatibility Testing to ensure that GMS applications can run on its smartphones.

Honor was forced to ditch GMS on its devices when the company was a sub-brand of Huawei given that the United States has imposed sanctions on the Chinese tech giant, barring it from using Google or any technology made by an American firm.

George Zhao has also acknowledged that the company’s market share in the overseas market has declined to almost zero. He adds that the brand’s focus is now on the recovery of its business in about 50 countries where it has established operations.

With the support of Google Mobile Services and the new promising devices launched in the market, Honor is hoping to make a V-shaped recovery, to become among the leading smartphone brands. It remains to be seen if the company can manage to achieve its goal.

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Earlier this week, the Chinese version of the Redmi Note 10 Pro received the MIUI 12.5.5 update. This update had the version number 12.5.5.0.RKPCNXM, which brought support for the GMS (Google Mobile Services) and the Play Store as well.

According to an ITHome report, the new update had a total download size of 3.1GB. Furthermore, the official description showcased that the new update brought support for the Play Store framework and even arrives with optimization for the audio experience of the Redmi Note 10 Pro China Version. Another notable feature of this update is the arrival of the virtual memory expansion technology, which increased the RAM of the device by 2GB.

For those unaware, a number of Chinese smartphone makers have been releasing their own iteration of the memory expansion technology in recent times. This feature allows the device to temporarily convert a small part of its internal storage (ROM) into virtual random access memory (RAM). So, this would have the 8GB RAM variant have its memory expanded to 10GB while the 6GB RAM version would be boosted to 8GB of RAM.

Earlier this month, we did publish a full review of the Redmi Note 10 Pro on our official YouTube channel. Although, the device did not feature this update back then. But now, the company has finally brought the support for GMS and the Google Play Store, which would offer users more options for applications and more. For those interested, the Redmi Note 10 Pro 5G China version is currently available on Giztop for a price of 269 US Dollars.

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Earlier this year, Chinese technology giant sold-ff its sub-brand Honor to Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd. which is a consortium of over 30 agents and dealers of the Honor brand and the Shenzhen Smart City Development Group Co. Ltd.

Soon after being independent of Huawei, Honor started working on strengthening its supply chain and forming partnerships with vendors across the world. It also started getting components from brands like Qualcomm, Intel, and more.

Recently, it was revealed that Honor has received the nod to start using Google’s Android on its smartphones. But, there are rumors making rounds claiming that the brand has not yet received authorization from Google, making it difficult for Honor to enter the overseas market and thus, needs to lower its sales forecast.

Now, Honor has officially responded and claims that the rumors about not getting authorization from Google are untrue. This means that the company has indeed received permission to start using Android on its smartphones.

After Honor became an independent brand, the company retained a team of more than 8,000 people for different divisions, including Research & Development, Sales, Marketing, Procurement, and Manufacturing.

Honor CEO George Zhao previously stated that the chipset supply for the company will be fully restored and within a couple of months, it will launch flagship smartphones, including one in the Honor Magic lineup and the Honor 50 series in June, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G chipset.

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Earlier this week, Redmi launched the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition (aka Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition) in China. We got our hands on a review unit. While playing around with the device, we found out that it does not support GMS (Google Mobile Services) installation.

Back in February, Xiaomi confirmed that it will no longer include the GMS framework on its future smartphones running MIUI China ROM. With the MIUI 12.5 update, the company has been also removing the framework on older phones.

The firm claims that this move will reduce the storage space consumed by the OS. The Chinese handset maker even allows users to uninstall a bunch of system apps on MIUI 12.5.

Since the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition ships with MIUI 12.5 out of the box, it does not have the necessary GMS framework files that are required for Google apps and services. Hence, users cannot install GMS from the Mi App store on this phone.

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We can confirm that this is the case with all the units and not only ours alone. We enquired about this matter with a local Mi Store executive. They revealed that the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition does not support GMS installation as of now. There are also multiple discussion threads on this issue on forums like Kuan.

That said, it is worth noting that Xiaomi could add the GMS framework in a future system update. Because the company had earlier stated that it will ship phones with the GMS framework based on demand. 

Since the Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition is the brand’s first gaming smartphone, it is already popular internationally. We expect more enthusiasts to import it. Hence, there’s a high chance Xiaomi could bring GMS installation support to this handset.

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Huawei first launched the Huawei Mobile Service (HMS) for its mobile phones in 2019 as a response to the U.S government ban which saw the company unable to access Google Mobile Service. While the service has continued to grow over the years, one major challenge is the rich large Android ecosystem that Google has built over the years. Although Huawei has made tremendous progress in its efforts to expand the HMS ecosystem, it is still miles away from Android.

However, hope seems to be in sight for Huawei as a developer partner has created an open-source solution that adapters Google apps for the AppGallery. The solution is developed by developer partner bluesource, Europe’s leading provider of enterprise app solutions. It is an open-source method that adapts GMS apps for AppGallery removing the need to redevelop apps specifically for Huawei’s app store.

The solution is christened Choice SDK and Huawei claims it makes it easy for app publishers to transform their existing apps based on GMS and Firebase frameworks into HMS usable applications. Thus, developers won’t need to create an HMS version of their apps, thus saving cost and time in app development as just little effort is needed for the apps to run on Huawei devices.

The open-source Choice SDK was originally developed for Raiffeisen Bank to help the bank make their app available to Huawei phone users in Austria. Bluesource has since made it available as open-source software so that other brands and developers can get their apps adapted faster, safer and in a more convenient way. Since it became open-source, the Choice SDK has reportedly been utilized by Austria’s national TV broadcaster ORF, Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB, Austria’s Postal Service and deals app Aktionsfinder.

Since it was rolled out in 2019, Huawei’s AppGallery has experienced a massive growth which has catapulted it to become the world’s third largest app marketplace with 530 million monthly active users (MAUs). The company recorded a massive 61.5% growth YoY in Europe to record more than 42 million users. Huawei has offered various incentives ranging from cash to a lion share of revenue from the apps and it worked. Huawei presently has over 2.3 million registered HMS developers with about 300,000 outside China. The platform has increased the number of registered developers to 2.3 million, up by 77% vs last year, and now also counts 300,000 developers outside China. Presently, there are about 120,000 apps integrated with HMS Core, an increase of 118% compared to last year.

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Xiaomi has its own Android-based operating system named MIUI and the company has been regularly updating it. Recently, some users of MIUI started reporting that they weren’t able to install Google Mobile Services (GMS) on their smartphones.

The restrictions seem to have come after the rollout of MIUI 12.5. Now, the China-based smartphone maker has responded to those reports and said that the company no longer allows users to install or sideload GMS applications because of compliances.

The company confirmed that the devices that don’t come with the Google service framework won’t be able to install GMS applications. This isn’t surprising as most of the devices in China don’t have support for GMS as Google services are banned in the country.

While Xiaomi has not revealed the list of models affected by this policy change, some users have reported that Redmi K30 Ultra and Redmi 10X 5G are among those models that don’t support sideloading GMS apps.

It’s noteworthy that the restrictions apply to devices in the company’s home market, i.e. China, and users in other regions should be able to install Google Mobile Services as well as related applications on their Android smartphones.

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Huawei Technologies, the Chinese giant which was once the leading smartphone brand in the world (in Q2 2020), is now practically out of the smartphone business because of the trade restrictions imposed by the United States.

To ensure that its sub-brand Honor survives, the company sold it off to Zhixin New Information Technology Co. Ltd. After its split, it retained almost all of its employees, which are over 8,000, including some of the company’s executives.

The company is now in talks with several companies to streamline its supply chain and production. Now, Honor CEO George Zhao Ming has confirmed that it is in talks with Google and will soon have Google Mobile Services (GMS) support for its devices.

Given that Honor is no longer a part of Huawei, the company will be able to get access to Google’s software and services. For those who are unaware, Huawei was banned from using Google’s services because of the sanctions imposed by the United and since Honor was a sub-brand of Huawei, it too wasn’t permitted to use Google‘s offerings.

Honor’s CEO has also reiterated what he said when the company was becoming independent — to become a leader in the market. Honor is looking to compete against its former parent company Huawei as well as Apple, as it is eying for the pole position in the Chinese smartphone market.

Apart from Google, the company is also in talks with other companies for the needed components, including Qualcomm for chipsets. It recently launched its own online storage named Honor Mall and is in the process of setting up several new offline stores.

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Honor, the newly independent company in China, is currently streamlining its business and forming new relationships with partners and suppliers. While it is making deals with component suppliers, the company is also working on getting the support of Google.

As per the latest report coming from Russia, Google Mobile Services (GMS) could soon make a comeback on Honor devices. This is primarily because the company is no longer a part of Huawei and thus, sanctions imposed by the United States on the Chinese giant no longer apply to Honor.

It further mentions that the return of Google services of Honor smartphones could happen around Spring. The company is already working on two new phone lineups that will have support for Google Mobile Services. This should bring back official Android support as well as a host of other Google applications.

With the introduction of Google services on Honor smartphones, new devices getting launched by the company will no longer have Huawei AppGallery pre-installed. However, the older devices will continue to have AppGallery.

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For those who are unaware, in May 2019, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning Huawei from dealing with American companies, cutting off access to Google’s services as well as many others. Since Honor was a sub-brand of Huawei, its devices were also not able to use GMS. To make sure that the brand survives, Huawei sold off Honor in November last year.

Apart from establishing relations with suppliers, the company is also working on establishing its presence in the market. The company has started its own online store named Honor Mall and is planning to launch several offline stores.

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It is a known fact that HUAWEI and HONOR smartphones launched after the US ban do not ship with GMS (Google Mobile Services). Instead, they come with the company’s own HMS (HUAWEI Mobile Services). Although it now includes alternatives for almost all the services offered by Google, they are not yet up to the mark.

Hence, HUAWEI/Honor Android devices have become a good piece of hardware with crippled software in international markets. However, there a few ways to install GMS but the methods are not straightforward for a regular consumer. Thus, a developer came up with an app called Googlefier.

Googlefier is a third-party GMS installer app developed by XDA Senior Member bender_007. This app enables users to install Google Mobile Services on any HUAWEI/HONOR branded smartphones and tablets running EMUI 10 / EMUI 10.1 or lower. 

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It does not support EMUI 11 as of now. Therefore, if you have already updated your device to the latest version of Huawei’s Android skin, then you are unfortunately out of luck.

Having said that, to use this application, all you have to do is download its APK file from the XDA forum thread linked below and install it like any Android application by turning on allow installation from external sources in security settings.

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Once installed, launch the Googlefier application by tapping on the appropriate icon. Then, simply follow the on-screen instructions and allow permissions when prompted.

If you followed the instructions properly, you will have GMS installed on your device successfully. Anyway, if you are facing any issue, then share them in the respective XDA thread to get a solution.

Download Googlefier GMS Installer App for HUAWEI and HONOR

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Back in 2019, Huawei had faced a ban from the US Government, with the Chinese tech giant being placed in the “Entity List.” This effectively blacklisted the company, banning them from working, trading or buying and selling goods and services from or to another company based in the US. Meaning, Huawei could no longer support Google Mobile Services (GMS) on their new releases and had to ship smartphones with vanilla Android.

Following this, Huawei had to develop its own alternative, which is the now available Huawei Mobile services with its own AppGallery and more. The ban from the US Government had severely hampered the company’s plans, but it had also boosted Huawei’s future plans for its smartphones that featured more proprietary software and hardware.

Now, in recent interview with Wired, Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei’s Consumer  Business Group, mentioned that he wants to bring Google and its services back to their smartphones. The senior executive stated that the company had raked in large sums of profits for Google and had been “very good partners.” Furthermore, he hopes that, “we can get the license from the US government. We are open. In the interests of the value of those US companies, they should… I hope they can give us the license.”

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In other words, Google services like Play Store would be preferable as it stil offers more choice in comparison to the newly launched HMS (Huawei Mobile Services). According to Richard, they wish to stay on the Android platform with Google’s integral services. For this the company would require the US Government’s license, which is given to company’s that wish to cooperate with Huawei since the ban.

The CEO also talked about other aspects in the interview as well, touching on the topic of the affect of the recent Coronavirus outbreak while discussing its Celia voice assistant, AppGallery and TomTom map system. The new software are meant to fill in the void left by Google while the company is taking active steps in providing precautionary and health safety measures in its factories in China.

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(Via)

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A few months ago, Huawei launched its next-generation Mate 30 series flagship smartphones in China, making them the first set of devices from the Chinese giant to come without support for Google apps and services because of the ban on the company from the United States.

But there was a workaround available which enabled users to install Google apps and services on the Mate 30 series phones. However, after a report raised concerns related to the security issues surrounding LZ Play app workaround, it was shut down.

However, a new workaround has surfaced online, which seems to be an easy way to install Google apps and services on Huawei as well as Honor-branded smartphones. For this, the user needs to download Chat Partner app which is around 147MB in size.

Once installing and running the application, the user needs to tap on “Detect Device” option and then on “Repair Now” and finally tap on “Activate” after the Device Administrator window pops up on the screen.

After this process, restarting the smartphone should get the Google Play Store ready and working on the smartphone. Once this is done, the user can remove the Chat Partner application installed.

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Do note that this is still an unofficial way to get the Google services and applications running on Huawei smartphones which come without such service. It is not yet clear how long the method will continue to work.

Google recently warned Huawei users not to side-load its applications. It the blog post, the company wrote: “sideloaded Google apps will not work reliably because we do not allow these services to run on uncertified devices where security may be compromised. Sideloading Google’s apps also carries a high risk of installing an app that has been altered or tampered with in ways that can compromise user security.”

Meanwhile, Huawei has launched Huawei Mobile Services aka HMS which is being seen as an alternative to Google Mobile Services (GMS) in order to reduce its reliance on Google. The company is also planning to invest billions of dollars to boost its app ecosystem.

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(Source)

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Manufacturing an Android device like a smartphone or a tablet and selling it is not an easy process. The Android OS is installed after building the device. Also, in order to ship the device with Google’s apps, it has to undergo compatibility certification tests by Google which can take around 3 months to complete. Google has collaborated with MediaTek to launch a new initiative called Google’s Mobile Services (GMS) Express in order to reduce the certification process time to 4 weeks from the usual duration of up to 3 months.

Android operating system is an open source product that allow developers to customize it to support different hardware configurations. However, this can make the Android OS differently on different devices. Hence, Google has laid down specific prerequisites to ensure that basic APIs and device functionality is consistent on different devices running on Android.

Google has a way of enforcing its requirements. It does it by providing its own apps which includes Google Play Store, Gmail, YouTube and so on. This way the search engine giant ensures that Android OEMs adhere to their rules.

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If an Android build running on a device is unable to pass the certification process set by Google, such a device will not be able to run the various apps made available by Google. For major companies like Samsung, the certification process may not be a huge barrier in releasing their phones. However, as stated above, the entire process of certification can take up to 3 months for startup firms to release their devices into the market.

The GMS Express program will certainly help in reducing the time required for certification. In collaboration with MediaTek, Google will provide already tested, certified and fully complaint versions of Android builds to Android OEM. Devices running on such builds will have to undergo the last certification step as the code will is likely to get modified for including new features. However, it will allow Android OEMs to release their devices to the market quickly.

It will also benefit the end-user as they will be receiving a pre-tested and secure edition of Android. Since GMS is unavailable on Android devices in China, the new program is targeted towards device markers both inside and outside of China that are manufacturing devices for international markets like Europe and North America.

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