Huawei announced HiCar last year which is its own take on Android Auto. The feature is available on some vehicles already such as the Baojun RC-6. For those who want Huawei’s Hongmeng OS-powered HiCar for their vehicles, Huawei has an aftermarket solution on the way called Huawei HiCar Center Screen and it has received Bluetooth certification.

The Bluetooth SIG page reveals the name of the device is Huawei HiCar Center Screen. It also states the device is codenamed “Antelope“ and it has model number WB10.

The description says that the HiCar Center Screen is the world’s first Hongmeng “Center screen” and Huawei HiCar’s first after-mounted car product. The device connects users with supported Huawei and Honor phone to their cars and allows them to communicate with each other.

The description goes on to say owners will be able to seamlessly transfer HiCar supported apps on their phones on the center screen. These apps should include maps and music players.

The Center Screen connects via Bluetooth 5.0 and should be announced soon. Alongside the device, another product called the DDPAI Button was also certified. The description says that the DDPAI Button is an accessory of the HiCar Center Screen. The device, which connects via Bluetooth 5.0, acts as a remote and can be used to activate the voice assistant, answer or reject calls, and pause/play/switch tracks.

UP NEXT: Huawei Smartphones to start getting HarmonyOS 2.0 beta update as early as January 2021

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Huawei unveiled the Harmony OS with much fanfare at the Huawei Developer Conference (2019) earlier today. The OS is primarily targeted at IoT products and is the company’s back up plan if it no longer can use Android on its smartphones. Huawei was careful NOT to directly market it as a replacement to Android but it did stress that it would use Harmony OS as its last resort for its smartphones.

Building a new OS from scratch is never easy and time and again we’ve seen examples of companies failing to gain traction from developers for a brand new OS. However, Huawei wants to take things slow and steady, starting with IoT products like the new Huawei Smart Screen that’s going to be unveiled tomorrow.

There’s a lot of stuff that was revealed about the OS at the event today, so we decided to compile 10 things you should know about Harmony OS so that you are updated about its most important features.

1. Harmony OS development began back in 2017

Huawei started working on the HarmonyOS as early as 2017. The company decided to speed things up in 2019 to power its smart screen products this year. The v1.0 will initially target smart display products, such as the Huawei Smart Screen to be unveiled tomorrow. In 2020, microkernel v2.0 will be released and subsequently, in 2021, the v3.0 will be available with added support for wearables.

The HarmonyOS v1.0 will still feature a Linux kernel alongside its own microkernel, but future versions, starting v2.0 will be completely based on its microkernel.

2. Huawei’s HarmonyOS is based on a light Microkernel unlike Android

Huawei’s HarmonyOS is microkernel-based, much like Google’s Fuchsia OS. This makes it more of a direct competitor to Fuchsia than Android. This design ensures that the new OS can be used on multiple types of devices at once. So, it’s meant to be a multi-device solution rather than a smartphone focused OS.

Unlike Linux kernels which have a relatively large amount of code in a shared address space, microkernels have a smaller amount of shared code and enable faster communication between its components.

3. HarmonyOS will not allow root access

Huawei confirms you won’t get root access on the Harmony OS. This has been done to avoid any future security concerns, which the company says is a security risk on Android and other Linux-based OSes.

4. HarmonyOS is primarily for IoT products

Huawei is targeting IoT products such as wearables, smart screen products, smart speakers, in-car entertainment units and other smart products for its new HarmonyOS. Smartphones are not really the priority but the company stresses that it is capable of replacing Android on its mobile devices.

5. Huawei smartphones can shift to HarmonyOS in just a couple of days

Huawei revealed that if the need arises, it can quickly shift to HarmonyOS on its smartphones. It will just take 1-2 days for the company to replace Android on its phones. That’s impressive yet scary at the same time!

6. Android Apps are not compatible out of the box

Huawei’s HarmonyOS won’t support Android apps out of the box. The company notes that ‘small changes’ need to be made to existing apps to ensure that it can run on its new OS. But it is possible to port Android, HTML5, and Linux apps over to HarmonyOS using Huawei’s ARK compiler, which is open source.

7. Huawei is building its own app store

Huawei is already busy building a replacement for the Google Play store. The company’s inhouse app store is called as Huawei AppGallery and it is already asking developers to publish their Android apps over on its own apps store as well. The company has even unveiled Huawei Mobile Services as an alternative to Google Play services.

8. Huawei’s Mate 30 series could use HarmonyOS

While Huawei stressed that HarmonyOS isn’t really targeted for smartphones, it could be forced to install the new OS on the upcoming Mate 30 series. The company has confirmed that the Mate 30 series models haven’t received Google Play certification yet. If the Huawei ban continues, the Chinese telecommunications giant could be forced to use HarmonyOS on the new models. There are already rumors that the Mate 30 Lite will be the first HarmonyOS running smartphone. Let’s wait and watch.

9. HarmonyOS will go Open Source sometime next year

Huawei is planning to make HarmonyOS completely open-source sometime next year. This could bring in companies like OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi to collaborate and develop the new operating system. US ban is currently a primary threat to Huawei, but it can extend to other Chinese companies as well. I’m sure they would want an alternative like HarmonyOS in case things go south.

10. HarmonyOS will build its roots in China first

Huawei will lay the foundations of the HarmonyOS in the Chinese market, later expanding it to international markets. So, the first set of HarmonyOS products will be unveiled in China, starting with the Honor Vision Smart screen.

So, that’s everything you should know about the new HarmonyOS.

Let’s know if you think it can eventually replace or at least compete directly with Android for smartphones.

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Huawei has scheduled its largest ever Global developers conference in China on August 9 and it looks like the company will use the platform to announce its new HongMeng operating system. The news comes from China’s ifeng.com who seem to be sure that the new OS will meet us at the event. 

This news doesn’t come as a complete surprise as the company’s head of consumer business, Richard Yu, had mentioned back in May to the CNBC that it’s new OS could be ready by fall in China this year. The Huawei Global Developer Conference is an important event for the Chinese smartphone giant, especially this year, with over 1,500 partners and 5,000 global developers are expected to attend the event. While this event is held every year, this time, it’s special because of its sheer size as well as the increased attention from global media on Huawei. Any OS needs a solid ecosystem of apps in order to be successful and what better platform than the Global Developers Conference to talk about its new HongMeng OS. Considering these circumstances, it’s very likely that Huawei will talk about its new OS at the event this year. 

Huawei’s new OS is not just built to run on smartphones. According to Richard Yu, the OS is “open to mobile phones, computers, tablets, TVs, cars, and smart wearable devices,” and will be compatible with all Android apps and web applications. Further, he added that “if the Android app is recompiled, running performance is improved by more than 60%.”

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These comments give us a fair idea as to what to expect from its HongMeng OS. It’s likely going to be a forked version of Android with support for all Android apps and services. Further, unlike the Android that we see today, which usually limited to smartphones and tablets, HongMeng OS could power a wide variety of gadgets including smartwatches, TVs, and cars. It looks like the OS was built from the ground up for smart devices. 

We’ll likely hear more about the HongMeng OS in the coming days. The Huawei Global Developers Conference (HDC) will be held in Songshan Lake, Dongguan from August 9 to August 11. So, you better mark your calendars. 

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(Source)

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Google cutting off its Android relationship with Huawei in response to a US government ban on the Chinese giant wasn’t much of a surprise to Huawei. We’ve known for a while now that Huawei is in the process of making their own operating system, as confirmed by the company’s own Richard Yu. Today’s patent leak, however, gives us a possible name for the upcoming OS, that being Hongmeng.

The patent listing suggests that Hongmeng will be used as an operating system program, computer operating program, computer operating software, etc. In other words, it’s an operating system, though no other specifics have been revealed. It’s expected to appear later this Fall or early next year for phones, computers, tablets, TVs, cars, and wearables.

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The OS will be compatible with all Android apps and they can also be recompiled to improve performance, like ChromeOS. Samsung has also done something similar in the past with Tizen, but this is different in the sense Huawei’s looking to completely replace Android and other operating systems on other platforms, like Microsoft’s Windows.

With Huawei’s massive and still growing popularity (possibly assisted by the said ban), it’s clear they need to recoup fast. Thankfully, it seems like they’re doing exactly that with all the latest news of their Hongmeng OS and other products. We’re eager to see how Huawei’s own OS turns out in comparison to Android, as well as how it performs in real life.

(Source)

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