HarmonyOS, Huawei's new multi-device operating system, has been announced by Managing Director Richard Yu at HDC 2019, the company's developer conference in Dongguan, China.
Clearly a thinly veiled response to the political events of the past year, the message is clear: If Huawei gives up on Android, it can do so at the end of the day.
For now, however, it is a smart device operating system that powers the load alongside other unified operating systems, such as Google's Fuscia. HarmonyOS is a platform designed for a variety of devices. It is currently for IoT devices such as smart displays or smart appliances.
Given the political situation between the United States and China and the impact it has had on Huawei's access to Android over the past year, it is not surprising that Richard Yu presents a confident and confident attitude.
At the same time, Yu refrained from participating in Android switches for the time being.
Huawei says that with the rise of the IoT device, a more efficient operating system is needed. With these IoT devices containing less memory and storage than smartphones, they need much simpler code. For 100 lines of Android code, you can only have one line of HarmonyOS code. Despite this, HarmonyOS can still provide powerful features on all devices.
By taking a "single core across devices" approach, Huawei also aims to create a shared ecosystem, cross silos, and save developers time. An app can be deployed to a car headunit, smart watch, fitness monitor and speaker, and it works flawlessly
Do you remember Windows Phone?
We had seen something similar before, especially on Windows Phone, which shared a kernel with Windows 10. Although this was not a success, Huawei could have a quick fix: Android compatibility.
HarmonyOS will start life as a television operating system: Huawei Vision, with Richard Yu confirming that it would appear in an honor announcement on the second day of the developer conference, presumably Honor TV.
This will create opportunities for smooth and seamless transmission between devices, so that a user can make a video call on their phone, start it on a TV in the kitchen, and then continue it in the living room. After that, they could take a phone call, move from room to room, and follow the call to switch from one smart speaker to another.
HarmonyOS will also feature in clocks, speakers, and car mounts in the future, but it is not limited to these categories of devices. Also, it is open source, Huawei publishes developer support promises along the line.
HarmonyOS will also be an open source platform, allowing developers to provide applications for the platform and other smartphone manufacturers who may even choose to use the operating system.
Regarding smartphones equipped with the Harmony OS, Yu was clear about Huawei's current position: "When can we put it on our smartphones? We can do it at any time, but for the partnership with Google and efficiency, priority will be for Google's Android operating system. " If we can't use it in the future, we can switch from Android & # 39;
He said the change would be "quick and easy," presenting conflicting comments and clearly preserving his company's association with Google, at least for now.