No Longer Needed, Huawei Completely Abandons Android
Morrissey Technology – Huawei officially launched HarmonyOS NEXT, the latest version of its operating system, at Huawei’s annual developer conference, HDC 2024, which is the stage for the company’s biggest announcement. This announcement comes after years of development of the HarmonyOS operating system, which was originally known as Hongmeng.
This Chinese-developed operating system (OS) completely ditches the Linux kernel and Android Open Source Project (AOSP) codebase in favor of a completely independent architecture built around Huawei’s Hongmeng kernel and system.
Huawei claims that the new system architecture delivers a 30% improvement in overall machine performance and a 20% reduction in power consumption. Currently in beta testing, HarmonyOS NEXT is looking for developers and a number of early adopters to participate. Those interested should be aware that the beta version may be unstable and may cause data incompatibility issues.
The main feature of HarmonyOS NEXT is the ability to bridge the gap between different devices. According to Huawei, developers only need to create one version of an app to ensure a consistent user experience across different screen sizes in the Huawei ecosystem FOR4D.
This was demonstrated at the conference with popular apps such as Taobao, Yiche, and Bilibili running smoothly across different devices. Additionally, HarmonyOS NEXT offers a unique “App Continuation” function. Imagine starting a video call on your tablet and seamlessly transferring it to your phone with one click. This system also allows easy sharing of data between devices. For example, you can easily cut and paste images from your phone to your tablet while working on a document.
HarmonyOS NEXT FOR4D is claimed to be more than just device connectivity. This system integrates artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities directly into the system, referred to as “Harmony Intelligence.”
This integration unlocks a variety of features, including:
- AIGC image creation: Create unique images from line drawings, colorize existing photos, or even enlarge them.
- Industry-first AI voice repair: This feature aims to help people with speech disorders by improving communication.
- “Xiaoyi Sees the World” for visually impaired users: This feature uses AI to “read images” by describing their content aloud, potentially helping users identify objects around them.
- AI-powered control: HarmonyOS NEXT allows third-party apps to leverage the system’s AI for features like real-time text reading, smart form filling, and image/text translation.
- Then Huawei’s virtual assistant feature, Xiaoyi, has received an upgrade and is called Xiaoyi Intelligent Agent. Xiaoyi no longer requires a wakeup word and can be “summoned” by simply dragging and dropping content onto the navigation bar.
This allows for more intuitive interactions where Xiaoyi can analyze content and offer relevant actions, such as creating charts from images or summarizing documents. Security remains a top priority for Huawei. HarmonyOS NEXT FOR4D introduces the new Star Shield security architecture, designed to keep user data safe. This architecture implements several steps:
- Rigorous application inspection: Code and applications that do not meet security standards will be blocked from being installed.
- Multi-device data encryption: Data is encrypted end-to-end across multiple devices for increased protection.
- Hardware-level encryption: Individual files are encrypted with a unique key stored on the device’s hardware.
- Permission control: Restrict unnecessary app permissions to minimize privacy risks.
- HarmonyOS NEXT is still in the development phase, with a commercial launch expected in Q4 2024. The beta testing phase has begun, and Huawei is actively seeking developers and early adopters to provide feedback and help improve the system.