It is almost too difficult not to call Huawei’s Harmony OS a patchy “plan B” for its smartphones since it has no business using the Android OS.
With geopolitical complexities disrupting Huawei’s ability to trade with the United States, the tech giants may soon have to say goodbye to Google’s Android OS.
The Harmony OS is a great backup plan for when or if things go from bad to worse.
Except we are wrong to assume that Harmony OS is just a backup. The Chinese company dedicated a glamorous event to this brand-new operating system at the 2019 Huawei Developer Conference.
The information gathered at this event will allow the world to stop guessing and finally know all the facts about the Huawei Harmony OS.
What is Harmony OS?
Huawei has tried distilling its Harmony OS’s essence into just one tagline: A micro-kernel-based, distributed OS for all scenarios. That sounds like a mouthful of chocolate, yeah?
We will talk more about the technical side in a bit, but the first part starts with the aspect that says “for all scenarios.”
Harmony OS isn’t explicitly designed to rival Android OS; it rivals every smart operating system you can imagine.
Huawei explained that its Harmony OS is the next step in establishing a fast connection between the end-user and the ever-changing digital space.
Huawei believes that the most significant changes are just around the corner, with the birth of 5G, artificial intelligence, the growing relevance of cloud technology, and the rapidly growing Internet of Things market.
This working together makes up what Huawei has titled a seamless AI life, a convergence of the next-generation technology that it believes will affect all of our smart devices, both in the home and on the go, for several years.
Huawei believes that the issue is that many of the smart technologies we use every day have refused to interact with each other, talk more, or work seamlessly together.
This challenge is not new. Many operating systems are flawed because of manufacturer rivalries or hardware necessity, and even highly versatile open-source platforms such as Linux face challenges because they originated as laptop/PC systems.
This is also something we have seen for decades with Android. Google has struggled to recapture the magic of Android for its TV platforms and wearable devices.
Chromecast is Google’s best-selling physical product, built on cast instead of Android TV; this also tells a lot.
So Huawei has decided to unleash a sparkling new operating system instead of going through the stress of repurposing an operating system or rebuilding the same applications and repeating the same things over and over. The tech giant claims it has been working on the Harmony OS for close to a decade.
1 + 8 + N
Huawei has a Clear Vision for its harmony operating system ecosystem, and this vision begins with what the Tech giant calls the “1 + 8 + N” strategy. Within the “1 + 8 + N” setup, ” 1″ represents the device that should be your smartphone.
Let us focus on smartphones as the example here since they are our regular companions and do a great job of connecting us with others whenever and wherever we are in the world.
It makes sense for Huawei to use the devices as the starting point. After the “1,” comes the “8,” representing other familiar devices such as our tablets, laptops, desktops, smartwatches, smart speakers, and many other tools that will run on the Harmony OS.
Finally, there is the “N,” which is the more complicated or confusing part that features smart refrigerators, smart lighting, and many other devices that Huawei has decided to leave to third-party manufacturers.
It is already tricky to get all these devices or products to function in synergy or play nicely with themselves, even if you only count Huawei products.
Huawei laptops use Windows, smartphones use Android, and smartwatches operate on Lite OS.
This means that opening their doors to other larger devices, such as refrigerators and smart lighting, is another journey into the world of incompatibility.
To clarify things, Huawei is proposing a simple solution: a secure operating system that will work correctly on all its devices without stress.
However, the implementation of this solution is nothing close to being simple.
Designing a Smart OS
The Harmony OS is built on a single application framework, a single kennel, and it is to operate the same core services regardless of the hardware.
Huawei believes that by eliminating redundant code and taking advantage of a more efficient scheduling model based on a real-time “Deterministic Latency Engine,” which can relocate resources in real-time, its Harmony operating system represents a few steps above the monolithic and hybrid kennel architectures like Android and Linux, respectively.
Huawei claims that it looked beyond isolated hardware features and individual devices and instead focused on a pool of abilities and traits that can be combined to create a virtualized hardware level.
This pool of resources cuts across broad characteristics like speakers, displays, cameras, and microphones, which repeat across different smart devices.
Huawei reports that its Harmony OS will function at home on a laptop or a mobile phone with 12GB of RAM, as it will on a smart light bulb with ordinary kilobytes of memory.
There are numerous potential benefits of using the Harmony operating system.
Huawei’s primary example is the ability to switch between devices while using a particular app without experiencing any downtime.
An instance would be when you’re making a call on your phone and quickly switching it to your vehicle dashboard while driving or to your TV or tablet.
Another benefit is that Harmony operating system applications will never need to be written for only one platform because Huawei’s ARK compiler supports multiple languages. (The languages listed by Huawei include C/C++, Java, JS, and Kotlin.)
This will reduce the overall development time and offer excellent compatibility across various devices without extra stress or workload.
This will be good news for app developers, as it will help them save more time. However, Android applications cannot work on the Harmony OS.
It is, however, possible for the compiler to convert Android apps to Harmony OS without much stress.
All of the above, coupled with the advanced security enabled by the macro kennel environment across devices, paints an exciting picture for developers, end-users, and Huawei as a company that seeks to take charge of the future of connected technology.
Harmony OS is undoubtedly what the future needs regarding smart technology. However, Huawei still has a long way to go, as no operating system can function without devices.
This means that until devices that run on the Harmony OS are created, users cannot enjoy this operating system’s endless possibilities.
So, What About Harmony OS Devices?
Huawei is so confident that it knows it is one of the few tech giants with the required infrastructure to actualize all of its ambitions, and that is one fact that is difficult to argue.
Huawei has made a massive investment in cloud technology, has produced its own Kirin silicone, and is now at the heart of 5G technology around the globe.
The company can also boast a booming device business, including wearables, smartphones, tablets, computers, and more.
Despite competition and technological advancements, Huawei has remained relevant and one of the best in the market.
Huawei is not afraid to use its massive portfolio to catapult to the Mia operating system. In fact, the company has begun with its very first Harmony operating system-powered product, the Huawei Vision Smart TV.
This consumer-ready product was released in China, and the television showcases some of the promises of the artificial intelligence-driven smart harmony operating system.
The intelligent television doubles as a hiLink control system for more than 900 IoT devices, and you can easily broadcast and share content from your phone directly to this television.
This is the only Harmony OS-driven product we have officially seen, but the company has begun to tease other products we may see someday.
According to the roadmap seen at HDC, the rollout of Harmony OS-powered devices will begin in 2020 with smart bands, smartwatches, personal computers, and vehicle head units.
Huawei claims that by 2021, it might expand its new operating system to speakers and some other audio devices, and after 2022, it should venture into the realm of VR glasses and more.
Of all the devices, smartwatches are specifically a compelling case, mainly because Huawei has ventured into WearOS for the Huawei Watch GT.
However, the Harmony OS is backward compatible, meaning existing Huawei wearables can transition into it.
However, one strange thing about the Old Woman released by Huawei is the absence of smartphones, which means they might consider sticking to the Android OS for their smartphones while using Harmony OS for other devices.
From now on, this is just a suspicion, as the company might decide to release new smartphones that run on Harmony as soon as possible.
Now, there is no clue as to what they have in mind when it comes to smartphones.
The Huawei Mate 30 series is considered a perfect line of smartphones.
Still, since this Android-powered device does not have a Google Play store, many customers find it challenging to access their favorite applications except through third-party stores.
Huawei understands that the absence of this Google-powered product is a considerable loss.
For this reason, we suspect that the company might eventually have to abandon Android and embrace its own harmonious OS.
With the looming trade ban, if things go from bad to worse, Google may have had to stick to its Play Store, which has lost most of the application features.
This may mean a significant loss for the tech giant, but let us hope there is a way out.
Whether by choice or force, Huawei’s new operating system is somehow colliding with the Android operating system.
That’s everything we know about Harmony OS so far. Will it be a success? Let us know in the comments.
This is all we know about the Harmony operating system for now. We will share more information with you as soon as we have it.
