Harmony OS 2.0 mobile beta developer version is currently the available variant that can be installed to these devices. Additionally, a public beta version will be released in the coming days with hopes of a full Harmony OS Smartphone set to leave the launch pad in 2021.

With the Huawei Mate 30, Matepad pro, and P40 elgiible to run Harmony OS 2.0 at the moment, the operating system brings to play new features and new device platform support including:

•  15000+ APIs (support the development of mobile phone/PAD, large screen, wearable, car, and machine applications.
• Distributed application framework
• Distributed UI controls
• DevEco Studio 2.0 Beta 3

However, the new operatign system doesn’t differ by much as compared to Android which has powered Huawei Smartphones for years now.

Huawei Smartphones that can run Harmony OS 2.0

Since 16th December 2020, Huawei Mate 30, Huawei P40 and Matepad Pro owners are able to taste the developer beta version of the operating system before 2021 shines with wide support for multiple devices. Nonetheless, here is the full list of Smartphones that can run Harmony OS at the moment.

• Huawei P40
• Huawei P40 Pro
• Huawei Mate 30
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro
• Huawei MatePad Pro

Hence, Harmony OS 2.0 is finally off the rumor board and now available for installation inline with Huawei’s plan of supporting millions of devices from Smartphones, Smart TVs, Refrigerators, Cars, among other products by early 2021.

Well, the whole idea of Harmony OS reached the public eye when the US Government added Huawei to an entity list banning it from doing business and collaborating with US companies based on Cyber and National Security grounds.

On 16th May 2019 when the Trump Administration penned Huawei on the entity list, the Shenzhen based brand swiftly geared up its Innovation team for a Plan B. In this case, Android limitations were expected, and so, the birth of HongMeng/Harmony became an opportunity.

The actual Genesis of Huawei Harmony OS

As early as 2012, rumors had started moving that Huawei was developing its own operating system to compete with Android and iOS which were the leading mobile solutions at the time.

However, the company dismissed all claims by noting that the software in development was just a fallback option just in case their access to Android APIs was shadowed, and that, the operating system in development would only work on Internet of Things (IoT) devices like Smart TVs, Appliances, wearables, and self-driving cars.

Since then, the operating system didn’t have a name, and it was never taken as a top priority by Huawei since the company was a core contributor to the Android open source project. Well, on 24th May 2019, Huawei trademarked “Hongmeng OS” and by July “Harmony OS” was also registered.

Once the Operating System became legal and official, Huawei confirmed that China will have first-hand access to the new solution before the rest of the world does. Though both Hongmeng and Harmony OS were trademarked, the company noted that both variants are the same.

So, on August 9, 2019, Harmony OS officially premiered as the software for the Honor vision series of Smart TVs. And on 1st September 2020, Harmony OS 2.0 was announced with a beta version released on 10th September 2020 for use on smart TVs, wearables, and devices with at least 128KB of free space for Installation.

Focusing on the future, Huawei Smartphones will be able to run Harmony OS by early 2021 with the beta version of developer tools expected to be made available by December 2020. With over 200million devices expected to equip the operating system by 2021, It’s one to watch out for.

What is Harmony OS anyway?

Harmony OS is a free open source microkernel-based operating system. Through microkernel technology, the operating system is able to work on different hardware in a fashion similar to that of the popular Linux Kernel.

By Creation, the operating system has four core features which include unification, smooth functionality, security, and continuity as key goals to sustain its presence in the open source world.

If compared to Android, Harmony OS packs improved security features since Huawei has for years been a core contributor to the Google-led Open source project.

Unlike Android, security is employed at the Kernel level with no direct access to terminals making it the first OS to equip formal validation methods in contrast to traditional validation methods on Android.

In fact, Chinese Manufactures like Oppo and Vivo have tested Harmony OS and reported a 60% faster ratio as compared to the base Android Operating System. But once made available, Huawei Smartphones will have an upper advantage with the ability to switch to Harmony within 1-2 days.

By the same fashion, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) is a software suite designed to replace the default Google Mobile Services (GMS) suite which includes YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Chrome, and Playstore as core services.

With HMS, users will be able to connect almost all Harmony supported devices for easy usability. Additionally, developed applications will be able to work across all harmony powered devices with no target device limitations by developers, this means, apps will be cross-device compatible.

Why you should be excited about Huawei Harmony OS

Several working experiments have so far been published in support of Huawei Harmony OS. Recently, the OS was shown in action working on Smart Home appliances with direct control from a Harmony powered Smartphone in server-client fashion.

This means you will be able to summon your blender to make juice from your in-jar contents, be able to turn off your lights, control the refrigerator freezing levels, all using your Harmony powered smartphone.

But once launched and deployed to the public, Harmony OS is expected to put up a podium scale between Android and IOS with user productivity, efficiency, and security as a default concern.

This will attract a change in operating system standards forcing Android-powered releases to bring to play newer features and upgrades to work in-line with the new Harmony inspired level.

So, despite Huawei Mobile being a high-end Smartphone manufacturer with its Honor division serving as the midrange variant, the company will make its operating system available to other Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo who may ditch Android in support of the new platform.

Considering the fact that Huawei Mobile services (HMS) will be braced in China where Google Mobile services (GMS) are blocked, the wide rollout of Harmony will not only introduce a new platform, but also a new way of interacting with apps on the platform.

Henceforth, you should be excited to see what the Huawei Harmony OS ecosystem will equip by in 2021 when it becomes readily available for Smartphones and other Smart devices.

Now, an insider at Weibo has revealed a new Harmony OS powered Smart Home devices that lets you control almost everything electronic within your home. As per shared images, the device works in a server-client fashion for interaction with other devices.

At the moment, only Huawei Harmony OS compatible products can be connected to the device which creates a low latency Wi-Fi hotspot connection between your Smartphone or Smart Watch to target devices.

Recently, Huawei revealed that Harmony OS can be installed on devices that have atleast 128KB to 128MB of free storage. This means, almost every gadget can house the OS be it an ordinary digital FM Radio receiver.

Well, once compatible devices are connected with a joint broadcasting signal from your Huawei Harmony OS powered Smartphone, you can then send any instructions to run available functions on your home devices.

How Harmony OS Smart Home Appliances work

1. You can establish a multi-device connection with a Harmony OS serving point which could be your Smartphone.
2. Connect and control your Huawei Washing machine with Spin, Wash functions through your smartphone or wearable gear (Smart Watch).
3. If you wish to Cook something, Simply place it on the Cooker or Oven and When it’s ready you’re notified through your watch or Smartphone.
4. For Farmers, If livestock or birds temperature increases, you get a direct notification to your phone.
5. To Switch off lights or open the garage, you simply swipe through your Smartphone, and perform turn-on or Off quick functions.
6. For a sip of juice, simply establish a connection to the Harmony OS Wi-Fi server and control the juice blender using your Smartphone or Wearable

In a nutshell, Harmony OS is a redefinition of Smart Home accessibility with vast touch to control each and every compatible device within your coverage area.

According to Huawei, Harmony OS will support over 200Million devices by the time 2021 shines. With such a rapid roll-out rate, very soon you will be able to purchase a Harmony OS powered Smart home appliance and control it based on your configuration kit.

Starting in 2021, several Huawei Smartphones will further be able to upgrade to Harmony OS. Amidst the fact that Android functionality is limited on latest Huawei releases with missing Google Services, Harmony will come as a complete suite with its own functionality and skins.

Both Operating Systems, Harmony, and Android are open source, this means, developers will be able to craft new Apps if not cross-support already existing Apps from the Google Play store to Harmony OS.

According to the Huawei president of Consumer Business software Mr. Wang Chengju, Huawei has been an active contributor to the Android Open source project, and so, with such expertise, Harmony will be a standalone Project with full App support and dependencies.

During an interview at the 2020 Developers conference, Wang confirmed that EMUI 11 (custom OS firmware for existing Huawei Smartphones) is the first step towards full Harmony integration. This means, EMUI 11 ships Harmony OS features and serves as a test to stability.

However, not all Huawei Smartphones support EMU11 and will be able to run Harmony OS. Instead its a collection of supported releases that are able to upgrade to the operating system which comes with a new smart always-on display, smoother animations, multitasking, among other features.

EMU 11 Eligible Devices and those that will support Harmony OS by 2021

Huawei Mate-series:

• Huawei Mate 30 Pro
• Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G
• Huawei Mate 30
• Huawei Mate 30 5G
• Huawei Mate 30 RS Porsche design
• Huawei Mate 20
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
• Huawei Mate 20 X (5G)
• Huawei Mate 20 X (4G)
• Huawei Mate 20 Porsche RS
• Huawei Mate X
• Huawei Mate Xs

Huawei P-series:

• Huawei P40
• Huawei P40 Pro
• Huawei P40 Pro+
• Huawei P40 Lite
• Huawei P40 Lite 5G
• Huawei P30
• Huawei P30 Pro
• Huawei P30 Pro New Edition

Huawei Enjoy Series:

• Huawei Enjoy 20 Pro
• Huawei Enjoy Z 5G
• Huawei Enjoy 10e
• Huawei Enjoy 10 Plus
• Huawei Enjoy 10S

Huawei Nova-series:

• Huawei Nova 7 SE
• Huawei Nova 7
• Huawei Nova 7 Pro
• Huawei Nova 7i
• Huawei Nova 6
• Huawei Nova 6 5G
• Huawei Nova 6 SE
• Huawei Nova 5T
• Huawei Nova 5
• Huawei Nova 5 Pro
• Huawei Nova 5Z
• Huawei Nova 5i Pro

Huawei Tablets:

• Huawei MatePad Pro 4G
• Huawei MatePad Pro 5G
• Huawei MatePad
• Huawei MatePad 10.8
• Huawei MediaPad M6

When Harmony OS will be fully Intergrated on Huawei Smartphones

Several Huawei Smartphones will be able to upgrade to Harmony OS in January and February 2021. Based on a chronological and flagship order, the rest of the supported releases will also be able to transition by April 2021.

Recently, Huawei predicted that 200million devices will run Harmony OS by 2021. Based on the business ecosystem, the Chinese Giant will ship the OS project to wearables, SmartTVs, Tablets, Self Driving Cars among other IoT compatible devices as planned.

For now, Huawei ranks as the 2nd Largest Smartphone manufacturer in the World, leaping the first podium position to Samsung, then Apple in 3rd as per early Q3 2020 standings. But once Harmony OS goes live on Huawei Smartphones, the company may never slip back to Android given the current US sanctions.

According to the Huawei consumer business group vice president Mr. Yang Haison, the IT giant plans to produce over 100 million units of its own Smartphones and devices once 2021 shines.

With 100 million units left to fill the 200 million devices target by 2021. Huawei expects the next bunch of devices to come from 3rd party manufacturers embedding the Operating system in Hi-tech products like Smart TVs, wearables, and cars.

However, Huawei has not confirmed which percentage of its 200 million target will be covered by Smartphones inking several supported devices. To support its mark, the company has partnered with several 3rd party companies to increase Harmony OS usability.

Several Chinese home appliances like Midea Group, Robam appliances, and Joyoung are some of the company’s top partners. These deal in IoT products such as: Smart ovens, Smart TVs, Smart Lights, and smoke exhaust ventilators.

Hence, once integrated to the companies’ IOT systems, users will be able to use Harmony OS powered Smartphones to swiftly control all supported IOT systems.

At the moment, Harmony OS Beta SDK (system development Kit) is available to developers with target devices with atleast 128KB – 128MB RAM. So, several wearables, Smart TVs, cars, and Smartphones will equip Harmony OS by the time 2020 comes to a close paving a way to success for Huawei’s Plan B.

As per the US trade ban document, Huawei is not supposed to make business with any western company with Google leading the pike of the most important wings in Huawei’s veins.

Though Google revoked Android support for future Huawei releases and later lifted the ban due to a hold in the US order, Huawei’s custom OS future lane started with its Huawei Mate 30 that didn’t feature any Google affiliated apps apart from Android itself.

The most popular services on the Google cloud include Youtube, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos plus the Android Playstore, and none of these apps were pre-installed on the recently launched Mate 30 series.

However, Huawei’s plan is to create their own custom ecosystem to battle with Google’s mobile services (GMS) portal in a contest for subscribers and overall usage as the company’s USA Vice president confirmed during an interview with financial times.

After the entity list, we were able to figure out some of the alternative solutions. The most challenging part is Google-managed services. We can continue to use the Android platform since it is open-source, but we cannot use the services that help apps run on it

Joy Tan – Huawei USA Vice President

As a matter of fact, GMS (Google Mobile services) will soon be no more to all releases after the company’s shipment of the Huawei Mobile services (HMS) suite evidenced on the Mate 30 and the Nova 5t Smartphones.

On the contrary flip, Harmony OS will delay to become live due to the construction of a fresh new ecosystem for future Huawei devices after slashing earlier assumptions that the Operating System would be ready by 2020.

HongMeng trademarked as Harmony OS in the Europe has already been revealed as a project destined for Smart devices like 5G TVs, Smartphones, SmartWatches among other IoT powered pieces manufactured by Huawei.

According to Yu Chengdong__the Huawei business group CEO, Harmony OS will help build its ecosystem faster as more developers will now be able to contribute to its overall development. This includes top companies like Google that may prefer to ship in their products as part of the Hongmeng catalog.

Among the confirmed devices that are expected to ship HongMeng OS so far include Huawei Smart TVs and wearables. However, the Chinese giant confirmed that it will delay the roll out to Smartphones since it still relies on Android for now as Yu Chengdong further stated.

“If we cannot use Android in the future, we can immediately switch to HarmonyOS,” Yu said at a press conference.

Its is to be noted that Huawei is one of the major development wings that have made the Android Project what it is today. So, with the new Open-source standards for Huawei’s custom project that stepped in as a solution to Google’s Android ban, Hongmeng/Harmony OS will some time in the future become the default OS for all Huawei Smartphone releases.