As scheduled, Huawei took the stage at its ongoing developer conference to announce the newest version of its Android overlay, Emotion UI (EMUI). Interestingly, it is at the same venue that the company finally made public what many believe it will one day replace Android with on the smartphone, Harmony OS.
EMUI 10, as it is called, introduces several new features as well as improvements to what the company previously availed with version 9.1, which has been rolling out to the company’s existing device lineup over the last few months.
EMUI 10’s availability, just as was the case with previous versions, is necessitated by the impending public release of the latest version of Android, Q. EMUI 10 is Huawei’s take on Android Q and, as a result, will bring with it many, if not all, of the features that Google is bringing to Android with the 10th major version (if we are to sidestep the point releases along the way) of its mobile operating system.
The top feature that Huawei was upfront with at the developer conference was the system-wide dark mode, coming to its devices for the first time. Also coming is a coloured Always-On display (like the kind we see on Samsung smartphones).
EMUI 10 will allow Huawei to achieve its vision of interconnectivity amongst its devices, which is at the core of its new operating system, Harmony OS, by allowing users to, for instance, make full high-definition video calls among themselves as well as connect to other Huawei gear they own like smart speakers or home camera systems. The same will allow Huawei smartphones to communicate with other devices like drones, televisions, smartwatches, etc. In short, EMUI 10 is going to provide a deeper plug into the Huawei ecosystem.
A multi-screen collaboration feature will allow users to drag and drop files between their personal computer and smartphone desktops/home screens as they please as well as use the keyboard on one device to type on another once a connection between them has been established.
Along the same lines, it will interface with HiCar, Huawei’s own Android Auto alternative, to allow users to plug in their smartphones while in their cars so as to use the same interface on their infotainment systems for entertainment and navigation as well as performing other tasks like video calling using a car’s cameras and even turning the car air condition on and off.
We expect to hear about any unique features that the company will be introducing with EMUI 10 as it becomes available.
The new file system that Huawei migrated to in EMUI 9.1, EROFS (Extended Read-Only File System), gets a performance boost of up to 20% in EMUI 10, among other improvements in performance like the GPU Turbo (up by 60%) and the Turbo Link (better by 70%).
In short, handling of games will be better as will be regular read/write operations (app installations, file transfers etc).
The upcoming Mate 30 smartphone series, expected in the market in the final quarter of the year, is set to be the first to launch rocking the new software. However, until those devices are unveiled, it is Huawei’s flagship P30 series that will be holding forte.
According to Huawei, the P30 and P30 Pro will be getting beta builds of the new version of EMUI in early September. September 8th, to be exact.
The company has also confirmed other devices that are scheduled to get EMUI 10.
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