The world always wants something new. With that in mind, Google is developing its new operating system, the details of which have not yet been revealed. And at the same time Huawei is also developing its own Harmony OS. Google knows that as time goes by, Android will get old and won’t meet our requirements. That is why there is a need for a new operating system that is more flexible and faster than the current Android OS.
Huawei sees this need for a new operating system much earlier and began building its new operating system in 2012 in secret. But now that things are getting hotter between the US and China, and the US bans Huawei from using Android and its apps, and all US companies were advised not to work with Huawei. There is an urgent need for a new operating system for Huawei smartphones right away.
So, Huawei introduced the new OS to the world called Harmony OS. Which, according to Huawei, is more flexible and faster (about 60 percent) than Android. According to Huawei, can one line of code that Harmony OS is doing 100 line of code Android. Which makes it very light and saves time.
Let’s do a comparison to find out if the Harmony OS is better or the Android OS.
Multiplatform operating system
Based on micro-kernels which makes it lightweight since these micro-kernels include a much smaller amount of code to run the operating system. Not like Android that is based on Linux kernels that uses a much larger amount of code to run.
This makes it the best for all kinds of smart devices as Huawei said it will be for all smart devices such as smartphones, smart displays, tablets, computers, wearable devices, smart watches, smart speakers, car head units and all other smart devices. With its lightweight feature, it can be installed in every little smart device.
According to Huawei, it will have improved cross-platform capabilities that developers will code once and will work on all devices. Therefore, a developed application will work on all other devices that have Harmony OS installed.
Not like Android, where developers create the application for almost all screens. In other words, an application created for the mobile screen may not work on tablets or smart watches.
With Harmony OS, if you are making a video call to your best friend on your smartphone and you want to have it on your smart TV that has a camera, display, and Harmony OS installed, you can transfer it to your smart TV via NFC or Wi-Fi.
You can run your applications from one device to another with Harmony OS installed and you can share almost everything between devices like video games, movies, etc.
… It means that it will follow you from room to room. That is why it has been called Harmony.
All this is due to the micro-cores developed by Huawei. All the tedious work will be handled by the operating system itself.
Not an Android competitor, but a step ahead
Harmony OS does not compete with Android at all, but with Google’s developed operating system called Fuchsia, which is based on the zircon microkernel, also according to rumors, it will be the cross-platform operating system.
Huawei clearly said that they don’t want to stop working with Android, but if the United States forces it to stop using their operating system, then they can deploy their operating system in a day or two. For now, Huawei is not yet releasing it for their smartphones unless they are forced to.
We may see it in the upcoming Mate 30 series, as the device has yet to receive Google Play certification, which is a must for using the Android operating system and Google Play services.
An operating system much faster than Android
Since Harmony OS uses distributed data management and task scheduling, Huawei claims that its distributed technologies are more efficient in performance than Android. Since Android uses a lot of redundant code, it has a lot of fragmentation problems and an outdated programming mechanism.
Huawei built its new operating system with a “deterministic latency engine”, which provides minimal latency and a smooth interactive experience.
According to Huawei, it has resulted in a response latency of up to 25.7% and a latency jitter improvement of 55.6%.
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No root access like Android
Many Android users know what Android rooting is and what it could bring to their phones, be it for better or for worse.
But for the Harmony operating system it is different, no root access to secure and improve the overall safety of the microkernel and devices.
For greater security of its micro-kernels, Huawei has implemented “Formal verification methods”.
The war of applications, a battle to win
Huawei has to win the application ecosystem to become the latest winner in the smartphone industry. Google and Apple are the biggest players in this game because they both own the app market.
Huawei is doing its best to entice developers to put their apps in the “App Gallery” of the Huawei App Store, and it may be successful in this effort as Google is banning Chinese app industries.
But … What about security?
Huawei has implemented a formal verification method and restricted root access, and may have further strengthened security …
But because of this unified and fluid harmony, if you have access to one device ... you also get fluid access to all connected devices.
This is something to worry about.
Am I right about the security issue or will Huawei handle it?