Huawei releases the "pure-blood" HarmonyOS NEXT operating system, and the first domestic mobile operating system is born | Frontline

Written by Tian Zhe

Edited by Su Jianxun

On October 22, Huawei released the native Hongmeng operating system HarmonyOS NEXT, becoming the world's third-largest mobile operating system after Apple iOS and Android.

Yu Chengdong, Executive Director of Huawei Terminal, Chairman of Terminal BG, and Chairman of Intelligent Automotive Solution BU, stated that this is the biggest upgrade since the birth of the Hongmeng system, comprehensively breaking through the core technologies of the operating system.

The breakthrough lies in that compared with previous versions, the HarmonyOS NEXT system base has completely abandoned some AOSP open source code, which also makes it no longer compatible with Android application software.

Yu Chengdong introduced that the smoothness of HarmonyOS NEXT has increased by more than 30%, and the battery life has been extended by nearly an hour. He requires the team to be able to continuously increase the battery life by about 30% every year in the future.

Currently, HarmonyOS NEXT has listed 15,000 Hongmeng native applications and meta-services, while four months ago, this number was 1,500.

Huawei initiated the Hongmeng system in 2015, and in 2020, the Hongmeng system was officially open-sourced. In four years, the first version of the Hongmeng operating system had 7 million lines of code. With the participation of 6.75 million developers, its code has now exceeded 110 million lines.

Yu Chengdong introduced that the ecological devices equipped with the Hongmeng operating system exceed 1 billion, including not only mobile phones, tablet PCs, and wearable devices, but also intelligent cockpits and whole-house intelligent ecological products. "Hongmeng is not a substitute for peer operating systems, but a distinctive new operating system."

The interconnection speed is increased by 3 times, and 4 devices can be connected simultaneously

The new generation of the Hongmeng operating system further upgrades the interconnection experience. Based on the new distributed software bus, HarmonyOS NEXT has increased the connection speed by 3 times at lower power consumption and can connect up to 4 devices simultaneously. Devices can be sensed and connected simply by being close to each other.

It is reported that Huawei will open to Hongmeng ecological partners to enable seamless switching of applications between devices. An example demonstrated at the event is that pictures taken by the mobile phone can directly appear on the tablet without the need to be sent, and users can freely edit and use the pictures.

Cross-device clipboard

The interconnection is specifically reflected in the Hongmeng ecological devices, including functions such as application continuation, application screen projection, and Huawei Share.

Currently, HarmonyOS NEXT already supports application continuation, allowing the same content to be continued on different devices. For example, the reading progress of an e-book on a tablet can be synchronized to the mobile phone.

E-book continuation

In terms of screen projection, HarmonyOS NEXT has unified the broadcasting protocol of video application software. Users can select the video broadcasting device on the broadcasting page of the mobile phone system and can remotely control the pause, fast-forward, etc. of the projected content in the mobile phone broadcasting control center.

The Huawei Share function has been launched for more than ten years. It supports data transfer between different devices without a network. This time, it has also been upgraded.

In the past, Huawei Share could only send files to one user at a time, while the Huawei Share of HarmonyOS NEXT can send files to multiple users simultaneously. It is reported that the file transfer time of 1.2GB only takes 8 seconds, which is 6 seconds faster than iOS. With HarmonyOS NEXT being installed on more types of products, Huawei said that Huawei Share will support the flow of content and information between mobile phones, tablets, smart screens, and intelligent cockpits.

AI assistant Xiaoyi, "Using both brain and hands"

Based on the Pangu large model, the capabilities of Xiaoyi in HarmonyOS NEXT have been comprehensively enhanced, with stronger perception and reasoning abilities.

Specifically, when the user can ask Xiaoyi about the objects on the current mobile phone page, Xiaoyi can identify the objects according to the vague instructions, feedback encyclopedic knowledge, and be able to give more materials in combination with the reply.

Image recognition

And when the user asks Xiaoyi to make a travel plan for a certain place, Xiaoyi can not only feedback the specific travel plan but also attach a ticket purchase link in the answer. Users can click the link to jump to the ticket purchase page, saving users' time.

Scenic area guide

In addition, the design interaction of Xiaoyi has also been upgraded, which is reflected in the navigation bar and knuckle screenshot respectively.

In terms of the navigation bar, the user only needs to drag the file materials into the navigation bar. After Xiaoyi receives the materials, it can organize the materials and generate analysis summaries, content summaries, mind maps, and other contents.

Document assistant

In terms of knuckle screenshots, after the user takes a screenshot with the knuckle, Xiaoyi can give corresponding suggestions according to the screenshot content, and can also send the goods in the captured image to online shopping platforms such as Taobao and JD.com to obtain the display page of the relevant goods.

Xiaoyi circle selection

And when the knuckle screenshot circles the transfer information, Xiaoyi will automatically open the bank APP and fill in the bank account number, eliminating the cumbersome operation steps.

If the circled is the certificate information, Xiaoyi can automatically remember the certificate information. When other APPs need to fill in the certificate number and other information later, Xiaoyi can automatically fill it in according to the memory.

Automatically remember certificate information

Huawei emphasizes that the user's sensitive data information is only stored on the mobile phone and will not be uploaded to the cloud. Users can view and delete sensitive information at any time.

Control application access permissions, privacy and security upgrade

Privacy permission application access is a window that often pops up when an APP enables some functions. Once the user grants permission, it may lead to personal privacy leakage.

Fang Xiwen, the Chief Expert of Privacy and Data Security of Huawei Terminal BG, introduced that after the user grants the APP access to the mobile phone album, the APP can continuously browse the mobile phone album; if the mobile phone camera is allowed to be turned on, the APP can directly obtain the camera image during the camera's operation; even the mobile phone contact information may also leak personal privacy such as hobbies and consumption ability after the access permission is granted.

Fang Xiwen said that HarmonyOS NEXT adopts the Star Shield security architecture, prohibiting the application from reading the list of installed applications, accessing text messages, and other 9 types of unreasonable permissions, avoiding privacy leakage from the source.

On the other hand, HarmonyOS NEXT has launched a security access mechanism for seven high-frequency scenarios such as the gallery, camera, contacts, location, files, clipboard, and audio, limiting the scope of application software to access private information.

Supported access permissions

For example, if an application software needs to access the mobile phone contacts and albums, HarmonyOS NEXT only allows the application software to access the specified contacts and pictures, thereby more accurately and minimally controlling the permissions of the application software.

Fang Xiwen introduced that after testing, the number of permission authorization pop-up windows of HarmonyOS NEXT is 76% lower than that of iOS.

In addition, the privacy and security center of the Hongmeng system has also been upgraded, which can display the time and data types obtained by all application software accesses.

In order to protect the security of files, the Hongmeng system supports system-level file encryption and sharing to ensure that only authorized users can open the files after sharing, and the files cannot be screenshot, recorded, or edited for the second time.

According to He Gang, CEO of Huawei Terminal BG, HarmonyOS NEXT has been publicly tested for some Huawei mobile phones and tablets this month, and the scope of public testing products will be further expanded in 2025.