Huawei unveils Harmony OS - Android Alternative

Tsepz_GP

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So the long rumoured Android alternative OS that Huawei has been working on has finally been unveiled and its looking quite a head of its time, being based on similar underpinnings as Google’s future Android replacement, Fuchsia OS.

From Engadget:
in a nutshell, Harmony OS is positioned as a future-proof, "microkernel-based, distributed OS for all scenarios." The platform is open source, and it's actually more of a competitor to Google's upcoming Fuchsia, given that both are microkernel-based and can be deployed to multiple types of devices at once. In contrast, Android isn't as efficient due to its redundant codes, outdated scheduling mechanism and general fragmentation issues.

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With a microkernel design, Harmony OS is said to be safer from the get-go as there is no root access available -- the microkernel is protected by isolation from external kernel services. The system also applies formal verification -- a set of mathematical approaches used in security-critical fields -- to reliably spot vulnerabilities, whereas traditional methods are likely to miss some spots.

Despite being a lightweight system, Harmony OS is said to offer some performance boosts. For one, it'll feature a "Deterministic Latency Engine" that can better allocate system resources using real-time analysis and forecasting. Android, on the other hand, is stuck with the Linux kernel's less-intelligent fair scheduling mechanism.

https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/09/huawei-harmony-os-hongmeng-android/?sr_source=Facebook

Huawei did stipulate that this is mainly for IoT but if they need to deploy it to other devices like smartphones they can do it, which is amazing.

I am just glad to finally have another OS in this race, and it looks like this one takes things up quite significantly, hopefully more OEMs will adopt it to.

What do you guys think?
 
Wowzers... Just need an port of this OS on my LG G3... Then we can have a look...

Indeed, I am really curious to see if Huawei will supply other OEMs with this OS, especially with Google’s Fuschia OS coming, Huawei could find a gap where they could entice some Chinese and Indian OEMs to Harmony OS phones now, rather than them waiting for Google Fuschia which will probably come with Google’s PlayStore requirements like Android.

It would be very clever of Huawei to sell/supply Harmony OS as an alternative with less requirements, therefore beating Google at its own game and protecting OEMs from US bullying. Pretty sure many OEMs are looking for alternatives to Android right now.
 
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