Huawei Mate 30 Phones Launch Without Google Apps

upnorth

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Huawei has launched its latest smartphones without many of the apps typically pre-installed on Android handsets.

The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro both lack YouTube, Google Maps and Gmail among other software. They also do not feature Google's Play Store, which is the normal way users outside China install third-party software on to Android 10 phones. To address this, Huawei has pre-loaded new alternative apps of its own. A spokesman for the Chinese firm told the BBC that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp would all be available via Huawei's own store, called the Huawei App Gallery. He added that there would also be a way to "side-load" Google's apps onto the handsets and that phone store staff would advise customers how to do that, although they might not run as smoothly as normal.
 

upnorth

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The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro come in both 4G and 5G versions, with the "5G" provided by Huawei's Kirin SoC. Any time someone mentions "Huawei" and "5G" in the same sentence, know that they are talking about "Sub-6GHz 5G," which is completely different from the 24GHz-90GHz "mmWave 5G" currently being pushed by US cell carriers and Qualcomm. The higher frequencies of mmWave offer more speed but over a smaller range. So while sub-6GHz doesn't bring the generational speed increase that is often hyped by the cell industry, it also doesn't have the ridiculous range limitations of mmWave, and it's more practical for actually building a cellular network that works.

The split between 5G standards has to do with what spectrum the world's various governments have made available. In the United States, 24GHz-90GHz mmWave is just what's available to use. While other governments have opened up slices of the sub-6GHz spectrum for auctions, the US has not and has no plans to. 5G is devolving into a standards battle, and it's the US versus the rest of the world.
 

HarborFront

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Frankly, I don't use Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube on my HW Mate 20X and, yes, you can sideload apps onto their phones

The question is whether these sideloaded apps need Google api or a short stub to work. If yes, then such apps will not work.

Users just have to test the apps out

And Huawei will only be able to bring security updates to the Mate 30 phones when those updates hit open-source Android.
 
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upnorth

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Frankly, I don't use Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube on my HW Mate 20X
I'm pretty similar as Chrome, Gmail etc is installed on my phone as a necessary " evil " to gain access to the Play Store. I nearly never use them. Youtube though I enjoy from time to time through the official app but, that works very well in any other browser if Chrome would say bye bye.

The possible real issues could come with other apps that's dependent on Play Store for updates. For example all Microsoft apps but, Huawei knows this and is even officially prepared on a lost in sales. It will be a very interesting time to follow and see how customers will react and if I understand it correct, Mate 30 won't be sold at all in the US. It will come to Europe.
 

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Huawei Says Mate 30 Series Bootloader Will Be Unlockable, Allowing Easier Access to Google Apps

The recently launched Huawei Mate 30 and Mate Pro 30 boast a lot of upgraded hardware including extra cameras and edge to edge, bezel-free screens, but they come with a huge tradeoff: Due to the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China and the associated Commerce Department blacklisting of Huawei on national security grounds, Huawei was forced to switch to Android open source and can’t ship them with Google apps and services preinstalled. That means no Play Store, leaving buyers restricted to its in-house alternative Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) for apps.

Huawei has come up with somewhat of a workaround, though: Users will be able to unlock the Mate 30 series’ bootlocker, reversing a Huawei decision from May 2018 to remove that functionality for its phones. The company confirmed this change with AnandTech and Android Authority.

“We limited [bootloader unlocking] because we wanted to guarantee more security for consumers,” Huawei consumer business group CEO Richard Yu told Android Authority in a statement. “But this time we will leave more freedom for the consumers so they can do more customization by themselves. So we are planning to let consumers do that.”

Read more here

 

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