Huawei HarmonyOS Next beta shows no trace of Android

Huawei HarmonyOS Next beta is now available to select users who have enrolled in the beta program. The beta version made its official debut at the Huawei Developer Conference 2024, nearly a year after the operating system was announced.

As promised at the Huawei Developer Conference 2023, HarmonyOS Next ditches Android. It's not a strictly Linux system as well. Instead, it's based on what Huawei calls OpenHarmony and is more of a microkernel-based core distributed OS. On that note, the microkernel, which is said to be self-developed, was touted to be 3x more efficient than Linux earlier this year.

While that's yet to be tested, we do know that the operating system is indeed not based on Android. As WhyLab showcased on Weibo, HarmonyOS Next is not compatible with APK files. That means Android apps won't work on the operating system. Instead, it can only run the native APP apps through Ark Compiler with Huawei Mobile Services support.

When it comes to the look and feel, it's similar to what you would get on Android skins. At least, that's what a Bilibili user has showcased in a video. Worth noting that HarmonyOS Next isn't just for mobile phones. It's also meant to run on other devices.

Under the hood, the operating system is claimed to have a new architecture, which is said to offer higher performance efficiency, better connectivity speed, and lower power consumption. Huawei still hasn't provided a proper comparison to back up these claims, though.

On the note of the architecture, it's said to combine cloud and local facilities to offer a unified experience. Interconnectivity is also a big highlight of the operating system, with Huawei saying that users can seamlessly share content or connect with applications across different devices running HarmonyOS Next.

At the moment, the beta program is only for users in China, and there's no word on whether Huawei will bring HaarmonyOS Next to other regions.

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