The tech world was recently taken by surprise and intrigue with the rumors of an “artificial human” NEON from Samsung. A few leaked videos on the internet had most people (including me) fooled about just how futuristic the tech would be. Then again, those photo-realistic artificial beings might’ve fooled anyone. But let me rip that band-aid right off before the cup of expectations overflows.
All the promotional videos leaked or used officially by STAR (Samsung Technology and Advanced Research) Labs were actually just simulations, filmed using real person and the final product is nowhere near what we were led to believe. A few live interactions with NEON at the CES 2020 objectively prove that the project has got a long way to go before it meets its goal; the goal of being a virtual companion. Ah man, I had so many Westworld puns for this, but alas!
Samsung NEON – A human, far too artificial
Let’s try to understand what NEON actually is. First and foremost, it’s not an AI assistant, no sir. There’s no Google Assistant, Alexa, Bixby, Siri or any of those other thingamajigs. According to STAR Labs (which coincidentally happens to be the name of a science and research lab is DC universe as well), NEON is merely a human companion. It can make and build a conversation with you alongside “realistic” emotions, in multiple languages too; like English, Spanish, Hindi, Japanese, etc. Unlike a digital assistant, it will not tell you if Nepal has the most unique flag in the world or which country is the home to the tallest mountain on Earth.
NEON avatars
1 of 5
While the company’s obvious goal is to make the tech as realistic as possible, a few live demos show just where it stands as of now. A conversation‘s got to be fluent and quasi-instant but a NEON will not deliver you that, not yet. The time it takes is too slow and the facial expressions and the body language will book you a trip to the uncanny valley for sure. Go watch CNET’s video to actualize my disappointment. The tech would have absolutely wrinkled everyone’s brain had it been remotely close to what we were alluded to. Do you remember Sophia – the AI robot? Yeah, the NEON could be called a virtual Sophia at this point.
How they work
The Samsung “artificial human” NEON is powered by the Core R3platform (which stands for Reality, Realtime, and Responsive). On the other hand, its intelligence, learning, emotions, and memory are powered by SPECTRA, the detail of which remains a mystery.
“In the near future, one will be able to license or subscribe to a NEON as a service representative, a financial advisor, a healthcare provider, or a concierge. Over time, NEONs will work as TV anchors, spokespeople, or movie actors; or they can simply be companions and friends.”
Now that… is just a far-fetched goal but not unaccomplishable in any way. Your personal teacher, gym instructor, health advisor, who you can get in touch with at any time? Where do I sign up? However, STAR Labs was insistent on how NEON is not meant to be an alternative to a real person, no. Sure it can form memories, acquire skills, develop a personality, but replace a human it shall not.
And let me also point out how NEON is just… extra sci-fi; know what I mean? From the tech itself to the company’s statements regarding it, the NEON Artificial Human from Samsung eerily walks that line. Allow me to quote Pranav Mistry, CEO of the Project NEON and the head of STAR Labs:
“There are millions of species on our planet, and we hope to add one more.”
Doesn’t that feel, weirdly and uncomfortably progressive? For me, it sounded like something Niander Wallace from Blade Runner 2049 would say.
AMD is just absolutely slaying Intel at this point and the competition has no trick up its sleeves against Dr. Lisa Su and company. While Team Blue was busy demonstrating its AI capabilities on “Selections” on Adobe Photoshop (and I’m pretty sure the dude from Adobe showing off the tech was on coke, or God is dead) at CES 2020, and the impressive Ghost Canyon NUC modular PC, AMD wowed us all with its 7nm Zen 2 Ryzen 4000 mobile processors, a new Radeon RX 5600XT graphics cards for 1080p gaming, the monster Threadripper 3990X and more.
AMD Ryzen 4000 APUs
2019 was when AMD finally pulled itself by the bootstraps and offered stiff competition to Intel and NVIDIA, who had basically been hogging the CPU and GPU market for years. And now, the company is looking to replicate its success of desktop business onto laptops as well. Codenamed “Renoir“, the new 7nm Ryzen 4000 series mobile processors will gohead to head against Intel’s 10nm Ice Lake mobile CPUs (and also surpass them while they’re at it).
Based on the new Zen 2 architecture, these APUs contain up to 8 cores/16 threads on both 15W and 45W TDP. But like the last-gen Ryzen 3000 mobile processors, the new ones’ GPU is based on the Vega architecture as well. Despite this, AMD has optimized it on the 4000 series to have 59% better performance than the last-gen processors with the same Vega architecture.
‘U’ Series
Let’s talk about the ones with 15W TDP first. These processors with ‘U’ moniker suffixed to them as you can expect are designed for light, thin, and portable laptops. Here, AMD is keeping the naming convention to Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 akin to its predecessors and Intel’s Core i3, i5, and i7.
The top-of-the-line Ryzen 7 4800U comes with 8 cores and 16 threads with base clock of 1.8GHz and a boost clock of 4.2GHz. What’s more, this APU comes with AMD Radeon Graphics with 8 GPU cores at 1750MHz. During the keynote, the company put the 4800U to comparison against Intel’s Core i7-1065G7, where AMD claims the Ryzen 7 4800U delivers 4% higher single-thread, a whopping 90% better multi-thread and 28% graphics performance. This is all the more impressive considering the fact that both of them are 15W chips.
Additionally, all mobile processors under the new Ryzen 4000 series are bound to have a better battery life thanks to the efficient 7nm lithography compared to 12nm of the old 3rd-gen mobile processors (more than twice as the company claims). One of the first laptops making use of the Ryzen 7 4800U will be Lenovo’s Yoga Slim 7.
‘H’ Series
Now let’s get into the ones with 45W TDP rating. These high-performance processors are designed for gaming and content creation. Apart from the 4800H and 4600H, there’s also the Ryzen 7 4800HS, which is exclusive to ASUS with a 45W performance on a 35W envelope. This processor will debut on the company’s upcoming Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop.
Here, the Ryzen 7 4800H comes with 8 cores and 16 threads as well, with the base clock of 2.9GHz and max boost clock of up to 4.2GHz. It’s got 7 Radeon cores with 1600MHz frequency. Moving to comparison, the Ryzen 7 4800H outperforms the Intel Core i7-9750H in almost every single metric. Moreover, it is also faster than the desktop Intel Core i7-9700K! Wow! Talking statistics, the Ryzen 7 4800H is 39% faster in 3DMark FireStrike Physics test, and 46% faster in Cinebench r20.
Dell’s G5 15 Special Edition (SE) will be the first of devices to incorporate the Ryzen 7 4800H, as well as the Radeon RX 5600M (Navi architecture). All these processors are expected to ship within Q1 2020 in over 12 new models. Furthermore, AMD plans to make more than 1000 models and 100+ systems under the Ryzen 4000 Mobile family available by the end of 2020. Also later in the year, the company is launching Pro Series Ryzen 4000 series processors for the enterprise market.
Realme C2 has had quite a success in the Nepali market. It was well-received by the Nepali audience in the budget segment. However, last month, Xiaomi launched the Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A which outperformed all the variants of Realme C2 in every aspect. Hence, Realme Nepal has dropped the price of the Realme C2 to compete against Xiaomi.
Overview:
The Realme C2 features a 6.1-inches display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. You get 2 or 3GB DDR3 RAM and 16 or32 GB eMMC internal storage expandable up to 256 GB via a dedicated slot.
The best thing about it is the huge 4,000 mAh battery. Likewise, the dual 13+2 MP cameras also steal a lot of light. The selfie camera is a 5 MP shooter. Performance is backed by the Mediatek Helio P22 chipset, which is an entry-level processor but still acceptable for the price.
The back of the Realme C2 is made of a textured plastic and looks good for the budget price-tag. It comes with a micro-USB port with 10W charging and hence lacks the fast charging tech.
Realme C2 Specifications:
Design: Plastic body with plastic frames
Display: 6.1 inches (720 x 1560 pixels), 19.5:9 ratio
Here is the new updated price of Realme C2 in Nepal:
Model Name
Old Price
New Price in Nepal
Realme C2 (2GB/16GB)
Rs.14,290
Rs.12,990
Realme C2 (2GB/32GB)
Rs.13,999
Rs.14,390
Realme C2 (3GB/32GB)
Rs.15,990
Rs.15,990
Despite the marginal price drop, I still think the Redmi 8 (Read review) is the best phone under Rs. 15,000. The Redmi 8 offers 4+64GB RAM/ROM, a bigger battery, a Type-C port, and a much capable camera. Similarly, the Redmi 8A is also a better choice as it shares the same DNA with the Redmi 8 in terms of features and performance.
Will OnePlus try venturing into the mid-range market again? We’ve not seen such a handset from OnePlus since it launched the OnePlus X back in 2015. However, with the so-called OnePlus 8 Lite we might soon see a mid-ranger from OnePlus again.
Famed for offering premium features for a relatively cheaper price, OnePlus well and truly was the real “Flagship Killer”. So, widening the range of offered products is naturally the way to move forward. But will the OnePlus 8 Lite be a success? That only time can tell. For now, we’ve gathered all the rumors concerning the phone.
According to various sources, the OnePlus 8 Lite will sport a 6.4” OLED display panel with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. The screen could also have a 90Hz refresh rate. We’ve previously seen the 90Hz screen in the OnePLus 7T too. So including such a screen in a mid-range phone could well be its USP.
Furthermore, the display will also include a punch hole to house the front camera. Now that’s also something new. Previously, OnePlus favored the notch display. However, this change in design seems like a step forward. But then again OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro too is rumored to have a punch-hole display. And apparently, the front camera will be a 32MP selfie shooter.
Regarding the rear camera, however, there are multiple conflicting leaks. A leaked image showed only a dual-camera setup on the back. However, a previously leaked specs sheet suggested that there’s a triple camera setup on the back.
Subsequently leaked photos have however confirmed that three on the back rumor makes sense. The cameras are likely to be of 48MP (primary), 16MP (ultra-wide) and 12MP (telephoto).
OnePlus has decided to go with MediaTek this time around to make the device more affordable. They will probably go with the Dimensity 1000. It’s a 5G SoC thus the handset could be a great and affordable 5G handset. There’s probably going to be a RAM of 8Gb and 128/256GB storage.
As far as the battery is concerned, the rumor is that it is of 4000mAh. Also, other rumors suggest that it’ll support 30W fast charging.
Oneplus 8 Lite Launch Date & Price
The probable launch date of the Oneplus 8 Lite is going to be somewhere around May 2020. It is expected to cost US $399 (NRs. 45,000). Hopefully, it’ll launch alongside the relatively heavy priced OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. So, there’s still a lot of time left until the launch. However, with the CES this week, we’ll probably get to learn more about the OnePlus 8 Lite.
CES 2020 is upon us, ladies and gentlemen. And we’re getting to see so many new and exciting innovations this year, like the year before (you know the drill). Last year, Dell’s Alienware revealed the coveted “Area-51m” laptop with some serious power and more importantly, upgradability. Being able to replace the CPU and even the GPU (though of a non-traditional form factor) was something the world had yet to witness in a laptop but regardless was ready for. Well, Alienware has done it again – not release a similar laptop I mean, but the company has wowed us once more. Though it’s only a prototype at this point, the Alienware Concept UFO looks to make PC gaming more portable than ever with its design language similar to that of the Nintendo Switch.
Alienware Concept UFO
Before going deeper into the rabbit hole, let me make something perfectly clear. There have been similar (and I mean that in every sense of the word) products in the past but were far from being as practical as the Concept UFO hopes to be. The Razer Edge Pro and NVIDIA SHIELD K1 looked to make PC gaming portable with their sleeker and tablet-like form factor but ultimately failed to do so.
Razer Edge Pro
The Alienware Concept UFO on the other hand, from the early looks of it, feels promising to say the least. Unquestionably borrowing the design from the Nintendo Switch, this device runs on Windows 10. Woah, that idea in itself sounds otherworldly and maybe that’s why the company’s calling it “Concept UFO”. I kid of course.
While enthusiastic developers have worked to the bone to get Android and Windows running on the Switch (with some succeeding even), the Concept UFO changes the game altogether. Alienware looks to completely disturb the handheld gaming arena as it is, while additionally capitalizing on the limitations of the Nintendo Switch as well.
What does it pack?
The only thing we know about the Concept UFO regarding its specifications at this point is that it has an 8-inch Full-HD(1920 x 1200 pixels) touchscreen display, runs Windows 10, comes with two magnetically latched controllers, and weighs about 900 grams. Moreover, there’s also a controller hub where you can place the controllers to compositely use it as a… regular controller!
Credit: Future (not the rapper)
And like the Nintendo Switch, you can also plug it into an external display source via a Type-C connector. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack and additionally, you can also rest the Concept UFO into a surface with its wide kickstand. On the back, there’s a honeycomb styled air vent.
More than a portable gaming machine
The Alienware Concept UFO is more than just a handheld PC gaming device (which is pretty impressive on its own if I haven’t mentioned that earlier). It has an 8-inch touchscreen display which means it’s a full-fledged tablet as well. Connect a keyboard and a mouse wirelessly and boom, now you can get to work on the go. To put it simply, it’s a small Windows tablet; there you go.
Alienware Concept UFO: What the future holds
With some international techies getting their hand-on on the Alienware Concept UFO, what we can derive is that it is a damn promising device. The games run smooth and the device is easy to hold on to as well. But of course, there will be some compromises in bringing a PC gaming experience on such a small form factor. First and foremost, it runs loud (maybe distractingly loud even). And there’s the question about battery. How long will it last?
Let me pull out from the bottomless freefall of these hordes of questions and once again remind you that the Alienware Concept UFO is just a prototype at this point. We don’t know when and if it’s going to come out, what will it cost, nothing. This thing’s not even in its beta stage as of now. If the company does decide to greenlight the project into commercial production, what’s clear is that there are a lot of things to work upon beforehand.
Right now, there’s nothing that can overshadow the hype of 5G technology. In such a scenario, smartphone companies have started a trend to incorporate it into their products. Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, ZTE, among others have promised new 5G capable smartphones in 2020. And now there is a new brand joining the trend – Realme. After numerous leaks and teasers, the Chinese smartphone brand has finally launched its first 5G smartphone — the Realme X50 5G.
Realme X50 5G Specs Overview
The Realme X50 is powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 765G processor which comes with Snapdragon X52 5G modem. The chipset is featured in Xiaomi’s Redmi K30 and OPPO Reno3 Pro. Talking about the Snapdragon 765G, it is a 5G-ready chip just like the Snapdragon 765 but with further enhancement to improve the gaming experience. It comes with 10-bit HDR gaming support and high display refresh rates. Qualcomm also claims boosted clock speed of up to 2.4GHz on the chipset.
with the Snapdragon 765G, you won’t have to worry much about network compatibility, as it can support both SA (Standalone) and NSA (Non-Standalone) 5G standards, along with the mm-wave. There will also be a feature to allow you to connect to a 5G network and Wi-Fi simultaneously for better stability.
The display in the Realme X50 is a 6.57-inch 1080P IPS LCD panel with a smooth 120Hz panel. Weirdly, it lacks the Super AMOLED panel, considering all of Realme’s X-series had one. The display features a pill-shaped hole to accommodate the dual selfie camera of 16MP regular and an 8MP ultra-wide.
On the back, there’s a quad-camera setup that comprises of 64MP Samsung GW1 sensor, 12MP telephoto, 8MP wide-angle, and a 2MP macro. Battery-wise, you get a 4200mAh battery with enhanced VOOC 4.0 30W fast charging technology. The Realme X50 5G will ship with two color options: Polar White and Glacier Blue.
In terms of software, it runs on Android 10 with Realme’s custom UI. It’s the first Realme phone with its own Realme UI, after ditching the Oppo’s Color OS.
Realme X50 Specifications:
OS: Android 10 with realme UI
Display: 6.57-inch (1080×2400 pixels) Full HD+ 20:9 IPS LCD with 120Hz refresh rate
Back Camera:
– 64MP rear camera with Samsung GW1 sensor, 0.8μm pixel size, f/1.8 aperture, LED flash, EIS stabilization
– 12MP Telephoto lens with f/2.5 aperture for up to 20x hybrid zoom
– 8MP 119° ultra-wide-angle lens with f/2.25 aperture
– 2MP 4cm macro lens with f/2.4 aperture, 960fps slow-motion
Front Camera:
– 16MP front-facing camera with Sony IMX471 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 1.0μm pixel size
– 8MP 105° ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture
Realme X50 is already available in China. It is expected to launch in India next month. However, there’s no word on when it’s going to launch in Nepal as we haven’t seen any X-series phones being launched by Realme Nepal to date.
Last year, there was a lot of fuzz about foldable phones. With the leading smartphone companies going all-in to come up with the best design. Who won? That’s something we can sit down and discuss on. But everyone will agree that the foldable phones, with the price tag they came with, were more of a novelty item than a daily driver. But would our perspective change if the price were cheaper? Does a foldable phone under $400 excite you? Well, it does to me. Recently, a new phone-based on folding technology went on sale for $350 – Escobar Fold 1. When we thought that it has the potential to take the world by surprise, it has been denied a spot at the Consumer Electronics Show.
CES 2020 is officially underway and it is the biggest platform for innovators to showcase their products. Companies boasting about their new products of innovation often make the headlines. Recently, we told you about Samsung unveiling its “Odyssey” gaming monitors along with a new QLED 8K TV with integrated AI technology. Well, these were about the products which we are going to see in the event. Let’s talk about the Escobar Fold 1 and why it won’t be allowed entry in the CES. You may be surprised to know that Escobar Inc. has accused Samsung of the cause.
What’s in the name?
What’s in the name you may say. “A lot of things” would be the reply from the CES committee. You may have guessed right from the name that Escobar Fold 1 has some sort of ties with Pablo Escobar – the notorious drug dealer. His brother Roberto Escobar has joined hands with Swedish entrepreneur Olof Gustafsson to come up with the idea of Escobar Fold 1. Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has decided that it would not be “a good thing” if the Escobar Fold 1 is present in the show.
Escobar vs Apple?
When Escobar Inc announced their Escobar Fold 1, Roberto shared his plan to beat Apple. He even declared to sue Apple for deceiving people with their overpriced devices. But before that, he said he wanted to beat the top smartphone companies by introducing phones that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars at a fraction of the price.
While the name associated with the phone seems to be the problem, Olof Gustafsson has said that they are being suppressed because they possess a major threat to big companies. He even went on to name a specific brand behind the so-called suppression – Samsung.
“Samsung is afraid, afraid of us being present at the same event side by side while we present a much superior product, sold at a better price. In fact, they use their power to silence us. They forget that Pablo Escobar was there long before them and will be there long after”
We are yet to hear anything from Samsung on this matter.
The story of Escobar Fold 1
If you find this saga strange enough let me tell you the story of how Escobar Fold 1 came to be. Down to the bare bones, Escobar Fold 1 is nothing but a variant of the Royole FlexPai with some new elements. But at the time of its announcement, Escobar Fold 1 is priced at $350; which makes it about $950 cheaper than the FlexPai. Strange? I haven’t even talked about the marketing strategy they adopted to advertise the phone. The team behind the marketing campaign at Escobar Inc. published clips of women wearing lingerie with the Escobar Fold 1. These clips were part of a rather strange and controversial promotional campaign.
Escobar Fold 1 Specifications
Body: 7.49 x 5.28 x 0.30 inches; 320 gm (with battery)
Display: 7.8-inches Flexible AMOLED panel
Resolution: Full-HD+ (1920 x 1444 pixels); 4:3 aspect ratio; 308ppi
Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855; 7nm Mobile Platform
CPU: Octa-core (Up to 2.8GHz)
GPU: Adreno 640
RAM: 6 / 8GB
Storage: 128 / 512GB (expandable up to 256GB via a dedicated SD card slot)
Xiaomi launched the original Black Shark way back in 2018. With the Black Shark, Xiaomi had a handset to compete against Razer’s Razer Phone in a rather new segment of Gaming Smartphones. Xiaomi’s efforts were well appreciated. The company now has a good number of smartphones under its gaming sub-brand – Black Shark. The Black Shark Helo, Black Shark 2, and Black Shark 2 Pro have all received positive responses from the users. And now, Xioami looks to add to that number with Black Shark 3.
Early Rumors
With the success that the company had with the Black Shark series of gaming smartphones, it was only logical to launch the Black Shark 3. Last month, the certification of a phone, which was thought to be the new Black Shark 3, grabbed attention. The phone with the model name SHARK KLE-A0 was certified in China on the 20th of December. The certification didn’t reveal much but the 5G support for the device.
Xiaomi Black Shark 3 Leaks
If the recent leaks are to be believed, the Xiaomi Black Shark 3 will hit the market as early as February. Xiaomi is already working on the phone and many of the phone’s hardware has already been finalized.
According to the leaks, Xiaomi’s new Black Shark 3 will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865. To recall, the latest flagship processor was launched in December at the annual Tech Summit of Qualcomm. It won’t be the first device to feature the device. It isn’t even the first device from Xiaomi to come up with the chipset. Xiaomi had announced Mi 10 series to feature the chipset during the launch of SD 865.
Xiaomi Black Shark 2 Pro
2020 is going to the year of 5G. Almost every smartphone manufacturer is working to integrate it into their new offerings. As Qualcomm has already announced that the SD 865 will come bundled with the X55 modem, we can confirm the 5G connectivity on the new Black Shark.
The phone is also set to feature a 4,700 mAh. Well, phones with battery over 4,000mAh aren’t something new, Black Shark will come with 30W Flash Charge. According to leaks, Xiaomi is working on even more rapid charging technology and if it were to be a success, it would land on the Black Shark 3.
The new year hasn’t even started properly we already have so much to look forward to in terms of gaming smartphones. Whether it be the first gaming phone under Lenovo Legion or the new iteration of Xiaomi’s Black Shark, 2020 will be a memorable year for the mobile gaming segment.
Launch
The phone is expected to launch in February. The details about the pricing of the phone will be clear once the full specifications are out.
It’s been quite a while that nothing significant has changed in the monitor segment. However, that’s all set to change. Ahead of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), NVIDIA and ASUS made their big announcement that is the ROG Swift 360.
Rog Swift 360 Overview
The two technology giants have been working together to bring forth a new crop of monitors. This new addition has a 1080p resolution and an astounding 360Hz maximum refresh rate. It is a very high-performance monitor aimed at competitive gaming. The companies claim that this monitor is in fact 50% faster than currently available 240Hz monitors.
Currently, the high-end gaming monitors max out at 240Hz. However, this new G-Sync project is certainly going to be a game-changer. It provides a previously unprecedented upgrade of 120Hz in a single generation. The ROG Swift 360 has a 24.5-inch panel that is supplied by AU Optronics. Still, we have no information yet about the type of panel in this one. Previously, most of them have had a TN panel. Thus, it maybe safe to assume that this too will have a TN panel.
However, this monitor will not be ready for sale until the latter half of this year. Therefore, ASUS and NVIDIA have not yet shelled out the technical details. With several months until the release, it is probable that there might still be some technical issues that remain to be fine-tuned. Still, the rumor that’s making the rounds on the internet is that the device is probably similar to the 240Hz ROG Swift PG258Q.
With NVIDIA being one of the two companies that is involved in this project, the company has promised that the ROG Swift 360 is going to be a true G-Sync monitor. This implies that the monitor supports complete variable overdrive functionality. This is especially important given that the monitor has such a wide range of refresh rates.
The practicality of the 360Hz monitor is still seen as an issue by many. And with the aim to outshine the current high-end monitors by 50%, this new monitor will have to be really fast. And that is necessary to make the 360Hz refresh rate useful too.
It goes without saying that this monitor is aimed at competitive gaming. Higher refresh rate equals smooth user experience and less rendering latency. However, the current 240Hz monitors already offer 4.16ms frame time. Thus, the added benefit of a 360Hz monitor might just be very tiny to even notice. Still, NVIDIA believes that there are enough benefits to justify a 360Hz monitor.
Rog Swift 360 Expected Price, Launch date
The monitor is on display at CES 2020. So, even if there’s still a lot of time left for the actual release and its price, enthusiasts will be able to see first-hand the future of gaming monitors at this year’s CES.
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. Yeah, Huawei will relate to that. With all the trade debacle between the Chinese telecommunications manufacturer and the US Government, Huawei is in deep water and the company’s future looks bleak… you’d think. While that is certainly true to some extent, its exemplary push towards a self-sufficient future is promising. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months and don’t know what the fuss is about, here’s a gist:
“The Trump Administration’s executive order enlisted Huawei in the Entity List, effectively banning it from doing business with any US-owned companies. Though no official evidence has yet been made public, the US fears that the Chinese government can use Huawei as a backdoor to spy on it, thus dismissing the company as a threat to national security.”
What to make of it?
The key giveaway from this is the fact that the US government hasn’t disclosed any proof of its claims to the public and we, as a public, could squeeze out two conclusions from it. First, the whole thing is circumstantial and an elaborate ploy to suppress the objectively better technologies of Huawei in order to take control of the ever-brewing US-China trade war. Pfft, an absolute child! Am I right?
Second, there is indeed a hint of security concern from Huawei as the company is legally liable to submit its resources to the communist government of China, should the necessity arise, and the US is simply acting on it clairvoyantly. There have been a few reports that the US government has indeed disclosed its “evidence” against Huawei to company heads of select tech giants. But here again, mum’s the word.
More importantly, the ban hasn’t effectively been immediate, as the US government has been a little “soft” on Huawei by providing a temporary waiver of 90-days for two straight times; the last of which was supposed to end in November. And again, it looks like the US government is adding another 6 months to the waiver.
Though the major disadvantage glaring Huawei is the expansion of its superior 5G technologies, its smartphone business is also taking a considerable hit. After the ban, many US-based firms like Intel and Qualcomm cut ties with Huawei, but none of them left as big an impact as Google. Despite the company manufacturing its own chipsets & memory cards for its smartphones, the company is still reliant on Google’s proprietary Google Mobile Services (GMS).
AOSP – the treasured salvation
Mind you, Android in itself is open-source but GMS isn’t. This means, while Huawei can legally use AOSP (Android Open Source Project) to ship its devices with the latest version of Android, they will be void of any Google apps like Maps, Play Store, YouTube. Be that as it may, Huawei need not worry about it in its homeland China since Google is non-existent there. However, the company operates globally and officially sells its smartphones to over 170 countries, and that’s a lot of markets to just pass over.
In order to circumvent the absence of Google in its smartphones, Huawei had apparently been working on its own OS for a while now. The now “unveiled” Harmony/HongMeng OS is its answer to Android, which will eventually be the supplement to the company’s ecosystem of products.
Sadly, the reveal was made on Huawei’s TV and the company has openly admitted that its OS isn’t ready enough to be powering smartphones. While a separate OS sounds super-exciting, Huawei knows just how difficult it’ll be to build. Therefore, the company is pushing for Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), its answer to GMS.
Google Mobile Services (GMS)
Before jumping in on HMS, let us briefly discuss what it’s trying to replace – GMS (and Google Play Services/GMS Core). Essentially, it is the library of Google’s proprietary applications like Photos, YouTube, Play Store, etc. (or GApps) and APIs that run on most Android smartphones. It is also necessary for that “Google experience” across your devices, where you can open a tab on the Chrome browser on your PC, and then send that tab to your phone to continue browsing – just an example.
It sets parameters and provides APIs, using which developers can embed Google’s services like Maps into their app. And because it is proprietary, you can’t simply sideload it, like you would an ordinary Android app. There’s so much more to what GMS is and why it’s necessary but I’ll end it right here. Now let’s get into HMS and how it hopes to be a saving grace for Huawei.
… and here’s Huawei Mobile Services (HMS)
Like how GMS is Google’s suite of applications and services for the “optimal” Android ecosystem, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) is a part of Huawei Consumer Business Group and the collections of apps and services for Huawei’s ecosystem of devices. Instead of Google ID, you’ll have a Huawei ID and so on and so forth. HMS has a set of applications and background services that work together to provide a seamless experience across multiple devices. This ecosystem is made up of HMS Apps, HMS Core & Capabilities, and third-party applications.
HMS Apps and the significance of HUAWEI AppGallery
Here, HMS Apps is the library of apps destined to replace their Google-counterparts. The most eminent of them all, HUAWEI AppGallery, is the official app distribution platform for Huawei. Competing against the frontrunner – Google’s Play Store, in this stage will not be a piece of cake. As of now, the platform boasts an estimated 2.8 million apps according to the data from Statista.com, while Apple’s App Store comes in second with 1.8 million.
Despite the need for Huawei’s own app store seems inescapably crucial now, AppGallery has been in existence from long ago. It was officially launched in China in 2011, while the rest of the world was introduced to the Huawei AppGallery in Q1 of 2018 with the launch of its P20-series of smartphones. In the present context, it serves Huawei and Honor smartphone users in over 170 countries, with 390+ million monthly active users and around 180 billion downloads a year. That’s a significant volume of market Huawei’s been operating on, one the app developers would want to get on. So, what’s being done to bring these two together?
Getting developers to support AppGallery
One billion dollars! Yeah, does that get your attention? Huawei is betting on getting global developers lured into its ecosystem by investing $1 billion under the “Shining-Star Program”. And that better work because the company’s devices will be a hard-sell in international markets without the availability of the majority of apps and games that can be found on the competing devices. Apart from making its HMS Core systems available, familiar, and easy to use to the developers, there’s another added advantage for developers releasing their product on the AppGallery.
It all comes down to money!
Google charges 30% of the price for one-time purchases which has been wildly criticized by developers worldwide. This is one of the reasons why Epic Games decided against launching their mega-hit “Fortnite” on Play Store, and also why Tinder removed its payment mechanism from the platform. Capitalizing on this exploitation, Huawei is offering a 15% charge for one-time purchases.
Apart from the AppGallery, there are other notable HMS Apps too. HUAWEI Browser is a web browser with over 200 million monthly active users. On the other hand, HUAWEI Mobile Cloud is the company’s answer to Google Drive for cloud storage. But unlike the competition, you only get 5GB of free cloud storage with plans for paid storage of up to 2TB. Similarly, it has over 160 million monthly active users.
Moreover, HUAWEI Music, HUAWEI Video, and HUAWEI Assistant are some of the other HMS Apps not quite as widespread as the ones above. And as you might’ve guessed already, these three look to fill the void of Google’s Play Music (or YouTube Music), YouTube, and Assistant respectively.
HMS Core
“Huawei Mobile Services as well as HMS Apps incorporate Huawei’s chip, device and cloud capabilities and integrates a set of HMS core services (HMS Core), tools, and platforms for IDE development and testing.” Here, the HMS Core is oriented towards developers and offers APIs more-or-less similar to that of GMS. For this, Huawei has opened a total of 14 HMS Core Services with 9 essential services and 5 growth services, with more coming soon. These services are a collection of software development frameworks that give developers quick access to the Huawei ecosystem, thus letting them build apps with ease. Let me briefly go through some of them.
Account Kit is Huawei’s version of Google Play Service’s Sign-In, which effectively facilitates simple, secure, quick sign-in, and authorization functions. Consequently, users can simply use their Huawei ID as a sign-in option for any app without going through all the signing up mumbo-jumbo.
In the same way, Google Maps SDK will be substituted with Huawei’s Map Kit, which has been made available to the overseas developers from October 2019. HMS Core’s Game Service will be Huawei’s answer to Google Play Games allowing developers to easily incorporate in-game functionalities, and players to sign-in, and keep a track of their gaming records.
… but the trouble hangs on!
After all is said and done, the question still remains – is it enough? Will Huawei’s efforts and investments yield any noteworthy fruition? Can Google and its suite of applications really be replaced by Huawei this early on? Can people really go through all the hassle to sideload a vast majority of apps and games that will never see the light of day in the Huawei AppGallery? And more importantly, should they?
Well, the answer for the should is an obvious “no”. You are paying top money to own a product and having to compromise on it doesn’t make sense, no matter the excellence of the hardware. While some of the most popular apps like Facebook, Spotify, etc. work flawlessly on GMS-less Huawei smartphones, the ones from Google don’t. Their web versions do, but the apps just don’t, not fully at least.
Because of the trade ban, apps from US-owned companies simply cannot be distributed on Huawei’s official distribution platform. Some of you may be considering “side-loading” APK files to install third-party apps and games into the device, which is a viable and proven method to get them working (partially or comprehensively). But that right there is a hassle and a rather unnecessary and avoidable one at that. Add that to the fact that some apps simply can’t function sans GMS, then the ray of hope shining through starts fading into oblivion.
Huawei AppGallery
And there’s the question of accessibility. Like I’ve said before, Huawei simply need not worry about its customer base in China. The market outside, however, is a different story altogether which the company should look after post haste. Therefore, as a first step, Huawei and its sub-brand Honor, have been in the talks with top app developers in India to build Huawei Mobile Services (HMS)-integrated applications for its platform.
India – the next big market
Yes, that makes sense. With the rising popularity of internet usage in the country, India is now the second-largest smartphone consumer in the world surpassing the US, while China still holds the crown for the top spot. Huawei is set to launch HMS in India very soon and will be providing incentives to the developers to build apps that’ll support their ecosystem of devices.
In the initial stage, the company is looking to lure-in the top 100 to 150 apps from every country into the AppGallery. As for the Indian developers, Huawei has set aside up to $17,000 per app integration reward from its billion-dollar program I talked about earlier. Moreover, the apps from the Indian developers will also be within the reach of European and other markets of the world.
If this turns successful, Huawei will finally get the much-needed boost that it requires to “survive” this unsought situation that the company has found itself in. With India secured, it’s only a matter of time when Huawei Mobile Services sets foot in other parts of the continent like the middle east, south Asia, and eventually Europe and other regions of the world too. I may be thinking out loud at this point but I believe that’s a probable outcome. To quote Bob Dylan, the times they are a-changin’.
Huawei isn’t a lone ranger in this…
Then again, there have been several projects which centered around addressing the trouble Huawei’s found itself in – a Google-less existence. Though minuscule, the mere fact that Huawei is not the first to walk the line is a morale booster, to say the least.
Take the Project /e/ for instance. Now, it isn’t a product of any contradictory compulsion. Rather, the “e Foundation” is a non-profit organization that builds privacy-focused OS, on top of AOSP, with Google’s app and services replaced by something else.
The average volume of data collection by Google [Source: Digital Content Next]Basically, /e/ is a custom ROM like Lineage, Bootleggers, etc. with one paramount distinctness; there is. no. Google. It isn’t looking to compete with what Google is offering, not at all. What it tries to do is cater to the niche group of audience who prioritize privacy and preservation of their personal data from the data-ravenous corporations.
Final words
So, there you have it. Huawei is in dire straits, yes. You know that, we know that, and Huawei knows that as well. Will its Shining-Star Program, the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) Core, deem successful enough to be able to pass the muster among its consumers outside of China? We hope it does and would like to wish the company all the luck in its strenuous odyssey ahead.
